According to law enforcement sources in Pristina, more than 120 mujahideen have returned to Kosovo after fighting in the Syrian jihad. Meanwhile, Italian police arrested four suspected Kosovar terrorists in three different cities.
In other news, factories in Beijing shut down and schoolchildren were kept indoors due to extremely high levels of air pollution in the city.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Diana West, DV, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, MM, Nidra Poller, Srdja Trifkovic, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Italy: Xmas Present Spending 1.6% Down — Federconsumatori
Xmas product prices up 0.9%
(ANSA) — Rome, November 30 — Spending on Christmas presents will fall 1.6% in Italy this year compared to last, Federconsumatori consumer association said Monday.
The price of Christmas gifts will rise by an average 0.9%, it said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Moody’s Bets Against Brazil Economic Recovery in 2016
Moody’s forecasts that Brazil’s economy will contract further next year, reducing tax receipts for municipalities and states, according to credit ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The economy of Brazil is expected to shrink in 2016 causing the country’s current recession to deepen, the New York-based credit ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service said in an announcement on Tuesday.
“Moody’s forecasts that Brazil’s economy will contract further next year, reducing tax receipts for municipalities and states,” the announcement said. “Consequently, their combined debt-to-revenue ratios will rise to almost 130 percent in 2016 from 125 percent for 2015.”
Moody’s said its conclusions were based on the ratings agency’s new report that explained Brazil’s rising deficits and debt burden are the underlying reason for the negative outlook.
Tax receipts account for a significant proportion of the total revenues of Moody’s rated regional and local governments, Moody’s analyst Paco Debonnaire said in the announcement.
“And we don’t expect tax revenues to start growing again until 2017,” Debonnaire added.
Liquidity for Brazil’s regional and local governments will also remain weak in 2017, the announcement warned.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The Yuan Ascends to World Reserve Status: “Dollar System Being Done Away With”
Today’ s news is a historic milestone. The dollar’ s days are numbered, and the new global economic order is shifting into place.
As many insiders have expected, China has now officially gained status among the world reserve currencies, taking place alongside the dollar, the euro, the pound and the yen.
The IMF decided to grant this upgrade as a result of financial and monetary benchmarks that Chinese leaders worked towards during the past several years. Its implications run deep.
Below is IMF chief Christine Legarde’ s statement on the new benchmark of global currency, and what will inevitably be a resettling for the people affected by it — not least the American people who could see a significant decline in their living standard after an era of economic supremacy that the United States has enjoyed since the end of WWII:
If America sees the worst case scenario, the dollar collapse will be the most devastating in history, and the results could be even worse than Germany suffered during the Weimar Republic era.
[Comment: As planned by banksters. Economic destruction of the Republic of the United States — an obstacle in the creation of a new Socialist World Order. The construction of this World Socialist Order will accelerate thanks to traitors in western countries. ]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Americans Paying 130% More for Healthcare Under ObamaCare
Wasn’t President Obama’s Affordable Care Act (ACA) supposed to help Americans save money on healthcare? Well, it’s actually done quite the opposite, according to the latest data from Aon Hewitt. The chart below suggests that American workers are paying 130 percent more for their healthcare today than in 2005. In 2005, employees at mid-size companies were paying $2,001, but that number has soared to an average of $4,700.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Christie Counters Trump Story of Muslims Cheering 9/11 Attacks, Says ‘It Didn’t Happen’
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie strongly refuted Donald Trump’s claim that thousands of Muslims in New Jersey cheered after the 9/11 terror attacks, claiming that it simply “didn’t happen.”
“It didn’t happen and the fact is, people can say anything, but the facts are the facts, and that didn’t happen in New Jersey that day and hasn’t happened since,” Christie told reporters on Monday at a campaign stop in New Hampshire.
The Republican governor’s comments came after he was criticized last week for not condemning Trump’s widely refuted claims. Last week Christie said he “didn’t recall” any Muslims celebrating after the twin towers in New York fell.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Colorado Police Post Scathing Response to Race Baiters
Only leftists can get upset when someone wasn’t shot.
What they’re talking about are the rumors that the shooter specifically targeted Planned Parenthood, which of course leftists are starting to politicize because of anonymous sources saying so. Well, one does. Before that however, they were politicizing it because the shooter was taken into custody in the first place.
You know, because of “white privilege” and all.
This caused the Colorado FOP to post a scathing response on their Facebook page, and while it has since been deleted…it’s still worth reading (copied below):
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is a Dad, And He’s Giving Away Most of His Money
Talk about birth announcements: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife said they’ll devote nearly all their wealth — roughly $45 billion — to good works in celebration of their new baby daughter, Max.
Zuckerberg’s wife, Priscilla Chan, gave birth to a 7-pound, 8-ounce daughter last week. But the couple didn’t put out the news until Tuesday, when Zuckerberg posted it on — of course — Facebook.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg to Give Away 99% of Shares
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan say they will give away 99% of their shares in the company to good causes as they announce the birth of their daughter Max.
Mr Zuckerberg made the statement on his Facebook page.
He said they are donating their fortune to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative because they want to make the world a better place for Max to grow up in.
Mr Zuckerberg said the donation currently amounts to $45bn (£30bn).
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Fiat Chrysler U.S. Sales Up 3% in Nov
Best Nov since 2000, 68th straight rise
(adds “U.S.”) (ANSA) — New York, December 1 — Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) sales in the United States were up 3% to 175,974 units in November, the best November since 2000, sources said Tuesday.
It was the 68th straight month of growth.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
(NaturalNews) Assault tactics. Assault rifles. Assault weapons.
Assault machetes? Yes, there are such things, if you’re a lunatic legislator from New York who believes a common tool used to clear brush and to cut sugar cane is the mass murderer’s next weapon of choice.
As reported by the New York Daily News, the state senator who successfully pushed the 2013 SAFE Act — New York’s uber-restrictive gun control law — now wants to ban the long-bladed knives, because he believes they are the next big threat to public safety.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Listen Live — Another Lawfare Loss for CAIR “Muslim-Free Zone” Declaration Can Not be Suppressed
Robert Muise, Co-Founder & Senior Counsel of the American Freedom Law Center (AFLC), will be interviewed by John McCulloch on Tuesday December 1st at 6 PM EASTERN regarding another Lawfare loss by the Council on American Islam Relations (CAIR). This time a Federal Court granted the AFLC’s Motion to Dismiss CAIR’s law suit against a Florida gun shop’s declaration of its premises as a “Muslim Free Zone”.
“This dismissal was yet another AFLC victory against CAIR and its jihadi lawfare against patriotic Americans across the country. This victory follows on the heels of a recent victory against CAIR in a Michigan federal court where CAIR’s subpoenas were quashed and CAIR’s nefarious client sanctioned for abusive practices. CAIR was born from a jihadi terrorist conspiracy, and it has done little to distance itself from those bona fides. CAIR is on notice: if you attempt to use the courts to conduct your civilizational jihad, AFLC will be there to defend law-abiding, patriotic Americans and our nation’s national security. We will match and defeat your civilization jihad with our constitutional lawfare in every courtroom across the nation.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pentagon Slush Funds: How the US Gets to Buy Its Expensive New Weapons
US has set ambitious plans to modernize all three legs of its nuclear triad over the next thirty years, already awarding contracts to various defense contractors. However here’s the rub — where can it get the money for weapons it can barely afford? It turns out that Washington has a few tricks up its sleeve to secure its precious treasure.
There are certain “budget gimmickries” that the US can use, according to Sarah Tully, a Policy Analyst at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation and Council for a Livable World.
“One option is to divvy up the bill, paying for all or part of the program from a pot of money apart from the normal budget,” she wrote in an article for The National Interest magazine.
“Congress is currently working to create a loophole to pay for the navy’s leg of the nuclear triad, its submarines, outside of its standard budget: the so-called National Sea-Based Deterrence Fund, a scheme set up by Congress to fund the Ohio-class replacement subs,” the author adds.
The National Sea Based Deterrence Fund (NSBDF) acts like a piggy bank for the ballistic missile submarine replacement program, with both Congress and the defense secretary being able to put money into the account — Congress would theoretically move ORP-related spending items from the shipbuilding and research and development accounts into the NSBDF, and the defense secretary could move extra money in via reprogramming requests.
“Lawmakers argued that because the new submarines are a “national asset,” they shouldn’t have to be funded using the navy’s regular shipbuilding money. It will take nearly $100 billion just to procure the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine program, and the Sea-Based Deterrence Fund would, in theory, allow the navy to pay for the subs through this off-budget account while funding its other projects through its regular budget,” Sarah Tully says.
The Fund was created to cover the extraordinary cost of replacing the Ohio-class sub — $80 billion to $92 billion depending on the estimate. The appropriators consider it a fiscal gimmick.
With such a scheme in place, the author reasons, “what is keeping the air force from getting its own special, off-budget account for the bomber it also can’t afford?”
“In fact, some policy makers are indeed eyeing the special submarine fund as a model for a potential way to bankroll the new bomber.”
In January 2015, Lt. Gen. Stephen Wilson, Commander of Global Strike Command, said, “We’re looking to see how we can do something like that” in response to a potential Air Force version of the Sea-Based Deterrence fund.
The author then explained the inspiration for the gimmick.
“The inspiration for these accounts was likely the Overseas Contingency Operations account (OCO), the most egregious loophole in the federal budgetary process,” she said.
“Unlike the Pentagon base budget and all discretionary non-defense spending, OCO is not subject to the budget caps imposed by the 2011 Budget Control Act. Consequently, OCO is used by all branches of the military as a slush fund to pay for projects that it can’t afford out of the base budget.”
“President George W. Bush established an emergency war funding mechanism after 9/11 to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan because it was easier than planning for war spending within the base budget.”
The account has since expanded from a war fund to a true Pentagon slush fund, adding, for instance, funding for the F-15 aircraft program when none of these planes have been shot down in Afghanistan or Iraq, the author explains.
“OCO is spending $200 to $300 million on fixing propellers on nuclear submarines. That couldn’t possibly be related to Afghanistan. The last I saw, it was a landlocked country,” she quotes budget expert Gordon Adams as saying.
The author then makes a conclusion that similar practices are “bad budgeting practices and are contagious” and “do nothing to improve the affordability of a given program.”
“The Pentagon base budget is zero-sum. If the Navy doesn’t foot the bill for its submarines, or the Air Force for its new bomber, that money is still going to have to come from elsewhere within the defense budget.,” she says.
“Skirting responsibility for the cost of a weapons system is admitting that it is not affordable. If it were, these budget gimmicks wouldn’t be on the table at all,” she therefore concludes.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Plan Needed to Combat Anti-Muslim Protests in United States — NGO
Council on American Islamic Relations National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper claims that the pro-Muslim advocacy group plans a new campaign to oppose efforts to foster Islamophobia in the United States.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — A US pro-Muslim advocacy group plans a new campaign to oppose efforts to foster Islamophobia in the United States, Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper told Sputnik.
“We must sit down and come up with a pro-active strategy to counter islamophobia,” Hooper said on Monday. “We need the support of others in our society.”
A group called the Bureau of American Islamic Relations (BAIR) held a protest at the Islamic Center of Irving in Irving, Texas against allowing Syrian refugees into the United States and then published the names and addresses of Muslims and Muslim sympathizers on their Facebook page.
“The anti-Muslim environment is even more toxic than even after the 9/11 [September 11, 2001] attacks. The Paris attacks were just a trigger. It came at a time when we have a rise in overall anti-Muslim sentiment,” Hooper claimed.
A series of coordinated attacks carried out by Daesh supporters at various locations in Paris killed 130 people and injured over 360 others on November 13.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The Media’s Faux Outrage Over “Domestic Terrorism”
We don’t remember any outrage from the media over the alleged roles played by Obama associates Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn in the 1970 bombing murder of San Francisco police officer Brian V. McDonnell. In fact, the media peddled the nonsense that Ayers and Dohrn, who helped launch Barack Obama’s political career, were “anti-war activists” who bombed a few buildings and never hurt anyone.
Since “domestic terrorism” is now a topic of concern for the media, in the wake of the attack on the Planned Parenthood facility in Colorado, can we expect the media to pressure Obama Attorney General Loretta Lynch to gather new evidence in the McDonnell case? It’s not likely.
Lynch has already seized upon the killings at the Planned Parenthood clinic, saying federal officials “stand ready to offer any and all assistance to the district attorney and state and local law enforcement in Colorado as they move forward with their investigation.” Yet, neither Lynch nor her predecessor, Eric Holder, committed any resources toward solving the McDonnell murder, which is still an open case.
There is no statute of limitations on murder. But because Ayers and Dohrn were associates of Obama and helped launch his campaign for political office in Chicago, the media have shied away from the McDonnell murder story and have distorted the facts of the case.
The double standard proves the media have no interest in exposing alleged “domestic terrorism.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘They Called Sept. 11 a Glorious Event for Islam’
by Diana West
About the reaction of American Muslims to 9/11.
How about word from Akbar S. Ahmed, currently the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University in Washington, D.C., and formerly the first Distinguished Chair of Middle East and Islamic Studies at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD?
On p. 149 of his 2003 book, Islam Under SIege: Living Dangerously in a Post-Honor World, Ahmed describes a trip he took to Cleveland, Ohio in October of 2001 to deliver the annual lecture of the Ibn Sinna Society.
He writes:…
| — Hat tip: Diana West | [Return to headlines] |
Top Military Officer Contradicts Obama, Says ISIS Not ‘Contained’
America’s top-ranking military officer found himself at odds Tuesday with the nation’s commander-in-chief over his claim that the Islamic State was “contained” — an assertion President Obama had made before the Paris terror attacks.
Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, gave a dim assessment when asked during a House Armed Services Committee hearing whether that’s the case.
“We have not contained ISIL currently,” Dunford told Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
by Diana West
I don’t know why this didn’t occur to me much, much sooner.
It probably had something do with the task (repeatedly) at hand, which I will quickly review for new readers. (“Advanced” readers may want to skip.)
For more than two years, that task has been to refute lies, distortions and fabrications set forth in a score of straw-man attacks on American Betrayal as launched by a small, identifiable cabal. Such attacks are then either repeated, accepted, acquieseced to, or even enforced by a wider circle of “colleagues.” A long time ago, I thought I was dispensing with it all here, but it went on and on.
The cabal’s attacks are different from even the harshest of normal criticism, and are distinguishable by two tell-tales. One: they fail to engage with the material and arguments that are in fact to be found in my book. Two: they distort, lie and even create a set of material and arguments that are not to be found in my book, and then attack all of that, smearing me as the progenitor of same.
I will link to my rebuttal of the last such attack I am aware of, which ran in NRO earlier this year (two years after American Betrayal was published) because it offers a concise introduction to this Soviet-style disinformation oeuvre.
Enough. But do you see what I mean? Even the shortest-shrift explanation skirts the weeds and swampy undergrowth, where it is easy to miss the wider picture as framed by the perennial question: Why? Why did ex-Communists-turned-anti-Communists choose to lead a smear campaign against a copiously endnoted, and, I am happy to say, well-received anti-Communist book? I cannot answer with certainty, but it seems clear that the range of possible motivations, like the mendacious attacks themselves, are not within the range of normal.…
| — Hat tip: Diana West | [Return to headlines] |
‘Unprecedented’: New Report Details Daesh Support in US
There are currently 900 active investigations into supporters of Daesh, also known as ISIL/the Islamic State, in every American state, according to a new report.
Titled “ISIS in America: From Retweets to Raqqa,” the report focuses on around 300 people who have been identified as American recruits or supporters of the terrorist organization.
The diverse group ranges in age from 15 to 47 with an average age of 26 years; 40% are converts to Islam; about one in 10 are women; and more than half have traveled or have tried to travel abroad, the report says.
The sympathizers connect with the terror group online — especially via Twitter — and in everyday life. Their motivations vary.
“While some seek to join the self-declared caliphate in ISIS-controlled territory, others plan attacks within the US. It’s a growing and disturbing phenomenon,” co-author Lorenzo Vidino, who directs the Program on Extremism at George Washington University, said in a statement accompanying the report.
The group is among what the FBI estimates is “hundreds, if not thousands, of individuals” who are sympathetic to Daesh, the report says. The bureau has open investigations into recruits in every state.
While it is not new for Americans to join jihadist groups, Vidino says “the size of the ISIS-related radicalization and mobilization is unprecedented.”
While the report says that most of the sympathizers will never “make the leap from talk to action,” it also acknowledges that some will turn to real militancy — whether at home or abroad.
“Because there is no standard recruit profile, there is also no silver bullet that will blunt ISIS’s allure. Recognizing this complexity is a vital initial step for policymakers, law enforcement officials, civic leaders, teachers and parents when crafting effective solutions.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Why the Smithsonian Almost Didn’t Exist
The world’s largest museum and research organisation is celebrating the 250th anniversary of the birth of its founder. But it was pure luck that the Smithsonian Institution was ever created.
Inside a small crypt near the entrance of the Smithsonian castle on Washington’s National Mall is a memorial to James Smithson, an English scientist who is roundly praised for never having fathered any children.
If he had, his vast fortune would not have been given to America to found the research organisation that bears his name — the Smithsonian Institution.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Europe Prepares for the Next Assault in the War on Cash
Europe is now ground zero for the war on cash.
Europe is perhaps the most centrally controlled political system in the world: a place in which political and economic policies range from socialist (the public sector accounts for 30% of “free market” German’s employment) to extremely socialist (the public sector accounts for 56% of France’s employment).
As such, Europe is where a Central Banker can implement the most insane policy and get away with it.
Remember, it was Europe that first implemented “bail-ins” in which deposits were STOLEN to bail out a bank.
It was also Europe that first implemented Negative Interest rate Policy or NIRP.
And it was Europe that banned using physical cash in numerous transactions: France and Spain have banned any transaction over €1,000 or€2,500, respectively, from using physical cash.
Despite having implementing both NIRP and QE, Europe’s economy is lurching back towards deflation. So now the ECB is looking into even more extreme measures to trash cash in an attempt to drive capital into risk assets.
At the top of the list?
Staggering charges on banks that are “hoarding cash.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Four Arrested in Italy-Kosovo Terror Operation
Suspects said Francis is last pope
(ANSA) — Rome, December 1 — Four Kosovar nationals were arrested on Tuesday as part of an anti-terrorism operation conducted by Italian police and by the Kosovar authorities, ANSA sources said.
They are accused of apology for terrorism and incitement of racial hatred for allegedly being part of an organization that promoted jihadist ideology. The arrests took place during a series of raids conducted at the same time in three Italian cities and in Kosovo.
Numerous properties were also searched.
Investigators said the suspects had posted photographs on the internet showing them brandishing weapons and that they were radicalised.
The quartet had also allegedly posted an on-line message saying “Remember that there will not be another pope after this one, this is the last”.
Investigators identified Imishiti Samet as being the point of reference.
He was arrested in Kosovo and thought to be affiliated to Islamic State.
Interior Minister Angelino Alfano congratulated Police Chief Alessandro Pansa and said that the Italian and Kosovar police forces had done an “excellent job”.
Two of the suspects arrested in Italy will be expelled and the third has been placed under special surveillance under new counter-terrorism legislation.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
France’s ‘Chief Islamic State Group Recruiter’ Goes on Trial
The trial for France’s alleged top recruiter for the Islamic State (IS) group started Tuesday in Paris. Salim Benghalem’s trial will be conducted in absentia, as the suspect is believed to be in Syria.
Six other alleged terrorists accused of being part of Benghalem’s terror network will also stand trial in Paris. The trial will last until December 7, 2015.
French authorities said Benghalem, 35, was the leader of the so-called Buttes-Chaumont terrorist network that included Said and Cherif Kouachi, the brothers responsible for the deadly Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack in January. He has also been linked to Mehdi Nemmouche, the gunman suspected of opening fire at the Jewish Museum of Belgium in Brussels, killing four people in May 2014.
His wife, who left Syria with their children, has told investigators that he would return to France only to carry out an attack. She has said he believed bombs were not enough, that “a series of killings is recommended.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germans Fear Terrorism if Army Fights in Syria
A large majority of the German public fears a terror backlash due to Germany supporting France in its military campaign against Isis.
According to the survey by YouGov, 71 percent of Germans believe the threat is high and only 18 percent think there is no increased threat caused by Germany’s planned commitment of its armed forces to Syria.
On Tuesday morning the government agreed to send several Tornado reconnaissance jets, a refuelling plane and a warship to take part in the military operations against the jihadi organization. The Bundestag (German parliament) will also now have to vote on the mission.
The planned participation of the Bundeswehr (German army) is a response from Germany to the terrorist attacks on Paris on November 13th.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hijab Mural Painted Over With Hair at Swedish Mall
A shopping centre in Sweden forced a youth group it had commissioned to paint a mural to cover up a hijab they had put on a woman by concealing it under a haircut.
“It’s so horrible you almost can’t believe it’s true,” complained Pia Jönsson, whose husband Magnus Heberlein works for a local anti-racism group, in a post on Facebook. “What kind of message are you sending to customers? How can you play into the hands of racists in such a disgusting way.”
According to Jönsson, the management at Burlövs center, just outside Malmö had commissioned UNITY Burlov, and Ungdomsgruppen Burlov, two local youth groups, to paint the murals, which were intended to express the diversity of he local area.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hitler’s Words to Return to German Bookshelves
For the first time since the Second World War, Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” will be printed in Germany in January as an annotated edition, the institute publishing it said Tuesday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
How a Secretive Elite Created the EU to Build a World Government
Voters in Britain’s referendum need to understand that the European Union was about building a federal superstate from day one
by Prof Alan Sked
As the debate over the forthcoming EU referendum gears up, it would be wise perhaps to remember how Britain was led into membership in the first place. It seems to me that most people have little idea why one of the victors of the Second World War should have become almost desperate to join this “club”. That’s a shame, because answering that question is key to understanding why the EU has gone so wrong.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy’s Pension Contributions Among Highest in OECD
Report says burden amounts to 33% of earnings
(ANSA) — Rome, December 1 — The burden of social-security and pensions contributions in Italy is among the highest among OECD States, the organisation said in its ‘Pensions at a Glance 2015’ report Tuesday. It said that contributions in Italy amounted to 33% of wages, with 23.81% paid by the employer and 9.19% by the worker.
“As a result, Italy has the third highest pension-related revenue (as a percentage of GDP) in the OECD after Greece and Spain, which is needed to pay current pensions,” the report said.
“Recent reforms have improved the financial sustainability of the pension system but spending remains high. “In 2010-2015, Italy spent the second largest proportion of national income on pensions among OECD countries. “With the 2011 (pension) reform, major steps were taken to reduce the generosity of the system, especially through the increase in the retirement age and its equalisation between men and women, but population ageing will continue to exert pressure on the financing of the system… “Many retirees currently receive relatively generous pension benefits despite a low level of past contributions”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Paris is Safe: French PM Urges Tourists to Come
With reports that the French economy could suffer losses of up to €2 billion due to the impact of the terror attacks, the French PM has urged tourists to come to Paris and spend, insisting the city is safe.
France’s PM Manuel Valls urged tourists to come to Paris, spend money and enjoy the capital’s cultural attractions to help
boost the city in the wake of deadly jihadist attacks.
“Come to Paris, security conditions are assured,” Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on French radio, in what he described as a “message to all those tourists who cancelled their trip to Paris in recent days”.
“Consume, it’s a festive time, spend, live, go back to shows, to the cinema and theatre,” he added on Europe 1 radio.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Paris Police Tell Chabad Not to Light Hanukkah Candles in Public Spaces
Miri Michaeli, Europe correspondent for Israel’s Channel 10 news, tweets a troubling report from Paris. The tweet reads, in Hebrew: “Chabad: Paris police order [us] to cancel most of our public [Hanukkah] candlelighting in the city, in light of the terror attack and the fear of additional attacks. Efforts [are underway] to approve a candlelighting at the foot of the Eiffel [Tower].”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sizable Minority in Italy See Europe at War With Islam
Rome weighing more cooperation with France agst ISIS — Gentiloni
(ANSA) — Rome, November 27 — Most Italians do not see Europe as being at war with Islam after this month’s terrorist attacks in Paris, but a sizable minority do, according to a poll released on Friday.
Some 58% of Italians reject the notion of Europe has started hostilities following the attacks in which 130 people died, including 28-year-old Italian doctoral student Valeria Solesin, and 45% say that Islam has not opened hostilities with Europe either, according to the Ixé survey for RAI television. Around 39% of Italians, on the other hand, say they believe that, after the Paris attacks, Islam is at war with Europe and 34% say they believe Europe has started a war against Islam.
Some 76% of Italians say their attitudes to Islam are unchanged after the Paris terror attacks, arguing that “one must not generalise”. Only 22% of people polled said they have become more diffident to Islam.
Around 47% of Italians favour Italian military action against ISIS but only as part of an international coalition, according to the Ixè survey. Some 18% would support a unilateral Italian attack on ISIS while 32% say it is best to stay out and 3% said they don’t know.
Premier Matteo Renzi’s government has ruled out Italy taking part in direct action in Syria, but said it is increasing the number of Italian troops engaged in training in Iraq to contribute to the fight against ISIS. Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said Friday that Italy and France were “discussing possible further forms of cooperation” in the fight against ISIS. “We are studying forms of further collaboration,” he said, adding “we see absolutely eye to eye, as was shown yesterday” at a meeting in Paris between Renzi and President Francois Hollande. On Friday Renzi met United States Vice President Joe Biden in Rome.
Renzi and Biden saw eye to eye on the current troubled geopolitical situation, especially as regards Syria and Libya, sources said after the talks. The meeting at Villa Taverna, the official residence of the US ambassador, lasted about an hour, the sources said. They added that the encounter took place in an “excellent atmosphere” and that Biden expressed “great praise” of Renzi and Italy’s commitment to the international coalition against terror and ISIS.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Songs of Praise: Turkmenistan President’s Hymn Sets New Record
A choir of 4,166 people in isolated ex-Soviet Turkmenistan has broken a world record by singing a hymn penned by the nation’s strongman president, in the latest choreographed show of support.
The rendition of ‘Forward, only forward, my dear country Turkmenistan’ by President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov entered the Guinness Book of Records for most people singing in the round, a Guinness employee told AFP by email on Monday.
“I was witness to a huge surge of patriotism as Turkmen citizens performed in a single breath the song of the head of state,” Seyda Subasi, an adjudicator of Guinness World Records, told Turkmen state television after last week’s performance…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Support for Anti-Immigration Swedish Party Rises to Almost 20 Percent
According to a survey conducted by the Swedish government agency responsible for statistics, if parliamentary elections were held in late November, the Sweden Democrats party would receive some 19.9 percent of the vote.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Public support for the Sweden Democrats party, which opposes high immigration levels to the country, increased to nearly 20 percent, a recent poll revealed on Tuesday.
The voting results for Social Democratic and Green parties in the same scenario would concurrently decrease, according to the poll.
During the 2014 elections, the Sweden Democrats received 12.9 percent of the vote, almost doubling its result in comparison with the 2010 national elections.
The Sweden Democrats criticize existing government immigration policy for its perceived inability to manage problems stemming from the influx of migrants to Sweden. The Scandinavian state is one of the most desired destinations for the hundreds of thousands of Middle Eastern and North African asylum seekers who have moved through the EU in 2015.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Should Female Tech Students Get ‘Free’ Loans?
A suggestion that female IT students should have their debts written off to encourage more young women to enter Sweden’s tech sector is causing a storm in the famously ‘gender equal’ nation.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Nationalists Cheer Record Poll Support
The anti-immigration Sweden Democrat party has polled 19.9 percent, the group’s highest-ever projected share of the electoral vote in a survey by Statistics Sweden.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
by John M. Joyce
[…]
Freshly lubricated, the conversation moved into the channels of midnight imaginings. Could something like Paris happen here in the U.K? In London? Perhaps in one of our other cities — one with a large Muslim population such as Birmingham or Bradford? Speculation about the probable future actions of the fifth columnists that were now scattered throughout our land grew ever more fevered as the night wore on. The consensus was that we were, and would remain for the foreseeable future, at risk and that the Islamic violence in western societies would gradually increase as the years went by.
Then, quietly and with good manners — almost apologetically, one of our fellow guests disagreed with us. He stated quite plainly that the situation in Britain would not be allowed to get out of hand as had happened, in his humble opinion, on the continent. What was more, he asserted, the British government had a Plan to keep the Muslim situation in the U.K. under control, and had had such a Plan in place since it was drawn up under the Blair Labour government back in 2005, after the bombings in London, when it had been known as the Lancaster Plan, named, he explained, after John of Gaunt who, although never king himself, sired the line of English Kings that came after him, kings who kept England together and at the forefront of world developments.
Naturally, we were all most curious about this Lancaster Plan and although the abundance of fine food and magnificent beverages had, perhaps, taken the edge off our ratiocinative powers, we nonetheless quizzed our loquacious friend as to what the Plan actually was — what it actually said. It was simple, he informed us. The Lancaster Plan contained several different provisions that could be brought into play to defuse the threat of Islamic violence in the U.K. That bald statement hardly satisfied us as an explanation. That fateful night we wanted to know what each provision was and how, and when, they would, or could, be activated.
What he said next left us somewhat bemused. He informed us, with no special tone in his voice, just in a matter-of-fact way, that the first two provisions of the Lancaster Plan had already been activated and were proving to be successful. Further provisions could be activated when necessary and in that way Muslim violence in Britain could be contained or minimised, or maybe even staved off indefinitely if the plan came to be implemented in its entirety.
Our interests were well and truly piqued and our curiosities well and truly whetted so we encouraged our informant to tell us more. He carefully explained to us the two stages that he’d just mentioned. The first stage was, so he said, the careful use of legislation to make any criticism of Islam, or Muslims, almost impossible. Many in government, he stated, were a little upset that in order to do that they had also made it legally very difficult to criticise other faiths such as Christianity or Hinduism, but their concerns about this had dissipated over recent years as it had become obvious that the police and the judiciary simply treated any criticism of a faith other than Islam, or criticism of a believer other than a Muslim, as being far less serious than criticism of Islam itself or of Muslims. The careful positioning by many NGOs, and left-wing thinkers, of criticism of Islam and Muslims as racist had not been entirely co-incidental either, so he averred, but had been initiated and encouraged by government officials in furtherance of the first stage of the Lancaster Plan.
| — Hat tip: MM | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Ex-Muslims Give Reasons They Left the Faith, Using a Hashtag
Ex-Muslims are using a hashtag, #ExMuslimBecause, to tell why they have left the faith.
The Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain started the tag, saying it wanted to defend people’s right to leave Islam and criticise it without fear or intimidation.
But many Muslims are taking issue, saying that the hashtag is “hateful,” and being used as an excuse for Muslim-bashing at a time of increasing fear of Islamophobia.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe Set to Leave Broadmoor After 31 Years
Peter Sutcliffe, 69, has been in Broadmoor in Berkshire since 1984 after being sentenced to concurrent life terms for murdering 13 women in the West Yorkshire and Manchester areas.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Vatican Proceeds With VatiLeaks Trial
(AGI) Vatican City, Nov. 24 — After being in custody in the Vatican’s Gendarmerie for almost a month, Father Vallejo Balda appeared in the Vatileaks trial’s first hearing on Tuesday in clerical grey and a short hair-cut. “I feel fine, very well protected,” he assured reporters on his condition of health.
After 20 days in custody, the priest was smiling, although he looked thinner and obviously stressed by his detention.
Francesca Immacolata Chaouqui, the former public relations expert for COSEA, the Committee set up to investigate the Vatican’s financial system, appeared without a trace of makeup and with her jeans unbuttoned “to avoid trouble” since she is in early pregnancy. The two did not appear to be particularly close and Fr Balda talked to all the defendants except her. Emiliano Fittipaldi, one of the defendants in the case, told reporters in the courtroom during a pause in the proceeding: “I had never set foot in the Vatican before now”. Gianluigi Nuzzi told the media, “We are not martyrs but reporters.” He continued: “There are principles that need to be defended. It is our duty to be here today. Compared to the Italian justice system, the Vatican’s is excessively fast.” The defendants’ chat with the media was the most interesting part of the trial, which was devoted to the entry of appearance and preliminary exceptions, all of which were rejected by the court, including the request filed by Fittipaldi’s defence to drop the charges against him. In a voluntary statement, Fittipaldi explained that this request was based on the charges being listed “without describing the facts to which they referred.” He said: “The lack of specification is a completely unacceptable condition because the defendant cannot know what he is to defend himself against and the prosecution can at any time extend the indictment to any of the documents or news contained in my book.” Lucia Musso, Fittipaldi’s attorney, formalised the request specifying that her client’s name is only mentioned on page 8 of the 10-page indictment decree although no mention is made of incriminating facts, making it impossible for him to defend himself. Roberto Zannotti, the Vatican’s Assistant Promoter of Justice, replied that the indictment decree contained all the necessary elements, including the charges and the possible aggravating circumstances. The fact that the charges are simply listed does not mean that they are impossible to understand. The court’s panel of judges, chaired by Giuseppe Dalla Torre, also rejected the request by Monsignor Vallejo Balda’s attorney, Emanuela Bellardini, to extend the period for filing a defence because his previous defence counsel had renounced his assignment and she only received the defence briefs on Monday. The court’s decision was motivated by the fact that the next hearing will be on Nov. 30, giving her ample time to study the briefs. The president of the court also announced that the claim filed to engage lawyers not accredited with the Roman Rota will have to be decided by the Court of Appeals, whose president is on leave.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
by Nidra Poller
Our French feminine newscasters are attractive, charming, refined, and fashionably dressed. (Though a few have disfigured themselves with silicone lips that interfere with their ability to speak). Compared to their American and British counterparts, they are stunningly beautiful. And it just might have something to do with French culture, because women on the French channel of Israel’s i24 news are in general better looking than their colleagues on the English channel.
I’m not sure of the appropriate vocabulary for their profession. Some are simple newsreaders, others are full-fledged journalists. They don’t go into the grimy field like the American and British big names that stood up, rain or shine, at Place de la République for hours on end last week. Decades ago they were called “speakerines,” a word that has been dumped, along with “concierge” for custodian and “garcon” for waiter. For some reason that escapes me, our indoor journalists have taken to baring their arms to the shoulder when temperatures drop and normal people are bundled up in sweaters and jackets. In my experience, TV studios are more likely to be cool than overheated. But I was surprised to see a sweet young thing on the 14th of November dressed in a summery pastel sleeveless top reciting press releases filled with shock and gore. By the end of the day the word had apparently gone out. Since then, it’s jackets or long sleeves, all black for the first week, now varied but still appropriate to a grieving nation…
| — Hat tip: Nidra Poller | [Return to headlines] |
Over 120 Islamic State Members Return to Kosovo
BELGRADE — Presently in Kosovo-Metohija, there are around 120 returnees from the so-called Islamic State, Kosovo police spokesperson Baki Keljani said on Monday as reported by Pristina-based media.
These people took part in the fights in Syria and Iraq on the side of the Islamic State since 2011, reads Pristina-based daily Zeri as reported by Radio and Television of Serbia.
The daily’s sources say that relevant institutions, including the Kosovo police, the Kosovo Intelligence Service and other mechanisms, are monitoring closely the activities of Kosovo people, who stayed in Syria and Iraq in different periods, and then returned to Kosovo.
The security measures in Kosovo have been stepped up to maximum following the recent terrorist attacks in Paris.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: No Anti-ISIS Intervention Without Strategy Says Renzi
ISIS in Sirte for months, nothing new
(ANSA) — Rome, December 1 — Premier Matteo Renzi said on the anti-ISIS fight Tuesday that “Italy does not have a prejudicially hostile position against interventions even of a military nature or stronger diplomatic ones but it only asks that what happened in Libya is not done: an intervention without strategy whose consequences you pay”. He added that ISIS had been “rooted” in the Libyan city of Sirte for months according to intelligence and there was “no news” on that front.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
New Suez Canal: Economic Impact on Mediterranean Traffic
Study presented by Srm in cooperation with Certet-Bocconi
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, NOVEMBER 30 — The impact on the maritime traffic in the Mediterranean and the expected repercussions on Italian ports were central themes of the debate during the presentation of the study on the economic repercussion of work doubling the capacity of the Suez Canal at the Italian embassy in Cairo. The study was carried out by Srm (Studi e Ricerche Mezzogiorno, or Studies and Research for the South, a research center connected with the Intesa Sanpaolo group) in cooperation with Certet-Bocconi university within the permanent observatory on maritime transport and logistics.
Particular attention was dedicated to the possible growth of exchange flows between Mediterranean and Persian Gulf countries, given the recent evolution in international policies, while it has been estimated that traffic benefiting from the new canal will concern container ships. Port Said’s role thus becomes key where important infrastructural projects announced by the government of Cairo are present.
Considering the fact that the opening of the new part of the Suez canal has cut down transit time from 18 to 11 hours, the potential impact on the choice of navigation companies can be understood. In particular, it has been estimated to generate average savings of about 5-10% in total operational costs for each carrier (depending on routes and distance) by going through Suez. And the new Suez Canal will represent an important opportunity for Italian ports — through which a total of 460 tons of goods are currently in transit.
“The Mediterranean will earn new centrality — said Massimo Deandreis, director of research — because the key point is not increasing traffic towards Gulf areas or those around the Mediterranean, but potentially that the route from Asia to the eastern coast of the United States will move part of its traffic towards the Mediterranean, which will become an area and a route of passage”.
In other words, “there will be very few ships departing when they are fully loaded from Shanghai and emptying out completely in New York. Intermediate stops in the Mediterranean will become stopovers to unload, load, work or for maintenance and this will give new centrality to the Mediterranean area and Italy, for its central position, can benefit from this, however investing in the infrastructures of its ports”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia: Ex Femen Amina Returns Home, Launches Magazine
To be called Farida (unique) and to be published only in Arabic
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, DECEMBER 1 — Tunisian feminist activist Amina Sboui, or Amina Tyler, a former member of Femen known to her country’s public opinion as the protagonist of behavior that forced her to flee to France, is now returning home to launch a feminist magazine for women, Farida (Unique). The magazine will only be published in Arabic, starting in 2016.
Amina, recently listed by the BBC among the world’s 100 most inspirational women, told British newspaper Metro that the feminist magazine will focus on a range of issues concerning women with the objective of discussing taboo subjects in Tunisia like homosexuality and abortion.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Are These the Tankers Bilal Erdogan Uses to Transport ISIS Oil?
Regular readers are by now well acquainted with Bilal Erdogan, the son of Turkish autocrat Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Although Erdogan senior masquerades as President of a democratic society, he is in reality a despot who just weeks ago, capped off a four-month effort to nullify an undesirable ballot box outcome by scaring the electorate into throwing more support behind the ruling AKP in a do-over vote designed specifically to undermine the pro-Kurdish HDP, which put up a strong showing in the last round of elections, held in June.
As the world’s interest in Islamic State’s illicit oil trade has grown over the past 60 or so days, so too has the scrutiny on how the group gets its stolen crude to market. In the seven days since Turkey shot down a Russian Su-24 near the Syrian border, Moscow has done its best to focus the world’s collective attention on the connection between ISIS and Turkey. It’s common knowledge among those who pay attention to such things that Ankara is part of an alliance that includes Riyadh, Doha, and Washington whose collective goal is to fund and arm the Syrian opposition. What’s up for debate is the extent to which that alliance supports ISIS and, to a lesser extent, al-Nusra.
Earlier today, Vladimir Putin explicitly accused Ankara of attempting to protect ISIS oil routes by shooting down Russian warplanes which have destroyed hundreds of Islamic State oil trucks in November.
Erdogan of course denies the allegations, but as we’ve shown, it would be very easy for Turkish smugglers to commingle ISIS and KRG crude (which, by the way, is also technically illegal), effectively using Kurdish oil to mask Turkey’s participation in the Islamic State oil trade.
Some contend that Bilal Erdogan’s marine transport company BMZ Group (which owns a Maltese shipping company) is involved in trafficking ISIS oil (see our full account here).
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ex-US Intelligence Chief on Islamic State’s Rise: ‘We Were Too Dumb’
Without the Iraq war, Islamic State wouldn’t exist today, former US special forces chief Mike Flynn openly admits. In an interview, he explains IS’ rise to become a professional force and how the Americans allowed its future leader to slip out of their hands.
Flynn: We used to say, “We’ll just keep killing the leaders, and the next guy up is not going to be as good.” That didn’t work out that way because al-Baghdadi is better than Zarqawi, and Zarqawi was actually better than bin Laden.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: So killing Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi wouldn’t change much?
Flynn: Not at all. He could be dead today, you haven’t seen him lately.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: The Islamic State wouldn’t be where it is now without the fall of Baghdad. Do you regret …
Flynn: … yes, absolutely …
SPIEGEL ONLINE: … the Iraq war?
Flynn: It was huge error. As brutal as Saddam Hussein was, it was a mistake to just eliminate him. The same is true for Moammar Gadhafi and for Libya, which is now a failed state. The historic lesson is that it was a strategic failure to go into Iraq. History will not be and should not be kind with that decision.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Finest Russian Combat Helicopters Come to Syria
Kamov Ka-52 and Mil Mi-28 attack helicopters were reportedly spotted in the vicinity of Hmeymim airbase in Syria.
Syrian media covering the rescue of Konstantin Murahtin, co-pilot of the Su-24 bomber aircraft shot down by Turkish forces in Syria, made a rather interesting discovery.
Russian state-of-the-art Kamov Ka-52 Alligator and Mil Mi-28N Night Hunter attack helicopters could be clearly seen on video reportedly filmed by Syrian TV crews in the vicinity of the Hmeymim airbase which serves as the primary base of operations for Russian Aerospace Forces elements deployed in Syria.
The helicopters only appear on film for a few seconds but Ka-52 can be easily identified due to their distinct silhouette.
The Kamov Ka-52 helicopter, along with other modifications of the Ka-50 Black Shark attack helicopters is usually employed by Russian military for special forces support, while the Mil Mi-28 is designated as the main army gunship.
This is apparently the first confirmed sightings of these types of helicopters during the ongoing Russian airborne campaign in Syria against Daesh, also known as ISIL and the Islamic State.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Seeks $30bn of New Oil Contracts
Iran has overhauled the way in which it offers contracts to foreign energy companies in a bid to attract up to $30bn of new investment.
The terms of the new oil contracts will be more favourable to foreign investors, who will be allowed a greater stake in long-term profits.
Iran is gearing up for the lifting of sanctions following the nuclear deal with six world powers in July.
The country has some of the biggest oil and gas reserves in the world.
The new contracts were announced at a conference in Tehran attended by many of the world’s major energy companies, including BP, Shell, Total, Statoil and Sinopec. There were, however, no US companies present.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Has Eyes on Heroin Trafficking, Warns UK Analyst
After oil facilities hit; reports from Russia
LONDON — The Islamic State (ISIS) may soon be making large amounts of cash from some of the most lucrative heroin routes from Afghanistan that cross through Iraq, Syria and Turkey, some tabloids have quoted Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) analyst Tom Keatinge as saying. The UK analyst said that recent months’ bombing of oil facilities and convoys controlled by the jihadists have pushed them to seek alternative sources of revenue to fund their ‘holy war’ and possibly other terrorist acts in Europe. “If you look at the routes that opium take from Afghanistan, there is a lot of territory controlled by ISIS and therefore they will be making money out of it,” he added. Similar warnings were expressed by Viktor Ivanov, head of Russia’s Federal Drug Control Service (FSKN), who said that ISIS and groups linked to it were involved in heroin trafficking with revenue potentially of a billion dollars.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Istanbul Metro Blast ‘Causes Injuries’ — Turkey Media
An explosion has been heard at Istanbul’s Bayrampasa metro station, with reports of at least one injury. The mayor of the district where the blast happened said it had been caused by a bomb on an overpass near the station.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Kurdistan Commemorates Jewish Kurds Expulsion by Iraq in 1951
Yesterday in Erbil, the Kurdistan Regional Government commemorated the expulsion of 25,000 Jewish Kurds by the Iraqi National government in April 1951. They were among an estimated 125,000 Iraqi Jews who walked or flew on the Biblical wings of eagles in a massive airlift to Israel in Operation Ezra and Nehemiah. Their properties, assets, funds were expropriated by the Iraqi government that some estimate were worth several billion in current dollars of account. The largest contingent were the Baghdadi or Babylonian Jews, while Kurdish Jews were the smallest contingent of the mass expulsion after having resided more than 2,700 years in both the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities. The Babylonian Jews produced the great rabbinic commentaries in the Talmud and other works that are studied daily in Yeshivas in Israel and the Jewish Diaspora…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
NATO to Bolster Turkey’s Defenses, Says Not Reacting to Russia
NATO said it will bolster Turkey’s air defenses, a week after the Turkish air force shot down a Russian bomber that strayed over the border while on a mission over Syria.
Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the upgraded defenses on the 28-nation alliance’s southeastern flank were in the works “long before” the Nov. 24 incident and aren’t meant to provoke Russia.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Risk of Jewish Extinction in Mideast Muslim Countries, Expert
Less than 30,000 left after 2,500 years of history
ROME — In 50 years there will probably be no Jewish community in Arab and Muslim countries in North Africa and the Middle East and the traces and memory of such an important presence, which dates back to over 2,500 years ago, risk to be cancelled forever. Such a concern has been explained by Professor Hain Saadoun, one of the major experts on eastern Jews, a dean at the Open University and member of the Ben Tzivi Institute in Jerusalem, at a conference held at the Link Campus University in Rome attended by Israeli Ambassador Naor Gilon and the president of the university, Vincenzo Scotti.
Before 1948, some 900,000 Jews lived in the wider biblical area, from Morocco to Iran. They were prosperous communities, protagonists of the national lives of their respective countries, from the arts to science and administration. They enjoyed a sort of “golden age”, explained Professor Saadoun.
Then, following the proclamation of the Jewish State, over 850,000 Jews were expelled or forced to flee violence targeting them. They abandoned their homes, their property, their places of worship, their lives, to seek refuge in the new Jewish State.
In some cases, like in Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Jewish communities were traumatically cancelled in just three years, from 1948 to 1951.
In other countries, emigration was a slower process. “The incredible thing — observed the Israeli professor — is that the exodus of Jews, such an important component of Middle Eastern societies at the time, was perceived with absolute indifference by local populations”. It was one of the most imposing migrations of the 20th century, more significant, although more ignored, than the one concerning 700,000 Palestinians who left their land during the 1948 war.
A number of factors led Jews to flee the Arab and Muslim world, said Saadoun. These included the fear of anti-Jewish violence and an uncertain political future certainly, along with the economic potential of migrating to Israel, religious motivations, the role of the Jewish Agency, the fact that they felt like a minority with a higher degree of modernity compared with post-colonial Muslim societies, tensions between the Arab world and Israel.
According to Israeli estimates, just a little under 30,000 Jews are left today in North Africa and the Middle East. The largest communities are living in Turkey, with some 14,000 Jews in Istanbul, and in Iran where — according to more uncertain data — Jews are an estimated 10,000, especially in Tehran and Shiraz. Some 30 Jews are residing in Cairo while only about 100 have survived in Sanaa, Yemen.
There are no Jewish districts left and little is done for the survival of places of worship from the past. There are however exceptions: in Morocco, the Jewish museum of Casablanca has been built and important synagogues have been renovated, like the Grand Synagogue in Fez. In Tunisia, the Jewish community in the island of Djerba, about 1,000 people, “shows great vitality and is quickly rising demographically”, said the professor.
Saadoun however fears that these few positive contexts are not enough to fill the great gaps throughout the history of eastern Jews. “We don’t know enough and we have to fight to try to form a collective memory”. The risk is that everything will be reduced to blurred images in black and white of men, women and children as they desperately try to board ships bound for Hafa at the port of Tripoli, in Libya.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Prepares for Dogfights With NATO Over Syria
Russian Air Force equips jets with air-to-air missiles.
Russia is now equipping its Su-34 fighters with air-to-air missiles in preparation for potential dogfights with NATO over Syria.
“Today, Russian Su-34 fighter-bombers have made their first sortie equipped not only with high explosive aviation bombs and hollow charge bombs, but also with short- and medium-range air-to-air missiles,” Russian Air Force spokesman Igor Klimov told RT. “The planes are equipped with missiles for defensive purposes.”
He also added the missiles are “capable of hitting air targets within a 60km radius.”
It’s obvious that Russia is not equipping its jets with air-to-air missiles to fight ground-based ISIS militants but rather to prevent Turkish F-16s from shooting down more of its planes.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Firm Secures Funding for World’s Tallest Building
The 170-storey building in Jeddah will rise to a height of more than one kilometre, surpassing Dubai’s Burj Khalifa.
The Saudi corporation behind plans for the world’s tallest building says it has secured financing to complete the record-breaking project.
Kingdom Holding, chaired by Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, said on Sunday that its affiliate, Jeddah Economic Company, had reached a more than $2bn financing deal with Saudi Arabia’s Alinma Investment to finish the Jeddah Tower in the Red Sea city.
Previously dubbed “Kingdom Tower”, the 170-storey building is to rise more than a kilometre, surpassing Dubai’s Burj Khalifa as the world’s highest building.
Costs for the project had previously been estimated at $1.2bn.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Syria’s Al Qaeda Branch Frees Lebanese Soldiers as Part of Swap Deal
Syria’s Al Qaeda branch on Tuesday released a group of Lebanese troops held captive for over a year as part of a Qatar-brokered swap that involved Lebanon setting free at least 11 prisoners wanted by the militants, including a former wife of the Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The group included Saja al-Dulaimi, the 26-year-old former wife of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Al-Dulaimi was detained in Lebanon last year after she crossed into the country illegally with her current husband using forged identity cards.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
by Srdja Trifkovic
There is no single explanation for Turkey’s decision to shoot down a Russian SU-24 bomber over Syria on November 24. That it was shot over Syria (and did not merely fall inside Syria) is by now a matter of record, confirmed almost immediately by U.S. military sources:
“The United States believes that the Russian jet shot down by Turkey on Tuesday was hit inside Syrian airspace after a brief incursion into Turkish airspace, a U.S. official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official said that assessment was based on detection of the heat signature of the jet.”
Reuters would not have published the story had its anonymous source not been credible, later reactions from the White House notwithstanding. That the Turkish move was “overly aggressive” and “pre-planned” was also the assessment of Lt. Gen. Tom McInerney, an expert on handling threats from fighter jets, who previously served as Commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad).
Particularly strange was the hastily made Turkish claim that the jet violated the border along 2.19 kilometers (1.36 miles) for 17 seconds, which would mean that it was flying at only 288 miles per hour—a physical impossibility for the supersonic SU-24—and that the Turks did not know the nationality of the plane. Even if the attacking Turkish F-16 happened to be in the immediate vicinity just by chance, 17 seconds would not have provided it with enough time to take aim and lock on the missile. Russia’s subsequent detailed analysis of the shootdown (overlooked in the mainstream media) suggests that the incident had the character of a premeditated ambush.
In any event, Turkey’s version of the story directly contradicts Ankara’s own official position on airspace violations. In June 2012 Turkey lost an F-4 Phantom II to a Syrian missile after it entered Syria’s airspace. “A short-term border violation can never be a pretext for an attack,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was Turkey’s prime minister at the time, declared as he expressed outrage over the incident. Turkey’s then-president Abdullah Gül said that “it is routine for jet fighters to sometimes fly in and out over [national] borders.” Let it be added that Turkey is a serial violator: in 2014 alone Turkey violated Greek airspace more than 2000 times. Interestigly, such routine daily violations have suddenly stopped after November 24.
When I heard of the incident last Tuesday morning, my immediate hunch was that Turkey’s president Erdogan acted of his own accord — without consulting or seeking prior approval from Washington or from the NATO HQ in Belgium—for a variety of nefarious motives. As I told RTTV less than three hours after the downing of the SU-24, Erdogan probably wanted to throw spanners into the works of France’s attempt to develop a joint anti-ISIS strategy with Russia and thus to to sabotage the war against ISIS fanatics, whom he covertly supports. In addition, I said, he likely wanted to assert Turkey’s role as the protector of Turkmen jihadists in northern Syria and to provoke Russia’s over-reaction, which would further poison Moscow’s relations with the West and perhaps induce NATO to get directly involved in the dispute.
Six days later the score appears considerably more complex.
| — Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic | [Return to headlines] |
Turkish Court ‘Orders Gollum Study’ In Erdogan Case
A Turkish court has asked experts to assess the character Gollum from The Lord of the Rings in the case of a man on trial for insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish media report.
Bilgin Ciftci is accused of insulting the president for sharing images comparing Mr Erdogan and Gollum.
The experts will reportedly decide whether or not this was an insult.
It is not known precisely what criteria the experts will use to arrive at their decision.
The character of Gollum appears in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy by JRR Tolkien and the film versions directed by Peter Jackson. He was first introduced in the Hobbit as “a small, slimy creature”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Turkish Newspaper Faces Sudden Tax Inspection After Arrest of Two Reporters
Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet is facing a sudden re-examination by government authorities of its 2010 tax accounts after two of its journalists were arrested last week on charges of espionage and propaganda, the newspaper’s chief executive, Akin Atalay, said.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On November 26, an Istanbul court ordered the arrest of the Cumhuriyet’s editor-in-chief, Can Dundar, and the newspaper’s Ankara bureau chief, Erdem Gul, over the publication of an article detailing how trucks owned and operated by Turkish intelligence were carrying weapons bound for Syria.
“Two and a half years have passed since Cumhuriyet newspaper’s 2010 accounts were fully inspected, now they again want to inspect the audited accounts for 2010,” Atalay said on Twitter on Monday.
A photocopy of the previous tax inspection report was attached to the tweet.
The Cumhuriyet May 29 article showed footage of trucks operated by Turkish intelligence carrying what the newspaper claimed were weapons and ammunition to Syrian opposition groups fighting President Bashar Assad.
Ankara denied accusations of assisting a Syrian opposition, claiming that the vehicles were delivering aid to Syrian Turkmens.
The arrest of the journalists raised an international outcry over freedom of the press in Turkey. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the European and International Federations of Journalists have called on Ankara to drop all charges against the two journalists and release them immediately.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK Flooding Middle East With Arms Leads to Weapons Falling Into Wrong Hands
The United Kingdom should stop flooding the Middle East with arms as they fall into the wrong hands, a spokesman for Campaign Against Arms Trade told Sputnik Monday.
The British newspaper The Independent reported on Friday that the United Kingdom’ s government could be prosecuted for war crimes after more evidence emerged of the use of UK-made missiles, sold to Saudi Arabia, against civilian targets in Yemen.
“ There is no such thing as arms control in a war zone, once weapons have been sold there is no way of knowing where they will end up. One of the reasons ISIL is so well armed is because it has captured and obtained large quantities of Western arms that were originally sold to the Iraqi government. Countries like the UK need to stop flooding the region with arms,” Andrew Smith said.’
[Comment: NATO using the intentional accident method to arm ISIS.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
US Urges Turkey and Russia to End Row Over Downed Plane
US President Barack Obama has urged Turkey and Russia to reduce tensions, a week after Turkish jets shot down a Russian warplane.
After talks with Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Paris, Mr Obama reaffirmed US support for “Turkey’s right to defend itself and its airspace”.
But he stressed that Russia and Turkey should “de-escalate” their dispute.
“We all have a common enemy,” Mr Obama said, referring to the so-called Islamic State (IS) group.
“I want to make sure that we focus on that threat,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Eastern European States Trying to Derail Russo-German Nord Stream 2 Project
A number of eastern European countries, headed by Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, have risked drawing the ire of officials in Berlin after working to block the proposed new Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline corridor between Russia and Germany.
The project, which involves the construction of two natural gas pipelines that will run through the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany, is supported by German and Russian officials, but has drawn criticism from some countries as it will bypass eastern European states.
Russian gas company Gazprom signed a shareholders’ agreement with the project’s German, Austrian, French and Anglo-Dutch stakeholders in September, but has since received criticism from some EU member states.
Poland is leading the charge of eastern European states against the construction of the project, arguing that it would go against plans to diversify the EU’s gas imports.
“Nord Stream 2 would be, above all, detrimental in geopolitical terms… for the purpose of exerting more political pressure and applying blackmail on the EU, its eastern member states and its eastern neighbors,” Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, Polish member of the European Parliament, told the Financial Times.
However, the approach is sure to spark an angry rebuke from Berlin, who has been in support of the project to directly supply Germany and other western European states with gas, while bypassing many of the costly transit fees that would have come with transporting the resources through eastern European countries.
The new pipeline, which would run alongside the existing Nord Stream project, would also negate the risk of having European gas supplies disrupted, as was experienced in 2006 and then again in 2009 when gas transportation was halted over a payment dispute, which saw Moscow demand Kiev pay outstanding debts in excess of US$2 billion.
Earlier this month, German media reported that the country Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel warned EU officials not to bow to pressure being applied by some states to sabotage the project.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Hopes to Circulate UN Resolution Soon to Tighten Crackdown on Terrorist Financing
Russia’s U.N. ambassador says he hopes to circulate a draft resolution to the Security Council very soon that will tighten the U.N. crackdown on the financing of terrorist groups including the Islamic State extremists.
Vitaly Churkin told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the resolution will be a follow-up to the Russian-sponsored resolution adopted unanimously on Feb. 12 which is aimed at halting illicit oil sales, trading in antiquities and ransom payments for hostages that are key methods used by extremist groups to finance terrorist operations.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
State Department ‘Troubled’ By Moscow’s Move Against Soros Groups
The U.S. State Department says it is “troubled” by Russia’s decision to ban two of liberal billionaire George Soros’ pro-democracy charities and label the organizations a threat to national security.
“Today’s designation of the Open Society Foundations and the Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation as so-called ‘undesirable’ organizations will only further restrict the work of civil society in Russia for the benefit of the Russian people,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Monday. “This action is yet another example of the Russian Government’s growing crackdown on independent voices and a deliberate step to further isolate the Russian people from the world.”
A spokesperson from Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office said the activities of the fund are threats to state security and the Russian constitution, Radio Free Europe reports.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Four Suspects Detained in Georgia Over Possible Daesh Connection
The Georgian Security Service confirmed on Tuesday the arrest of four people suspected of having links to the IslamiÑ State (IS, or Daesh in the Arab world) jihadist group.
TBILISI (Sputnik) — On Sunday, the Georgian Rustavi 2 TV channel reported that a 23-year-old man was arrested by special forces in the west of the country for allegedly being affiliated with Daesh. Three more men had been arrested before the special operation was conducted. The intelligence service did not confirm the raids immediately.
“On the basis on the warrants, 11 homes have been raided. During the search, hand grenades, pistols, live cartridges, memory cards, CD and DVD discs and the flags of Islamic State were seized. In the course of our operations, four people have been detained. They were charged under Part 2 of Article 236 of the Criminal Code of Georgia [regarding illegal possession of firearms, ammunition or explosives],” the deputy head of Georgia’s State Security Service, Levan Izoria, said at a press briefing.
He added that an investigation into the cases was underway.
Last week, Izoria said there were up to 50 Georgian citizens fighting alongside extremist groups in Syria, adding that there were pro-IS websites in the Georgian language. The official pledged to address the court in the coming days so that such online sites would be banned from ISPs in the country.
In June, four people were detained in Tbilisi and Kakheti, accused of joining Daesh and recruiting Georgians to fight in Syria.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Bangladesh: Lurching From Secularism to Sectarian Terror?
The recent killings of atheist bloggers in Bangladesh have raised concerns about freedom of speech and shrinking space for secularist thoughts. But increasingly, Bangladesh appears to be heading down a new and even more dangerous road.
Recent attacks on Shia Muslims and death threats against Christian priests have raised the spectre of sectarian terror, which was unthinkable in this largely Muslim country with a tradition of social harmony.
Thursday’s attack on a Shia mosque in Bogra, in the north of the country, left one dead and several wounded. The death toll is small compared to the carnage Shia in Iraq and Pakistan have suffered in recent years.
But it sent shockwaves through Bangladesh — which has secularism enshrined in its constitution.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Increasing Sectarian Violence, With Christian Minorities and Women Main Targets
The Asian Human Rights Commission reports on most recent cases of abuse. Among these forced conversions, kidnappings and rapes. The attacks on goods and property of minorities pass with impunity. Religious freedom increasingly threatened. The government has a responsibility to protect all citizens
Lahore (AsiaNews) — Christians and other religious minorities in Pakistan are increasingly the victims of violence, attacks, abuses and violations to freedom of worship, denounces the Asian Human Rights Commission in a recently published report in which it examines the cases occurred in recent months.
Thousands of Christians, 13% of the total population, are annually objects of targeted attacks, often committed in the name of the blasphemy laws. In particular, women are the first victims of this violence with ever increasing cases of abductions and forced conversions to Islam (at least a thousand a year, according to data of 2013 the NGO Aurat Foundation).
And religious freedom-while being recognized on paper — is increasingly a right just a facade.
Christians and Hindus are the intended victims of Islamic extremist groups and individuals who, taking advantage of their position, commit abuses and violations. Punjab is among the provinces of Pakistan, where most cases of violence occur. However, the Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and the heads of the local police order superficial investigations which in most cases leave victims without justice.
The Asian Human Rights Commission recently received reports of three incidents of forced conversion against three Christian minors. The first is 13 year old Sana John, kidnapped on November 9 and forced to embrace Islam by young Muslim known as Rambo. Despite complaints from the family against the boy and some of his relatives, police and judiciary so far have taken no action to bring about justice.
A similar is that of the young Christian Shukat Agnes, daughter of Shukat Masih, a native of Lahore and kidnapped Nov. 20 by Uzma, her Muslim employer and owner of the boutique where she was employed. In spite of the complaint filed by the parents, which lists the name of the kidnapper, police officers have opened a case against an “unknown” assailant.
The incident happened in the district of Kasur, among the most at risk in Pakistan for attacks and sectarian violence, at the same time a Christian couple was burned alive, for an alleged affair with blasphemy. Yet in this case the investigators ignored evidence and the perpetrators have gone unpunished.
The third incident dates back to September 22, when the 22 year old Safia Bibi was held against her will and repeatedly raped by a neighbor. Under pressure from NGOs and activists, in this case the Raja Jang Police Station arrested Mr. Umar who now will have to face trial.
Activists and experts agree that the Pakistani Christian community is the subject of systematic attacks and denied justice, and are not able to freely practice their religion. The latest case dates to November 25, when a group of extremists set fire to Christian Gwahi TV. Investigators have attempted to close the case as a fire triggered by a short circuit, in spite of evidence that lead in the direction of an arson attack motivated by extremist sentiment. The attackers also stole much of the material held in the studios of television.
Since 1963, when Islam became the state religion, the authorities have not been able to guarantee protection for minorities and in recent years the situation has worsened with a growing sense of insecurity and lack of freedom.
The infamous blasphemy laws are a sword of Damocles hanging over the head of minorities and have increasingly undermined the foundations of religious harmony and pluralism. In many cases the accusers, abuse these laws to settle personal disputes, becoming prosecutors, judges and executioners, in cases of extrajudicial killings.
Hence the appeal of activists and experts of the Human Rights Commission to the government to adopt policies for the protection of religious minorities and the most vulnerable groups in the process of nation building. Because no nation in the world can survive putting aside the minorities and it is up to the authorities and institutions to ensure freedom of worship and security regardless of faith, skin color or social status.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Rich Countries Must Not Impose End to ‘Conventional Energy’: India PM
Rich countries should not force the developing world to entirely give up on fossil fuels, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Monday at the UN climate summit in Paris.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Beijing Pollution: Schools Keep Children Indoors
Schools in the Chinese capital Beijing have been ordered to keep children indoors amid extremely high levels of air pollution.
Pollution climbed to up to 35 times World Health Organisation safety levels on the third day of the city’s “orange alert” — the second highest level.
Factories have been told to cut production and heavy duty trucks ordered off the roads.
It comes as President Xi Jinping attends the Paris climate conference.
Coal, used to power both Chinese factories and heat homes, is a major factor behind the smog, which has been exacerbated by humidity and a lack of wind.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Beijing Factories Shut Amid Smog Nightmare
Beijing ordered hundreds of factories to shut and allowed children to skip school as choking smog reached over 25 times safe levels on Tuesday, casting a cloud over China’s participation in Paris climate talks.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese Paper Chides Miss Canada Over Rights Stance
Chinese media blasted this year’s Miss Canada on Monday over her claim that Beijing froze her out of an international beauty pageant due to her outspoken views on human rights.
Officials in Hong Kong last week stopped Anastasia Lin from boarding a plane bound for the southern Chinese city of Sanya, where the Miss World finals will be held in December, telling her she would not receive a visa.
ADVERTISINGThe 25-year old actress claims the decision was due to her stance on China’s human rights record, including its persecution of Falun Gong, a Chinese spiritual group of which she is a practitioner.
“Lin has to pay a cost for being tangled with hostile forces against China”, said the Global Times in an editorial by Shan Renping, a pen name for the editor of the newspaper, which has close ties to China’s ruling Communist Party…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
US Has Not Lost Thailand to China: Ambassador
The United States has not lost Thailand to China, Washington’s envoy to Bangkok said Monday, despite acrimony between the two allies and a palpable shift by the kingdom’s junta towards its giant northern neighbour.
“I don’t spend a lot of time, I don’t spend any time, saying to Washington here’s how we get Thailand back. We haven’t lost Thailand,” ambassador Glyn T. Davies told reporters in Bangkok.
“I think it’s a good thing for Thailand to have a good relationship with China,” he added…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Blasts Rich for Creating Injustice, Marginalisation at Kenyan Slum
Francis says majority forced in to polluted, discarded areas
(ANSA) — Nairobi, November 27 — Pope Francis blasted rich people who accumulate money and power, thus creating social marginalisation, during a visit on Friday to Kangemi, a slum on the outskirts of Kenyan capital Nairobi. “Urban marginalisation stems from the wounds caused by the minorities who concentrate power and riches in their own hands and selfishly squander resources, while a growing majority have to seek refuge in abandoned, polluted, discarded areas on the outskirts,” the pope said.
Pope Francis told young Kenyan people to reject the “sugar of corruption” during a meeting at Nairobi’s Kasarani’s stadium later on Friday. “Don’t get a taste for it,” the Argentine pontiff said.
“Don’t accept this sugar called corruption. Corruption takes away joy. “Corrupt people do not live in peace. Corruption is not a path of life. It’s a path of death”. Pope Francis, who will leave Kenya later on Friday and fly to Uganda for the second part of his Africa trip, admitted that the Holy See was not immune from the plague of graft. “Corruption is in all the institutions, corruption is everywhere, there’s corruption in the Vatican too,” said the pope, who will also visit the Central African Republic (CAR) during this week’s trip. The Argentine pontiff has repeatedly spoken out against against corruption, including within the Church, since being elected the head of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics in 2013.
The Vatican administration and its bank have been hit by several scandals in recent years.
This month it was hit by the so-called VatiLeaks 2 scandal and the related publication of two books using leaked Holy See papers documenting alleged waste, mismanagement and lavish spending by clergymen.
Among the cases to hit the headlines was the 2013 arrest of prelate Monsignor Nunzio Scarano.
Scarano, the former head of analytic accounts at the Holy See’s asset-management agency APSA, is suspected involvement in the laundering money through accounts at the Vatican Bank and of trying to illegally smuggle 20 million euros into Italy for rich friends.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Groups Ask Mexico to Pull Coca-Cola Indigenous Ad; Say Anti-Racism Message is Actually Racist
Consumer rights and health groups are calling on the Mexican government to pull a new Coca-Cola ad depicting young white people bringing Coca-Cola and Christmas joy to a beleaguered indigenous community in southern Oaxaca state.
The Alliance for Food Health says the add is “an attack” on the dignity of the indigenous and contributes to their deteriorating health. The ad, first posted last week, has been criticized for its depiction of light-skinned, fashion-model-like youth joyously constructing a Coca-Cola tree in town and hauling in coolers of Coke as a service project. Mexico has skyrocketing rates of obesity and diabetes.
Coca-Cola says in the ad that the campaign is to “break down prejudice and share.”
The groups will ask the National Council to Prevent Discrimination to pull the ad campaign immediately.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
As parliamentary elections are getting close in Venezuela, Government violence and intimidation intensify. This is far from coincidental as polls indicate that 80 % of Venezuelans are not supporting the ruling United Socialist Party (PSUV). According to recent polls the opposition should get 103 representatives in the National Assembly while the ruling party only 46.
For a party that believes it holds the key of a revolutionary process, accepting the democratic process is a contradiction in terms.
Therefore, it can only appeal to fraud on Election Day and strong violence aimed at intimidating voters and opposition leaders.
Indeed, on November 25, the Secretary General of the opposition party Accion Democratica in the State of Guarico, Luis Manuel Diaz, was assassinated during a political event. Lilian Tintori, wife of imprisoned opposition leader, Leopoldo Lopez, also attended the event.
The assassination seems to have been the result of the action of a criminal, many believe served as a part of a strike force for the Venezuelan government. It looks like the fact that Ms. Tintori was there was not a coincidence as the assassination served as a warning for her to stop campaigning on behalf of her husband. Likewise, there have also been several attacks against members of the opposition coalition, Mesa de Unidad Democratica (MUD)…
| — Hat tip: DV | [Return to headlines] |
Mexico Oil Revenue Drops Almost 40% in 10 Months — Finance Ministry
According to the Mexican Secretariat of Finance and Public Credit, Mexico oil revenues decreased 38% in the last 10 months compared to the same period in 2014.
MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) — Mexico oil revenues decreased 38% in the last 10 months compared to the same period in 2014, the Mexican Secretariat of Finance and Public Credit said in a statement.
The country earned some $39 billion in oil and gas revenues in the same period, the ministry added on Monday.
According to the statement, the sharp decline in state revenue is due primarily to a drop in international oil prices, an 8 percent decrease in oil production, and a 34 percent drop in gas prices.
Mexican authorities carried out budget cuts of some $8 billion earlier this year amid a global oil price drop due to worldwide oversupply.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
EU to Give $370 Million to Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq to Assist Refugees
According to European Commission, EU Regional Trust Fund has decided to provide financial support of some 350 million euros ($370 million) to countries that are hosting the largest number of Syrian refugees.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The EU Regional Trust Fund has decided to provide financial support of some 350 million euros ($370 million) to countries that are hosting the largest number of Syrian refugees, namely Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq, the European Commission said in a press release Tuesday.
“Today, the EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian crisis adopted a package of programmes totaling €350 million… The programmes will in the coming months help up to 1.5 million Syrian refugees and overstretched host communities in Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq,” the release reads.
According to the document, the assistance will include the provision of basic education and child protection, better access to healthcare, improved water and waste-water infrastructure and support the creation of economic opportunities and social inclusion.
Syria has been engulfed in a civil war since 2011. The internal conflict is responsible for the largest refugee population in the world, with more than 4 million refugees having fled Syria to neighboring Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, and Egypt, according to UN data.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
European Refugee Arrivals Drop as Turkey Cracks Down on Smuggling Gangs
The number of refugees reaching Europe by sea dropped in November for the first time this year. The drop has been attributed to inclement weather and Turkish efforts to stem the flow of migrants.
Nearly 140,000 refugees and migrants crossed the sea to reach Europe in November, a nearly one-third drop from some 220,000 migrant arrivals in October, the UN refugee agency said on Tuesday.
“The monthly figure for November is the first one this year that actually shows a decrease compared to the previous one,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson William Spindler said.
“The reasons for the slowdown in the number of arrivals have to do with fluctuating climate conditions in the Aegean but also a crackdown on smuggling by Turkish authorities,” Spindler said.
The number of refugees and migrants reaching Europe this year may top the symbolic one million number by the end of December, with 886,662 migrants and refugees reaching Europe so far this year.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Flashback: Swedish Law Criminalizes Anti-Immigration Internet Speech
Unchallenged is precisely how Swedish authorities want their leftist agenda to be.
You’re free in Sweden to be critical of immigration, those in power, or people identifying as “LBGT” — at least within the confines of your mind. But dare express those views, even on the Internet, and you can now be more easily prosecuted under a new law taking full effect after Christmas.
We recently learned about how anti-immigration Internet commenters in Sweden were tracked down and persecuted. As journalist Pamela Geller wrote:
One of Sweden’s biggest newspapers, Expressen, used criminal hackers to break into Disqus and get the email addresses and identities of commenters online, and to reveal the persons behind the nicknames or anonymous user IDs. The newspaper sent a reporter and a cameraman to one person’s home and asked them about things they had written on different websites. Expressen published the names and photos of some people, which led to at least one person losing his job.
But Sweden’s new law adds another layer of hate-speech prohibition to the social ostracism. As Fria Tider (Free Times) reported (translated electronically from Swedish and then edited for grammar and word usage) in a piece entitled “New Law Makes it Easier to Prosecute Those Who Offend Immigrants or Those in Power,” “The crime of ‘insult’ will be prosecuted — but only for giving offense to immigrants, LGBTQ persons or authorities … [under a] common insult to the public prosecution.” The law has been pushed by Swedish parliamentarian Andreas Norlén, who said, during what Fria Tider described as “an unchallenged debate on the issue in parliament,” “I do not think it takes very many prosecutions before a signal is transmitted in the community that the Internet is not a lawless country — the sheriff is back in town.”
And unchallenged is precisely how Swedish authorities — and many other Western governments — want their leftist agenda to be, with immigration in particular enjoying sanctified status in Sweden. As CBN reported earlier this month in a piece entitled “Soviet Sweden? Model Nation Sliding to Third World”:
Sweden’s leftist establishment and media believe a cornerstone of their perfect society is multiculturalism — large-scale immigration from some of the poorest, most backward nations on Earth — and Swedes who disagree with that plan risk being labeled racist, fascist, even Nazi.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Illegals Sue Oregon Over Denial of Driver’s Licenses
Five illegal immigrants in Oregon have banded together to launch a lawsuit against the state, claiming a voter—approved referendum that denies them the ability to obtain driver’ s licenses is unfair and discriminatory.
A referendum called Measure 88 passed voter muster last year with a two-third majority, disallowing illegals the right to obtain licenses to drive. Now, five illegals say Measure 88 is unconstitutional because it “arbitrarily” denies driving privileges based on status as a “disfavored minority group,” the suit alleges, Fox News reported.
The suit also accuses Oregon voters of being driven by “ animus toward persons from Mexico and Central America.”
Gustavo Recarde, who’s an illegal but not one of the parties to the suit, said he would like a driver’s license to feel more comfortable in the United States and to open the doors of work opportunity.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS: Media: Fighters From Kosovo in Macedonia, With Migrants
‘They are staying near Skopje and can attack in Kosovo’
(ANSA) — PRISTINA — Seven ethnic Albanians allegedly belonging to the Islamic state are currently in Macedonia, Pristina’s daily “Koha Ditore” reported.
Citing unspecified sources, the daily says that the seven Kosovar peoole arrived three weeks ago in Macedonia from Syria, mixing into the flow of migrants and refugees who are walking along the Balkan route.
According to the daily, the seven people might be staying in some villages near Skopje, the Macedonian capital, and they could be able to organize terror attacks in Kosovo. In recent days, Macedonia’s president Gjorgje Ivanov had said that some Islamists who participated in fights in Syria had arrived in Macedonia mixing into the flow of migrants. In Macedonia, 25% of the 2 million inhabitants is ethnic Albanian.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
(NaturalNews) The demise of Europe has begun and hardly anyone has noticed. You can tell because there is little discussion of it in places where such events traditionally would be discussed, such as in the news media.
The continent is being overrun by peoples from many different countries, most of them poor. The vast majority of the silent “invaders” are from cultures that, if not hostile to European mores, are at least diametrically opposed to them, most of which are rooted in Christianity. And while there are some public officials calling for an end or lengthened interruption of the exodus, far too many leaders are throwing open the doors to their kingdoms, having been guilted into doing so by bogeymen from the past who still haunt the national psyche.
Germany is a perfect case in point. Chancellor Angela Merkel has already authorized 800,000 mostly Syrian refugees to enter her country, and there are indications she may be willing to let more in.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Refugees to be Moved From Sweden by EU
Sweden will soon benefit from a “relocation” programme for some of its asylum seekers, the European Commissioner of Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos has said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Resettlement of 25,000 Syrians in Canada Set in Motion
An operation to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees in Canada has begun, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Tuesday, with 10,000 people due to depart for their new home by the end of the year.
Processing, including security checks, began at a military base in Jordan’s capital Amman on Sunday, said Craig Murphy, who briefed journalists in Geneva by phone.
New Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau campaigned on the plan to resettle 25,000 people displaced by the four-year civil war in Syria, but the idea has come under increasing political fire following the attacks in Paris…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: ‘No Apartments, No Jobs, No Shopping Without a Gun’
Stop filling the country with criminal migrants from the Third World
The Swedes see the welfare systems failing them. Swedes have had to get used to the government prioritizing refugees and migrants above native Swedes.
“There are no apartments, no jobs, we don’t dare go shopping anymore [without a gun], but we’re supposed to think everything’s great. … Women and girls are raped by these non-European men, who come here claiming they are unaccompanied children, even though they are grown men. … You Cabinet Ministers live in your fancy residential neighborhoods, with only Swedish neighbors. It should be obligatory for all politicians to live for at least three months in an area consisting mostly of immigrants… [and] have to use public transport.” — Laila, to the Prime Minister.
“Instead of torchlight processions against racism, we need a Prime Minister who speaks out against the violence… Unite everyone. … Do not make it a racism thing.” — Anders, to the Prime Minister.
“In all honesty, I don’t even feel they [government ministers] see the problems… There is no one in those meetings who can tell them what real life looks like.” — Laila, on the response she received from the government.
The week after the double murder at IKEA in Västerås, where a man from Eritrea who had been denied asylum grabbed some knives and stabbed Carola and Emil Herlin to death, letters and emails poured into the offices of Swedish Prime Minister (PM) Stefan Löfven. Angry, despondent and desperate Swedes have pled with the Social Democratic PM to stop filling the country with criminal migrants from the Third World or, they write, there is a serious risk of hatred running rampant in Sweden. One woman suggested that because the Swedish media will not address these issues, Löfven should start reading foreign newspapers, and wake up to the fact that Sweden is sinking fast.
Gatestone Institute contacted to the Swedish government, to obtain emails sent to the Prime Minister concerning the IKEA murders. According to the “principle of public access to official documents,” all Swedes have the right to study public documents kept by authorities — with no questions asked about one’s identity or purpose. The government, however, was clearly less than enthusiastic about sharing the emails: It took a full month of reminders and phone calls before they complied with the request.
What follows are excerpts from emails sent from private citizens to Prime Minister Stefan Löfven:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Refugees Beg to Leave ‘Inhuman’ Malmö Shelter
Refugees are begging to leave Malmö’s 2013 Eurovision venue, with one describing it as a “prison” with “inhuman conditions”, while Swedish nurses working there have been pulled out because of the health risks.
Basim Salim, 40, who has come from Iraq with his three daughters, told Sweden’s Aftonbladet newspaper that conditions at the Malmömässan conference centre, outside the station where asylum seekers first arrive in Sweden, had become “completely inhuman”.
“Please help us here. We have been here for three nights and can not take any more,” he said. “Some people have been here for five night. This is not a good place for children, it really isn’t. Everyone here is really angry and wants to get out. It is like a prison.”
A policeman from Stockholm sent to help keep order at the hall wrote on Facebook that he himself, had had trouble breathing inside the centre, where nearly 1,000 refugees have been crammed over the past two weeks.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Treason, Cowardice and the Islamic Invasion: Why States Must Revitalize the Militia
To All State Governors and State Legislators:
War is coming to America. Obama is importing young able-bodied males to make civilizational jihad on us; and Congress can’t summon up the moral courage to stop him.
To see what is ahead for us, watch this 20 minute video. It depicts the Islamic takeover which is right now going on throughout Europe as European countries are being repopulated by millions of young able-bodied Muslim males (euphemistically called “refugees”) who are explicit about their intention to breed the native Europeans out of existence, and replace the European cultures with Islamic culture…
Those pushing for an Islamic takeover of Europe and North America are referring to these able-bodied young Muslim males as “refugees”. The use of that term brings the Muslims who are brought into the United States within the federal Refugee Resettlement Act. And since the Constitution delegates power over immigration to Congress, and Congress re-delegated refugee policy to the President, the States must submit to Obama’s Will and accept the “refugees” he forces on them. Thus goes the specious argument recently made by Ian Millhiser.
But we will look at the Truth.
What does our Constitution say about Immigration and Naturalization?
Immigration (or migration) pertains to new people coming to this Country to live.[1] Naturalization refers to the process by which an immigrant becomes a Citizen.
Our Constitution does delegate power over immigration and naturalization to Congress. Article I, §9, clause 1, delegates to Congress (commencing January 1808) power to control migration.[2] Article I, §8, clause 4, delegates to Congress power to establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization.
But what is going on now with the importation of large numbers of able-bodied young Muslim males is not “immigration” as contemplated by our Constitution. It is an act of war being committed against the People of the United States by their President. The plan is to overthrow our Constitutional Republic and set up an Islamic Caliphate over America.
That is Treason — it is Insurrection. It is not “immigration”, and it is not “refugee resettlement”.
Michael Boldin’s recent informative article explains how the federal resettlement program works: The federal government coordinates resettlement of “refugees” with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) located within the States, and thus circumvents state and local governments. Accordingly, the States should promptly stop all such NGO involvement; take control of the programs themselves; and then refuse to cooperate with the federal government.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Row Continues Over School ‘Cancelling Christmas’
Nativity cribs to be installed in prefectures, Alfano says
(ANSA) — Rome, November 30 — A row over a northern Italian school allegedly scrapping its traditional Christmas concert to stage a more ‘secular’ event in order not to alienate students of other faiths continued on Monday despite the principal’s attempt to deflate it. Marco Parma, the head of Rozzano’s Garofani comprehensive institute, at the weekend denied reports he had taken down crucifixes and said he had not cancelled any planned events in the run-up to Christmas.
He said a concert would take place at Rozzano’s Garofani secondary school on December 17 and that its primary school would hold a concert on January 21, as decided at the start of the academic year in September.
“The only request that I opposed was that of two mums who wanted to teach hymns to the Christian children during the lunch break, which I continue to consider inappropriate,” said Parma, who has offered to resign, but only with respect to the school’s primary section. At the time the decision to hold a winter concert at the primary school in January rather than a pre-Christmas event was made, it did not attract the media’s attention.
But with the festival season approaching, it has now.
Monsignor Nunzio Galantino, the secretary general of Italian bishops conference CEI, blasted alleged attempts to cancel or hide Christmas in an editorial published Monday in Catholic monthly Vita Pastorale.
“If this is Christmas, I find the decisions of those who would like to cancel or camouflage Christmas to respect other traditions or religious confessions, making fools of themselves in the process, to be specious and ideological,” Galantino wrote.
Interior Minister Angelino Alfano, meanwhile, said he would have traditional nativity crib scenes set up in prefectures across Italy this Christmas. “To those who believe dialogue is assisted by cancelling our identity today we reply by having the new police headquarters in Jesolo blessed by the Patriarch of Venice,” Alfano added. “Our position is very clear,” the minister continued.
“Meeting and dialogue work better and are more authentic if there is a strong identity. If identity is cancelled there is no dialogue, no meeting, only confusion,” said Alfano, adding that a nativity scene would also be installed at the interior ministry this year. Meanwhile Lombardy regional councillor for education Valentina Aprea affirmed her commitment to “returning nativity scenes and religious songs to schools”. The authorities “will check where this is not happening, even in the absence of direct competence in the matter”, the representative of ex premier Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia (FI) party added. Also on Monday, a small crowd of Rozzano residents gathered outside Garofani school to debate the controversy, watched over by police agents. Regional FI coordinator and former education minister Maria Stella Gelmini and leader of the right-wing anti-Europe, anti-migrant Northern League, Matteo Salvini, also paid visits to the school. “If anyone thinks that can help our children by rejecting our traditions, they have lost their mind,” Salvini said.
“I hope that the principal takes up another job”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
#ExMuslimBecause
it sucks your soul dry;
cruelty tolerated to all humans & animals;
being told to cover your hair or go to hell;
go to hell, go to hell or be an zombie;
vicious circle of sunna, sira & koran. A bit like the chicken & egg.
cannot question or query any aspects;
From MALMÖ central station
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mWwDtrY9Iz4/Vl16fQTOGiI/AAAAAAAAse8/y50cjrJuo7E/s320/DSCN9329.jpg
Wow some truly brilliant minds stabbed our reliable, trustworthy friend Serbia in the back to create this little Isisland on the inside of Euro proper. I imagine these little ISIS flakes will be replicating themselves all across WESTERN Europe soon. Probably as soon as we are sufficiently pooped out from half assed campaign drains.