A small anti-immigration protest was staged in Helsinki today, and there was also a demonstration at the border with Sweden. A group of pro-refugee demonstrators held their own event on the Swedish side of the border. Meanwhile, 4,500 illegal immigrants were rescued in one day off the coast of Libya.
In other news, Pope Francis arrived in the Western Hemisphere to visit Cuba and the United States.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Nick, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
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Resigned to Years of Austerity, Greeks Head to the Polls
For once, Greek politicians are not bearing gifts.
Six years into the country’s worst post-World War II financial crisis, Sunday’s early parliamentary election is not being fought over austerity, promised debt forgiveness, public sector jobs or tax breaks.
If anything, it’s about the — dim — prospect of political stability that might help restore some kind of economic normality to a country with 25 percent unemployment, severe banking restrictions and a crippling public debt.
Both front-runners, the radical left SYRIZA party and the center-right New Democracy party, accept, with varying degrees of grace, the new tax hikes and reforms that international creditors have demanded to keep Greece afloat.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Three Reasons Why the U.S. Government Should Default on Its Debt Today
It took the U.S. government from 1791 to 1916 (125 years) to accumulate $1 billion in debt. World War I took it to $24 billion in 1920; World War II raised it to $270 billion in 1946. Another 24 years were needed to add another $100 billion, for a total of $370 billion in 1970. The debt almost tripled in the following decade, with debt crossing the trillion-dollar mark in October 1981. Only four and half years later, the debt had doubled to $2 trillion in April 1986. Four more years added another trillion by 1990, and then, in only 34 months, it reached $4.2 trillion in February 1993. The exponential growth continued unabated. U.S. government debt stood at $18 trillion in 2015. Off-balance sheet borrowing and the buildup of massive contingent liabilities aren’t included. That may add another $50 trillion or so.
When interest rates rise again, even to their historical average, the U.S. government will find most of its tax revenue is going just to pay interest. There will be little left over for the military and domestic transfer payments.
When the government borrows just to pay interest, a tipping point will be reached. It will have no flexibility at all, and that will be the end of the game.
In principle, an unsustainable amount of government debt should be a matter of concern only to the government (which is not at all the same thing as society at large) and to those who foolishly lent them money. But the government is in a position to extract tax revenues from its subjects, or to inflate the currency to keep the ball rolling. Its debt indirectly, therefore, becomes everyone’s burden.
As I’ve said before, I think the U.S. government should default on not just some, but all of its debt.
There are at least three reasons for that. First is to avoid turning future generations into serfs. Second is to punish those who have enabled the State by lending it money. Third is to make it impossible for the State to borrow in the future, at least for a while.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Yet Another Election? Weary Greeks See Little Gain From Vote
Like many Greeks, Christi Psarra has no illusions about what the country’s third vote in less than a year will bring.
“On Sunday, we will wake up, go to the polling station and each one of us will vote for change, but nothing will really change in the end,” said the 30-year-old, who works for a shipping company. “Futile. That’s the only word that comes to mind when I think about the elections.”
As Greeks are summoned to the ballot box yet again — after a vote in January that brought former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to power and a referendum in July on the terms of the country’s European bailout — election fatigue has set in. Voters are bracing for more economic pain no matter who’s elected.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Democratic Donors Urge Biden to Challenge Clinton in U.S. 2016 Race
A group of prominent Democratic Party fundraisers on Friday began circulating a letter to encourage a hesitant Vice President Joe Biden to enter the 2016 race for U.S. president.
The signers are donors, Democratic activists and friends of Biden who have yet to throw their full support behind Hillary Clinton, the presumptive front-runner for the Democratic nomination to the November 2016 election. Their call is the most provocative yet for Biden to take her on and suggests a broad network backing the vice president is beginning to take shape.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Fake Hate? Is Clock Kid Furor All a Big Setup?
It is also being reported that in addition to the prayer vigil and the presidential invitation, Mohamed has reportedly been offered internships and jobs by numerous companies, including Twitter and Facebook.
Many are pointing out that the incident seems a trifle staged to fit the agenda of the groups pushing to publicize it, such as the Muslim lobbying group The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
A little digging has revealed that Mohamed’s father, Mohamed ElHassan Mohamed, is a known activist who has engaged in several stunts to call out what he has perceived to be anti-Islamic activity.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hoax Exposed: Muslim Student Ahmed Mohamed’s ‘Briefcase Clock’ Is 1970s Digital Alarm Clock
Ahmed Mohamed’s claims that he assembled a clock at home that he took to school is starting to unravel.
“Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It’s what makes America great.” President Barack Obama, September 16, 2015
It was a Hoax.
Ahmed Mohamed’s claims that he assembled a clock at home that he took to school is starting to unravel.
Two investigators who have studied the image of Mohamed’s device provided by Irving, Texas police have concluded that Mohamed did not make the clock. Both conclude that Mohamed disassembled a manufactured clock and installed it in a large pencil box without its casing. And both say it is possible it was done to provoke suspicion or to resemble a bomb…
Thomas Talbot posted a video to YouTube explaining the various parts in the photo of Mohamed’s briefcase clock belong to a manufactured alarm clock.
“Anthony”, writing at the blog Art Voice, detailed how Mohamed’s device is actually a 1970s digital alarm clock sold by Radio Shack.
“For starters, one glance at the printed circuit board in the photo, and I knew we were looking at mid-to-late 1970s vintage electronics. Surely you’ve seen a modern circuit board, with metallic traces leading all over to the various components like an electronic spider’s web. You’ll notice right away the highly accurate spacing, straightness of the lines, consistency of the patterns. That’s because we design things on computers nowadays, and computers assist in routing these lines. Take a look at the board in Ahmed’s clock. It almost looks hand-drawn, right? That’s because it probably was. Computer aided design was in its infancy in the 70s. This is how simple, low cost items (like an alarm clock) were designed. Today, even a budding beginner is going to get some computer aided assistance — in fact they’ll probably start there, learning by simulating designs before building them. You can even simulate or lay out a board with free apps on your phone or tablet. A modern hobbyist usually wouldn’t be bothered with the outdated design techniques. There’s also silk screening on the board. An “M” logo, “C-94” (probably, a part number — C might even stand for “clock”), and what looks like an American flag. More about that in a minute. Point for now being, a hobbyist wouldn’t silk screen logos and part numbers on their home made creation. It’s pretty safe to say already we’re looking at ‘70s tech, mass produced in a factory.
“So I turned to eBay, searching for vintage alarm clocks. It only took a minute to locate Ahmed’s clock.See this eBay listing, up at the time of this writing. Amhed’s clock was invented, and built, by Micronta, a Radio Shack subsidary. Catalog number 63 756.“
[Comment: This is what happens when POTUS gets involved in every little media kerfuffel to score brownie points. In this case POTUS comes out of it looking like a fool.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Lawmaker: Terror Intel Manipulation Dates Back to at Least 2012
The alleged manipulation of intelligence to downplay the strength of terror groups is far more extensive than previously reported and goes back to at least 2012, according to the Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee.
The Defense Department inspector general and congressional investigators are reviewing claims that intelligence on the Islamic State was manipulated to present a more positive picture of the U.S. strategy’s effectiveness. Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said these practices, though, extend to how intelligence on Al Qaeda was handled as well.
“I know for a fact this was going on in 2012, because I was told by informants that this was going on back then,” Nunes, head of the intelligence committee, told Fox News. “We thought this was foolish, to pull all of our troops out of Iraq, because we thought, just from our own work, that this would be bad, but the administration was able to say, ‘No, well, this is what the intelligence says.’“
While President Obama early last year, in an interview with The New Yorker, referred to ISIS as the “JV team,” and has described Al Qaeda as “decimated,” Nunes’ suspicions were further confirmed by a 2013 incident at Florida’s U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM).
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
The record is clear: Obama has lied about his Marxist and Muslim backgrounds. The American people have every right to be suspicious of him.
An ordinary citizen who identified President Barack Obama as a Muslim at a Donald Trump town hall meeting in New Hampshire showed that media brainwashing on the subject has been futile. The people understand that Obama asserts he is a Christian, but they just aren’t buying it. Obama has done too many things to benefit Muslims to convince people that he is not one of them.
The latest example was extending an invitation to a Muslim student to come to the White House after he was detained for possessing what appeared to be a bomb. It turned out to be a clock that looked like a bomb.
Naturally, the Obama White House treated this as a case of so-called Islamophobia, when pictures of the device demonstrated that care should have been taken and law enforcement should have been called. Obama refuses to identify Islamic terrorism as Islamic terrorism, but is quick to jump to conclusions about the supposedly anti-Islamic character of the American people. This is the mark of someone who is either strongly sympathetic to Islam, or a Muslim himself.
Robert Spencer has written an excellent article about Ahmed Mohamed’s suspicious-looking device and uncooperative behavior.
Our media are denouncing Trump for failing to “correct” the citizen who identified Obama as a Muslim. They flatly assert Obama is a Christian. The issue here is not Trump, but Obama.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Breaks Silence on No Response to Obama Muslim Comments, Says Not ‘Morally Obligated’
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Saturday defended his recent decision not to challenge a rally attendee’s claim that President Obama is a Muslim and “not even an American,” suggesting that defending the president is not his moral obligation.
“Am I morally obligated to defend the president every time somebody says something bad or controversial about him? I don’t think so!” Trump said in series of tweets Saturday morning.
Trump critics — including fellow GOP White House candidate South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham — have tried to use the exchange at the New Hampshire event Thursday night to knock back the GOP presidential front-runner and billionaire businessman.
“I was appalled,” said front-running Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Washington’s Prophecies: The Evils of Power
The American-born painter Benjamin West was in England painting the portrait of King George III. When the king asked what General Washington planned to do now that he had won the war, West replied: “ They say he will return to his farm.”
King George exclaimed: “ If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.”
The King was in disbelief as Washington’ s actions were in stark contrast to kings throughout history who killed to get power and killed to keep power.
George Washington gave up power again when, after having served two terms as president, he returned to his Mount Vernon farm. This was similar to Roman leader Cincinnatus, who twice led the Roman republic to victory in battle then returned to his farm, resisting the temptation to be dictator.
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The world stood amazed as President Washington delivered his farewell address, which was printed in the American Daily Advertiser, Sept. 19, 1796.
President Andrew Jackson commented on it in 1837: “ The Father of his Country in his Farewell Address … Washington … seemed to be … the voice of prophecy, foretelling events and warning us of the evil to come. … It is well known that there have always been those amongst us who wish to enlarge the powers of the General Government … to overstep the boundaries marked out for it by the Constitution.”
In his farewell address, Washington cautioned of dangers:
Unprincipled men usurp reins of government. “ And of fatal tendency … to put, in the place of the delegated will of the Nation, the will of a party; — often a small but artful and enterprising minority. … They are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the Power of the People and to usurp for themselves the reins of Government; destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion. … “
Party politics. “ Let me now … warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of Party. … This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its roots in the strongest passions of the human Mind. … It is seen in its greatest rankness and is truly their worst enemy. … Domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissention, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. … “ Despotism of an individual. “ But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an Individual … (who) turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty. … Ill founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. … “
Foreign influence. “ It opens the doors to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the Government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country, are subjected to the policy and will of another. … “ Encroachment. “ The habits of thinking in a free Country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective Constitutional spheres; avoiding in the exercise of the Powers of one department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates the human heart is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. … “
Checks on political power. “ The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power; by dividing and distributing it into different depositories, and constituting each the Guardian of the Public Weal against invasions by the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern. … “
Usurpation. “ If in the opinion of the People … Constitutional powers be in any way particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent (of usurpation) must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit which the use can at any time yield. … “
Accumulation of debt. “ Avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertions in time of Peace to discharge the Debts which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear. … “
Foreign attachments. “ In the execution of such a plan nothing is more essential than that permanent … attachments for other (countries) should be excluded. … The Nation, which indulges towards another … an habitual fondness, is in some degree a slave … subservient to projects of hostility instigated by pride, ambition and other sinister and pernicious motives. A passionate attachment of one Nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favourite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest, in cases where no real common interest exist, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and Wars of the latter, without adequate inducement or justification. … “
Betrayal. “ By exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld: And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens … facility to betray, or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity: gilding with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption or infatuation. … “
Mislead public opinion. “ As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent Patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public Councils. … Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence, (I conjure you to believe me fellow citizens) the jealously of a free people to be constantly awake. … History and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of Republican Government. … “
Patriots become suspect. “ Real Patriots, who may resist the intrigues of the favorite (foreign nation), are liable to become suspected and odious; while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender their interests. … In offering to you, my Countrymen these counsels of an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression, I could wish … to warn against the mischiefs of foreign Intriegue. … “
Religion and morality. “ Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism who should labor to subvert these great Pillars. … Let us with caution indulge the supposition that Morality can be maintained without Religion. … Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national Morality can prevail in exclusion of Religious principle. … Morality is a necessary spring of popular government. … Who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation?”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Will China or Russia Attack the United States First?
I do not want to live through a war. My life is working, for most of you, your life is working. Unfortunately, there are enormously powerful forces, out there, that are intent on starting World War III. As my friend Ernie Hancock, from Freedoms Phoenix, has said many times, there are two kinds of people: Those that want to be left alone and those that will not leave them alone. Almost all of humanity wants to be left alone. Most every Jew, Muslim, Christian, atheist, gay, straight and agnostic just wants to be left alone so they can simply live their lives. Unfortunately, the central bankers who have hijacked the governments of the West, won’t leave us alone.
Sergei Naryshkin, chairman of the Russian State Duma, told Izvestia daily, on September 15, 2015,the following:
“World War III would be the last for the humanity. And strengthening of Russia’s defense potential, including the budgetary decisions passed by the State Duma, is done only for one purpose, which is to prevent the war.”
Jade Helm has taught us that our country is militarizing like we have never seen in the past. Our enemies are militarizing like we have never seen before. We are on a collision course with destiny and the words that we write and speak are empty at this point time in terms of serving to prevent the commencement of hostilities. Yes, we will still likely see America go into a martial law following the collapse of the dollar which could happen at anytime. However, the real danger to most of us lies in the utter destruction that will come from World War III. It almost feels as if nothing will save us from this impending scourge except for divine intervention.
One the key remaining questions is whether China or Russia will attack the United State first. In the past both countries have threatened to nuke the United State for intervening in Syria. Well, the United States is in the process of militarily intervening in Syria under the guise of chasing ISIS.
Here are some developing flash points quickly pushing our country to the brink of total war…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Are We Alone? Survey Finds No Sign of Advanced Alien Civilizations
Nearby galaxies in our universe show no signs of advanced alien civilizations — at least for now.
A new study that examined the most promising galaxies we can see out of a collection of 100,000 found no signs of the waste energy that such alien civilizations might generate, showing that they’re extremely rare, if not nonexistent. The galaxies were chosen because they emit a large amount of heat, but rather than being the byproduct of alien factories the emissions seem to come from less exotic, natural causes such as buildups of dust.
“Some of these systems definitely demand further investigation, but those already studied in detail turn out to have a natural astrophysical explanation,” study author Michael Garrett said in a statement. Garrett is a professor at the University of Leiden and the general and scientific director of ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ENI Invests Most in Italy, Says CEO Claudio Descalzi
(AGI) Rome, Sept 16 — Oil and gas production in Italy “could double within a decade, avoiding around 50 billion euro of imports and ensuring 25 billion extra revenue for state coffers, with more jobs for tens of thousands of people”, said Claudio Descalzi, CEO of Italian oil and gas giant Eni, in an interview published in Panorama magazine — on the newsstands from Thursday Sept. 17. “However, over the last 10 years Italian production has dropped from 400,000 to 200,000 barrels of equivalent per day,” he continued. Following the discovery of a giant gas field off the coast of Egypt, Mr Descalzi said that “in no other country do we invest as much as in Italy: almost 8 billion euros during the four-year plan from 2015 to 2018. We believe in Italy and not only with regard to the exploitation of its hydrocarbon resources. We have had great success in launching ambitious projects, such as the conversion of Venice and Gela, which by the end of the year will enable us to make all our businesses profitable — even those that have been losing money for years. And all this without shedding a single job.” Mr Descalzi also addressed the issue of excessive use of coal: “It seems paradoxical that its consumption in Europe will grow at the expense of gas. With falling prices the European quota mechanism has stopped working. Coal is cheap and is used in abundance despite producing so much CO2. Europe should find another way to make coal less competitive. But if the world aims to limit the temperature rise to two degrees, Europe cannot do everything by itself; with incentives for renewables and the trading of CO2 rights, in the end so many costs fall on European businesses, undermining their competitiveness against American and Asian producers. So Yes to the fight against CO2, but by everyone, not just Europe”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
France: ‘They May Have Decimated Charlie, But They Didn’t Kill It’
Survivors of Charlie Hebdo shootings describe horror of Paris attack in revealing new documentary
Two Charlie Hebdo survivors have spoken out about the horror they witnessed in January, when two Al-Qaeda-linked extremists marched into their office and shot dead 12 of their colleagues.
Joint owners of the magazine, Eric Portheault and Laurent Sourisseau, described how the team persevered through the horror of the attack and the grief of losing their friends in order to publish another edition just days after the shootings.
They spoke out at the premier of a new documentary about the Paris shootings, screened for the first time at the Toronto Film Festival.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Gas Market Integrates Into EU
(AGI) Rome, Sept 15 — The Italian gas market aims to become more fluid and integrated with other European markets, as new supplies become available and translate into more competitiveness, for the benefit of both consumers and businesses. This is the effect of new rules approved by the Energy Authority at the end of an innovation process that began a few months ago, the authority announced. The Authority’s resolution 436/2015/R/GAS has approved the documents that enable the markets of third countries to access the Italian market, via the Gestore Mercati Energetici (GME), thus expanding the range of futures with physical gas delivery. The agreement between GME and Snam has been updated, as has access to the Virtual Exchange Point 2 (VEP). The new regulations will favour an expanded offer of futures with deliveries to the VEP from the so-called third bourses’ markets, which run platforms that negotiate products physically delivered to the continent’s major hubs. The greater fluency of the Italian market enables the price benchmark to become more solid and representative in the long run, so that it may also become increasingly objective and structural in Italy. The update of the Snam-GME agreement and the access conditions to the VEP regulate the terms of reference and management of information flows needed to enable the GME to register net payments to the VEP, on behalf of third bourses, for transactions made on the markets these bourses manage.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Grillo Gets One-Year Suspended Sentence for Defamation
For insulting university professor
(ANSA) — Ascoli Piceno, September 14 — A judge here handed a suspended sentence of one year to 5-Star Movement (M5S) leader Beppe Grillo on Monday, for defamation of university professor Franco Battaglia.
Grillo publicly insulted Battaglia during a speech on nuclear energy in May 2011 in the town of San Benedetto del Tronto, over an appearance Battaglia had made on the TV program Anno Zero. Referring to Battaglia’s comments, Grillo said, “You can’t let an engineer (…) go on television and say, with nonchalance, that no one died in Chernobyl. I’ll kick your ass, I’ll throw you out of television, I’ll report you to the police and send you to jail”.
Battaglia testified that his car was also vandalised and he received a “strange phone call” prior to the act of vandalism.
Grillo was ordered to pay a fine of 1,250 euros, and Battaglia was awarded compensation of 50,000 euros.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Jubilee a ‘Boon’ For Prostitutes in Its Early Centuries
Period when large-scale works like Trevi Foundation were built
(ANSA) — Rome, September 16 — In over seven hundred years of history, the Jubilee has changed drastically.
The first ‘holy years’ were under two highly controversial popes known for their ‘lack of spirituality’: Boniface VIII, who proclaimed the first Jubilee in 1300, and Alexander VI, the Borgia pope who acknowledged fathering several children by his mistresses. The pilgrimage began as a way to request “indulgences”: those baptized continued to sin and the punishments were often too harsh. Thus, it was seen as better to travel to Rome to ask for forgiveness for the sins committed. Those who did not want to bother with the months-long trip could make a cash donation instead. And so, between the people arriving in Rome and the donations sent by those who stayed home, “the Jubilee, especially from 1400 onwards, was a chance to revive Rome — both before, as the city needed to be made decent, and afterwards, with the money raised during the holy year,” historian Lucetta Scaraffia said on Tuesday at a conference on the Jubilee organized by Greenaccord and Ordine dei Giornalisti.
And prior to the confraternities that organized the pilgrims’ arrival and stay, the holy year was a chance for businesses of ill repute and prostitutes to make a great deal of money. Over the first few centuries, “two-thirds of the pilgrims”, the historian said, “were men, for the most part young, who arrived in Rome after long journeys”. Prostitutes “worked” a great deal in those months and “even offered food and lodgings for money. Matteo Villani, who chronicled the 1350 Jubilee, wrote that ‘everyone in Rome became hoteliers’. The Jubilee has always been a source of wealth for the Romans,” she said, noting that “Cola di Rienzo went to Clement VI in Avignon in 1342 to ask the pope not only to return, but to call a Jubilee since Rome was in such bad shape.” And so, a Holy Year was held in 1350. The Jubilee was a chance for Rome to be “reborn” artistically as well. The inventor of the Jubilee himself, Boniface VIII, commissioned works by Arnolfo di Cambio and Giotto and ‘large-scale works’ were also erected — ones that have remained standing throughout the centuries and are now a symbol of the holy city. Scaraffia noted that the money from the 1450 Jubilee was used to purchase the Codices for the Vatican libraries. The Trevi fountain was built for the 1725 holy year and Jubilees were also behind the Spanish Steps and the Santo Spirito hospital, and the Grand Jubilee of 2000 was “a triumph for the Church, the only entity able to celebrate 2,000 years of history.” On December the Jubilee called by Pope Francis will start, an “anomalous one, outside of the established timelines and less Rome-centric. It will be a year of grace to acknowledge God’s mercy and a historic occasion to experience a very different Jubilee from the ones we’ve had thus far,” she said.
photos: Alexander VI, the Borgia pope, and Boniface VIII
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Fake Blind Man Caught Strolling, Directing Home Improvements
Accused of defrauding State of 60,000 euros
(ANSA) — Bagnara Calabria, September 18 — A fake blind man was found out strolling, taking part in events and directing home improvements in this small Calabrian town, tax police said Friday.
The 72-year-old man, who was not named, stands accused of defrauding the national disability benefit agency INSP of 60,000 euros since 2003.
His assets were seized.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Marino Urges AMA to Fire Nepotistic Hires
‘Do the right and lawful thing’ says Rome mayor
(ANSA) — Rome, September 18 — Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino said Friday waste management company AMA must fire employees who were hired thanks to nepotism. “AMA must now get on with the firings, as is right and lawful,” he said after a court said earlier in the day that it had found hires were made based on “cronyism and arbitrary reasons”.
“This confirms what we always said,” Marino added. “AMA must now proceed to the necessary firing of staff employed under work contracts the court has found to be null and void”.
The same court on May 27 sentenced Franco Panzironi, formerly the powerful head of AMA, and three other senior AMA managers to five years three months on abuse of office and other charges in connection with nepotism in hiring.
Also convicted were former personnel manager Luciano Cedrone, former examining commission president Bruno Frigerio, and ex-legal office chief Gianfrancesco Regard.
Panzironi had been arrested previously in connection with the so-called Rome Mafia investigation into a crime syndicate made up of businessmen, gangsters and politicians that allegedly muscled in on lucrative Rome city contracts.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: House OKs Keeping Crimes on Public Record Forever
Abolished norm expunged crimes after perp turns 80 or dies
(ANSA) — Rome, September 17 — The Lower House on Thursday approved an amendment to a criminal justice system reform bill, abrogating an existing norm that expunges crimes from the public record after a convict turns 80 or dies, whichever comes first. The amendment was filed by the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S). The norm was decreed by then-president Carlo Azeglio Ciampi in 2002, the M5S said.
Mafia bosses “Bernardo Provenzano and Totò Riina have a clean record today,” said the M5S members of the House justice committee.
“This absurdity allows old politician convicts to re-enter parliament with a clean record”.
“The norm…is no longer compatible with longer life expectancy,” said Democratic Party (PD) House justice committee member Sofia Amoddio.
“Today, for example, nothing shows up on Riina, Provenzano and many other equally dangerous octogenarians”.
Onetime “boss of bosses” Salvatore ‘The Beast’ Riina was captured in 1993 and is serving several life sentences for crimes including the 1992 assassinations of anti-Mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino.
Riina’s successor until his arrest in 2006, Bernardo Provenzano, was nicked after 43 years on the run and was nicknamed “The Bulldozer” because of the way he “mowed down” his rivals. He is serving life for various murders including ordering the fatal bomb attacks on Falcone and Borsellino.
Both are subjected to the 41-bis treatment for Italy’s most dangerous criminals.
They are kept in solitary in maximum-security prisons, almost entirely cut off from the outside world in order to prevent further criminal activity.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Naples Officials Deny Camorra is ‘Integral Part’ of City
Anti-mafia commission head refuses to apologise for comment
(ANSA) — Naples, September 15 — Senior officials in Naples on Tuesday rejected claims by the head of Italy’s anti-mafia commission that the Camorra is an “integral part” of the city, arguing that it involves just a small group of citizens.
Rosy Bindi is visiting Naples this week as part of a mission for the anti-mafia commission and said on Monday that “the Camorra is an integral part of this society, this city, and this region”.
Naples Mayor Luigi de Magistris said on Tuesday that he did not agree with the comment at all and that he had jumped on his seat when he heard it.
“The majority of Neapolitans are tired of the Camorra and their bullying,” he said following a meeting with the commission.
Naples Chief Prosecutor Giovanni Colangelo also rejected the comments, saying that normal Neapolitans did not have a propensity to commit crime.
“Criminals represent a small percentage of the population compared to citizens who want to live in peace,” Colangelo said.
Bindi refused to apologise on Tuesday, saying that “not denying the Camorra is the first step to fighting it”.
Italian police on Tuesday arrested 44 members of the Russo family in the powerful Casalesi clan of the Neapolitan Camorra mafia.
Police said those arrested were suspected of involvement in a slot machine and video poker racket.
Five companies were impounded and various souped-up slot machines and video poker machines seized.
The Casalesis are the clan whose threats against Roberto Saviano have forced the Gomorrah writer into round-the-clock police protection.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Sittard Girl: Arrested on Terrorism Charges, Is Released From Jail
A 15-year-old girl from Sittard, held in a youth detention centre on suspicion of being a member of a terrorist gang, has been released into the care of social services.
A court in Rotterdam said on Thursday the girl should no longer be held in secure accommodation. Her lawyer, Björn Brinkman, told news agency ANP the girl will receive ‘help and guidance’.
The public prosecution department said the girl is not suspected of involvement in a ‘specific attack’ but would not say if she had plans to go to Syria or Iraq. Nor would they say if other people had been arrested in connection with the case, ANP reports.
The Telegraaf said on Wednesday, quoting ‘well-informed sources’, that the girl is of Somali origin and had lived in Sittard for some time with her mother and brother.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Really? Despite Strict Gun Control, Study Claims UK is “At Risk for More Mass Shootings”
In America, the anti-gun crowd is constantly calling for more sensible gun control laws. Most of them won’t demand an outright ban and confiscation of everything, but they will say that we need more thorough background checks, longer waiting periods, shorter magazines, etc. To them, it’s all very reasonable. Make it a little harder for the bad guys to get guns, and make the guns a little less dangerous.
The second amendment crowd on the other hand, wants none of that and for good reason. They always make the classic “slippery slope” argument. If we let the government take something away, where does it end?
If you want to see what’s at the end of that road, then look no further than the UK, a country that is apparently on the cusp of a new wave of mass shootings.
“A new study warns that gun massacres are likely in the UK in the absence of adequate gun control laws as over 1.8 million firearms are currently in the hands of British citizens.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Spanish Police Thwart Assassination Attempt Allegedly Paid for by Colombian Drug Cartel
Spanish police say they have arrested seven people in the southern town of Cala de Mijas on suspicion of planning to assassinate a businessman on orders from a Colombian drug cartel.
A police statement Saturday said the investigation began in 2014, when evidence emerged that a gang in Madrid was being paid 90,000 euros ($101,740) to travel south and kill “a Marbella resident and two bodyguards.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Liverpool Computer Geek Who Tried to Buy Ricin From FBI Agent on ‘Dark Web’ Is Jailed
Mohammed Ali, 31, from Liverpool, pictured, ordered five vials of the deadly poison unaware that the dealer was in fact an FBI agent who had alerted British authorities.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Met Police Set Up New Child Abuse Team
The Metropolitan police have set up a new team of 90 officers to deal with investigations into alleged attempts to cover up child abuse by high-profile figures.
At Scotland Yard, the Independent Police Complaints Commission is managing internal investigations into 29 allegations of police corruption in the handling of child abuse claims. Among the allegations are claims that special branch and senior police intervened to block investigations into high-profile figures, including politicians.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Muslim Plane Passenger Threatened Thomson Cabin Staff Because They Ran Out of Halal Food
Ibrar Zada, 25, (pictured) verbally abused two air stewardesses as he returned to Birmingham Airport on a Thomson flight from Hurghada International Airport in Egypt on March 27.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Research Shows Chocolate Mars Bars Have Shrunk 28% Since 1990s
New research backs up the complaint: many of our favourite chocolate bars have shrunk since the 1990s, even if they are now similar to the smaller sizes that were common in the 1980s.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Wales: The Signs Criminals Use to Alert Each Other to Homes That Are Worth Robbing
Trading standards chiefs in Wales have released images of the sinister ‘tags’ that criminal gangs are using to tell other would-be burglars how best to rob homes, and who to target.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
4,500 Refugees Rescued Off Libya in One Day
Twenty rescue operations Saturday picked up more than 4,500 people off the Libyan coast, according to the Italian coastguard, which was coordinating the response for yet another boat in distress in the Mediterranean.
Among those taking part was Doctors Without Borders ship Bourbon Argos, which told AFP it had rescued over 800 people, who were expected to be brought to safety in Italy along with the rest of those saved.
“We started before first light this morning with our first rescue. We rescued two wooden fishing boats and two rubber dinghies,” said Simon Burroughs, emergency coordinator for search-and-rescue missions by the medical group — commonly known by its French initials MSF.
Burroughs said those rescued included Eritreans, Nigerians, Somalis, Libyans, Syrians and West Africans.
The 20 operations took place between 30 and 40 nautical miles off the Libyan coast, and saw rescue workers pluck people from eight boats and 12 dinghies. The body of a woman was also recovered.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Firms: Sace: Operations Worth 1.4 Bln in Algeria, Morocco
Made in Italy on Algerian market can grow 5.8% a year
(ANSAmed) — ROME, SEPTEMBER 15 — There are new opportunities for Italian firms in Algeria where Sace is studying operations to support exports and investments worth a total of 1.2 billion euros, said the insurance and financial group that is currently visiting Algiers with Economic Development Minister Federica Guidi. The operations, the group also said, focus in particular on industrial technologies for oil and gas and for infrastructure and construction. According to Sace’s forecasts, which considers Algeria — eighth producer and fourth exported of gas worldwide — among countries with the greatest potential based on the export opportunity index (76/100), over the next four years Italian exports to Algeria will be able to grow an average of 5.8% a year, led by instrumental mechanics in its various sectors. Sace then confirmed its full availability in supporting exports and the internationalization of Italian companies in Morocco, the second stopover of the ministerial mission.
In the Maghreb country, the group has in fact studied new operations of some 180 million euros, in particular in the sectors of mechanics and transport, and observing with attention the strategic sectors of the country: investments in the mineral sector (phosphates), construction (civil construction and infrastructures) and manufacturing (agribusiness, chemical and refinery).
The Moroccan market, the note also said, is characterised by a political-operational context that is substantially stable and by a growing economy, open to investments and exchange, which is gaining a reputation as a hub of reference across the region thanks to free exchange agreements and commercial relations with partner countries (US, EU, EFTA and Arab countries).
In order to support Italian companies in the southern shore of the Mediterranean, Sace has recently set up a desk dedicated to the Middle East and North Africa, the second area in terms of exposure with some 4.9 billion euros, worth 13.2% of the group’s total exposure.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: North Africa: Researcher: Ongoing ‘Constitutional Emergency’
Sbailò, Europe must press for dialogue between Islamist leaders
(ANSAmed) — ROME, SEPTEMBER 15 — In the North African chaos “at stake is not only the geo-political stability of the area or of our social system, but also the credibility of democratic institutions and of our constitutional tradition”, concluded an editorial on the last issue of Federalismi.it, a magazine on Italian, comparative and European public law directed by Beniamino Caravita di Toritto.
The editorial was written by Ciro Sbailò, professor of comparative law at the University Kore in Enna, where he directs Skaj, the center of studies on Islamic constitutionalism.
According to Sbailò, there is a “constitutional urgency” in the Mediterranean that regards jurists so the political community and public opinion can have the tools to analyze the Islamic world and concretely manage emergencies (starting with those connected to migration flows).
The constitutionalist’s analysis starts from the concept of “Islamic re-expansion”. It is not only a demographic phenomenon, given that Islam is a “civilization with its own philosophy to organize public space and an inbred expansive ‘vis”‘, he said. Today, in particular, there is a strong ‘revival’ of Islam also in the West, especially among the young and researchers. “The conviction that European and American political models are irrevocably in crisis is becoming wider and getting stronger, not just because they are poor or without an ethical basis, but also because unable at this point to guarantee social justice and democratic representation”.
Meanwhile, this new expansion is taking place, as in the past, in the midst of a “civil war”: the Arab spring, jihadist attacks in the west and Africa, the stronger conflict between Shiites and Sunnis, the geo-political successes of the black Caliphate, rivalries inside the Islamic insurgence, the Libyan crisis, are all phenomena to be read as a whole, according to the researcher.
The North African chaos, which concerns Italy closely, is then a part of this war: for example, tensions between Egypt and Turkey on the situation in Libya.
Europe has relevant pressure tools, of a political and economic-financial nature: they should be used, according to Sbailò, mostly to force the main protagonists of Mediterranean Islam to cooperate. But it is important to identify the right interlocutors and not trust in past schemes (such as: military equals secular and democratic, Islamic brother equals fundamentalist and anti-West). Moreover, it is necessary to recognise the possibility of an “Islamic” way to constitutionalism, not following European and western experiences but potentially in conflict with some western values. The conflict should not be demonized but accepted and managed, for example, increasing occasions for researchers from both shores of the Mediterranean to discuss together. (
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
2 Rockets Fired From Gaza Strip Into Israel
2 rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel Friday evening.
The first rocket landed near Sderot around 8:00 pm with a second rocket intercepted by the Iron Dome a few hours later.
Israeli Air Force and Navy responded to the rocket attacks, the IDF reporting that three targets were struck in northern Gaza.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Palestinian Oktoberfest Back in Taybeh, A Christian Village Not Far From Ramallah
(by Michele Monni) — RAMALLAH — Following two years of highs and lows, locations seen as questionable and friction with the municipal council, Taybeh’s Oktoberfest (the first and only one in the Middle East) is back in a Palestinian Christian village not far from Ramallah.
Tomorrow and the next day will be the ninth edition of the festival created by the beer maker Nadim Khouri, who — with the help of his wife Maria and his brother — has since 2005 organized an event that has become a regular event for fans of Palestinian beer and for an ever-growing number of foreign tourists. Local media say that problems concerning the Oktoberfest began during the 2012 local elections and the resulting change in the town council. From 2005 until 2012, Khouri’s brother, David, had been the mayor of Taybeh, while the new mayor — Khouri says — demanded higher council taxes for the event and that all security expenses be paid by the organizers. After a several-months-long contest of wills, the Khouris decided to transfer the festival to an international hotel in Ramallah. The population was not pleased with the choice, as they felt it would change the spirit of the event and there would not be the same large musical events. Prices also rose. Last year — still amid arguing with the town council — the Khouris suspended the event and try to reach an agreement with the new mayor for the 2015 edition. The 2014 suspension enabled the Khouris to expand their business, and they began to produce and sell high-quality wine (Cabernet, Merlot and Sirah) that they market under the name ‘Nadim’, in honor of the master beer maker. “Taybeh represents our desire and that of many Palestinians, to celebrate multiculturalness through art, music and Palestinian gastronomic traditions,” Maria Khouri told ANSA.
“We are very happy that the festival has begun again, and with the Lord’s help it will surely be a success.” Many musical groups and dance companies from Japan, Brazil, Germany and Palestine will be taking part. The music will vary from traditional styles to jazz, indie, rock and hip-hop. ‘Godmother’ of the event will be Anoush Belian, the first Palestinian female body builder to get first prize at the prestigious National Amateur Body Builders’ Association (NABBA).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spanish Naked Clown Protest Flops After Sparking Outrage in Palestine
A Spanish clowning group has caused controversy after stripping off in front off the wall separating Israel and Palestine in protest at Israeli policy.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
15 Killed as Saudi-Led Planes Pound Yemen’s Sanaa
SANAA (AFP) — Air raids by Saudi-led coalition warplanes killed 15 people in Yemen’s capital in one of the heaviest nights of bombardment in months, aid workers and witnesses said Saturday.
One rescuer told AFP that at least 10 civilians were among the dead. “Ten members of the same family were killed in the Al-Falihi neighbourhood, in Sanaa’s old town,” he said.
Residents said four houses were destroyed by a bomb and that 15 other buildings were damaged in the strikes.
Witnesses said five Iran-backed Huthi rebels were killed in a raid on their position in the capital, which the Shiite fighters seized unopposed last year.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Activists: Al-Qaida Fighters Kill 45 Syrian Army Prisoners
BEIRUT (AP) — Activists say members of al-Qaida’s affiliate in Syria have shot dead at least 45 soldiers captured alive from a base in northwestern Syria last week.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday that 56 soldiers were killed in the Abu Zuhour air base that was captured by the Nusra Front and other militant groups on Sept. 9.
Mohammed Kanaan, an activist based in Syria, said the Nusra Front shot dead 45 soldiers adding that the “executions” took place on a runway in the air base. He said the killings occurred Friday.
The capture of Abu Zuhour air base was the latest in a series of setbacks for President Bashar Assad in Syria’s bitter civil war, now in its fifth year.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
AGI Signs Deal With Iran’s IRNA
(AGI) Rome, Sept 15 — AGI, Agenzia Giornalistica Italia, continues its global strategy, and integrates coverage of Middle East countries by signing a memorandum of understanding with Iran’s major news agency IRNA, the Islamic Republic News Agency. The agreement, supported by the Ambassador of Iran, Jahanbakhsh Mozaffari, was signed in Rome by AGI CEO Gianni Di Giovanni and IRNA President and CEO Mohammad Khoddadi. The agreement details a close synergy to develop primary information dissemination at a multimedia and integrated level as well as professional training events. Mr Khoddadi said: “We wish to welcome a further advance in relations between Italy and Iran. Rome’s stance on Iran’s development has always been positive and this agreement cannot but further contribute to improving international cooperation. Furthermore, with the new management under the aegis of the Iranian government, IRNA aims at boosting its activity with a special focus on economic matters, hence, the agreement with AGI, fits perfectly within the strategy we are pursuing.” Mr Di Giovanni said: “AGI is honoured to be the first western editorial agency to set forth on a cooperation with Iran after the cancellation of international sanctions. This decision was determinately supported by the Italian government as it opens before us a new era of hope, as Iran’s Foreign Minister, Mohommad Javad Zarif, very appropriately defined it.” AGI is one of Italy’s major news companies. Since 1950 it has provided news reports to support the editorial, institutional, economic and industrial sectors. AGI pursues its continuous development strategy at an international level, and in strategic areas in Italy, with its network of correspondents and partnerships in more than 50 countries and news released in seven languages 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammed’s Son Dies
Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammed’s son died on Saturday September 19 of a heart attack at the age of 34.
Sheikh Rashid was the 2nd child and eldest son of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s 22 children.
A three-day mourning period has been declared in Dubai. Since this Saturday morning local radios and TVs have broadcast Koranic verses.
He was a well-known sports figure in the UAE. He had participated in a number of international and local endurance competitions winning a number of prizes for the country. He was a keen horse lover.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Flash Floods Kill 10 People in Iran, 8 Others Missing
Iran’s state TV says flash floods triggered by heavy rains have killed 10 people in the capital, Tehran, and south of the country.
The report Saturday says the flash flood killed six in Tehran and four in the southern province of Hormozgan on Friday night.
At least eight people, including five members of the same family in Tehran, were still missing. Relief and rescue operations are underway.
Earlier in July, at least 11 people were killed in flash flooding in both Tehran and the northern province of Alborz.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Huge French Delegation Heads to Iran
A delegation of French politicians and representatives from more than 100 firms will go to Iran on Sunday to rebuild trade ties, following a July accord to curb Tehran’s nuclear programme.
The team is led by Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll and Trade Minister Matthias Fekl, who will open a new trade office in Tehran on 22 September.
France’s largest business lobby group, the Medef, will send a delegation that includes most CAC 40 companies — including oil major Total, planemaker Airbus and car manufacturer Peugeot — as well as small and medium enterprises with sectors as wide-ranging as agriculture, finance, luxury goods, pharmaceuticals, construction and transport.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
N. Cyprus: Water Pipeline From Turkey to Open on October 28
Around 75 mln cubic meters of water will be pumped from a dam
(ANSAmed) — NICOSIA, AUGUST 24 — The full switch-on of a pipeline pumping water from Turkey to Turkish-controlled northern Cyprus will take place on October 28, as reported by Famagusta Gazette. Onder Sennaroglu, the official responsible for the project, confirmed the new date during meetings in Ankara. The project has been blighted by delays, due to bad weather and rough conditions in the Mediterranean. The grand opening of the multi-million euro project was supposed to take place last month, to coincide with the anniversary if the Turkish invasion of the island in 1974. However, the Turkish Minister of Forestry and Water Affairs Veysel Eroglu, did conduct a ceremonial ‘fitting’ of a final component of the machinery last week.
Around 75 million cubic meters of water will be pumped from a dam in southern Turkey via a pipeline. The project, which includes a water treatment plant and water tanks, will cost 1.6 billion Turkish liras (576.3 million dollars). Turkish Cypriot officials say the project will be able to compensate for the projected water needs in northern Cyprus for the next 50 years, and the irrigation water will raise revenue in the farming sector.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia Says 100,000 Troops to Secure This Year’s Hajj
MECCA, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia has deployed 100,000 security personnel to oversee the annual Islamic hajj pilgrimage that begins on Tuesday, the Interior Ministry spokesman said, underscoring both the massive arrangements needed to secure one of the largest pilgrimages in the world and the multitude of threats the hajj faces.
“We always concentrate on hajj considering that a threat might exist,” Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki said. “We’ve been targeted by terrorism for years now and we know that we are a target for terrorist groups.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sheikh Rashid Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Ruler’s Son, Dies of Heart Attack
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Sheikh Rashid bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, a son of Dubai’s ruler and elder brother to the emirate’s heir apparent, has died at age 33. The United Arab Emirates state news agency WAM said Saturday that he died of a heart attack.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Jets Pound Islamic State-Held Palmyra
Syrian army jets carried out at least 25 air strikes on the Islamic State-held city of Palmyra on Friday, a group monitoring the war said, the second intense bombardment in two days of territory held by the militants.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it was one of the most sustained government bombardments of Palmyra.
The air strikes killed at least 26 people, including 12 Islamic State fighters, the British-based Observatory said.
On Thursday, Syrian jets had carried out at least 12 air strikes on Raqqa, Islamic State’s de facto capital in the north.
A source told Reuters this week that Syrian forces had started using new types of “very accurate” air and ground weapons supplied by its ally Russia.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Berlusconi Sparks Probe for Vintage Wine Quaff
There’s never a dull moment whenever Silvio Berlusconi and Russian President Vladimir Putin get together. Not only has Italy’s former prime minister been banned from entering Ukraine, but he is now embroiled in a probe after swigging a vintage bottle of wine with Putin in Crimea.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
East Ukraine Faces Winter Water Shortage Threat
European monitors warned Friday that war-scarred eastern Ukraine faced a severe water shortage this winter because shelling had destroyed much of the industrial region’s distribution pipelines.
The former Soviet republic has been in the throes of a 17-month pro-Russian uprising that has killed nearly 8,000 people and stripped the area of reliable access to power and other basic supplies.
A report prepared by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) — a Cold War body spearheading efforts to negotiate peace between Western-backed Kiev and the separatists — said the lives of tens of thousands were at stake…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Putin Moves to Establish Russian Military Base in Belarus
Russian President Vladimir Putin has backed the establishment of an airbase in neighboring Belarus. This marks Moscow’s latest move to project its military power abroad.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Abandoning Afghan War Zone in a Perilous Quest for Europe
KABUL, Afghanistan — Najim Rahim says that when he looks around his neighborhood in the northern city of Kunduz now, “I feel lonely.”
His friend Ahmad Ulomi, who worked in the photo shop down the street, gave up his photography studies and left with five family members, striking out across the Iranian desert on the way to Europe. The shop’s owner, Khalid Ghaznawi, who was Mr. Ulomi’s teacher, decided to follow him with his family of eight, and he put his business up for sale. Mr. Rahim’s friend Atiqullah, who ran the local grocery shop, closed it and also left for Iran with his wife. Another neighbor, Feroz Ahmad, dropped out of college and last week called from Turkey to say he was on his way to Europe.
All of that happened in the past two weeks as people in Kunduz are rushing to seize what many see as a last chance to make it to Europe, just as others are doing throughout Afghanistan.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia Forced to Act as Wildfire Haze Chokes South-East Asia
The Indonesian government has arrested executives from seven companies after air pollution from illegal forest fires forced thousands of people to flee their homes and schools had to be closed in neighbouring countries.
At its peak this month, there were almost 1200 fires burning across Indonesia — most of them lit illegally to clear land for palm oil and timber. This was higher than at any time over the past two years, according to NASA satellite data, analysed by Global Forest Watch.
A state of emergency has been declared in the worst-hit Riau province on the island of Sumatra and thousands of soldiers have been dispatched to fight fires. More than 22,000 acute respiratory tract infections have been reported in South Sumatra alone, with air pollution affecting people as far afield as Singapore and Malaysia. If the situation does not improve, this week’s Singapore Grand Prix may have to be cancelled.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Danger of the Syrian Refugee Crisis for Europe
As a Kashmiri Pandit whose family fled its ancestral land of Kashmir back in 1990 due to killings and rapes committed by Muslim terrorists (who were either Kashmiri Indians or former anti-USSR Mujahideens of Afghanistan deputed to Kashmir), well supported by our own Muslim neighbours, who turned against us overnight, in a (successful) bid to terrorize Hindus and make them flee, I feel saddened and pained that Europe is committing the same mistake.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Uzbek Government Restricts Pilgrimage to Makkah
The number of pilgrims is limited to 5,000, with red tape screening out most people. Ostensibly, the authorities fear the spread of Wahhabi fundamentalism.
Tashkent (AsiaNews/Forum 18) — Uzbekistan continues to limit the number of pilgrims allowed to travel to Makkah for hajj. It also imposes other restrictions, including on the hard currency needed for the journey.
The pilgrimage to Makkah is one of the five pillars of Islam, which every able-bodied Muslim should perform at least once in his or her lifetime.
The Uzbek population is around 27.5 million, 90 per cent Muslim. However, just over 5,000 are allowed this year to make the pilgrimage, the same number for pilgrims from Kyrgyzstan, whose population is a quarter of that of Uzbekistan.
The authorities officially screen all potential pilgrims. Before getting on a waiting list, applicants must present many documents — proof of residence, of good health, a recommendation from the mayor of their city, a certificate of charitable commitment, etc.
Those who are approved are required to respect a precise schedule for leaving and returning. An unwritten rule bans applicants under the age of 45.
However, such rules lead to corruption (favouritism and nepotism for certain pilgrims with connections), and make it harder for most pilgrims to fulfil their religious duty.
In fact, one dejected would-be hajji told Forum 18 says that if things stand as they are, her chance of travelling to Makkah will come when she is 205 years old.
The authorities have not given any reasons for their restrictions. However, it is very likely that they fear that once in Makkah, Uzbeks might be indoctrinated by Wahhabi fundamentalists.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The commander of US forces in the Pacific said ahead of a visit by President Xi Jinping to Washington that America should challenge China’s claim to territory in the South China Sea by patrolling close to artificial islands built by Beijing.
Admiral Harry Harris told a Senate hearing on Thursday that China’s building of three airfields on the islands and their further militarisation was of great concern militarily and posed a threat to all countries in the region.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said China was “extremely concerned” about the comments and China opposed “any country challenging China’s sovereignty and security in the name of protecting freedom of navigation”.
Shear said the Chinese had not yet placed advanced weaponry on the artificial islands: “We are going to do everything we can to ensure that they don’t. This is going to be a long-term effort.”
Harris said China was building 3,000-metre runways on the islands.
“They’re also building deep-water port facilities there, which could put their deep-water ships, their combatant ships there, which gives them an extra capability,” he said.
There would be a network of missile sites, runways, fighter planes and surveillance sites.
“It creates a mechanism by which China would have de facto control over the South China Sea in any scenario short of war,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
China: Neither the Kuomintang Nor the Communists Won the Sino-Japanese War, The US Did
Wei Jingsheng, one of mainland’s best known dissidents and a leading figure in the Democracy Wall movement, wades into the controversy involving Beijing, Tokyo and Taipei. The Communists did not put everything they had into the fight against Japan, preparing instead for the showdown with the Kuomintang. For their part, the nationalists made many mistakes out of selfishness. Their respective fight would have been in vain without Washington and London. Under Xi Jinping, the same mistakes are being made again, only more this time, because the mainland’s current leader has “immersed himself with too much power and is carried away” with it.
Washington (AsiaNews) — An old Chinese saying advises people to avoid controversy. Yet there are big controversies that we should not avoid. Recently there were commemorations for the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II (the war of resistance against the Japanese invasion).
Disputes have broken out regarding who were the main forces resisting the Japanese invasion back then. The disputes have brought out excessive words, and are getting out of boundaries and control. A commemoration of peace has turned into hate. This outcome can be called “the extremes have brought the opposite”.
There were so-called “Regiment of the Liu Old Village” and “Square Team of the Langya Five Heroes” during Xi Jinping’s big military parade in Beijing. These groups gave people an impression that they were all the Communist Party had to resist the invasion of millions of Japanese soldiers. That impression is too shabby and indeed reflects what the KMT has said: the Communist Party hid behind the enemy lines, not for the purpose of resisting the Japanese invasion, but for developing their strength.
Across the Taiwan Straits, what these helped Kuomintang said was not very fair either. It said that the Communist Party then did not try to resist the Japanese army, but was only developing its own strength, waiting for an opportunity, and finally was able to chase the Kuomintang army to Taiwan. Is it true that these peasants the Communists recruited were born to fight? Was that really as simple as what we read from children’s books to chase the KMT army to Taiwan?
Recently, a new argument has arisen. It asks both sides not to argue anymore. It says that neither the KMT nor the Communist Party in China were the main forces to resist the Japanese invasion, but the Americans. The Americans were the main force resisting the Japanese invasion and bear all the credit. This sounds like a tune from Hollywood. Of course, it is understandable that everyone likes to praise oneself. But Hollywood would not have said that the allies were no good and useless, or that all the credit belongs to the Americans.
So here is the difference, when we the Chinese people are not better than the other people. Indeed, the Americans really were the main force against the Japanese. They not only wiped out most of the invading Japanese army, but also provided assistance so China and the Soviet Union could continue. Even now there are still some Germans complaining that the Japanese should not have attacked Pearl Harbor, which provoked the Americans enter World War II. They said that Japan had the best soldiers yet the most mindless commanders, without much improvement over time.
There has been a claim that was not quite proven, saying that President Roosevelt received the intelligence of the attack on Pearl Harbor but left it on his desk for 3 days without any action, thus allowing the Japanese attack to be successful and infuriate the American people to join the war. That delay resulted in a change of the world structure and expanded the camp of democracies. If that claim is true, then indeed President Roosevelt deserves best credit for the most successful action in the world history.
The conspiracy of Stalin also confirmed Roosevelt’s greatness. From the beginning of the Chinese resistance against the Japanese War in 1932, Joseph Stalin instigated his minions in China to provoke the Japanese attack southwards towards China instead of northwards into the USSR, in the excuse of defending the Soviets — to avoid the Japanese cooperating with the Germans to attack the Soviet Union from both sides. This provocation is the really ugly side of the Chinese Communist Party. However, the Kuomintang has now fallen so low that it would not even dare to talk about it.
Fortunately, the conspiracies of both Stalin and Roosevelt were successful, and made this world a better place. Let us imagine if their conspiracies failed, and if the Japanese were not stupid enough and really attacked the Soviet Union in accordance of their agreement with Germany, then Stalin could not mobilize millions of troops in Siberia. Then the turning point of World War II, the Battle of Stalingrad, would not be won, and the battlefields of Europe may have fallen. Without the victory of the Pacific War, we would have lost the battlefield in China for sure.
We should not deny Stalin’s credit due to his heinous actions, nor should we deny Roosevelt’s greatness because of the deaths of innocent people in Pearl Harbor. According to the habit of the Chinese people, we set up an order of heroes like these from Liangshanpo. Then Roosevelt should be ranked the first, while Stalin should be ranked the second, for what they did during the World War II. Although what they did could not be publicized, yet both of them had extraordinary achievements in this regard.
The third and fourth should be Churchill and Chiang Kai-shek, or tied for third. Both of them resisted without surrender under extremely difficult circumstances, which eventually led to defeats of Germany and Japan. So both of them also deserve great credits. Without the persistence of Churchill and Chiang, the United States and the Soviet Union could not beat up Germany and Japan. Following those leaders should be Charles de Gaulle who led the French Resistance Movement guerrillas, and Mao Zedong who led a Chinese army behind the Japanese. Of course, we can include the rest of the 108 generals as was in the Liangshanpo, but they really are irrelevant to our current theme.
In short, we should be fair in looking at the roles of the people who changed this world. We should not deny their credit because of their wrongs, nor cover up their mistakes or crimes due to their credit. Not to mention that World War II was a really big war, when even in normal peace-time international politics there is both open strategy and conspiracies, which are never as bright as what was in the heaven.
When we are commemorating the martyrs and learning from the historic lessons, we should not always try to expose the shortness of the others. For the KMT to say that the Communist Party reserved its energy for the upcoming civil war, what about Chiang refusing to accept Okinawa, in an effort to keep the troops for the civil war, which was equally guilty? Without Mao Zedong, there would no issue of today’s Mongolia. Without Chiang Kai-shek, there would be no issue of today’s Diaoyu Islands. There is not a difference between 8 ounces and half pound. The bald person should not complain about someone else having little hair.
We should learn from the USA and the European countries. It is good to invite some veterans and their families, when we commemorate the martyrs and summarize the lessons of war. Flower dedications, parades, speeches, and academic discussions have far better effect than swagger. Such would not only to review and strengthen the solidarity among allies, but also can dissolve hatred between former enemies. This way is in the direction toward universal brotherhood, and is called as world peace.
The same situation holds for the cross Taiwan-strait relations. If both sides of the veterans and their relatives were invited for flower dedications, parades, reviews, lectures, and other sorts of meaningful activity, then for sure it would be helpful for the peace across from the Strait, and promote a sense of closeness. That is much more meaningful than the quarrel for credit. In fact, when the entertainment industry was making the “Resisting the Japanese Invision” programs, they have done quite bit. Fairness is in people’s hearts.
Instead of taking the opportunity for easy gratitude, Xi spent millions for a swaggering show. Does this mean that the lesson was not learned and he is moving towards war? Or that he is trying to frighten the Chinese people in an attempt to repeat the Tiananmen massacre? He has really lost his mind, so we have to speak out, to take on affairs which were not of our business.
Sometimes the Chinese proverb may not be right, such as this “It is not the dog’s business to catch the mouse.” That would be the dog’s job. Because China is not the private property of Xi Jinping, but of every Chinese. If the lessons of history were not learned but everything goes as he wants, Xi Jinping would not only walk toward the abyss by himself, he would get everyone including foreigners involved.
I see Xi Jinping has immersed himself with too much power and is carried away. The people around him should help him to keep a clear mind, if they do not want to die without burial themselves.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
One of China’s Top Energy Executives Arrested on Corruption Charges
Wang Tianpu once led state-owned oil giant Sinopec. The Party’s Disciplinary Committee has accused him of bribery and embezzlement of public assets. He was close to disgraced National Security Chief Zhou Yongkang.
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) — The former general manager of China’s largest oil refiner was stripped of his membership in the ruling Communist Party and handed over to prosecutors after an internal investigation found compelling evidence of corruption, the party’s disciplinary body said on Friday.
Wang had already been investigated in connection with an explosion in the port of Qingdao, in November 2013, which killed 62 people. Today, the the party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Politburo’s enforcer, said that Wang had violated party rules, policies and discipline.
Wang offered bribes to others for career advancement, but also used his position to bring benefits to his relatives. He also illegally used public assets and state funds for personal purposes, including hosting banquets.
The investigation against him began in April 2015, when the whole oil industry came under scrutiny after by President Xi Jinping, upon taking office, vowed to crack down on “tigers and flies”, that is, high-level officials and petty civil servants alike.
Chongqing’s former mayor, Bo Xilai, a political opponent of the current leader, and former National Security Chief Zhou Yongkang are among the campaign’s high-profile victims. Zhou, who was close to former president Jiang Zemin, had his power base in the energy industry.
After his fall, several top executives were convicted, including Jiang Jemin, a former head of the China National Petroleum Company (CNPC).
State-owned Sinopec is one of the largest energy companies in the world. Most of China’s current political leaders are involved with in some capacity.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Taiwan Boat Caught With Huge Illegal Shark Fin Haul
A Taiwan-flagged boat has been caught with an illegal haul of more than 100 shark fins and is being escorted back to a home port, Taiwanese authorities said.
A lucrative black market trade in shark fins flourishes in Asia with poaching vessels plying waters beyond national jurisdictions often escaping authorities’ efforts to clamp down on illegal fishing.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Cuba Will be Freer After US Embargo Lifted Says Parolin
‘Also for human rights’
(ANSA) — Vatican City, September 17 — Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parloni voiced the hope Cuba will be freer after the US embargo is lifted. Saying the Vatican is against “this type of sanction” he said a lifting of the embargo “may also lead to greater opening from the standpoint of freedom and human rights”. President Barack Obama, whom Pope Francis will meet later this month after the pope visits Cuba, has been lobbying for the embargo to be lifted.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Mexican Authorities Detain 13 in Connection With ‘El Chapo’S’ Prison Escape
Mexican authorities have detained 13 more people in connection with the prison escape of drug capo Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
A statement from the federal Prosecutor’s Office on Friday says 11 men and 2 women were arrested and taken to prisons.
It did not name the suspects but said they were detained in connection with the escape.
Guzmán also escaped from another prison in 2001.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
New Clues About Roman Presence in America Presented
(AGI) Rome, Sept. 16 — New clues that suggest the presence of ancient Romans in the Americas have been unveiled at the Italian Foreign Ministry, where the newly expanded edition of the book “Quando i Romani andavano in America” (When the Romans came to America) by Elio Cadelo was presented. Examples of a Roman presence on the new continent include the remains of walls of baked bricks at the site of Comalcalco, in the Olmec and Maya territory on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, where the technique was unknown to native American cultures, and pipes in terracotta, never found on any other archaeological site on the continent. Also, statuettes of males with beards and moustaches have been found on the same site, while the ancient American populations had no facial hair. During a recent excavation, Mexican archaeologists digging at Comalcalco revealed a large necropolis with 66 skeletons buried in earthenware jars. “The funeral rite of burials in jars did not exist in the Mayan world,” explained American archaeologist Maria Longhena. But there are even more clues that an ancient Roman population once inhabited the coast of Central America.
Pictures of pineapples, a tropical fruit native to the Americas, have been found in the homes of rich Romans. A large numbers of frescoes and mosaics depicting the fruit were shown at the conference at the Foreign Ministry by archaeologist Fabrizio Pesando of the University of Oriental studies in Naples. .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Arrives on Historic Trip to Cuba, US
Pope Francis began a 10-day trip to Cuba and the United States on Saturday, embarking on his first trip to the onetime Cold War foes after serving as secret mediator of their historic rapprochement. He will be offering a show of solidarity with Cubans and delivering the message in the United States that Hispanics are the bedrock of the church there.
The first Latin American pope will become the first pontiff to address the U.S. Congress and will also proclaim the first saint on U.S. soil by canonizing the missionary, Junipero Serra.
With his arrival in Havana, where he was greeted by President Raul Castro, he became the third pontiff to visit Cuba in the past 17 years — a remarkable record for any country, much less one with a small community of practicing Catholics.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Venezuela Opposition Rallies Against Prison Time for Leader Leopoldo Lopez Over 2014 Protests
CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelans took to the streets in cities around the country to protest the sentence handed down earlier this month to opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez.
Critics of the country’s socialist administration dressed in white and waved flags as they voiced their support for Lopez, who received a maximum sentence Sept. 10 for his role as the leader with a large-scale, sometimes violent protest movement in 2014.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
A Bridge in the No Man’s Land Between Croatia and Slovenia
The migrant crisis is playing out in miniature on a bridge between Croatia and Slovenia. There are desperate people and brutal police here, but there is also humanity, Nemanja Rujevic writes from Harmica.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Asylum Claims Soar by 80% in Norway
The number of people applying for asylum for the first time in Norway shot up by 81 percent between April and June, figures released by the Brussels statistics authority Eurostat showed on Friday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Bulgaria Should Receive Syrians of Mixed Religion, Intmin Says
Bulgaria’s Interior Minister has voiced the preference of her government as to the nationality and religion of migrants that Bulgaria is to accept under the EU quota scheme pending approval.
Rumyana Bachvarova told private national NOVA TV on Thursday that, when asked about that by Europe, Sofia had pointed to Syrian families.
She added the country hoped for a “religious balance” within the group of 1600 that will prospectively be relocated from Italy, Greece and Hungary.
Sofia is to officially submit its criteria request to the EU later this month.
Most of the migrants from the Middle East passing through Southeast Europe en route to Germany are thought to be from Syria, though people from other countries are also seeking asylum. Some EU member states, like Slovakia, have openly stated their preferences. Bratislava in particular said in August it would neither accept mandatory quotas nor migrants of other religion that Christianity.
Politics “ BULGARIA IN EU | September 17, 2015, Thursday // 10:02
Bulgaria’s Interior Minister has voiced the preference of her government as to the nationality and religion of migrants that Bulgaria is to accept under the EU quota scheme pending approval.
Rumyana Bachvarova told private national NOVA TV on Thursday that, when asked about that by Europe, Sofia had pointed to Syrian families.
She added the country hoped for a “religious balance” within the group of 1600 that will prospectively be relocated from Italy, Greece and Hungary.
Sofia is to officially submit its criteria request to the EU later this month.
Most of the migrants from the Middle East passing through Southeast Europe en route to Germany are thought to be from Syria, though people from other countries are also seeking asylum. Some EU member states, like Slovakia, have openly stated their preferences. Bratislava in particular said in August it would neither accept mandatory quotas nor migrants of other religion that Christianity.
http://www.novinite.com/articles/170870/Bulgaria+Should+Receive+Syrians+of+Mixed+Religion%2C+IntMin+Says#sthash.FVbEAZ1N.dpuf
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Canada to Accelerate Syrian Refugee Applications to Bring in 10,000 by Next Year
Canada’s Conservative government says it will not accept more than its previously announced commitment of 10,000 Syrian refugees but will accelerate processing their applications to issue thousands more visas before the end of this year.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government announced Saturday that Canada will bring in these refugees by Sept. 2016, 15 months ahead of schedule, by processing them without the previously required document by the UNCR to designate them as refugees.
Canada’s government has endured criticism for taking in just 2,500 refugees since Jan. 2014. More than 4 million Syrians have fled their country since the conflict began in 2011.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Croatia ‘Forces’ Hungary to Receive Migrants
ZAGREB — Croatia has forced Hungary to take in migrants and intends to continue doing so, Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said Saturday, Sputnik reports.
“We have forced them [to receive migrants] by sending people there. And we will continue to do so,” Milanovic said at a press conference in the eastern city of Beli Manastir, from where Croatian authorities sent buses with migrants to Hungary on Friday.
On Friday, the prime minister said that Croatia was no longer capable of registering and hosting all the refugees arriving in the country, and therefore had decided to transport them to its external borders by bus.
Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto condemned Croatia’s decision to send migrants to external borders amid the influx, particularly to its border with Hungary.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
East European Leaders in War of Words as Migrants Pour Across Borders
Hungary and Croatia traded threats on Saturday as thousands of exhausted migrants poured over their borders, deepening the disarray in Europe over how to handle the tide of humanity.
More than 20,000 migrants, many of them refugees from the Syrian war, have trekked into Croatia since Tuesday, when Hungary used a metal fence, tear gas and water cannon on its southern border with Serbia to bar their route into the European Union.
EU leaders, deeply divided, are due to meet on Wednesday in a fresh attempt to agree on how and where to distribute 160,000 refugees among their countries, but the noises from some of the newer members of the bloc were far from friendly.
Hungary, where the right-wing government of Viktor Orban has vowed to defend “Christian Europe” against the mainly Muslim migrants, accused Croatia of “violating Hungary’s sovereignty” by sending buses and trains packed with migrants over their joint border. It warned it might block Zagreb’s accession to Europe’s Schengen zone of passport-free travel.
“Croatia’s government has continuously lied in the face of Hungarians, Croatians, of the EU and its citizens,” Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told a news conference. “What kind of European solidarity is this?”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU Border Force Blames Turkish Airlines for Surge in Illegal African Migration
The European Union’s borders agency has suggested one of the world’s biggest airlines is fuelling the illegal migration crisis by opening new routes in Africa.
Frontex said a dramatic increase in migrants from Africa illegally crossing the borders of the Western Balkans in order to reach the EU “could be partly explained” by the commercial strategy of Turkish Airlines.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU is Capable of Giving Shelter to Limited Number of Asylum Seekers
BERLIN — The European Union is capable of giving shelter to a limited number of asylum seekers. Once the limit is reached, the rest will have to head back to safe countries in the Middle East, where “they can live in security and without persecution,” Germany’s interior minister Thomas de Maiziere said on Saturday in an interview with Germany’s Der Spiegel.
“We cannot accept all the people who are fleeing conflict zones or poverty and want to come to Europe or Germany,” he said.
The conservative minister also called for the reduction of benefits for migrants and refugees as well for the implementation of the so-called Dublin Regulation, which requires sending each person back to the first EU country that they reached.
The proposals were met with disapproval from Britain and eastern European countries.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Even Hungary’s Razor Fences Can’t Stop the Flow of Migrants
Austria was expecting up to 10,000 people to cross its border Saturday. DW correspondent Alison Langley spoke with some of the refugees at Vienna’s main train station.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Excellent Serbia & Hungary Relations, Problem is EU Policy Failure
Modified: Sep 18, 2015 at 6:32 pm
BELGRADE — Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic and his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto stated on Friday that the two countries’ relations are excellent and that it must not be allowed for the refugee crisis to harm them.
Addressing a joint news conference, Dacic and Szijjarto recalled the statements made by the two prime ministers during the latest joint government session in Budapest on July 1, when it was said that the two countries’ relations have never been better and that major effort has been invested in order to make an essential progress in overcoming the issues from the past.
They noted that the problem does not cover the two countries’ relations and instead lies in the failure of the European policy concerning the refugee crisis as Europe did produce a unified stand.
Serbia has tried to act in a responsible manner and as a EU candidate country help overcome the crisis with minimal agitation, Dacic said.
This is why it is important for us to show that we are capable of solving problems through visits and open dialogues during the most difficult moments of the crisis. We have agreed to set up constant coordination between our ministries and avoid situations seen over the past few days, Dacic said.
The request and appeal of Serbia is for the situation to normalise promptly and for the motorway at Horgos border crossing to open soon, Dacic underscored and noted that the same problem is present in the relations with Croatia.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Finland: Liikanen: Asylum Applicants Will Help Finance the Welfare State Someday
Bank of Finland Governor Erkki Liikanen says Finland will benefit from the current influx of asylum seekers in the long term, as the new stock of workers will strengthen the country’s economic development and bolster the financial security of the welfare state. He advises Finnish authorities to remember to treat refugees according to the rule of law.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Finland: Anti-Immigration Protest Draws 200 in Helsinki
In Helsinki, Tornio and Kemi, small groups of people protested against immigration on Saturday.
On Saturday afternoon about 200 people gathered at Helsinki’s Narinkkatori to protest immigration. Many chanted “Finland belongs to Finns” and several people addressed the crowd, but no politicians or well-known people were among those who made public speeches.
Further north in the city of Tornio there was also a gathering of people opposing immigration at the bus station. The police estimate that about 200 to 300 people were present. Earlier in the day about 100 people walked to the Finnish-Swedish border and formed a human wall.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Redirects Migrants to Avoid Oktoberfest
Munich tapped the keg Saturday on the world’s biggest beer festival, Oktoberfest, with six million revellers expected just as the German city is grappling with a record refugee influx.
The celebration of traditional Bavarian culture with its oompah music and beloved frothy beverage kicked off when Mayor Dieter Reiter opened the first beer barrel with two mallet blows and offered a toast to a “peaceful” Oktoberfest.
While the mood in town in the run-up to the 16-day event remained undauntedly festive, Munich had to plan its huge annual party just as it became a flashpoint of Europe’s migrant crisis…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Germany, Austria Urge 5 Bn Euro Rise in UN Refugee Aid
Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann and German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel on Saturday called for United Nations countries to contribute an extra five billion euros ($5.65 billion) in aid for refugees living in camps in Lebanon and Jordan.
“We have to help countries where the misery is so great that people are going on the road,” Gabriel said, in reference to the tens of thousands of migrants — many of them Syrian refugees — who have headed to Europe in recent months.
“If people have nothing to eat and drink, what can they do but flee? No barrier in the world will stop them,” Gabriel told a press conference…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
German, Austrian Political Leaders Call on EU for Billions in Refugee Aid
German and Austrian political leaders have urged the EU to allocate billions in refugee aid to Syria’s neighbors to stem the exodus to Europe. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s interior minister wants stricter EU asylum rules.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
German Star to Auction Boots to Help Refugees
World Cup winner Mario Götze plans to raise funds to help Germany’s immigrants amidst the on-going crisis by auctioning his playing boots embroidered with the hashtag “#refugeeswelcome”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
German Police Guard Refugee Hostel After Right-Wing Protests
Police have set up a security zone around a hostel in the eastern German state of Saxony to protect refugees from right-wing rioters, who have tried to block the way to the shelter over the last few days.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary Reportedly Accuses Croatia of Violating International Law
The escalating migrant crisis is causing bitterness between two European countries as Hungary accused Croatia on Friday of committing “a major violation of international law” by trying to send 1,000 migrants in trains across its border.
Sky News reports Budapest called the unannounced transport a “major, major incident,” and alleged that the dozens of police officers accompanying the migrants had to be disarmed and sent back to Croatia.
Zoltan Kovacs, a Hungarian government spokesman, said the incident showed “the Croatian system for handling migrants and refugees has collapsed basically in one day. What is more, we see intentional participation in human smuggling, taking these immigrants to the Hungarian border.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Joy as Migrants Flood Into Austria; Tears for Those Kept Out
Thousands of migrants flooded into Austria on Saturday after days of being shuttling from one country to another or seeing their paths into Western Europe blocked by border guards with dogs, razor-wire fences, barricaded bridges or riot police.
Austrian police said some 6,700 people traveled to the central European country from Hungary after being trapped Friday in a vicious tug-of-war as bickering European governments rapidly shut down border crossings or erected new fences to cut down the torrent of asylum-seekers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Migrant Crisis: Austria Faces Fresh Influx
Austria saw the arrival of about 10,000 migrants on Saturday, amid bitter rows among EU nations on how to handle the growing crisis.
The migrants were initially sent into Hungary by Croatia, which said it was unable to cope with the 20,000 who had arrived since Wednesday.
Hungary in turn shipped them on to Austria, accusing Croatia of breaking rules by failing to register migrants.
However, some told the BBC that Hungary had not registered them either.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
MSF: 750 Migrants Rescued From Boats Off Libyan Coast
At least 750 people were rescued Saturday from three small boats in international waters near the Libyan coast by a ship operated by Doctors Without Borders, a spokesman told AFP.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
One Migrant Child Dead, 13 Missing in Sea Off Greek Island
A girl believed to be five years old died and as many as 13 migrants may be missing at sea off the Greek island of Lesvos on Saturday, the Greek coastguard said.
Tens of thousands of mainly Syrian refugees have braved rough seas this year to make the short but precarious journey from Turkey to Greece’s eastern islands, mainly in flimsy and overcrowded inflatable boats.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Protesters Form Human Wall Against Refugees at Finnish-Swedish Border
At least 100 people have protested in the northern Finnish border town of Tornio against the recent rise in asylum seekers arrivals. A registration center for refugees is scheduled to open soon in the town of 22,000.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Refugee Protests on Sweden-Finland Border
Hundreds of Finnish protestors demonstrated on Saturday morning at the Swedish-Finnish border in northern Sweden against an influx of refugees, while on the Swedish side of the border many Swedes were demonstrating their support for the refugees.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Refugee Crisis Further Muddies Greek Politics
With Syriza and New Democracy effectively tied in the polls, a once marginal issue takes on added significance in Sunday’s election, writes Pavlos Zafiropoulos from Athens.
“Elections are coming and Kos has a choice. If it votes for Syriza, it will become Pakistan. If it votes for Golden Dawn, and Golden Dawn governs the country, it will return to being Greece.” So said Ilias Kasidiaris, the parliamentary spokesperson of the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn, on a recent pre-election visit to the island of Kos.
Over recent months, many tens of thousands of refugees have made the risky crossing to Kos and other islands in their attempts to reach northern Europe. While many residents have sought to assist the refugees with food and clothing, the mass arrivals have put the islands under considerable strain during the height of the tourist season.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Serbia, Kosovo, Albania, BiH, Macedonia, Turkey on the “Safe Country of Origin” List
PRISTINA — The European Commission is expected that this Wednesday to publish the list of “safe countries of origin”, which will also include Kosovo and Albania, Gazeta Express reports.
“The objective of the list is to improve the stability and address the irregularities that cause migration waves”, stated the EU Commission.
The list of “safe countries of origin” is expected to include Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia and Turkey.
More than 50 thousand people from Kosovo have sought asylum in EU member states in the last three months. More than 21 thousand sought asylum in Germany alone, a country that has been welcoming tens of thousands of Syrian refugees.
Hundreds of Albanian citizens have also sought asylum in EU member states.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Switzerland Ready to Accept Up to 1,500 Asylum Seekers
BERN — President Simonetta Sommaruga says Switzerland does not expect an influx of migrants, adding that border guards are ready to increase spot checks if necessary, RT reports.
“But we have no need for systematic border controls at this stage,” she said as cited by Reuters.
The Swiss government also said it would accept up to 1,500 asylum seekers who are registered in Italy or Greece.
Switzerland also committed to raise by 70 million Swiss francs its aid for people affected by conflicts in Syria, Iraq and the Horn of Africa.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The Coudenhove-Kalergi Plan — the Genocide of the Peoples of Europe
Mass immigration is a phenomenon, the causes of which are still cleverly concealed by the system, and the multicultural propaganda is trying to falsely portray it as inevitable. With this article we intend to prove once and for all, that this is not a spontaneous phenomenon. What they want to present as an inevitable outcome of modern life, is actually a plan conceived around a table and prepared for decades, to completely destroy the face of the continent.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The GOP Candidates Who Support Amnesty
“In the first place we should insist that the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equity with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace or origin. But this is predicated upon the man’s becoming an American and nothing but an American. There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much as it excludes any flag of a nation to which we are hostile. We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language…and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.” -Theodore Roosevelt in a letter to the American Defense Society in 1919.
Rand Paul — Paul also supports a pathway to legalization for illegal’s, with the prospect of eventually earning citizenship. Republican Sen. Rand Paul said that illegal immigrants should be allowed to become U.S. taxpayers and ultimately get a shot at citizenship.
Marco Rubio — Rubio said Obama’s executive amnesty “can’t be terminated because there are already people benefiting from it.” What? Any law can be undone.
Rubio’s statement was made in Spanish on the Spanish-language network Univision, which is reason enough to eliminate him from serious consideration. When somebody is running for president of the United States, why should we have to get somebody to translate his remarks into English?
Ted Cruz — When it comes to immigration reform, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz has made it abundantly clear what he opposes: giving citizenship to people who broke the law to come here. What has not been as evident is what he supports: legal status for millions of people here already, while making it easier for immigrants to come here through the front door. Asked about what to do with the people here illegally, however, he stressed that he had never tried to undo the goal of allowing them to stay.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Latest: Thousands of Migrants Arrive in Austria
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — The latest developments as European governments rush to cope with the huge number of people moving across Europe. All times local (CET): 10:45 Police say 6,700 migrants have arrived in Austria since midnight after Hungary started escorting people to the country’s border. …
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Winter May Not Deter New Refugee Arrivals in EU
Approaching winter months may not deter people seeking refuge in Europe as the conflict in Syria rages on and living conditions in refugee camps worsen.
A spokesperson from the United Nations refugee organisation in Greece told this website on Friday (18 September) that a reduction in arrivals normally occurs in November.
“But it is really not safe to predict what will happen this year”, she said, adding that a change in weather might not deter people who are becoming increasingly desperate.
On a global scale, some 60 million people are now displaced, the largest since WWII. Of those, some 20 million are in the EU neighborhood.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Invites Transgender Showboats, Gay Episcopal Bishop to Pope’s White House Visit
Ed Morrissey at Hot Air asks a really good question: “When the Saudis visited the White House this month, did Obama invite women’s-rights activists to dinner with them? Did Obama invite Ayaan Hirsi Ali to discuss the need for reform in Islam?” The answer: Of course not. Because Obama wouldn’t try to score cheap political points at the expense of his Islamic friends. Bring in the most high-profile Christian leader in the entire world, however, the Obama White House is going to go into overdrive on the grandstanding front.
Needless to say, the Vatican is extremely unhappy about this, and it remains to be seen if the White House will have to backtrack and change the invite list before the event comes off — if, that is, it’s going to come off at all:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Pope’s LGBT Welcoming Committee Less Harmful Than His Stamp on Global Warming
Although it’s being media-portrayed as the opposite, Pope Francis does not have to wait to meet gay and LGBT activists in the welcoming committee at the ceremony organized by the White House on Sept. 23.
Last May, the pontiff already installed at least one of them in his own most cherished cabal.
Why would anyone—most of all the Vatican—reel in pretend shock and horror that Gene Robinson—the first openly gay man to be made an Episcopal bishop—who initially divorced his faithful wife of some 14 years for a same sex partner, that he soon left in his dust, will be large as life at the pope’s DC welcoming committee?
“The Vatican has taken offense at the Obama administration’s decision to invite to the pope’s welcome ceremony transgender activists, the first openly gay Episcopal bishop and an activist nun who leads a group criticized by the Vatican for its silence on abortion and euthanasia,” noted a Sept. 17 story in The Wall Street Journal.”
With the road paved for gay activists already inside the pope’s working committees, who is the Vatican really kidding?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
“A Spanish clowning group has caused controversy after stripping off in front off the wall separating Israel and Palestine in protest at Israeli policy” – I bet their naked derrieres were avidly facing the Arab crowd..
Actually… I find myself between Jindal and Trump in this… IF (and that’s a big If since I know that most of those immigrants in the US are not willing) they are willing to assimilate, then there should be no problem… but before that, you people need to stop the influx ASAP, it’s impossible to assimilate 30+Million if thousands more enter each year and 80% are not willing to be assimilated… as much as it hurts to me as a Colombian to say this, massive deportations will be needed
I keep finding my people rather stupid, it’s common sense, we wouldn’t like to have millions of ”gringo” immigrants forcing their culture and language in our countries and I can assure you that we would take some heavy handed actions if that was the case… why should we go over to the USA and do exactly that? I mean, it can’t be to ”retake North Mexico” that would be fairly stupid and only the Aztlan nutjobs want to
The Mexican position is also quite duplicitous, in that they demand free access to the USA even as they very jealously guard their own southern border against migrants from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras.
That is exactly what I am criticizing, many Latinos who live here are utterly shocked and angered when people from another country immigrates there, but demand free passage into the USA to emigrate there….
then again, I could be the opposite type of hypocrite, I attack the Maduro Regime for its treatment of Colombians in Venezuela, but I advocate for large-scale deportations in the USA and Europe…
The only issue respecting Maduro’s deportations is whether the illegals are accorded any kind of due process in depriving them of their property (houses) and deporting them.
Due process may be a term I’m most familiar with but I have no doubt that any modern legal system provides for official action that is only premised on notice and a right to be heard.
That said, very little process is due for illegals. An inquiry as to the illegal’s status need only consist of Are you a Venezuelan and how did you acquire citizenship? This not a complex inquiry and the summary nature of any proceeding is not objectionable in the least. Procedures for aliens improperly deported to submit additional documentation or other evidence from outside the country should be available. There is no reason for any country to allow illegals to remain within or to make “due process” such an involved, lengthy, and expensive process that it becomes essentially a weapon for use against the nation.
On: Are we alone? Survey finds no signs of advanced Alien Civilizations: Anyone who doubts the existence of intelligent Alien life that our own recorded history has many graphic examples of, I would suggest that if they are not prepared to at least scan the sky every once in a while or to study up on just some of the many thousands of books, videos and documented evidence that is available on the Web, then at least take a look at the Sirius Disclosure, a well made and presented hours of personal testimony from ex-military and scientific people who testify before the camera of their ‘experiences’ before condemning the most significant revelation to Mankind that successive governments for many decades have been hiding from the public.
Forget main stream science and media sources, they are lying to you!