Gates of Vienna News Feed 11/23/2014

Activists from Boko Haram killed 48 fish traders at a roadblock in northeastern Nigeria. The traders were on their way to Chad to buy fish. The families of those killed were relieved to learn that the incident had nothing to do with Islam.

In other news, Pope Francis told the World Congress on the Pastoral Care of Migration that immigration enriches host countries.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, Jerry Gordon, Vlad Tepes, 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
» Spain: 1,000 Euros a Month a Dream for One in Two Spaniards
 
USA
» 12-Year-Old With Air Gun Dies in Cleveland Police Shooting
» America Has Been Warned: Edward Gibbon’s the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
» Chicago: Two Women Rescued From Building Collapse
» Gov. Andrew Cuomo: Evacuation Plans in Place in Buffalo Area
» Objects Thrown at Tucson Mosque Lead to Evictions
» The Benghazi House Permanent Select Intelligence Committee Report is a “Whitewash”.
» Tony Blair Honoured With Save the Children’s Global Legacy Award at Charity Gala Attended by Ben Affleck and Lassie
» U.S. Army Base in Texas on Lockdown After Suspicious Vehicle Found
 
Canada
» New University of Regina Bathroom Facilities Help Muslim Students Prepare for Prayer
 
Europe and the EU
» Austria: Population Will Reach 9.6 Million in 2060
» French Union Urges Hollande to Honor Mistral Deal
» Italian Meat Exports to Russia Drop Due to EU Sanctions
» Italy: Govt Move to Put RAI Tax on Electric Bill Incurs Wrath
» Jihadi Attack on UK ‘Inevitable’: Police Fear a Beheading by ‘Lone Wolf’ In Shopping Centre and Farmers Are Told to Lock Up Fertiliser to Foil Bombers
» Norway: ‘I Had a Feeling Today Was the Day!’: Carlsen
» Romania Arrests Organised Crime Chief Prosecutor Over Corruption
» UK: Former Scotland Yard Detectives Say Young Boys Were Murdered by Westminster Paedophile Ring
 
North Africa
» 10 Extremists Killed, Other 18 Arrested in North Sinai
» Egypt Accuses Brotherhood Figure of Spying for U.S., Norway
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Egypt Could Send Forces to Stabilise Future Palestinian State: El-Sisi
» Italian Jewish Migration to Israel Booming in 2014
 
Middle East
» Are the P5+1 Negotiations With Iran an “Unmitigated Disaster”?
» Muslim MP: 2,000 Britons Fighting for Islamic State
» Muslims Discovered the Americas, Claims Turkish President
» Saudi Arabia: Ban on Women in Restaurants Draws Praise and Criticism
 
Russia
» Putin Says He Won’t be Russia’s President for Life
 
Far East
» China Building Giant Island in South China Sea Large Enough for Airstrip: Report
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Boko Haram Kills 48 Fish Vendors in Northeast Nigeria
» Ebola-Hit Sierra Leone’s Late Cocoa Leaves Bitter Taste
» Massive Rail Deal Gives China’s Push Into Africa a Major Win
 
Immigration
» EU Border Operations: Who Will Save Migrants From a Watery Grave?
» Icelandic Interior Minister Quits After Immigration Scandal
» Immigrants Enrich Host Countries, Says Pope Francis
» Obama: I’ve ‘Been Very Restrained With Respect to Immigration’
 

Spain: 1,000 Euros a Month a Dream for One in Two Spaniards

Over one in three does not earn a minimum salary of 645 euros

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, NOVEMBER 21 — In Spain almost one salaried worker in two earns less than 1,000 euros a month and one in three does not get the minimum salary of 645 euros a month, according to 2013 data published on Friday by the tax collection agency, based on tax returns presented last year. According to the data, out of the 16.6 millon employed last year, 7.7 million had a salary of less than 1,000 euros, while 34% did not make the minimum salary.

The data included, among others, workers with short-term and part time contracts, almost all youths. In particular, 86% of 39,168 under-18 workers earned less than the minimum salary; while over 1.1 million workers aged 18 to 25, or 74.4% of the total, made less than 645 euros a month, or the minimum salary.

Recently, the European Commission slammed salary cuts in Spain following the economic crisis as “slow, ineffective and unjust”, given that they mostly affected workers with short-term contracts and not workers with open-ended contracts.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

12-Year-Old With Air Gun Dies in Cleveland Police Shooting

(CNN) — A Cleveland police officer responding to a call about a person with a gun fatally wounded a 12-year-old boy brandishing what turned out to be an air gun that looked very much like a real firearm, police said early Sunday.

The shooting Saturday afternoon came as the nation nervously awaited a grand jury decision on whether to charge the police officer who killed African-American teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in August.

The attorney for the family of the Cleveland youngster, who also was black, downplayed any possible racial connotations to the shooting.

“This is not a black and white issue. This is a right and wrong issue,” attorney Tim Kucharski said…

[Return to headlines]
 

America Has Been Warned: Edward Gibbon’s the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

by Virgil

Edward Gibbon’s famous work of history, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, was published in six volumes, from 1776 to 1788. And the first appearance of that work, of course,—in that evocative year of 1776—has led many to consider its significance to American history. Could America ever fall like that? Could America collapse like the Roman Empire?

So what went wrong? Why did Rome fall? One problem, as Gibbon makes clear, was the emergence of a welfarist “bread and circuses” policy for the city of Rome. The Empire had been so rich for so long that Rome itself had become a magnet for those looking for a soft life. From around the Empire, people made their way to the capital city.

And so what to do with them when they got there? Inside the city, the governing elites found it easiest to simply buy off the motley population with free food, and to keep them entertained with free shows.

As Gibbon puts it, Rome’s rulers aimed to “relieve the poverty and to amuse the idleness of an innumerable people.” He explains: “For the convenience of the lazy plebeians, the monthly distributions of corn were converted into a daily allowance of bread; a great number of ovens were constructed and maintained at the public expense.”

Moreover, to further pacify the population, the authorities arranged free shows for the public: “The Roman people still considered the Circus as their home, their temple.” As a result,

“From the morning to the evening, careless of the sun or of the rain, the spectators, who sometimes amounted to the number of four hundred thousand, remained in eager attention; their eyes fixed on the horses and charioteers, their minds agitated with hope and fear for the success of the colours which they espoused; and the happiness of Rome appeared to hang on the event of a race.”

If this bread-and-circuses policy doesn’t seem like a policy built to last—you’re right. It wasn’t. The Empire’s Roman core had been hollowed out, and by the Fifth Century, barbarians had overrun much of the realm.

[Return to headlines]
 

Chicago: Two Women Rescued From Building Collapse

(CBS) — Two women were rescued from the wreckage of a collapsed residential building Sunday night in the Washington Park neighborhood.

Firefighters swarmed the property at 58th Street and Calumet Avenue around 7 p.m. after reports of an explosion, and they pulled two women from the flattened property. The occupants were rushed to the hospital in serious to critical conditions; a dog reportedly also was rescued.

The fire department posted photos that showed a mass of rubble. A search continued for more people—and a definitive cause for the collapse. Neighbors told the media they heard a boom before the four-unit building collapsed…

[Return to headlines]
 

Gov. Andrew Cuomo: Evacuation Plans in Place in Buffalo Area

CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) — Gov. Andrew Cuomo says evacuation plans are being prepared and the Red Cross is setting up shelters as rising temperatures melt 7 feet of snow in the Buffalo area, causing a risk of flooding.

In his fifth day in Buffalo, Cuomo said Sunday that the only driving bans remaining in the area are in Lackawanna and South Buffalo as snow removal crews continue to dig out streets. He said the last exit remaining closed on the Thruway will open Sunday.

“If you live in an area that typically floods or has flooded … prepare to evacuate for a flood situation,” the governor said. “It’s not enough that your house has never been flooded before, right? There’s always a first time. And this may be the first time.”

[Return to headlines]
 

Objects Thrown at Tucson Mosque Lead to Evictions

TUCSON — Four residents of a high-rise apartment building primarily occupied by University of Arizona students have been evicted for allegedly hurling objects onto the Islamic Center of Tucson.

City Councilman Steve Kozachik told the Arizona Daily Star that the evictions are about protecting people, not about cultural sensitivity.

Kozachik says video from the center and mosque shows objects being thrown off a balcony that the four male residents share.

They received eviction notices Thursday and have until Monday to vacate.

Islamic Center officials say people from three nearby apartment complexes have pelted the property with beer and liquor bottles and other objects for more than a year.

An attorney for the building owners says residents will be evicted if it can be proven they threw objects.

           — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes [Return to headlines]
 

The Benghazi House Permanent Select Intelligence Committee Report is a “Whitewash”.

Sunday morning at Brunch with long term family friends in Pensacola, we discussed the cares of the world. We brought up the Final Report of the House Permanent Select l Intelligence Committee (HPSIC) on Benghazi , chaired by outgoing chairman Mike Rogers (R-MI). The husband, a talented researcher at a North West Florida think tank that contract research with DARPA had a one word comment, “whitewash”. He said it was all about process and not substance.

Saturday, in preparation for a Lisa Benson National Security Radio Show segment on the House Select Intelligence Committee Benghazi report, we held a conference call with KenTimmerman, author of Dark Forces: The Truth About What Happened in Benghazi and Dick Brauer, a member of the Citizens’ Committee on Benghazi and one of the Founders of Special Operations Speaks. Brauer is a retired USAF Col. And former commandant of the Special Operations School at nearby Hurlburt Field here in Northwest Florida. While Timmerman thought the report was ‘lame,’ the consensus of opinion on the call echoed my brunch partner’s comment today. Timmerman suggested that the HPSIC Report needed a definitive review. Brauer, who will provide critical comments on the Lisa Benson Show this afternoon, had this revelation:…

Larry Johnson resonated these observations in a post on his blog, No Quarter, The Bengazi Whitewash from the House Intelligence Committee. Johnson rebuts the HPSIC findings.

           — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon [Return to headlines]
 

Tony Blair Honoured With Save the Children’s Global Legacy Award at Charity Gala Attended by Ben Affleck and Lassie

Tony Blair was last night recognised for his humanitarian work at a glamorous gala to raise funds for a global children’s charity — in front of guests including Lassie the dog.

The controversial former Prime Minster received the Global Legacy Award at the Save the Children Illumination Gala 2014, which was held at The Plaza in New York City.

The star-studded event boasted a guest list featuring Save the Children President and CEO Carolyn Miles, acting couple Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner and Twilight actress Dakota Fanning — as well as the much-loved collie dog.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

U.S. Army Base in Texas on Lockdown After Suspicious Vehicle Found

(Reuters) — A lockdown was ordered at a U.S. Army base in San Antonio on Sunday night in what a military spokesman described as a “high-security incident” while adding there was no threat.

One person was under arrest at Fort Sam Houston and a suspicious vehicle was found in the middle of the post, spokesman Alex Delgado said.

He did not know what prompted officials to view the vehicle as suspicious. He said there were no injuries.

Delgado said a “state of full lockdown” would remain in place during the investigation. The driver of the car was being detained while base officials investigated, Delgado said.

“There were no other passengers in the vehicle and emergency personnel report no other individuals are suspected of being involved,” he said.

Fort Sam Houston is a highly secure facility with guards posted at all vehicle entrances…

[Return to headlines]
 

New University of Regina Bathroom Facilities Help Muslim Students Prepare for Prayer

The University of Regina is going to great lengths to help its Muslim students avoid doing the same when washing for on-campus prayer sessions.

The university has installed “foot-baths” in a public washroom at its Riddell Centre, in order to allow Muslim students — many of whom pray numerous times a day, and wash themselves beforehand — to clean their feet in a way that isn’t awkward and difficult through a use of regular sinks.

“I’ve seen them do it. It’s tough for them,” Nathan Sgrazzutti, president of the U of R Students Union, said on Tuesday of the troubles that many of the more than 700 practising Muslims at the campus had experienced when preparing for prayers.

“We’re showing our ability to cater to their needs.”…

           — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes [Return to headlines]
 

Austria: Population Will Reach 9.6 Million in 2060

More & more elderly people,in 50 years in Vienna 42% foreigners

(ANSA) — TRIESTE — In 2013, Austria’s population amounted to 8.48 million. In 2030, according to projections that take into account fertility, mortality and migration processes, the Austrians will be 9.19 million (+8%) and 9.62 million in 2060 (+13%), according to estimates by Statistik Austria. The demographic change should be non-homogeneous: Vienna should record “the biggest increase in population by 2060” (+ 25%), followed by Lower Austria (+ 17%), Tyrol and Vorarlberg (+16%), Upper Austria (+11%), Burgenland (+10%). Stagnation in Styria (+ 4%), whereas there will be a decrease in Carinthia’s population (-7% in 2060).

This population growth will also be accompanied, as usual, in the Western world, by an “aging”. Children and young people under-20 in 2060 will account for 19% of the population (compared to 20% in 2013). At the national level, the number of elderly people will grow , from 18% in 2013 to 29% in 2060, with peaks in Carinthia (34%) and Burgenland (33%), which are already the regions that have the highest percentages of elderly people in Austria. Vienna, on the contrary, will remain the “youngest” city (elderly, 23% in 2060). The average age in Austria will increase from 42.1 in 2013 to 46.9 in 2060. In 2013, 1.37 million people were born abroad, but they live in Austria (16%); they will be 22% in 2030 (1.99 million, + 44%) and 26% in 2060 (2.47 million, + 80%). In Vienna, the percentage will rise to 42%.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

French Union Urges Hollande to Honor Mistral Deal

One of the French biggest union federations, Workers’ Force, has urged Paris to fulfill the Mistral deal and deliver the two warships to Russia, otherwise 2,500 shipyard employees may lose their jobs.

The union expressed “shock and outrage,” Le Figaro reports, after Paris postponed the delivery on the Mistral helicopter carriers to Russia due to pressure from the US and EU, which imposed several waves of sanctions against Moscow after Crimea joined Russia over the Ukraine crisis.

President Francois Hollande’s decision has put 2,500 workers at risk of redundancy, which is absolutely unacceptable, Workers’ Force representatives told Le Figaro newspaper.

“It would’ve been great if the first ship is delivered so that we have a chance to finish the second one,” an employee at the Saint-Nazaire shipyard, where the mistral ships are built, said.

Workers’ Force (Force Ouvrière) is the third largest union federation in France, with over 300,000 members.

Russia and France signed a €1.12 billion ($1.6 billion) contract for two Mistral-type ships in June 2011.

Under the deal, Russia was supposed to receive the first of the two warships, the Vladivostok, in October this year, but the mood in Paris changed.

A high-ranked source in Moscow told RIA-Novosti news agency on Friday that France has until the end of November to deliver the vessel, or face a large penalty for violating the contract.

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

Italian Meat Exports to Russia Drop Due to EU Sanctions

From Eur 59,6 mln in 2013 a to 9,7 mln in January-July 2014

(ANSA) — VERONA — The export of Italian meat to Russian Federation dropped from 56,9 million euros in 2013 to 9,7 million in the first seven months of 2014 — 55,9% less than in the same period of the last year. In 2011-2013 Italy was the 18th biggest meet importer to Russia, while currently it is 22nd. The data, elaborated by the Italian Institute for foreign trade (ICE), was illustrated in Verona during an event dedicated to foreign meat markets.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Govt Move to Put RAI Tax on Electric Bill Incurs Wrath

Assorted opponents call move ‘barbaric’, ‘ìllegal’

(ANSA) — Rome, November 21 — The economy ministry said Friday the government’s plan to include Italy’s public TV viewing tax in electric bills under its 2015 budget will cut down on the high rate of evasion.

All Italians who own a TV set are required to pay the tax, which goes to support RAI public broadcaster along with government subsidies. Under planned government reform, the tax would amount to an average of 60 euros a year per household, among the lowest in Europe, the economy ministry said in a simulation ANSA was able to preview Friday.

The idea of including the tax on electric bills was denounced as “barbaric” and “illegal” by Federconsumatori and Adusbef consumer groups.

Meanwhile the opposition separatist Northern League said the tax should be abolished altogether and Energy Authority chief Guido Bortoni said the move might be “improper”.

“It would be difficult to apply,” he said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Jihadi Attack on UK ‘Inevitable’: Police Fear a Beheading by ‘Lone Wolf’ In Shopping Centre and Farmers Are Told to Lock Up Fertiliser to Foil Bombers

Britain is facing an ‘almost inevitable’ attack by fanatics who have been ‘militarised’ by Islamic State, according to police and security officials.

In speeches today, Theresa May and senior police will warn that the ‘diverse’ terrorist threat posed by jihadis returning from Syria and Iraq is one of the greatest this country has ever faced.

Potential attacks could range from a ‘lone wolf’ beheading in a crowded shopping centre or street, to a bomb plot using fertiliser stolen from British farms. One Whitehall official told the Mail: ‘It is almost inevitable that something is going to happen in the next few months.’

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Norway: ‘I Had a Feeling Today Was the Day!’: Carlsen

Chess superstar Magnus Carlsen lifted the Chess World Championship in Sochi after he defeated India’s Viswanathan Anand in the eleventh match of the series, on Sunday.

A smiling Carlsen was met by applause when he came to the press conference after the game.

The 23-year-old Norwegian said: “I’m happy and relieved. It was a hard match from the start, and today was one of the toughest days of all.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Romania Arrests Organised Crime Chief Prosecutor Over Corruption

Romania’s chief prosecutor tasked with investigating organised crime and terrorism was on Saturday arrested on corruption charges over a real estate deal alleged to have cost the government over 60 million euros ($75 million), local media reported.

The country’s Supreme Court ordered Alina Bica to be remanded in custody for 30 days over the 2011 case.

Anti-corruption investigators allege that Bica, as a member of a commission charged with returning property seized by the former Communist regime, knowingly approved a compensation package for land that was strongly overvalued.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Former Scotland Yard Detectives Say Young Boys Were Murdered by Westminster Paedophile Ring

Two retired detectives have reportedly backed claims that young boys were murdered by politicians at paedophile orgies.

The claims, said to be in new written statements handed to the Metropolitan Police, have emerged just a week after a witness called ‘Nick’ claimed he saw a Tory MP throttle a 12-year-old boy to death.

Scotland Yard has already confirmed it is examining a ‘possible homicide’ committed 30 years ago by a paedophile ring whose ranks included senior Establishment figures.

The revelation came as the Home Secretary Theresa May admitted the recent spate of child abuse allegations were only the ‘tip of the iceberg’.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

10 Extremists Killed, Other 18 Arrested in North Sinai

The Egyptian Armed Forces killed 10 alleged extremists and arrested 18 others were arrested in raids conducted in the cities of Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid, North Sinai.

Official sources also report the army destroyed 11 motorbikes and 15 shelters being used to harbor extremists, and seized three vehicles and several army uniforms.

The military also discovered seven bombs and a field hospital allegedly used to treat injured militants, which were destroyed.

The troops did not suffer loses in the raids and are expected to resume until the whole area is combed.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Egypt Accuses Brotherhood Figure of Spying for U.S., Norway

An Egyptian court on Saturday accused a recently arrested member of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood for allegedly spying for the United States and Norway, state-owned Ahram Online reported.

Mohammad Ali Bishr is reportedly a prominent figure in the Brotherhood and a former minister under toppled President Mohammad Mursi, who also hails from the group.

Bishr was detained on Thursday at his home in the governorate of Menoufiya, in the Nile Delta, on charges of espionage.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Egypt Could Send Forces to Stabilise Future Palestinian State: El-Sisi

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said in an interview published Sunday that he would be prepared to send troops to a future Palestinian state to help stabilise it.

El-Sisi, who begins his first European trip on Monday since the ouster of his Islamist predecessor, made the comments in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

He is due to visit France and Italy, while the trip will also include a meeting with Pope Francis.

The Egyptian leader said he would send forces to a future Palestinian state in agreement with Israel and the Palestinian authority.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italian Jewish Migration to Israel Booming in 2014

Biggest exodus in 40 years, ‘motivated by crisis and prejudice’

(ANSAmed) — JERUSALEM, NOVEMBER 21 — An estimated 300 Italian Jews are expected to emigrate to Israel this year in the biggest such exodus to the Jewish state from the peninsula in some 40 years, an Italo-Israeli demographer, Sergio Della Pergola, disclosed Friday.

The figure represents 1.1% of Italy’s Jewish population, Pergola told ANSA.

While the number is relatively small, their demographic impact on the Jewish community registered in Italy of some 25,000 is significant, he adds.

Those emigrating are motivated by the economic crisis in Italy as well as “endemic” prejudice and anti-Semitism in the media, on the Internet, and vast sectors of parliament, Pergola said.

“We must give credit to the Italian government for taking a clear stance on the matter, beginning with President (Giorgio) Napolitano,” he said. “It is not the political class that is responsible, but rather the mechanism that solders old prejudice against Jews to the new anti-Semitism linked to the relations between the Jews and Israel”.

The anti-Semitism Italian Jews experience, however, is nowhere near the physical danger Jews living in Israel currently face.

“In Italy there almost zero attacks, but the discomfort persists,” Pergola said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Are the P5+1 Negotiations With Iran an “Unmitigated Disaster”?

The deadline is looming Monday, November 24, 2014 for a proposed final agreement with Iran over its nuclear program. Don’t count on it. The British, French and even the US say that “huge gaps remain”. If any alternative remains it is likely to be an extension given major problems that have arisen including the P5+1 caving to Iranian refusal to disclose information to the UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA. As of yet, Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif hasn’t decamped to confer with Ayatollah Khamenei and President Rouhani about the terms of a deal. At best there might be a statement of principles or a so-called Framework Agreement necessitating another interminable round of negotiations to complete. Iran is alleged to be in possession of enough fissile material to achieve nuclear breakout within months, if not weeks. Secretary Kerry has engaged in debriefing sessions with querulous allies Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates endeavoring to mollify them regarding the terms of an accord, which sources say has already been hammered out save for resolution of gap issues. Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) said in a Washington, DC Capitol Hill briefing on November 20, 2014 suggesting that Saudi Arabia might prevail on Pakistan, the repository of the Islamic bomb, to provide it with some nukes. The Kingdom may have underwritten the costs of development of the Pakistani nuclear arsenal. This hypothetical action by the Kingdom could trigger dangerous proliferation in the Middle East with Sunni Salafist Islamic State lurking in the background.

Among those gaps that were objectives in the original P5+1 plan of action that Iran has refused to budge on are:

Dismantling of Iran’s nuclear enrichment and plutonium development facilities;

Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium that can be quickly converted to fissile material for a bomb;

Disclosure by former IAEA Deputy Director Ollie Heinonen that Iran has more than five times the advanced IR2m centrifuges capable of creating fissile materials for a bomb from 3.5 % enriched uranium;

Iran refusal to reveal extent of nuclear trigger warhead research;

Iran refusal at stand down from completion of the Arak plutonium reactor;

The P5+1 passing on ballistic missile development investigations;

President Obama’s letter to Ayatollah Khamenei entreating the Supreme Ruler to conclude a nuclear agreement seeking assistance for the war against Sunni extremist ISIS from Shiite Iran, a major sponsor of state sponsored terrorism;

Iran’s atrocious human rights record under so-called ‘moderate’ President Rouhani and the unlawful detention of American citizens;

Lifting of economic and financial sanctions that have enable Iran to evade a punishing economic recession, save for the recent 25% drop in oil prices impacting the country’s revenues and hard currency reserves.

In the words of veteran Iran watcher Ken Timmerman, the P5+1 negotiations with the Islamic Republic have been “an unmitigated disaster”?

To assess the extent of that looming ‘disaster” and significant gaps, the following are expert panel; discussions and interviews that were conducted in Washington and Vienna in the closing days of the P5+1 negotiations with Iran. This is an expanded version of an earlier post by this writer at Dr. Rich Swier’s eMagazine, Expert Panel on Negotiations with Iran Over Nuclear Program.

           — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon [Return to headlines]
 

Muslim MP: 2,000 Britons Fighting for Islamic State

As many as 2,000 Britons are fighting alongside Islamist militants in Syria and Iraq, a senior Muslim MP has claimed.

Officials had suggested that the number of British jihadists within the ranks of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) and other terrorist groups was about 500.

However, Khalid Mahmood, the Labour MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, a constituency with a significant number of Muslims, has suggested this was a fourfold underestimate of the number of British jihadists fighting in the region.

“The authorities say there are 500 British jihadists but the likely figure is at least three to four times that,” he said. “I think 2,000 is a better estimate. My experience in Birmingham is it is a huge, huge problem.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Muslims Discovered the Americas, Claims Turkish President

By Berivan Orucoglu

Every week, there is a controversial incident or statement from Turkey that is difficult to explain to the American public. For this week’s outlandish remark, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed that the Americas were actually discovered by Muslims back in the 12th century, three centuries before Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic.

According to a U.S. State Department source who spoke on condition of anonymity, under President Erdogan, Turkey behaves more like a Middle Eastern country — not a European one — with every passing day, and this makes it tough for her Western friends to support Ankara.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Saudi Arabia: Ban on Women in Restaurants Draws Praise and Criticism

A move by some restaurants in Saudi Arabia to ban women from their premises has drawn praise and criticism on social networks.

As “Women are not allowed” signs have been spotted in front of some restaurants in the kingdom, people took to the social networks to express their displeasure or their satisfaction with the merit and implication of the unusual situation.

National Society for Human Rights Secretary General Khalid Al Fakhri called for their immediate removal, saying that the restaurant owners acted on their own discretion and insisting that they broke the law, Al Hayat daily reported.

One restaurant owner said he felt the need to ban women from the premises as a strict policy in order to avoid possible problems following a series of harassment cases.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Putin Says He Won’t be Russia’s President for Life

Vladimir Putin has said he won’t remain Russia’s president for life and will step down in line with the constitution no later than 2024, according to an interview with a Russian news agency released Sunday.

Putin, 62, has effectively led Russia since he was first elected in 2000. He stepped aside after two four-year terms to abide with constitutional term limits, but retained power as prime minister and was elected in 2012 to a six-year term.

Putin said his decision on whether to run for a fourth term in 2018 will depend on the situation in the country and his “own mood.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

China Building Giant Island in South China Sea Large Enough for Airstrip: Report

China is constructing a giant island in disputed waters in the South China Sea that could be used as an airstrip.

Satellite images provided by the defense and security group IHS Jane’s show the China is building what appears to be an offshore airstrip in the Spratly Islands, Reuters reported Friday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Boko Haram Kills 48 Fish Vendors in Northeast Nigeria

Boko Haram gunmen killed 48 fish vendors in Nigeria’s restive Borno State, near the border with Chad, the head of the fish traders association told AFP on Sunday.

“Scores of Boko Haram fighters blocked a route linking Nigeria with Chad near the fishing village of Doron Baga on the shores of Lake Chad on Thursday and killed a group of 48 fish traders on their way to Chad to buy fish,” Abubakar Gamandi said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Ebola-Hit Sierra Leone’s Late Cocoa Leaves Bitter Taste

Cocoa farmer Sam Turner grips tight as his bike wobbles along the country track in Ebola-hit eastern Sierra Leone, groaning under the weight of beans harvested a month late.

The arable district of Kenema — at the centre of the outbreak of the deadly epidemic in May — has been under quarantine for three months and its once-abundant, verdant landscape is going to seed.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Massive Rail Deal Gives China’s Push Into Africa a Major Win

The China Railway Construction Corporation’s eye-popping $12 billion deal to build an 870-mile railroad in Nigeria is the biggest single overseas contract in Chinese history and will boost the country’s manufacturing sector just as its overall economy shows some signs of slowing. That’s not the only upside for China, however: the deal will also give Chinese firms more of a foothold in Africa’s biggest economy.

The contract to link Lagos with Calabar, a city in eastern Nigeria, is of a part with China’s headlong rush into Africa, where it has built or proposed tens of billions of dollars in infrastructure projects, partly to secure needed supplies of natural resources.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

EU Border Operations: Who Will Save Migrants From a Watery Grave?

By Stefania Summermatter, back from Pozzallo

In one year, the number of migrants landing in Italy almost trebled, from 60,000 in 2013 to 165,000 at the end of October 2014

With the launch of operation Triton to replace Italy’s Mare Nostrum, which has rescued 150,000 people, the European Union has redefined its priority as securing its Mediterranean border. swissinfo.ch went to Sicily to witness the situation on the front line.

The frigate Aliseo has arrived in the port of Pozzallo in the early morning. It is the beginning of October and operation Mare Nostrum is drawing to a close. Huddled together on deck are 435 migrants, including eight women and a child, mainly from sub-Saharan Africa. They set out a week ago from the coast of Libya. They have spent three days on the open sea and four on board one of the 32 ships the Italian navy has assigned to operation Mare Nostrum.

The operation’s Latin name, meaning “our sea”, recalls the term the ancient Romans used when referring to the Mediterranean, and indicates a taking of responsibility for what goes on offshore.

“They were travelling on three rubber dinghies and got stranded 70 miles [113 kilometres] from the Libyan coastline in international waters,” explains Mario Giancarlo Lauria, captain of the Aliseo. “The first thing we had to do was calm them, because even a small amount of movement can be fatal. One of the dinghies was taking on water — we got there just in time.”

For over a year now, Italy has been coming to the aid of migrants in the Mediterranean and has been asking for European Union involvement, but in vain.

Mare Nostrum

Launched in October 2013, operation Mare Nostrum has rescued more than 150,000 migrants from the Mediterranean, of whom around 18,000 were children.

The EU has responded by launching on November 1 “Triton”, an operation focused on patrolling the border and combatting people-smuggling. Search and rescue are no longer a priority…

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

Icelandic Interior Minister Quits After Immigration Scandal

Iceland’s minister of the interior quit on Friday after her assistant was convicted last week of illegally leaking information about an asylum seeker to media a year ago.

Gisli Freyr Valdorsson had admitted to leaking information about Nigerian Tony Omos, who was due to be deported last year when a protest began to keep him in the country, and was given a two year suspended sentence.

The North Atlantic island of 320,000 people had 79 refugees and 279 asylum seekers as of January 2014, according to UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Immigrants Enrich Host Countries, Says Pope Francis

(AGI) Vatican City, Nov 21 — Immigrants enrich host countries, Pope Francis said at the World Congress on the Pastoral Care of Migration on Friday. “In effect, receiving nations draw advantages from employing immigrants for production needs and national prosperity, not infrequently filling gaps created by the demographic crisis,” he said. “In turn, the nations which migrants leave show a reduction in unemployment and, above all, benefit from earnings which are then sent back to meet the needs of families who remain in the country”. “Sadly, migrants often experience disappointment, distress and loneliness. In effect, the migrant worker has to deal with the problem of being uprooted and needing to integrate,” said the Pope. “In the receiving nations, we also see difficulties associated with migrants settling in urban neighbourhoods which are already problematic, as well as their difficulties in integrating and learning to respect the social and cultural conventions which they find. Turning to the Catholic Church itself, he said: “Here the Church also seeks to be a source of hope: she develops programmes of education and orientation; she raises her voice in defence of migrants’ rights; she offers assistance, including material assistance to everyone, without exception, so that all may be treated as children of God.” At Friday morning mass in Santa Marta, he said: “How often when we enter a church do we see, even today, a price list hanging there ‘for baptism, blessings, Mass intentions’. And people are scandalised. So when the Church or churches start doing business, then it is said that … salvation is not so free …

this is why Jesus takes the whip to hand to carry out this act of the purification of the Temple … I think of how our attitude can scandalise people with unpriestly habits in the Temple: the scandal of doing business, the scandal of worldliness,” he concluded.

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

Obama: I’ve ‘Been Very Restrained With Respect to Immigration’

President Barack Obama claimed he has been “restrained” on immigration and that his position on executive actions has not changed after he unilaterally granted temporary amnesty and work permits to millions of illegal immigrants.

On ABC’s This Week, Obama said that he has “been very restrained with respect to immigration” and has “bent over backwards and will continue to do everything I can to get Congress” to pass a more permanent and comprehensive executive amnesty bill.

When asked if his view of executive power has changed since he was a Senator, Obama replied, “it actually hasn’t.”

Not only has Obama previous said while president that he could not unilaterally act to stop all deportations because he is not a “king” or an “emperor,” then-Senator Obama blasted President George W. Bush in 2008 for his executive overreach.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

2 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 11/23/2014

  1. The University of Regina story notes a small, but utterly depressing episode in the downfall of the West.

    The money quote in the article comes from the dhimmi president of the Student Union, who is proud of his institution’s ability to, “…cater to their [Muslim] needs.”

    This is exactly the wrong type of attitude, especially since the attitude in dar-al-Islam is largely, “…you adapt to our culture, or else!”

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