Gates of Vienna News Feed 7/19/2017

Italy is sticking by its threat to give Schengen visas to 200,000 migrants and send them to its borders with France, Switzerland, and Austria. In response, the Austrian government says that it can deploy the army within 24 hours to close the border at the Brenner Pass if Italy acts on its threat.

In other news, President Donald Trump has ended his predecessor’s policy of using the CIA to arm the Syrian “rebels”.

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

Thanks to AF, C. Cantoni, Dean, Diana West, DV, Fjordman, GH, Insubria, JD, LP, Reader from Chicago, SS, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

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

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

Financial Crisis
» Greece: Households Battered by the Crisis
» Is Canada Really “In Serious Trouble”: Goldman Responds
» Italy Has EU’s Highest Level of Youth Unemployment, Study Shows
» Notorious Spanish Banker Found Dead With Shotgun Blast to the Chest
 
USA
» 12 People Hit by Car During Funeral at Columbia Cemetery
» Australian Woman Shot by Minnesota Police Reported Possible Sexual Assault, 911 Transcript Shows
» Carl Bernstein: “Cold Civil War” Has Taken Over Media; “Fact-Based Debate is Becoming Impossible”
» Computer AI Algorithm Shows Trump at 65% Approval Rating!
» Evergreen Student Told She’s ‘Not Allowed to Speak Because She’s White, ‘ Ordered to ‘Stand in the Back’
» Exclusive — Milo: NPR Killed Book Interview ‘Because I Sounded Too Reasonable’
» How to Get to the Bottom of Things, Washington-Style
» Justine Damond Shooting: Minneapolis Police ‘Feared Ambush’
» Killer Cop Mohamed Noor Was a ‘Diversity’ Hire
» Minnesota: Somali Police Officer Refuses to Give a Statement to Investigators
» Minneapolis Police Union Silent After Justine Damond Shooting
» Paul Ryan is Enemy #1, Biggest Threat to Trump
» Samuel Huntington, A Prophet for the Trump Era
» The Left’s Next Step: Redefining ‘Hate Speech’ As Violence
» Trump to Congress: Don’t Leave for Recess Until Health Care Bill Passed
» Washington is Overrun With Pot Belly Pedophiles
» ‘We Are Traumatised Ourselves’: Family of Police Officer Who Shot Dead an Australian Woman Claim He Made an ‘Honest’ Mistake — But the Cop is Still Staying Silent
 
Europe and the EU
» Berlin’s U-Turn on Anti-Russian Sanctions is a ‘Signal’ Amid EU-US Disagreement
» Chinese Navy Sails Through Danish Waters
» Eurozone Crisis as Italy’s Five Star Movement Demands Referendum
» Gender Segregated School Bus Not Discriminatory, Swedish Discrimination Ombudsman Rules
» Germany Summons Turkish Ambassador Over Activists’ Arrests
» Hungary Bomb Threat Halts International Trains
» Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu Caught on Microphone Slamming EU in Budapest
» Macron Comes Under Fire From All Angles After French Military Chief Quits
» Mittelfest: Pahor: Let’s Get Used to Multi-Speed Europe
» Poland ‘Very Close’ To Having Voting Rights Stripped if Reforms Aren’t Halted, EU Warns
» Radical Left Plot to Assassinate Opponents No Longer Unthinkable, Berlin Warns
» Turkey Wants Full EU Membership, Says Minister Çelik
» Two Days in an Underwater Cave Running Out of Oxygen
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Netanyahu Rails Against European Union for Treatment of Israel
» Undermining Israel Under the Guise of Humanitarianism
 
Middle East
» Chinese Navy Fleet Docks at Istanbul Port
» Saudi Arabia Says Woman Arrested for Wearing Skirt in Viral Video Has Been Released
» Trump Must Withdraw From Iran Nuclear Deal — Now
» Trump Ends CIA Arming Syrian Rebels
» Turkey’s New School Curriculum Drops Evolution and Will Teach Concept of Jihad
» Turkey: Erdogan’s Obsession to Take Jerusalem
» Turkish Education Ministry Reveals New Curriculum: Evolution Out, ‘Jihad’ In
 
South Asia
» Polygamy Crackdown Leads to Fierce Debate
» Thailand General Jailed for Human Trafficking at Mass Trial
 
Far East
» Winnie-the-Pooh Banned in China for Resembling the President
 
Australia — Pacific
» Australia Seeks to Expand Role of Military in Domestic Terror Threats
» First Occupation of Australia Pushed Back 10,000 Years
» ‘It Preaches a Terrorist Ideology’: Muslim Sheikh Calls for Extremist Islamic Group Hizb ut-Tahrir to be Banned in Australia After Indonesian Authorities Revokes Its Legal Status
» Vile Man, 21, Who Refused to Apologise for Breaking Into a Cemetery and Desecrating Babies’ Graves is Spared Jail
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» US Criticizes Africa for ‘Failure’ On Famine Threat
 
Latin America
» Crisis-Hit Venezuelans Leave for Brazil in Search of New Life
» Lithium — South America’s New Gold
» More Venezuelans Immigrate to Lebanon as Crisis Escalates
» Opponents of Venezuela’s Maduro Will Launch “Final Offensive” On Thursday
 
Immigration
» 1,000 Migrants Attack Festival Goers & Police in German Town, Sexually Assault Women
» Austria Could Send Army to Italy Border in 24 Hours Over Migrant Row
» Births to Foreign-Born Mothers Hit 28% in England and Wales
» EU on Brink as Italy Threatens to Hand Out 200,000 Visas to Migrants if Help Doesn’t Come
» Greece: 35 Arrested in Migrant Camp Clashes
» Italy: Migrant Who Tried to Stab Policeman Released
» Italy: Costa Quits as Regional Affairs Minister
» ‘Our Country is at Capacity’: Australia’s 200,000-a-Year Immigration Intake is Preventing Young People From Buying Homes
» Refugees Protest German Limit on Family Reunifications
 
Culture Wars
» Minneapolis’ First Openly Gay Police Chief Responds to Cops’ Exclusion From Pride Parade
» Opinion: ‘The Assumption That Sweden Has Reached Complete Equality is Wrong’
» Sweden’s Libraries Destroying Pippi Longstocking Children’s Books Because of Racist Phrases
» Swedish Liberal Youth Party Wants to Legalize Necrophilia & Child Porn
 
General
» Decent Countries Should Leave
» Earth is Becoming ‘Planet Plastic’
» Slaughtered Christians “A Viable Target”? Muslim Persecution of Christians, March 2017
 

Greece: Households Battered by the Crisis

The first period of the financial crisis, from 2009 to 2014 or before the imposition of capital controls and the third bailout agreement, witnessed a major contraction of disposable income and food consumption, and sinking bank deposits, according to a study published in the Bank of Greece’s Economic Bulletin.

The study showed that the crisis has had a strongly negative impact on Greek households: In the first five years of the crisis households saw their net wealth shrink by a dramatic 40 percent, deemed particularly large by researchers, from 108,649 euros per household in 2009 to 65,030 in 2014. Poorer households in particular endured a 70.8 percent decline in net wealth.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Is Canada Really “In Serious Trouble”: Goldman Responds

One week after we channeled Deutsche Bank’s Torsten Slok, who two years ago warned that “Canada is in serious trouble”, a warning which was especially resonant after last week’s rate hike by the Bank of Canada — the first since 2010 — which we argued threatens to burst Canada’s gargantuan housing bubble…

Goldman has released a report titled “Does Canada 2017 = US 2007?” and seeking to answer whether Canada’s economy is indeed on the verge of a housing bubble burst and which — considering it was the most read piece on GS360 this morning — touches on a question many investors the seeking the answers, especially after the IMF echoed our concerns last Thursday, when it issued a report in which it warned about the “danger of a sharp correction in the housing market.”

By way of background, Goldman notes the following: …

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Italy Has EU’s Highest Level of Youth Unemployment, Study Shows

Almost one in five young Italians are neither employed, job-seeking, nor in full-time study, according to an EU-wide report released on Monday. The Italian figure of 19.9 percent was close to double the EU average of 11.5 percent, though it had seen a slight drop from the previous year’s figure of 21.4 percent.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Notorious Spanish Banker Found Dead With Shotgun Blast to the Chest

The former chairman of one of Spain’s largest banks has been found dead with a shotgun blast to the chest in a private hunting estate in southern Spain, the country’s Civil Guard said Wednesday.

According to AP, Miguel Blesa, the former head of the now defunct Caja Madrid savings bank — whose brushes with the law and extravagant hunting trips came to symbolize the excesses of the country’s economic boom — was awaiting the result of an appeal to a six-year prison sentence for misusing corporate credit cards (if not Spiderman towels) issued by the infamous Bankia, another defunct bank.

Witnesses who were with Blesa in the private property near the southern city of Cordoba told police that the former banker left the group early Wednesday morning saying he was going to take his car. They described hearing one gunshot moments later, the Civil Guard spokeswoman said cited by AP adding that an autopsy would be required to determine the exact cause of the death.

The unpopular Blesa chaired Caja Madrid from 1996 to 2010, a period which coincided with Spain’s economic boom, which however was followed by devastating bust.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

12 People Hit by Car During Funeral at Columbia Cemetery

Twelve people were sent to the hospital after a car ran into a crowd of people at a funeral at Greenlawn cemetery.

Columbia, SC (WLTX) — Columbia police say an elderly man driving a car struck a family who was attending a funeral at a local cemetery Wednesday afternoon.

Officers say a family was attending a graveside service at Greenlawn Cemetery, located on Garners Ferry Road, when they were struck by a sedan.

There were 12 victims, all with what are described as non life-threatening injuries, although one victim’s injuries were said to be “serious.” The victims were taken to the hospital for treatment.

“I am so fortunate that there were no serious injuries,” said Deputy Columbia Police Chief Melron Kelly.

Five of the patients went to Palmetto Health Richland, while seven went to Palmetto Health Baptist. Four of the patients who went to Palmetto Health Baptist have been discharged.

Police say right now it’s unclear what caused the driver to hit the people. Kelly couldn’t rule out malicious intent, but said they were interviewing the driver…

           — Hat tip: DV [Return to headlines]
 

Australian Woman Shot by Minnesota Police Reported Possible Sexual Assault, 911 Transcript Shows

Justine Damond, the Australian woman living in Minneapolis who was shot and killed by a police officer, spent her final moments trying to help stop what she believed was a sexual assault happening nearby, according to her newly released 911 call.

At 11:27 p.m. Saturday night, Damond called police to report that a woman was screaming, a transcript of the call obtained by the Minneapolis Star Tribune showed.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Carl Bernstein: “Cold Civil War” Has Taken Over Media; “Fact-Based Debate is Becoming Impossible”

To say that the U.S. media has a developed a bit of a credibility issue of late would be an understatement. Mass hysteria over Trump’s victory in November has clearly resulted in a staggering deterioration in reporting standards as dropping the latest “bombshell” and inflicting the latest wound on the Trump administration has been prioritized over truthful, fact-based reporting. All of which, as we’ve noted frequently of late, has resulted in a number of embarrassing corrections from several major media outlets who have been forced to admit their reporting was just outright “fake news.”

And, in case you missed it, Carl Bernstein, who is best known for his investigative reporting for the Washington Post that shed light on the Watergate scandal, appeared on CNN, of all places, this weekend to discuss the media’s credibility issue which he argued has largely developed in the “cable news era” as media outlets have become increasingly politicized in their race for ratings.

Among other things, Bernstein said that media outlets in this country are engaged in a “cold civil war” and that, as a result, “fact-based debate is becoming impossible.”

“The difference between Watergate and now is that we are in the midst of a cold civil war in this country. A political and cultural civil war and all of our reporting is taking place in the context of that cold civil war. And nothing quite like existed at the time of Watergate.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Computer AI Algorithm Shows Trump at 65% Approval Rating!

Mainstream media crafts phony polls, lies to undermine Trump

The mainstream media is having trouble coming to grips with the fact that their time as the ultimate gatekeepers of knowledge has passed.

They now use phony polls in attempt to fool the public into thinking that the freedom movement under President Trump is not an overwhelming success:

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Evergreen Student Told She’s ‘Not Allowed to Speak Because She’s White, ‘ Ordered to ‘Stand in the Back’

“I couldn’t ask any questions because I’m white.”

Evergreen State College student Mackenzie Kyger says she was not allowed to speak at “several meetings” with students and staff “because she’s white.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Exclusive — Milo: NPR Killed Book Interview ‘Because I Sounded Too Reasonable’

NPR reportedly refused to air a radio interview with former Breitbart Senior Editor MILO despite verbal and written assurances to the contrary because he “sounded too reasonable.”

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

How to Get to the Bottom of Things, Washington-Style

by Diana West

Want to blow through the poisonous miasma of Russian Collusion to find out what was really going in American political system in the last year or two or twenty? Whatever you do, don’t ask Congress to investigate — not even to ask a few lame questions in five-minute increments. What’s the point? Congress is the most expensive dog-and-pony-show on earth. Sure, We, the Taxpayers, pay through the nose for these guys and gals to go to “work” every day: by my calculation (635 X $174,000), Capitol Hill costs Americans at least $110,490,000 annually just for the privilege of being “represented.” But the only thing all that power and money coursing through those snaking hallways buys for us is power and money coursing through those snaking hallways. If you’re looking for representative government, it’s not to be found.

If you’re looking for fealty to the Swamp, however, you’ve come to the right place.

Thus, our elected representatives will keep enforcing the Establishment “narrative,” which thrives on confusion and cover-up. And why not? Republican or Democrat, they are the Establishment.

Here are some core talking points — which, in the tradition of good old fashioned cover-ups, are mainly non-talking points…

           — Hat tip: Diana West [Return to headlines]
 

Justine Damond Shooting: Minneapolis Police ‘Feared Ambush’

The lawyer for a US police officer whose partner killed an Australian woman says it would be “reasonable” for the pair to have feared an ambush.

Minneapolis officer Matthew Harrity has reportedly said they were startled by a “loud sound” before last Saturday night’s shooting of Justine Damond.

Police have released the transcript of her call to police, in which the 40-year-old reports a suspected rape.

She was fatally shot in the abdomen by one of the officers she had called.

Officer Mohamed Noor, who fired the fatal shot in Ms Damond’s upmarket neighbourhood, has refused to be interviewed by investigators, as is his legal right…

           — Hat tip: Dean [Return to headlines]
 

Killer Cop Mohamed Noor Was a ‘Diversity’ Hire

Questions continue to mount about the strange shooting death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond at the hands of a Minnesota cop.

The city has not released any information, but the officer who pulled the trigger has been identified as Mohamed Noor, a Somali-American who entered the country as a refugee and was the first Somali to be employed by the department’s 5th precinct.

WND has learned he was one of five Somalis on the entire force and that the city makes a special effort to recruit Somalis as part of its affirmative-action plan.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Minnesota: Somali Police Officer Refuses to Give a Statement to Investigators

Having followed several very high profile police shootings closely the same undisclosed media elements are present

To say that something in Minneapolis seems sketchy would be a disservice to all things sketchy. Something is seriously odd about the Minnesota shooting death of Justine Damond by a police officer originally from Somalia named Mohamed Noor.

Having followed several very high profile police shootings closely the same undisclosed media elements are present.

Officer Mohamed Noor is refusing to cooperate with, or give a statement to, investigators from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. However, the second officer who was partnered with Noor is cooperating.

Matthew Harrity gave a statement to the BCA and based in part on that statement the BCA released some information yesterday.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Minneapolis Police Union Silent After Justine Damond Shooting

Lt. Bob Kroll, breaking from past practice, said he will wait for investigation.

The fatal shooting of Justine Damond by a Minneapolis police officer has elicited strong reactions, from Mayor Betsy Hodges to Australia’s prime minister, who this week demanded answers in what he called a “shocking killing.”

But one voice was conspicuously missing: that of the union that represents the city’s 860-plus police officers.

In the days since the shooting on the city’s southwest side, Minneapolis Police Federation President Lt. Bob Kroll has repeatedly declined requests for comment on the shooting of the 40-year-old woman by officer Mohamed Noor…

           — Hat tip: LP [Return to headlines]
 

Paul Ryan is Enemy #1, Biggest Threat to Trump

Establishment poster boy is doing all he can to stop POTUS.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Samuel Huntington, A Prophet for the Trump Era

Sometimes a prophet can be right about what will come, yet torn about whether it should.

President Trump’s recent speech in Warsaw, in which he urged Europeans and Americans to defend Western civilization against violent extremists and barbarian hordes, inevitably evoked Samuel P. Huntington’s “clash of civilizations” — the notion that superpower rivalry would give way to battles among Western universalism, Islamic militance and Chinese assertiveness. In a book expanded from his famous 1993 essay, Huntington described civilizations as the broadest and most crucial level of identity, encompassing religion, values, culture and history. Rather than “which side are you on?” he wrote, the overriding question in the post-Cold War world would be “who are you?”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The Left’s Next Step: Redefining ‘Hate Speech’ As Violence

An article in the Sunday Review section of the July 16 New York Times posed a question which, once upon a more innocent time, would have been considered nonsensical: “When Is Speech Violence?” The response of any person who cares about the clarity of language would properly be “Never,” but Lisa Feldman Barrett, a professor of psychology at Northeastern University, asserts in the Times piece that the science is settled: “speech that bullies and torments” is “literally a form of violence.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Trump to Congress: Don’t Leave for Recess Until Health Care Bill Passed

President Trump on Wednesday told Republican senators he doesn’t want Congress to leave Washington for the August recess until lawmakers pass a health care bill.

“Frankly, I don’t think we should leave town unless we have a health insurance plan, unless we can give our people great health care,” Trump said during a lunch with senators at the White House. “Because we’re close. We’re very close.”

Republican senators were invited to lunch with the president on Wednesday in the State Dining Room to discuss the stalled efforts to push through health care legislation in Congress.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Washington is Overrun With Pot Belly Pedophiles

Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert is out of federal prison after serving 15 months for financial crimes involving withdrawing money to pay off people accusing him of molesting children.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

‘We Are Traumatised Ourselves’: Family of Police Officer Who Shot Dead an Australian Woman Claim He Made an ‘Honest’ Mistake — But the Cop is Still Staying Silent

Justine Damond was shot by Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor on Saturday night after she called police to an alley behind her home to investigate a possible sexual assault.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Berlin’s U-Turn on Anti-Russian Sanctions is a ‘Signal’ Amid EU-US Disagreement

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said Tuesday that the EU needs to gradually lift sanctions against Russia. A professor of the Department of European Studies at St. Petersburg State University, Tatiana Romanova, believes that this statement is a sign of a certain “evolution” in Germany’s position on the issue.

Romanova believes that with his statement Gabriel seeks to demonstrate the EU’s possible flexibility in relations with Moscow. However, any serious changes are unlikely to be expected in the near future, the expert noted.

“This is a kind of a signal in the context of the Norman Quartet, showing that, in principle, some kind of flexibility is possible. However, I would say, this is a negotiating signal, rather than a promise of any significant and rapid changes in this direction,” Romanova said in an interview with Sputnik.

According to the expert, a rapid abolition of all sanctions against Russia is not in sight. The EU will need time to work out all the details.

“In general, such a position is reasonable: it makes sense to do it gradually — not lift all sanctions at once, but act in accordance with concrete actions: the withdrawal of the sanctions in exchange for the implementation of some measures,” Romanova said.

Nevertheless, the expert stressed that the evolution of Germany’s position on the issue of sanctions is very important. Berlin has always had a tough stance on the issue, so now Gabriel’s statement can be considered a certain breakthrough in this area, Romanova argued.

Commenting on the US’s possible influence regarding anti-Russia sanctions, Romanova stressed that there are many disagreements between Brussels and Washington. According to her, the EU could act independently if it would be willing to do so.

“In my opinion, if the European Union wants to do something, it is capable of doing it,” Romanova concluded.

Since 2014, relations between Russia and the European Union deteriorated amid the crisis in Ukraine. Brussels, Washington and their allies have introduced several rounds of anti-Russian sanctions since Crimea became a part of Russia in 2014 and over Moscow’s alleged involvement in the Ukrainian conflict. Russia has repeatedly refuted the allegations, warning that the Western sanctions are counterproductive and undermine global stability.

On June 14, the Senate, the upper chamber of the US Congress, voted to approve the expansion of the sanctions against Moscow to the energy sector. The new US sanctions, seen as targeting the Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Europe, were criticized by both Germany and Austria, which have described the restrictions as a threat to EU energy security.

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

Chinese Navy Sails Through Danish Waters

Chinese military vessels are currently being escorted through Danish waters as part of a Chinese-Russian joint military exercise that will also see a Russian submarine and nuclear cruiser in Danish maritime territory.

A unit from Russia’s Baltic Sea fleet is expected to enter Danish waters within the next few days as part of the joint exercise with China.

“The Russians are sending two large nuclear units. A large submarine and a nuclear cruiser, which is a nuclear-powered warship,” Rasmussen told DR.

The Russian-Chinese joint exercise has been given the name ‘Peace Mission 2017’, according to DR’s report.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Eurozone Crisis as Italy’s Five Star Movement Demands Referendum

THE Eurozone could be in crisis after an anti-European Union party in Italy insisted it was still pushing for a referendum on the future of the euro.

Alessandro Di Battista, a powerful figure in Italy’s anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S), revived his party’s calls for a referendum on euro membership after it appeared some of his colleagues had gone soft on the issue.

The MP, one of the movement’s most prominent parliamentarians, was asked in an interview if a vote should be held — to which he replied: “Yes, absolutely.”

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Gender Segregated School Bus Not Discriminatory, Swedish Discrimination Ombudsman Rules

A Muslim school in Sweden that separated pupils by gender on a school bus did not break anti-discrimination laws in doing so, the country’s Discrimination Ombudsman (DO) has judged. But the same could not be said about gender segregated sports lessons.

Earlier this year a documentary by Swedish broadcaster TV4 featured footage of the privately-run Al-Azhar Primary School in a Stockholm suburb, showing boys entering a bus from the front, and girls from the back.

It led to criticism from politicians, including Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, and an investigation by Sweden’s Discrimination Ombudsman.

The school explained that some of the male pupils were being disruptive, and as a result they were asked to sit at the front of the bus. In that case it was not possible to prove that the school had separated children in a way that violated Sweden’s Discrimination Act, DO press spokesperson Clas Lundstedt told The Local.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany Summons Turkish Ambassador Over Activists’ Arrests

Germany’s Foreign Ministry has summoned Turkey’s ambassador to Berlin over the arrests of human rights activists, including German citizen Peter Steudtner. The Foreign Ministry issued a sharply worded statement.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Hungary Bomb Threat Halts International Trains

BUDAPEST (AFP) — Hungarian police on Wednesday (July 19) inspected all international trains entering the country after receiving an anonymous bomb threat, sparking major travel delays.

“An unidentified male called to say that he had placed a bomb on an international train travelling through Hungary,” police said in a statement.

As many as 20,000 Hungarian and international travellers were affected by the delays lasting up to three hours, according to the national railway station company (MAV).

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu Caught on Microphone Slamming EU in Budapest

Netanyahu has been caught by journalists imploring central European leaders to campaign for Israel in the EU. Conference organizers quickly cut his microphone when they realized his closed-door comments were broadcast.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Macron Comes Under Fire From All Angles After French Military Chief Quits

Politicians on the left and right lined up to blast French president Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday after his public row with highly respected head of the country’s armed forces prompted the general’s resignation on Wednesday morning.

Macron was being slammed by politicians from all sides who accuse him of provoking the resignation of the country’s armed forces General Pierre De Villiers on Wednesday.

De Villiers quit after a public row with Macron that began when the general complained about planned €850 million cuts to the budget of the armed forces. That led to the president giving De Villiers a very public rebuke. Some critics described it as a humiliation.

But while De Villiers has been described as a general with a fiery temperament, most are blaming Macron for an almost unprecedented crisis, that ended with the first resignation of a military chief since 1958 (the beginning of France’s fifth republic).

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Mittelfest: Pahor: Let’s Get Used to Multi-Speed Europe

Slovenia’s president, we’ll maintain identity in united EU

(ANSA) — Cividale del Friuli (Udine) — “There are few people really excited about a multi-speed Europe, but I think we should welcome it and get used to it, because it’s the only way to keep together countries that agree on many points, but also have many gaps they can not or do not want to overcome”, the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Borut Pahor, said today, opening the 26th edition of Mittelfest, the festival of Mitteleuropa taking place in Cividale del Friuli (Udine) until July 25th.

Interviewed by the Editor in Chief of the daily La Stampa Maurizio Molinari, Pahor, who’s a committed Europeanist, pointed out that among the Slavic nations, including Slovenia, there are concerns about “maintaining their identity, even linguistic”.

In Slovenia, he underlined, “I see historical signs that in the coming years a debate could start on the role of our country and its place with respect to Franco-German Axis or Central European countries. However , he added, “I am ready to face the challenge of being able to maintain that identity in a united Europe”. According to Pahor, the EU should also be in a constant political dialogue with Russia. Pahor said that doubts about maintaining a strong European vision are to be sought in the crisis of migrants. In this regard, Slovenia’s president recognized “Italy’s moral value” and at the same time the need for all countries to manage their migrant quota, in the name of European solidarity. Pahor then announced that “after the elections in Germany and early next year, we will see a joint initiative of Paris and Berlin to strengthen the European prospect, sweeping away the fears of an anti-European rhetoric”. A passage of the interview focused on the need to strengthen the infrastructure links between Slovenia and Italy and the relations between Gorizia and Nova Gorica. Pahor said he is convinced that there are opportunities not yet fully exploited. The president of the FVG Region Debora Serracchiani, who attended the public conversation, highlighted the strategic value of infrastructure, on which the Trieste Summit on the Western Balkans focused. Serracchiani underlined that “important decisions have been made during that summit, because in order to put the peoples together, and make them talk to one another, infrastructure is necessary”. For this reason, she said, the FVG Region is willing to cooperate with the port of Koper and with those in the whole of the High Adriatic Sea, in order to compete with the north European ports for freight traffic, and she underlined the importance of ehancing the railway line FVG-Slovenia.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Poland ‘Very Close’ To Having Voting Rights Stripped if Reforms Aren’t Halted, EU Warns

The European Commission warned Poland it was “getting very close” to taking the unprecedented step of stripping Warsaw of its voting rights at EU summits, unless it stepped back from reforms that would undermine judicial independence.

Frans Timmermans, the Commission’s first-vice president, said the executive was prepared to take the so-called nuclear option of triggering Article 7 of the EU’s treaties.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Radical Left Plot to Assassinate Opponents No Longer Unthinkable, Berlin Warns

For years far-left activists in Berlin followed the strategy of attacking property, not people. But that is changing, the Berlin interior ministry claimed on Tuesday.

“2016 was marked out by a spiral in left-wing violence that not only led to a multitude of serious crimes, but also in part to a radicalized tone — which has seen calls for the murder of police officers and politicians,” the ministry warned in its security report for 2016, released on Tuesday.

“The inhibition threshold regarding physical attacks is sinking, and we are now at the stage where targeted assassination of political opponents no longer appears completely unrealistic,” the report states.

Several violent confrontations between police and left-wing protesters around Rigaer Strasse, a left-wing street in the east of Berlin which holds deep symbolic significance for the far left, were central to the radicalization in the scene, the report argues.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Turkey Wants Full EU Membership, Says Minister Çelik

Turkey’s European Union Affairs Minister Ömer Çelik has reiterated that his country wants to become a full member of the European Union and will not be open to any other offer apart from that.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Two Days in an Underwater Cave Running Out of Oxygen

Three months ago, Xisco Gràcia experienced what he describes as every diver’s worst nightmare — he found himself in an underwater cave, relying on an air pocket for survival. As hours turned into days he realised he might not be found in time.

On Saturday 15 April, Xisco Gràcia slipped into the water in Mallorca for a routine dive. The geology teacher spent most weekends exploring and mapping the island’s complex system of underwater caves.

“Mallorca is much more beautiful underground than above ground,” he says.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Netanyahu Rails Against European Union for Treatment of Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was caught on a hot mic Wednesday railing against the European Union’s treatment of Israel.

Netanyahu was meeting with leaders at a regional summit, where a conversation with his Czech and Hungarian counterparts discussing Iran, Syria, ISIS, and EU-Israel relations was accidentally broadcast to journalists covering the conference.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Undermining Israel Under the Guise of Humanitarianism

Between 2012-2014, the EU financed the building of more than 400 illegal structures in Area C identified by an affixed EU flag. The EU claimed diplomatic immunity and refused to appear in court when sued for illegal construction.

by Janet Levy

More than 70 years after the Holocaust, the European Union has been involved in demonizing and delegitimizing the Jewish State through actions inimical to Israel’s existence. They include indirect funding of terrorist activities, refusals to examine this misdirection of funds, assistance to build illegal Palestinian communities within Israel’s boundaries, and criticism of Israel’s attitudes towards Palestinians as “ethnic cleansing.” These EU activities have gone on for the past 25 years, and represent a persistent undermining of the Jewish State under the guise of European humanitarianism.

Since the beginning of the Oslo process in 1992, the EU has backed the Palestinian Authority, becoming one of its main financial supporters. Since 1993, the EU and its member states have given over four billion euros to the PA and a variety of Palestinian NGOs. Ostensibly, these funds were meant to develop democratic institutions as well as promote education and prosperity among Palestinians. In actual practice, a substantial portion of the European funding has fueled corruption and terrorism.

In 2004, Ilka Schroeder, an EU member of parliament representing the German Green party, called for an investigation of this EU-funding. She accused the governmental body of “winking approval of terrorist attacks” by “financing a murderous anti-Semitic terrorist war against Israel.” Further, she proclaimed, “It is a well known fact that the EU-funding for the Palestinian Authority was channeled to a black budget.”…

[Return to headlines]
 

Chinese Navy Fleet Docks at Istanbul Port

Chinese navy destroyer Changchun, the flagship of long-term overseas drilling, and two other warships docked at Istanbul’s port on July 18, as part of Beijing’s plan to tour them around the world in 180 days.

The fleet will visit ports in Asia, Africa and Europe.

This is a fourth Chinese friendly navy visit to Turkey, according to officials.

In a demonstration of the Chinese navy’s expanding global reach, the country’s latest-generation warships conducted live-firing drills in the Mediterranean Sea earlier this month while en route to joint exercises with the Russian navy.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Saudi Arabia Says Woman Arrested for Wearing Skirt in Viral Video Has Been Released

A young woman became the center of a controversy about clothing in Saudi Arabia after a video was posted online that showed her wearing a short skirt and cropped top in one of the nation’s most conservative provinces.

The woman was arrested by Riyadh police for wearing “suggestive clothing,” state television station al-Ekhbariya reported Tuesday.

But after an international outcry over the arrest, Saudi Arabia said the woman has been released without charge.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Trump Must Withdraw From Iran Nuclear Deal — Now

by John R. Bolton

Tehran’s violations of the deal have become public, including: exceeding limits on uranium enrichment and production of heavy water; illicit efforts at international procurement of dual-use nuclear and missile technology; and obstructing international inspection efforts (which were insufficient to begin with).

There is ominous talk of America “not living up to its word.” This is nonsense. The president’s primary obligation is to keep American citizens safe from foreign threats. Should President George W. Bush have kept the United States in the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, rather than withdraw to allow the creation of a limited national missile-defense shield to protect against rogue-state nuclear attacks?

Care to bet how close Tehran — and North Korea — now are? Consider the costs of betting wrong.

UNESCO is an Immoral, Anti-Semitic Organization

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

Trump Ends CIA Arming Syrian Rebels

President Donald Trump has ended the covert CIA program to arm Syrian rebels, which had the aim of bringing down the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Turkey’s New School Curriculum Drops Evolution and Will Teach Concept of Jihad

Turkey’s new school curriculum drops Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and adds the concept of jihad as patriotic in spirit.

The move has fuelled fears President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is subverting the republic’s secular foundations.

The curriculum, effective from the start of the 2017-2018 school year, also obliges Turkey’s growing number of “Imam Hatip” religious schools to teach the concept of jihad as patriotic in spirit.

“It is also our duty to fix what has been perceived as wrong. This is why the Islamic law class and basic fundamental religion lectures will include [lessons on] jihad,” Mr Yilmaz told reporters. “The real meaning of jihad is loving your nation.”

Jihad is often translated as “holy war” in the context of fighters waging war against enemies of Islam; but Muslim scholars stress that it also refers to a personal, spiritual struggle against sin.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Turkey: Erdogan’s Obsession to Take Jerusalem

Turkish money flowing into the hands of men who are committed to the annihilation of Israel is part of ideology, not humanitarian aid.

Trying to brand itself as the international savior of the Islamist cause, Turkey has, since 2004, invested millions of dollars into 63 different projects designed to “defend and strengthen the Muslim heritage and character of Jerusalem.” The money is often channeled through a government agency, the Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA).

In these efforts to “defend and strengthen Jerusalem’s Muslim heritage and character” Turkey also partnered with Sheikh Raed Salah, leader of the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, and with Sheikh Akram Sabri, a former mufti of Jerusalem. Both men oppose to Israel’s right to exist.

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

Turkish Education Ministry Reveals New Curriculum: Evolution Out, ‘Jihad’ In

The final version of Turkey’s national school curriculum has left evolution out and added the concept of “jihad” as part of Islamic law in books, Education Minister Ismet Yilmaz said on July 18.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Polygamy Crackdown Leads to Fierce Debate

A crackdown on polygamy has led to an intense online debate in a former Soviet republic.

The most recent controversy in Uzbekistan kicked off after Dilbahor Yoqubova, an official in Uzbekistan’s justice ministry, accused “illiterate mullahs” of carrying out unofficial Muslim marriage rites.

Yoqubova made the comments on a popular TV talk show, and on the same broadcast professor Dilfuza Rahmatullayeva claimed that a resurgence in “religious freedom” has resulted in an increase in polygamy in the Muslim majority country.

The discussion caused a new outcry about polygamy in a country where the issue has been trending for quite some time.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Thailand General Jailed for Human Trafficking at Mass Trial

A former Thai general has been sentenced to 27 years in jail for human trafficking at a landmark trial.

Manas Kongpan is among more than 60 people convicted in Bangkok of trafficking Bangladeshis and Rohingya Muslims, a minority fleeing Myanmar.

Another top former official was sentenced to 75 years in prison. More than 100 defendants were on trial.

Muslim Rohingya have been fleeing Myanmar for years, paying people smugglers to help them escape.

The arrest of the general in June 2015 was seen as part of an effort by Thailand to close down a human smuggling route through the country.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Winnie-the-Pooh Banned in China for Resembling the President

Pooh Bear went missing on Chinese social media, most likely because he looks so much like one of the country’s most powerful men — President Xi Jinping.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Australia Seeks to Expand Role of Military in Domestic Terror Threats

The Australian military is to be given broad new powers to respond to domestic terrorist attacks.

The government-proposed changes to national security laws are part of a review into counter-terrorism.

The new measures would mean the Australian Defence Force (ADF) could be called in sooner to help police deal with threats.

They were prompted by criticism of the speed with which police responded to the 2014 siege in a cafe in Sydney.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

First Occupation of Australia Pushed Back 10,000 Years

According to a report in The Sydney Morning Herald, humans first traveled to Australia at least 65,000 years ago, or about 10,000 years earlier than previously thought. An international team of scientists, including Ben Marwick of the University of Washington and Chris Clarkson of the University of Queensland, excavated Madjedbebe, an ancient campsite located beneath a sandstone rock shelter in Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory. They found perfectly preserved stone axes with polished and sharpened edges up against the back wall of the shelter.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

‘It Preaches a Terrorist Ideology’: Muslim Sheikh Calls for Extremist Islamic Group Hizb ut-Tahrir to be Banned in Australia After Indonesian Authorities Revokes Its Legal Status

Muslim sheikh Imam Mohammad Tawhidi, from Adelaide, (pictured) took to Twitter on Tuesday to ‘demand’ Australian authorities ban the group Hizb ut-Tahrir.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Vile Man, 21, Who Refused to Apologise for Breaking Into a Cemetery and Desecrating Babies’ Graves is Spared Jail

The man who desecrated up to 70 graves, including those of children and babies, at a Sydney cemetery has escaped jail time despite showing no remorse.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

US Criticizes Africa for ‘Failure’ On Famine Threat

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations is sharply criticizing African nations for what she calls their “collective failure” to respond to the threat of famine facing over 14 million people.

Ambassador Nikki Haley is also critical of Congo’s nomination for a seat on the U.N.’s top human rights body despite major rights violations.

Haley said Wednesday that famines in northeast Nigeria, Somalia and South Sudan are primarily caused by armed conflict. In her words they represent “a tragic example” of failure by governments to address the causes, and by combatants to allow access to alleviate suffering.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Crisis-Hit Venezuelans Leave for Brazil in Search of New Life

In the Brazilian border town of Pacaraima, Venezuelan small business owner William Camero is emptying a rucksack decorated with the yellow, blue and red colours of the Venezuelan flag.

“In Venezuela, you don’t live, you survive,” says Mr Camero. “Everyone knows that.” “In order to live you have to go to another country,” he says, referring to the severe shortages of staple goods.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Lithium — South America’s New Gold

Lithium is expected to be the world’s most important raw material in the future. It’s used in batteries for smartphones and electric cars. Bolivia has the largest reserves. A plant for the production of lithium in the Bolivian salt lake is currently being planned.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

More Venezuelans Immigrate to Lebanon as Crisis Escalates

Ten years ago, as violence and insecurity engulfed Venezuela, Sarah Hawi finished high school in the capital, Caracas, and left for Lebanon. For Venezuelan-born and —raised Hawi, the move was a reversal of the migration of her grandfather and later, her parents, who are Lebanese.

“My heart is Venezuelan, but my blood is Lebanese. And that is something I cannot deny,” she said at a Starbucks on a late afternoon.

Although there is a long history of migration from Lebanon to Venezuela, that flow has been increasingly reversing as Venezuelans with Lebanese roots leave the South American nation to flee its economic and political unrest.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Opponents of Venezuela’s Maduro Will Launch “Final Offensive” On Thursday

Thursday’s called strike could be the culmination of the rush of events leading to the successful removal of Venezuela’s Marxist dictator, Nicolas Maduro (shown). The strike called by Maduro’s political opposition is the “final offensive” in the months-long effort to depose him, according to Freddy Guevara, one of the opposition leaders. Said Guevara, “We are calling all the country to take part in a massive and violence-free protest through a nationwide strike for 24 hours,” adding that it would be a “mechanism for pressure and to prepare for the definitive escalation to take place next week.”

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

1,000 Migrants Attack Festival Goers & Police in German Town, Sexually Assault Women

“In one case an Iraqi suspect has been determined.”

A German town’s summer fair turned violent over the weekend, with multiple sexual assaults reported. A group of youths also attacked visitors and officers, with police stating that many of the offenders were migrants.

The violence occurred while residents of Schorndorf in the southern German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg celebrated the town’s weeklong fair, referred to as Volksfest (People’s Festival).

However, while many were enjoying carnival rides and German beer on Friday — the first day of the fair — at least three sexual assaults occurred in the town, resulting in the detention of an Iraqi suspect.

“On Friday evening, police reported three incidents of sexual harassment of women and men at the market place. In one case an Iraqi suspect has been determined,” a police statement said.

A 17-year-old girl was the victim of a separate sexual assault on Saturday, after three men held her and “grabbed her buttocks”outside the town’s main rail station. Three Afghan asylum seekers were identified as suspects, according to police.

Meanwhile, around 1,000 youths and young men gathered at the grounds of Schorndorf Castle on Saturday, throwing bottles at festival-goers and police.

“The violence faced by police was shocking,” a police spokesperson said, as quoted by German media.

When police began arresting one person on suspicion of causing serious bodily harm, others within the group “showed solidarity” with the man and intensified their assault against officers, according to law enforcement officials.

Police then called for backup, prompting more officers to arrive at the scene in riot gear, “to shield the arrest and to prevent an attack.”

Authorities also called in support from nearby towns, to prepare for what they referred to as “massive potential for violence.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Austria Could Send Army to Italy Border in 24 Hours Over Migrant Row

AUSTRIA has warned it will send soldiers to close the border with Italy in 24 hours if Rome decides to take the “nuclear option” and grant visas to almost 100,000 migrants stranded in the Mediterranean country.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Births to Foreign-Born Mothers Hit 28% in England and Wales

The number of foreign-born mothers having babies in England and Wales in 2016 reached 28% — the highest level on record, official statistics show.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

EU on Brink as Italy Threatens to Hand Out 200,000 Visas to Migrants if Help Doesn’t Come

ITALY are continuing to push “hard” with the European Union to help with the massive migration problem according to the Italian Deputy Foreign Minister.

Mario Giro claimed that the Italians were having to negotiate hard with the bloc in order to help them resolve the current migration problem.

Some European countries, such as Poland and Hungary are facing losing funding from the European Union as they have taken a hardline stance against taking in their migrant quota.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Greece: 35 Arrested in Migrant Camp Clashes

Clashes have broken out for the second time in eight days at a crowded migrant camp on the Greek island of Lesbos.

Authorities said 35 migrants were arrested Tuesday for public disturbance offences, after police used tear gas against stone throwing protesters at the Moria camp.

The demonstrators also set fires inside the camp and just outside the perimeter, according to police.

More than 14,000 migrants remain stranded on Lesbos and other Greek islands near Turkey. They are banned from traveling to the Greek mainland following an agreement between the European Union and Turkey last year to limit migration to Europe.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Migrant Who Tried to Stab Policeman Released

May be deported

(ANSA) — Milan, July 19 — A migrant from Guinea who tried to stab a policeman near Milan’s central rail station Monday was released from arrest Wednesday. Saidou Mamoud Diallo, 31, will now be dealt with by the Milan police immigration office, which may decide to deport him.

The decision was taken by a preliminary investigations judge, who said “these are not crimes for which jail is envisaged”.

Diallo’s intended victim, who was protected by his bullet-proof vest, sustained a slight wound.

Diallo, who had a record for violence, threats and resisting arrest, had previously been reported for trying to get on a tourist coach armed with a knife. He had been served an order of expulsion from Italy, issued in Sondrio on July 4.

The incident spurred anti-immigrant Northern League MP Paolo Grimoldi to call for “mass expulsions” of migrants.

“Is (Interior Minister Marco) Minniti going to wake up or is he going to wait for a dead body?” he asked.

Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala said “controls are the only answer to these problems”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Costa Quits as Regional Affairs Minister

Gentiloni takes over ad interim, resignation ‘tardy’ — Alfano

(ANSA) — Rome, July 19 — Regional Affairs Minister Enrico Costa resigned Wednesday. Costa, a member of junior government partner Popular Area (AP), had threatened to quit if a ‘ius soli’ (law of the soil) bill granting citizenship to immigrant children went ahead. It was postponed till the autumn but Premier Paolo Gentiloni said Tuesday it was still a priority.

Gentiloni took the regional affairs portfolio on an interim basis and thanked Costa for his work. In his resignation letter to Gentiloni, Costa voiced the “conviction that it is the moment to work at a broadly based political programme that reunites liberal forces”, referring to small centre right groups like AP.

He stressed that he had not agreed with the ius soli bill and also a recent reform of criminal procedures.

“I cannot pretend not to see the array of those who see a conflict between my role and my thought,” Costa said.

Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano, leader of the centrist AP, described Costa’s resignation as “inevitable and tardy”. “I thought he’d do it a few days ago,” said Alfano. “We have been saying for some time that we want to construct an autonomous area, a party that is independent from the left and the right… We have ideas, strength and courage to do great things. “We understand those who can’t make it, who make different decisions, but we will keep going down our road”.

There have been suggestions that AP may be seeking, ahead of the next general election, to stress differences from the senior government partner, ex-premier Matteo Renzi’s ruling centre-left Democratic Party, of which Gentiloni is one of the most prominent members.

It has even been suggested that it will try to team up again with the centre-right opposition Forza Italia party of three-time former premier and billionaire media mogul Silvio Berlusconi.

But Berlusconi’s rightwing populist ally, Northern League leader Matteo Salvini, has ruled out AP joining any future centre-right alliance.

The next general election is expected to come early next year.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

‘Our Country is at Capacity’: Australia’s 200,000-a-Year Immigration Intake is Preventing Young People From Buying Homes

One Nation party leader Pauline Hanson blames high migration for making housing expensive. Her One Nation party wants Australia’s net annual immigration rate to be zero. Australia is accepting close to 200,000 every year, up from 82,500 in 1996. Sydney’s median $1.15 million house price double what average earner can buy; world’s second most expensive property market in the world after Hong Kong.

‘Our country is currently at capacity. Our infrastructure is strained, our roads are choked, housing prices are skyrocketing and we are struggling to supply electricity to parts of the country as it is,’ Senator Hanson told her Facebook followers.

           — Hat tip: GH [Return to headlines]
 

Refugees Protest German Limit on Family Reunifications

Around 100 refugees protested on Wednesday outside the German Embassy in Athens. They complained about the limit Berlin has placed on the number of refugees who can move to Germany to be reunited with their families. It emerged in May that Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere reduced the number of asylum-seeker family members allowed into the country from Greece to 70 a month.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Minneapolis’ First Openly Gay Police Chief Responds to Cops’ Exclusion From Pride Parade

Minneapolis’ first openly gay police chief responded sharply Thursday to a decision by organizers of the Twin Cities Pride Parade to ask her department to minimize its participation in Sunday’s annual event due to tensions over the police shooting of Philando Castile.

They said in a statement that they’re trying to respect the pain that many people are feeling following last week’s acquittal of St. Anthony police officer Jeronimo Yanez, who killed the black St. Paul school cafeteria supervisor during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights last July.

But Minneapolis Police Chief Janee Harteau, who is lesbian, sent a letter to Twin Cities Pride executive director Dot Belstler calling the decision “divisive” and saying it “really hurt so many in our community,” including LGBT officers and their families.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Opinion: ‘The Assumption That Sweden Has Reached Complete Equality is Wrong’

To be part of a marginalized community can be hard, but people can also be marginalized within that community, write Rachel McDonald and Kabir from LGBTQIA+ student organization SFQ.

Through the project Making Space: Raising hidden voices of the Swedish LGBTQ+ community, the Swedish federation of LGBTQIA+ Students (SFQ) has had the opportunity to collect stories and information from around Sweden. We have talked with young LGBTQIA+ (an acronym to describe people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex and/or asexual or other identities) people with diverse backgrounds who have experiences of feeling invisible and powerless, as well as organizations that work with the LGBTQIA+ community.

Making Space was inspired to work with this after seeing that the image of the Swedish LGBTQIA+ community was very white and very Swedish-centric, which didn’t reflect our own experiences as newcomers to Sweden.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden’s Libraries Destroying Pippi Longstocking Children’s Books Because of Racist Phrases

A Swedish council has admitted that local libraries have been throwing out copies of a popular children’s book because it contains racist expressions, with one local journalist even claiming the books are being burnt.

Older versions of the Pippi Langstrumpf [Pippi Longstocking] book entitled ‘Pippi in the South Seas,’ have been discarded by libraries in the Botkyrka municipality.

The Botkyrka council has denied claims by Swedish investigative journalist Janne Josefsson that libraries are specifically targeting Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi Langstrumpf books, explaining that getting rid of books is a necessary process ‘in order for the space in the shelves to be sufficient.’

They stated that they get rid of books which are ‘worn out,’ ‘outdated’ or ‘have not been borrowed for a long time,’ but admitted to disposing of the Pippi Langstrumpf copies due to ‘racist’ content and replacing them with newer editions without the ‘racial’ phrases.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Swedish Liberal Youth Party Wants to Legalize Necrophilia & Child Porn

“If you are against necrophilia, you are not liberal”

The Liberal Youth League says it wants to make Sweden a more tolerant society by endorsing “ruthless mass immigration,” necrophilia and even child pornography.

Yes, really.

If you thought you’d heard it all in terms of Sweden as the ‘progressive’ basketcase of Europe, then think again.

During a tweetstorm, the youth group made plain its desire to see Sweden adopt the Euro single currency and join NATO, but the organization’s social policies were the real eyebrow raisers.

“If you are against necrophilia, you are not liberal,” the group explained.

For those who don’t know, necrophilia is haxing sex with dead people. How progressive.

The LUF also wants open borders, “ruthless mass immigration,” and is calling for the legalization of “cartoon child pornography,” polygamy and incest. The group has also previously called for the legalization of sex with animals.

The LUF, whose logo includes the words “feminism” and “anti-racism,” is affiliated with the Liberal People’s Party, which formed part of Sweden’s coalition government from 2006 to 2014. Typically positioned as centrist, the Liberal People’s Party is now seen as more conservative.

Apparently, Sweden has moved so far left that “ruthless mass immigration,” as well as legalizing necrophilia and child pornography may now be considered conservative positions.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Decent Countries Should Leave

by Guy Millière

Sadly, UNESCO has become simply an anti-Semitic fraud, governed by fabrications rather than by facts. It betrays its mission, falsifies history, and wages a campaign of raw racism against the Jewish people and Judaism — and the world accepts that. UNESCO acts as an instrument for propaganda seeking to annihilate the legitimacy of the existence of Israel — and the world supports this behavior.

The Palestinian Authority (PA), which aspires to replace Israel with itself, is behind the resolutions on Jerusalem and Hebron and plays a key role in the transformation of UNESCO. The PA has constantly advocated and supported terrorism and has never stopped wanting to destroy Israel. Allowing the PA to have entered UNESCO is now having serious consequences.

That the Muslim world supports the transformation of UNESCO and the resolutions proposed by the Palestinian Authority is predictable. Many Muslim countries directly or indirectly finance terrorism and approve the PA’s genocidal goals. A large part of the Muslim world mentally lives in a parallel reality, in which a seventh century “Muslim history” of the world replaces the factual history of the world. The Muslim world considers itself in a conflict with the Western world, and sees Israel as a Western enclave to be excised or at least suppressed.

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

Earth is Becoming ‘Planet Plastic’

US scientists have calculated the total amount of plastic ever made and put the number at 8.3 billion tonnes.

It is an astonishing mass of material that has essentially been created only in the last 65 years or so.

The 8.3 billion tonnes is as heavy as 25,000 Empire State Buildings in New York, or a billion elephants.

The great issue is that plastic items, like packaging, tend to be used for very short periods before being discarded.

More than 70% of the total production is now in waste streams, sent largely to landfill — although too much of it just litters the wider environment, including the oceans.

“We are rapidly heading towards ‘Planet Plastic’, and if we don’t want to live on that kind of world then we may have to rethink how we use some materials, in particular plastic,” Dr Roland Geyer told BBC News.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Slaughtered Christians “A Viable Target”? Muslim Persecution of Christians, March 2017

by Raymond Ibrahim

A report released in early 2017 by Open Doors — a non-denominational mission supporting persecuted Christians in over 60 countries — reveals:

“Islamic extremism” remains the dominant force responsible for the persecution of Christians in 40 of the 50 worst nations;

Nine out of the 10 worst nations for Christians have a Muslim majority (with North Korea being the only non-Islamic exception);

In the 21 (18 of which are Muslim-majority) worst nations for Christians, “100 percent of Christians experience persecution”;

1,329 churches have been attacked, damaged, or destroyed, mostly in Muslim-majority nations;

Muslim Somalia is now the second worst nation for Christians, who are executed instantly if their faith is discovered, or even rumored;

In Nigeria — where more Christians have been slaughtered by Muslims than possibly in any other nation — the killing of Christians went up by 62 percent;

The nation where the most violent and sexual attacks on Christians take place — Muslim-majority Pakistan — rose to the number four spot on the list of the worst countries for Christians.

Accounts of widespread Muslim persecution of Christians to surface in the month of March include, but are not limited to, the following:

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

11 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 7/19/2017

  1. Hans Lysglimt Johansen grundade ett nytt norskt antiislamiskt parti
    påminnande om Wilders “Party for Freedom”.i Holland.

    Hans Lysglimt Johansen founded a new Norwegian anti-Islamic party
    reminiscent of Wilders ‘Party for Freedom’.

    17-07-08
    Hans Lysglimt Johansen. a Norwegian entrepreneur and free speech activist, is founder of the new Norwegian political party Alliansen (The Alliance). Johansen has a history of work within the libertarian, classical liberal movement. He believes in reviving national identity, national culture as well as pagan spirituality in order to fight back against destructive globalism.
    Hans Lysglimt Johansen’s website: http://www.stemalliansen.no/

    https://youtu.be/hb4uSGxOJUA

  2. On Trump ending the CIA role in arming ‘Syrian rebels’: This is another action from Trump in undermining the Globalist Deep State. Both Russia and Syria have noted this action and I hope that it comes with some reciprocity from Assad that he no longer allows Iranian influence within Syria to continue, particularly with Iran’s proxy army, Hezbollah, who have been continually attacking Israeli territory ever since the Syrian ‘civil war’ began.

    Time will tell!

    • I agree with you, and note that Trump, our demon negotiator, would have been even better off if he had brought up the proposal directly to Putin and also the Syrian government. If you’re determined to make a policy change, might as well see if you can get something in exchange, even if you do it for your own reasons.

      He might apply the same tact to the useless and stupid sanctions the US has against Russia for playing the geopolitical game in the Ukraine better than the bumbling US.

    • If the members of the Liberal Youth League engage in necrophilia, it will have a most beneficial eugenic effect for Sweden.

  3. ‘2016 was marked out by a spiral in left-wing violence that not only led to a multitude of serious crimes, but also in part to a radicalized tone — which has seen calls for the murder of police officers and politicians.’

    Violence has escalated everywhere in the streets, in movies, in games and in political slogans. The immigrants all come from traditional cultures where violence against women is normalized. The decline of the Christian church has weakened the moral imperative to non-violence in Western society. Above all, the ideological divisions have inflamed hatred, frustration and impatience as sectors of society become alarmed to the point of despair, whilst others glory in the mayhem they are creating.

    It’s not going to end well.

  4. We are traumatised ourselves’: Family of police officer who shot dead an Australian woman claim he made an ‘honest’ mistake – but the cop is STILL staying silent

    According to a report in Powerline, a friend of Noor said he simply panicked.
    http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2017/07/mohammed-noor-speaks.php

    A woman rushing towards a police car in her pjs can be assumed to be either the woman who had been attacked or the woman who had called 911, She was holding a cell phone which she was not POINTING towards the police car as though it was a gun!

    When one is in a panic, as Noor may have been, the brain reverts to one’s basic responses.

    Coming from the culture he does, his response is entirely unsurprising. Women who are troublesome learn very quickly in Islamic culture to deflect any possible violent reaction from a male, (which is tolerated under that appalling ideology.) If they don’t they are likely to be swatted like a fly.

    What is on trial here is Islam and the inability of their men to curb violent impulses. Mohammed, as we should all know, approved of domestic violence towards a troublesome wife.

    In this State of P C LOONACY, he will probably be excused due to his ‘cultural norms’!

    • I basically agree with you, although I don’t know what you mean by saying women learn to deflect any possible violent reaction.

      I think Noor’s silence is very well-advised for him, as a panic shooting by him that goes against police procedures lays him open to negligent homicide charges. Of course, any policeman refusing to testify in an inquiry should be laid off immediately and permanently, but his concern now is criminal charges.

      As he appears fundamentally unsuited for police work, the prosecutors should, in an ideal world, press negligent homicide charges against the police officials who passed him for political reasons, and the city officials who commanded them to do so.

      • the prosecutors should, in an ideal world, press negligent homicide charges against the police officials who passed him for political reasons, and the city officials who commanded them to do so.

        The P.C. world of Minnesota will simply pay the huge increase in insurance premiums for actions other municipalities would consider fool-hardy at best. Purity of intention can be both deadly and expensive. Remember when the boarding house in Little Somalia exploded and burned? The police had the mess bulldozed before it could be examined.

        Same principle.

        Here’s the collection:

        https://gatesofvienna.net/topical/cedar-riverside-explosion/

      • Women learn to be submissive unless they want a clout over the ears or worse. Domestic violence is in all societies of course, but it is certainly more prevalent in traditional societies where women are considered inferior. The extreme would be in Papua New Guinea where a woman is less valuable than a pig and where the definition of a virgin is a girl who can run faster than her uncle.

        There are heaps of incidents of Muslim male violence to women on youtube. My godson in Hungary witnessed one himself when all the migrants descended into Hungary and were herded onto trains (he was also a passenger) and they were to be taken to certain facilities for processing.

        They were told to get out, but they didn’t want to, as they wished to be transported on to Germany. One woman with her baby got out and her husband was so furious he jumped out f the carriage and began to beat her up.

        A police officer (or perhaps he was military) endeavored to wrench the man off her, but the flock of pro-Muslim vulture reporters made sure that the photograph they took was of the Hungarian seeming to attack the woman he was trying to rescue!

        Political Correctness leads to the suffering of the innocent!

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