Russian warships armed with hypersonic missiles conducted military drills near the US coast on their way to Cuba. Some of the warships carry new Zircon hypersonic missiles.
In other news, the jury in the Hunter Biden gun trial found the defendant guilty today on all three federal gun-related charges.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Caroline Glick, Conservative Tree House, Daniel Greenfield, Dean, DV, JW, LP, MM, Reader from Chicago, Upananda Brahmachari, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. I 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.
Czech Republic Slips in EU Prosperity Index
The Czech Republic fell from 13th to 15th place among EU countries in the Prosperity and Financial Health Index last year. The country excels in healthcare and defense but lags in housing. The economy deteriorated significantly, mainly due to high inflation. The index results, compiled by Ceska sporitelna and the data portal “Europe in Data,” were announced at the reVize Ceska conference.
The most significant decline was in the economic sector, with inflation dropping the Czech Republic from 8th to 23rd place. Analyst Tomas Odstrcil noted that the country struggled with inflation, which slowed but not quickly enough. The main issue for the Czech economy is low added value, reliant on subcontracting rather than producing its own products and services. Martin Wichterle of Wikov Industry emphasized the need to shift towards higher value production.
Despite these challenges, the Czech economy is diversified, ranking third in economic complexity and sixth in public debt. However, it fell from fourth to eighth place in debt ranking. In housing, the Czech Republic ranks 22nd in the EU, with long construction procedures and housing inaccessibility. On average, Czechs save for 15 years to buy a home, with 6% spending excessively on housing.
Digitalization saw improvements, with internet access rising to 91.5%. However, high-speed coverage remains an issue, delayed by legislative and municipal hurdles, according to T-Mobile’s Martin Orgonik.
Government digitization efforts are progressing, supported by the National Renewal Plan. Major digital projects like Portal obcana and Datova schranka have been well-received, noted Markéta Krykova from enovation.
The Czech Republic ranks third in healthcare and safety, with 0.2% of the population lacking access to healthcare. However, issues like obesity and healthy life expectancy persist. On average, Czechs live 62 healthy years, compared to 72 in Sweden.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Euro Plummets Amid Macron’s Snap Election Call and Right-Wing Gains in Europe
The euro has experienced a sharp decline against most of its G-10 currency counterparts following French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement of a snap election and significant gains by right-wing parties in the European Parliament.
The euro, the official currency for 20 EU member states, has slumped since Friday, driven by uncertainties stemming from Macron’s decision. This move comes in response to the right-wing Rassemblement National’s surge in France. Across Europe, right-wing parties have also gained support, although Ursula von der Leyen’s European People’s Party remains the strongest faction.
At 12:48 am Central European Time, the euro had dropped 1% against the US dollar since markets opened on Friday, reaching a nearly one-month low of 1.0774. Against the British pound, it weakened to 0.8469, the lowest level since August 2022, and against the Swiss franc, it fell to 0.9660, a more than two-month low.
In France, Macron’s Renaissance party faced a significant defeat, with Marine Le Pen’s National Rally winning 31.5% of the vote, more than double that of Macron’s party, prompting him to dissolve the National Assembly and call a snap election.
In Italy, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy strengthened their position in the EU with an estimated 28% of the votes, the highest in the country. Germany’s right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) took second place with 16.2% of the vote, while Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats suffered their worst result ever. Austria’s right-wing Freedom Party led with 27% of the vote, ahead of the ruling party’s 23.5%. Right-wing parties also made gains in Belgium and Spain, with Viktor Orban maintaining his lead in Hungary.
These right-wing advances come at the expense of the Green and liberal Renew parties, each projected to lose around 20 MEPs. This political shift could significantly impact EU policies, including the Green Deal, pro-European Union stances, immigration laws, and aid for Ukraine.
The European Central Bank (ECB) recently implemented its first rate cut since 2019, signaling the end of the current rate hike cycle. Despite a hawkish tone at the policy meeting, rising political uncertainties may pressure the ECB to adopt a more accommodative monetary policy to support the region’s economy. This divergence from the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) policy stance, with no expected rate changes this week, could further impact the euro’s value.
The eurozone’s economy stagnated in the latter half of 2023, and the evolving political landscape may further cloud its outlook. In contrast, the US economy remains robust and stable, potentially driving investors to favor the US dollar over the euro as a safe haven.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Housing Crisis Drives More Employed Young Europeans to Live With Parents
The proportion of employed young people living with their parents in the EU has risen significantly in recent years, with Ireland experiencing one of the sharpest increases, as pandemic and cost of living crises impact housing situations across Europe.
An analysis of Eurostat data, shared exclusively with the Guardian, found that on average across the EU, the proportion of 25— to 34-year-olds in employment living in their parental home rose from 24% in 2017 to 27% in 2022.
Ireland, facing an acute housing crisis with rents doubling since 2013, saw a 13-percentage-point increase in working young people living with their parents, from 27% to 40%.
Other countries that recorded significant increases between 2017 and 2022 included Portugal (41% to 52%), Spain (35% to 42%), France (10% to 12%), Italy (41% to 48%), and Croatia (58% to 65%).
Eurofound, the EU agency for improving living and working conditions, published a comprehensive report highlighting the challenges facing young people in the EU, including housing, the cost of living crisis, mental health, and precarious employment. The report noted that while youth employment had recovered to its highest levels since 2007, precarious employment remains a concern and the rising cost of living poses significant challenges.
“Young people living with their parents are more likely to have difficulties making ends meet and to be unable to afford unexpected expenses, suggesting that those from less well-off homes are less likely to be able to move out,” the report’s authors found.
Rising housing costs across the eurozone, with property prices surging by 47% between 2010 and 2022, have exacerbated the situation. The Eurofound report indicated that half of young people living with their parents would like to move out within a year, but only 28% actively planned to do so. Inability to live independently often correlates with lower wellbeing and feelings of social exclusion.
Financial strain was reported most by young people in southern and eastern EU countries, with 42% of 15— to 29-year-olds in Bulgaria and 72% in Greece experiencing it, compared to 6.3% in Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Cultural differences also play a crucial role in the discrepancies between member states regarding young people living at home.
Eszter Sandor, the report’s lead author, noted that “in many southern and eastern European countries, family ties are strong, while government support for young people is relatively low. In comparison, in Nordic countries the norm is to leave the family home around the age of 18.”
In Ireland, Sandor said, it had become “common for young people to live with their parents either due to necessity, or as part of a family decision to help save money for a future mortgage deposit.”
While remaining in the parental home can offer financial security, employed young people, particularly those aged 25 and over, “were found to feel more socially excluded if living with their parents, and had lower mental wellbeing, linked to feelings of lack of autonomy and freedom.”
Sorcha Edwards, secretary general of the NGO Housing Europe, added: “New economic and social realities in Europe have pushed people who did not typically require publicly supported housing options in previous generations. They are now struggling to find suitable housing options on the private market.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Macron’s Snap Election Triggers Surge in French Borrowing Costs
French borrowing costs surged on Tuesday as President Macron’s decision to call for early parliamentary elections sent shockwaves through financial markets, prompting investors to flee French assets amidst heightened uncertainty.
The yield on 10-year French bonds spiked to its highest level since November, reaching 3.2% at one point, signaling a significant increase in the returns demanded by investors for holding French government debt, reported the Telegraph.
“Basically, investors are fleeing French markets,” remarked analyst Tina Teng to Euronews. “The bond yields rise implies sell off in French government bonds amid uncertainties, coupled with the drop in its stock markets, led by banking stocks.”
Macron’s announcement of snap elections came in the wake of the right-wing National Party’s strong showing in the European Parliament elections, securing 32% of the French vote, more than double the share obtained by Macron’s Renaissance party, which garnered 15.4%.
Vincent Juvyns, global market strategist at JP Morgan, voiced concerns over the implications of the sudden decision, stating, “The surprise decision to call for snap elections adds to uncertainty, particularly as France could face an EU procedure for excessive deficits later on this month. Already this morning one can see the euro trading lower, but I expect the spread between France’s sovereign debt and Germany to grow further.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK Unemployment Rising Fastest Among Rich Nations, TUC Analysis Reveals
The UK is experiencing the fastest rise in unemployment among 38 of the world’s richest countries, according to a Trades Union Congress (TUC) analysis. The analysis, which used data from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), covered the first quarter of this year and found that only Costa Rica had a similar increase in joblessness.
The TUC’s findings come just a day before the Office for National Statistics (ONS) is set to release new labour market figures, which are expected to show a further rise in unemployment in recent months. This trend challenges Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s claims of robust economic growth.
The TUC highlighted that every UK region has been affected by rising unemployment and a decline in job vacancies. This situation underscores the disconnect between employers struggling to find skilled workers and the increasing number of unemployed individuals.
Last month, the ONS confirmed that the UK economy had exited last year’s recession, growing by 0.6% in the first quarter. Business and consumer confidence have also risen, driven by increasing disposable incomes. However, despite these positive indicators, many employers are planning to reduce their workforce. Research by the Chartered Institute of Management (CMI) found that 35% of UK organisations intended to either freeze or cut recruitment in the next six months, up from 24% the previous year.
The CMI survey of nearly 1,000 managers revealed that worsening revenues, rising costs, and economic uncertainty were the primary reasons behind the decisions to freeze or reduce hiring. Public sector employers, in particular, cited budget cuts as the main reason for reducing staff numbers.
The TUC’s general secretary, Paul Nowak, criticized the government’s response, stating, “The prime minister’s economic boasts are frankly laughable.” He emphasized that the weak job figures demonstrate how disconnected the government is from the current economic challenges.
The OECD has urged political leaders to invest in workers’ skills to boost employment, particularly after many left the labour market during the COVID-19 pandemic due to health issues. Meanwhile, the Conservative party’s upcoming election manifesto is expected to include measures aimed at saving £12bn in benefits by retaining or reintegrating workers into the labour market.
This troubling rise in unemployment, coupled with falling job vacancies and employers’ plans to cut jobs, raises concerns about the UK’s long-term economic outlook. The Bank of England’s monetary policy committee will soon meet to consider potential adjustments to the current interest rate of 5.25%, amid worries about the economic forecast.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
3 People and Suspect Shot at Peachtree Center in Atlanta, Officials Say
Three people and a suspect shooter have been shot in an Atlanta mall, the city’s mayor and police said Tuesday afternoon.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens shared an X post on Tuesday afternoon saying, “Four people shot at Peachtree Center Food Court. Building is now on lockdown. I am at the public safety HQ with chief. More information to come.”
Dickens, in a subsequent X post, and the Atlanta Police Department said one of the four people shot is believed to be a suspected shooter.
“All involved are still alive,” Dickens said in the post published at 3:13 p.m. ET.
In Dickens’ follow-up post, he told people to “avoid the area.”
| — Hat tip: MM | [Return to headlines] |
A 73-year-old man previously convicted of murder was arrested Monday in connection with a three-alarm fire and a shooting at Miami’s Temple Court Apartments.
Juan Francisco Figueroa, who was identified by witnesses as a resident of the building, has been charged with attempted felony murder, arson in the first degree and firearms charges, according to an arrest report from the City of Miami Police Department.
The blaze started on the third floor of the four-story apartment building around 8:15 a.m. Monday, officials said. Firefighters who arrived on scene found a man with a gunshot wound to the torso. Police identified the victim as Feder Biotte.
A witness and resident of the building told a detective that he “heard loud noises he recognized as gunshots,” at around 8 a.m.” and found Biotte on the first floor suffering from a wound to his abdomen, the arrest report states. He said Biotte told him in Spanish, “307, the one from 307.”
The witness also said he saw an explosion after hearing the gunshots. It’s not clear at this time what transpired ahead of Biotte being shot.
| — Hat tip: LP | [Return to headlines] |
Activist Releases Secret Recordings of SCOTUS Justices, Including Alito on Probe of Dobbs Leak
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito discussing a range of issues, including the country’s polarization and a probe into a leak of the Court’s majority opinion that returned the matter of abortion to the states.
The Supreme Court issued a highly controversial opinion in June of 2022, that referred the topic of abortion to individual states and overturned the historic ruling in Roe v. Wade. A draft of the opinion was leaked to Politico prior to the ruling, prompting an investigation by the court’s marshal, Gail Curley. But the culprit responsible for the leak was never identified.
Alito told liberal activist and documentary filmmaker Lauren Windsor at a Supreme Court Historical Society event in June 2023 that the court was limited in its power to investigate the leak, and that even the marshal was limited, Politico reported. Windsor posted the audio recordings to X, and shared them with Rolling Stone.
“It’s hard,” Alito told Windsor, who posed as a pro-life conservative.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Admission of Failure? Democratic Cities Stop Reporting Crime Stats to FBI
The Biden administration’s statisticians at the Bureau of Labor Statistics have painted a rosy economic picture for the job market. Yet, voters know damn well the economy is in a persistent inflation storm sparked by Bidenomics. That’s why President Biden’s reelection odds are sinking by the month. The most recent BLS jobs report shows just how absurd these reports get by the month, and there is no shame by the gov’t statisticians as working poor Americans struggle to pay rent and put food on the table.
Context about the political BLS is crucial to understanding that data massaging doesn’t stop there. The White House has recently unleashed its propaganda cannons, claiming nationwide crime has plunged to a half-century low. The problem with this narrative is that it’s at odds with imploding progressive cities that do not uphold law and order and fail to arrest and prosecute criminals. Plus, on top of this all, Democrats have flooded the nation with ten million illegal aliens.
Let’s begin with MSNBC’s Kyle Griffin, who posted on X the latest FBI crime stats that show murder, rape, robbery, theft, and property crime has plummeted across the board nationwide.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Apple Integrates ChatGPT Into iPhones in AI Overhaul
Apple is set to enhance its Siri voice assistant and operating systems with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, aiming to catch up in the AI race. Announced at its annual developers’ conference on Monday, the Siri upgrade is part of a new AI system called “Apple Intelligence,” designed to simplify navigation of Apple devices, as reported by BBC.
This system will be integrated across all Apple products and apps, offering features like improved message drafting and optimized route planning. Through a partnership with OpenAI, updates to iPhone and Mac operating systems will allow access to ChatGPT, which can also enhance tools for text and content generation. The test version will be available this autumn.
The partnership drew criticism from Elon Musk, who threatened to ban iPhones from his companies over “data security” concerns. Apple has not responded to Musk’s allegations. Additionally, Samsung mocked Apple’s announcement on social media.
Analysts are skeptical if these new AI tools will help Apple regain its edge over competitors who have been quicker to adopt AI technology.
Apple stressed the security of its new system, noting that some processing will occur on the device while larger actions will use cloud resources without storing data. This approach aims to maintain customer privacy, a key selling point for Apple.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Joe Biden on Tuesday made an appearance at a gun control conference where he spoke on banning “assault weapons” and other measures to limit firearms access. The speech came just hours after his son, Hunter Biden, was convicted for lying about his drug usage on a federal form to purchase a firearm.
Speaking at the Everytown for Gun Safety’s annual training conference in Washington, DC, on the Second Amendment, Biden said “there’s been a time that says you can own anything you want. You couldn’t own a cannon during the Civil War.”
“By the way, if they want to think to take on government if we get out of line, which they’re talking again about, well guess what? They need F-15s. They don’t need a rifle,” he added. “Folks, look, this is crazy what we’re talking about.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Breaking: Trump Calls Hunter Trial ‘Distraction From the Real Crimes of the Biden Crime Family’
On Tuesday, Hunter Biden was found guilty on all counts in his federal gun case. After the verdict was handed down, Donald Trump’s campaign released a statement, offering his thoughts on the matter.
The former president suggested the trial was simply a “distraction” from the “real crimes” allegedly committed by his successor and other members of the “Biden Crime Family.” He vowed to bring it all to an end in November if re-elected.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
WASHINGTON — A flotilla of Russian warships passed within hailing distance of Florida’s eastern coastline Tuesday, with the US Navy and Coast Guard following close behind, according to open-source maritime and air tracking information.
The Coast Guard Cutter Stone, Navy guided-missile destroyers USS Truxtun and USS Donald Cook, and the Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Ville de Quebec sailed after four Russian vessels reportedly headed to Cuba, according to online maritime trackers including VesselFinder.
A Navy P-8 Poseidon surveillance aircraft was also spotted in the region.
The Russian flotilla, which includes the frigate Admiral Gorshkov, tanker Akademik Pashin, rescue tug Nikolai Chiker and nuclear-powered submarine Kazan, is expected to make a port visit to Havana Wednesday through Monday.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
It’s a sticky-fingered situation.
Manhattan’s only Costco may have a shoplifting problem, it’s been revealed, months after rampant theft allegedly drove the Target next door to close — and even after the company has bragged that their closed-door policy has helped them to steer around the recent retail crime epidemic.
The lone location of the big box retailer on the island — located inside the East River Shopping Plaza at E. 117th St. and the FDR Drive — is said to lose an alarming amount of money due to theft, as people supposedly walk out of the membership-only warehouse store with some surprising steals, a recent Reddit thread claimed,
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Dozens Arrested in New Pro-Palestinian Protests at University of California, Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Police thwarted attempts by pro-Palestinian demonstrators to set up a new encampment at the University of California, Los Angeles, where officers cleared a previous camp this spring after it was attacked by counterprotesters.
Officers arrested 27 people late Monday during the demonstration, Rick Braziel, UCLA associate vice chancellor for campus safety, said in a statement.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Elon Musk Threatens to Ban the iPhone From His Companies
In a tweet, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX declared his intent to ban iPhones within his companies due to data security threats, Le Figaro reported.
Elon Musk, the head of Tesla and SpaceX, criticized Apple’s partnership with OpenAI in a tweet, citing concerns about data security.
Musk expressed skepticism about Apple’s understanding of the potential consequences of sharing data with OpenAI, labeling it a betrayal. He raised concerns about the new AI-driven optimization system presented by Apple for its devices.
Following Musk’s tweet, Craig Federighi and John Giannandrea proceeded with a conference on Apple Intelligence, notably without addressing Musk’s remarks.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Fauci is Called to Testify on Accusations of COVID Speech Suppression
Concerned about potential governmental overreach during the COVID-19 pandemic, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan has formally requested Dr. Anthony Fauci to participate in a transcribed interview. The interview, set by the Committee and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, aims to probe Dr. Fauci’s alleged role in the Biden White House’s censorship initiatives.
Dr. Fauci, who held the dual roles of Chief Medical Advisor to President Biden and leader of the White House COVID-19 Response Team in 2021, is at the heart of allegations suggesting that senior officials under his leadership coerced one of the globe’s largest social media platforms into censoring discussions around the COVID-19 lab leak theory under White House “pressure.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Four Campaign Workers in Connecticut Charged With Mishandling Absentee Ballots
Four campaign workers in Connecticut on Tuesday were charged with mishandling absentee ballots in a 2019 Democratic mayoral primary, including one of the city’s council members, and a Democratic Party official.
The four campaign workers, who took part in handling absentee ballots during the election in Bridgeport, Connecticut, were each charged with unlawful possession of absentee ballots, along with various other election law violations. The 2019 primary saw incumbent Mayor Joe Ganim, beat state Sen. Marilyn Moore by just 270 votes, according to the Associated Press.
Among those charged are Bridgeport Democratic Town Committee Vice Chairperson Wanda Geter-Pataky, City Council Member Alfredo Castillo, and campaign workers Nilsa Heredia and Josephine Edmonds.
The 2019 election scandal predated an even more controversial election, which occurred in the city last year. The 2023 scandal resulted in a judge ordering a redo of the mayoral election, which Ganim won the primary in January, and the general election in February.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Fulton Fiasco: Judge Arrests Lawyer After “Secret” Meeting With Key Witness Alleged
As regular readers already know, the legal system in Fulton County, Georgia is a complete mess.
The latest fiasco involves a RICO case against one rapper named Young Thug and co-defendants, in which Mr. Thug (Jeffrey Lamar Williams) and pals have been charged with several gang-related crimes related to the “Young Slime Life” group.
During a Monday court hearing, Mr. Thug’s attorney, Brian Steel, was arrested after alleging that the judge, Ural Glanville, arranged a “secret” meeting with a key witness, Kenneth Copeland (a no-no).
Judge Glanville gave Steel until 5pm to disclose his source regarding the secret meeting, arguing that Steel wasn’t supposed to have any communication with a state witness sworn to testify.
Steel, facing a contempt charge, refused to reveal his source citing attorney-client privilege — after which he can be seen being taken into custody.
Copeland, the witness, spent the weekend in jail after refusing to testify on Friday. As 6ABC reports, he ended up testifying on Monday but evaded much of the questioning.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
House Panel Advances Contempt Resolution Against AG Merrick Garland, Setting Up Full House Vote
The House Rules Committee voted along party lines Tuesday to advance a resolution which would hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress.
The successful procedural vote sets up a full House vote on the measure, which aims to hold the Biden administration official in contempt over his refusal to comply with a congressional subpoena for audio recordings of President Biden’s October interviews with former Special Counsel Robert Hur.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) told reporters that the lower chamber will take up the contempt vote on Wednesday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hunter Biden Found Guilty on All Three Counts in Federal Gun Trial, Says He is ‘Disappointed’
The jury in the Hunter Biden gun trial on Tuesday found the first son guilty on all three federal charges in connection with the purchase of a gun in 2018.
Biden was on trial for having stated on the gun purchase application that he did not use drugs, while allegedly having been addicted to crack cocaine.
The charges on which he was found guilty include make a false statement on the gun application and being in possession of firearm while being a drug user.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
In-N-Out Hikes Prices Thanks to California’s New $20 Minimum Wage
In-N-Out is beefing up its notoriously cheap prices to keep up with California’s new $20 state minimum wage at fast food restaurants.
In Los Angeles County, a double-double burger combo at the low-cost burger chains now goes for $11.44 — a $0.76 increase from last year, KTLA reported.
In San Francisco’s tourist-heavy Fisherman’s Wharf location, a double-double burger coupled with french fries and drink costs $13.63 after taxes.
Less hungry customers would still have to shell out $7.50 for the double patty without the sides or beverage, KRON4 reported.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Masked anti-Israel protesters took over a New York City subway car on Monday and demanded to know if there were any “Zionists” on train — then warned them: ‘This is your chance to get out.”
The sickening moment came after protesters rallied in Union Square Park in Manhattan and held up a banner that read “Long live October 7.”
One antisemitic demonstrator at the event yelled that he wished “Hitler was still here” to “wipe out” the Jews.
Later, the mob of protesters lit flares and waved flags associated with Hezbollah and Hamas in front of the Nova Music Festival Exhibition on Wall Street during an organized “citywide day of rage for Gaza.”
On the packed subway Monday, one man told a group of masked and Kafiya-clad protesters, “repeat after me” — then said: “Raise your hand if you’re a Zionist.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Musk Drops Lawsuit Against OpenAI, Co-Founders Sam Altman, Greg Brockman
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk on Tuesday moved to dismiss his lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, after alleging they failed to adhere to the company’s founding mission to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI) for the benefit of humanity.
Musk’s attorney submitted the request for the case’s dismissal “without prejudice” in San Francisco Superior Court on Tuesday, without providing further reasoning on the move.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
It has been revealed that trans school shooter Audrey Hale wrote in her journalabout a romantic desire for “brown girls,” and referred to herself as “white nothingness.” Hale, who murdered three children and three adults at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee on March 27, 2023, repeatedly suggested that her life was without meaning, and that nobody would remember her when she died.
These are just the latest findings in Hale’s private writings, which were uncovered by investigators following the shooting and later obtained by the Tennessee Star via a Freedom of Information Act request. They have helped expose what the killer was thinking in the months before she carried out the gruesome attack.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
NewsGuard Co-CEO: Lack of Internet Gatekeepers Allows Dangerous Opinions
NewsGuard is fully a product of a particular era — co-founded in 2018 by Steven Brill, and there to provide “a rating system” for news websites.
Opponents of what NewsGuard, Brill, et al. stand for would say that era unfortunately continues. Critics sum it up as NewsGuard (a browser extension and app) turning censorship into a businessmodel, with a clear political bias, while working with governments, intelligence communities, and corporations.
“Anti-misinformation” and “brand safety rating for advertisers” is the business NewsGuard insists it’s in, and just this week Brill had the opportunity to speak for C-SPAN and rail against anything from a lack of internet gatekeepers deciding who can become a publisher, to branding as “dangerous” people’s right to express different opinions on issues like health and election results.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Last week, Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene took a detour from grilling Anthony Fauci over COVID-19, to confront him with photos of beagles who had been subjected to animal testing experiments widely reported to be funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under the National Institutes of Health (NIH), following a 2021 investigation series by the group White Coat Waste Project.
“We should be recommending you to be prosecuted,” Greene told Fauci. “We should be writing a criminal referral because you should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity. You belong in prison,” she continued, adding “That man does not deserve to have a license. As a matter of fact, it should be revoked and he belongs in prison.”
This opened up a can of worms which includes a response from White Coat Waste, and triggered the Washington Post‘s Glenn Kessler to do a deep dive into ‘Beaglegage’ in an effort to debunk Greene.
When we first saw Greene hold up the photo, we figured this would be easy to debunk — another in a string of misleading attacks against Fauci, who became the public face of the government’s response to the pandemic. —Washington Post
Only to discover that the NIH appears to have lied about funding the experiment, which involved beagles between 6 and 8 months old obtained from the kennels of the Pasteur Institute of Tunis.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Paul Ryan: I Wish We Had a Different Presidential Choice
Former House Speaker Paul Ryan, a member of the Fox Corporation Board of Directors, said Tuesday on FNC’s “Your World” that American voters have terrible choices for president in November.
Host Neil Cavuto asked, “There is this historic, unprecedented situation that we’re going to have a former president who’s a convicted criminal and we’re going to have a son of a president who’s a convicted criminal. And I’m just wondering what you think of that?”
Ryan said, “Yeah, I think in a country with 350 million people, this is the choice we have. I, like the majority of Americans, wish we had a different choice than the ones that none when we’re being presented with.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The more things change in the Kensington area of Philadelphia, the more they appear to stay the same.
Police in the drug-riddled Northeast are of the city are now moving to “Phase 2” of their improvement plan for the area, but video showed on social media over the weekend appears to make it clear that there’s still a lot of work to be done.
Next week, Philadelphia police will intensify patrols in Kensington as part the initiative, NBC reported this weekend.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pro-Palestinian Protest Gathers Outside Nova Exhibit in NYC, 3 People Arrested
NEW YORK — Pro-Palestinian protests moved through Manhattan on Monday night, resulting in three arrests.
The demonstrations started off in Union Square, but protesters ended up taking over a subway station and disrupting service. They then took the train to Wall Street, where a large crowd gathered outside the The Nova Music Festival Exhibition.
The Nova exhibit pays tribute to the victims of the October 7 terrorist attack on an Israeli music festival.
Protesters lit flares and opened smoke canisters outside the museum, chanting “long live the intifada” and even holding signs celebrating the massacre.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Rachel Maddow ‘Worried’ Trump Will Send Her, Other Civilians to ‘Camps’
During a recent interview with CNN, Rachel Maddow revealed that she was “worried” that, if reelected in November, Donald Trump would put her and other civilians in “camps.” The former president was asked in May whether he would construct detention facilities to hold illegal immigrants during his planned deportation effort, and said he “would not rule out anything.”
Maddow, however, appeared to believe that Trump would go beyond simply using the camps to hold illegal immigrants, and instead fill them up with people he’s “singled out” for being disloyal or simply disagreeable. She claimed to be among those on his list.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Russian Warships With Hypersonic Missiles Conduct Drills En Route to Cuba
Russian warships armed with hypersonic missiles conducted military drills near the United States while on their way to Cuba, the Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday.
The Admiral Gorshkov frigate and the Kazan nuclear-powered submarine participated in a missile simulation drill while in the Atlantic, according to The Associated Press.
The Admiral Gorshkov has new Zircon hypersonic missiles, which Russian President Vladimir Putin has touted as weapons that can travel nine times faster than the speed of sound, allowing them to penetrate existing anti-missile defenses.
The Cuban Foreign Ministry said that the Russian ships will be in Havana over the next week.
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Trump Team Seeks Dismissal of Classified Docs Case Over Alleged Evidence Tampering
Former President Donald Trump’s legal team on Tuesday announced a motion to dismiss special counsel Jack Smith’s classified documents case, just one day after U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon rejected a separate motion for dismissal.
“President Trump’s attorneys have filed a powerful motion asking Judge Cannon to fully and completely dismiss the ‘boxes’ Hoax due to the illegal actions by Crooked Joe Biden’s Department of Injustice in its shocking failure to preserve the boxes taken from President Trump’s home in the unconstitutional and unAmerican raid on Mar-a-Lago,” Trump Communications Director Steven Cheung said in a statement.
“Deranged Jack Smith was forced to admit in a public filing that he and his Thugs committed blatant Evidence Tampering by mishandling the very documents they used as pretext to bring this Fake Case. This scam, and all other Crooked Joe — directed Witch Hunts against President Trump, should be DROPPED IMMEDIATELY,” he added.
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Skeptics have long questioned why UFOs, if they are alien craft, would visit Earth so often.
But two Harvard scientists suspect the beings may have been here all along.
In a new research paper, they estimate there is a one in 10 chance the true solution to the UFO mystery could be ‘cryptoterrestrial’ — meaning they belong to an advanced species hiding on Earth.
Skeptics have long questioned why UFOs, if they are alien craft, would visit Earth so often.
While this notion may sound unlikely on first hearing, many observers are persuaded that it is at least conceivable,’ the team wrote in their new study, ‘not least because whole swathes of our planet remain virtually unexplored and uncharted.’
With 80 percent of our oceans unmapped, and still revealing ancient mysteries like Yonaguni Jima, the ‘Japanese Atlantis,’ not to mention unexplored caves and the dark side of the moon, they argue there’s plenty of space for a ‘stealth’ civilization.
‘If another intelligent species had inhabited Earth (or Mars) long before Homo sapiens, it is possible that we could have no idea,’ the trio notes in their article, which is set to appear in the journal Philosophy and Cosmology this June.
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US Lifts 10-Year Weapon Ban on Ukraine’s Neo-Nazi Azov Brigade
The US State Department on Tuesday announced that it is lifting a longtime ban on giving weapons and training to Ukraine’s notorious Azov Brigade (often referenced by its earlier name Azov Battalion).
The question must immediately be asked: Do Washington policy-makers think enough time has passed that people have simply forgotten that this is an unabashed neo-Nazi outfit? Do they think we no longer remember this from just a year ago?…
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Woman Was Sleeping at Myrtle Beach Bus Station During Deadly Stabbing, Warrant Says
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — A woman who was stabbed to death at a Myrtle Beach bus station was asleep when the attack happened, according to an arrest warrant obtained by News13.
Michael Mateo, 33, was charged with murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime in the Saturday morning attack. He allegedly killed Jeannette Harding, 55, who recently moved to the city from Ohio.
The attack happened at 580 10th Ave. N. at about 1:20 a.m., the warrant shows. Mateo was charged after police conducted interviews and obtained camera footage.
Mateo remains in the J. Reuben Long Detention Center after he was booked Saturday evening.
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Returning to a familiar theme, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau castigated “populist right-wing forces” for creating “fear, division and anxiety” while he claims to want to “understand” and “solve it.”
This comes after sweeping gains made by right-wing parties in the EU legislative elections over the weekend. The overwhelming support for Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party in France led current Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron to call for snap elections in July as he felt the votes were a rebuke of his leadership. Belgium’s prime minister resigned after the votes in his nation, while Germany’s AfD party took an unprecedented second place in that country. The results were seen as EU citizens’ defiance against unfettered immigration, economic woes and a progressive climate agenda.
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UK and Canada Probe DNA Company 23andMe’s Data Breach
The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada have united to probe a significant data breach at genetic testing giant 23andMe.
The breach compromised the genetic and ancestral information of 6.9 million users—half of its user database. Initially unnoticed by the company, the breach occurred between April and September 2023, with the company becoming aware only in October after the compromised data surfaced on an unofficial subreddit and a notorious hacking forum.
The scope of the stolen data is extensive, including sensitive details such as the users’ names, birth years, familial connections, DNA shared with relatives, ancestry reports, and self-reported locations.
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“A New Cabinet”: Wilders Says Dutch Coalition Parties Have a Deal for a New Government
The four parties that have struggled to form a coalition government in the Netherlands following the November parliamentary elections have reached a deal on a new Cabinet, said Geert Wilders. His far-right PVV had been slowly progressing in talks with the VVD, NSC, and BBB to determine which parties would put forward candidates for the ministerial posts and the state secretaries who serve under them.
“We’ve figured it out, and you’ll find out the rest later,” he told reporters after talks concluded on Tuesday afternoon. “We are very happy, there is now a deal. You will hear more in the coming hours and days.”
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54% of French People Support Dissolution of France’s Parliament
A majority of French people support the dissolution of the National Assembly of France following the poor performance of the president’s party in the European Parliament elections. This is evidenced by an Ifop-Fiducial poll conducted for Le Figaro, LCI, and Sud Radio.
54% of respondents support the decision to dissolve parliament, made by Emmanuel Macron on Sunday evening after the European election results were announced. The dissolution was particularly demanded by supporters of the right-wing forces “National Rally” (RN) and “Reconquest” (83%), whereas only 8% of Macron’s supporters expressed such a demand.
Although the president’s decision is controversial, it is more popular than potential reshuffles involving a change of prime minister (47%) or a change in the government team (34%).
On Sunday, Emmanuel Macron dissolved the French parliament due to his party’s defeat in the European elections, where it significantly lost to the “National Rally.” He announced that early elections will take place on June 30 (first round) and July 7 (second round).
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Austria: FPÖ Tops EP Elections With ‘Stop the EU Madness’ Campaign
The Eurosceptic Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) has topped the country’s European Elections after it ran under the slogan “Stop the EU Madness”.
FPÖ managed to garner 27 per cent of the vote with the campaign, with the win seeing it double the number of MEPs in Brussels.
It is the first time the party has topped an Austrian election, with the June 9 vote overtaking the People’s Party (ÖVP) and giving the FPÖ’s leader Herbert Kickl hopes of a big win in the country’s general elections in September.
Kickl, a former interior minister increasingly spoken of as Austria’s chancellor in waiting, said the Freedom Party won six of Austria’s 20 MEP seats by standing for “everything that is important: neutrality, freedom, prosperity, security, peace, and the preservation of our identity”.
On June 9, the party posted on X: “Asylum crisis, Corona-chaos, warmongering, and eco-communism — are you fed up with all of this?”
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Budget Infighting Threatens Germany’s Defense Commitments
Germany’s plans to meet its defense commitments to Western allies are at risk due to budget disputes within its governing coalition. The situation is critical as tensions with Russia continue to rise and with Donald Trump’s potential second bid for the U.S. presidency, given his previous criticism of Germany’s defense spending.
Since the 1990s, Germany has moved away from its post-World War II reluctance towards military action but has faced criticism, particularly from Trump during his first term, for not meeting NATO’s defense spending target of 2% of GDP. In response to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced a “zeitenwende” or historic turning point, with a €100 billion ($107 billion) fund to revitalize the military.
Despite the special fund, Germany’s defense budget remains significantly below the NATO target. Currently, the defense budget is €52 billion, falling short by approximately €28 billion. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg emphasized the importance of higher defense spending for the alliance, noting that Germany spent more than 3% of GDP on defense during the Cold War.
Germany’s coalition government, comprising the Social Democrats (SPD), pro-business liberals, and the Greens, is struggling to find the necessary funds while adhering to self-imposed borrowing limits. Chancellor Scholz and Finance Minister Christian Lindner have resisted calls from Defense Minister Boris Pistorius to increase the defense budget by €6.7 billion next year.
Projections indicate that by 2028, the shortfall will reach €40 billion if the annual spending increases are delayed. Andreas Schwarz, an SPD member of the budget committee, warned that without additional funding, the Defense Minister would have only €500 million for defense procurement next year.
The defense industry, represented by the Defense Industry Association, stressed the need for greater investment to compensate for past underfunding. They estimate that an additional €100 billion is needed by 2028 to address gaps in military inventory, including air-defense systems, long-range missiles, and ammunition.
The current budget dispute is seen as a critical test of the government’s commitment to the “zeitenwende.” Defense officials have been advised to negotiate with arms manufacturers to begin production without immediate contracts, a proposal met with skepticism.
Germany’s ability to meet its defense commitments is at a crucial juncture. The outcome of the budget infighting will significantly impact the country’s military readiness and its adherence to NATO spending targets. As the situation unfolds, Germany’s approach to defense funding will be a key indicator of its strategic priorities and commitment to international security obligations.
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Czech European Parliament Elections: Bad News for the Government and Ukraine
In the European Parliament elections in the Czech Republic, pro-European parties lost, while parties relying on national identity won. This means that the political discourse will focus on “national interests” and “our people,” writes Seznam Zpravy commentator Jan Lipold.
The election results hit Petr Fiala’s government hard. The SPOLU coalition lost 5% of its support (from 27% to 22%) compared to the 2021 elections, and STAN and the Pirates decreased from 16% to 15%. Voter turnout was only 36%, which negatively impacted the ruling parties, as wealthier and more liberal voters, who tend to prefer parties to the right of center, usually have higher turnout in EU elections.
Despite improving its result from 21% to 26%, ANO cannot fully celebrate its victory, as it lost one percentage point compared to the Czech Chamber of Deputies elections. However, it is expected that next year Andrej Babis will replace shadow prime minister Karel Havlicek and take the lead in the government, boosting ANO voters’ motivation.
The election results also cast doubt on the ruling parties’ success in the 2025 general elections and this autumn’s regional elections. Pro-European parties’ defeat creates an unfavorable situation for Ukraine, as the new political discourse in the Czech Republic will focus even more on national interests.
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Dutch Civil Servants ‘In Fear Over New Right-Wing Government’
Civil servants in the Netherlands reportedly fear job cuts and policy changes in directions they do not want as the country braces for new leadership featuring the hard-right Freedom Party (PVV).
Leading Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf spoke with several bureaucrats at different ministries, who all expressed serious concerns, the paper reported.
On one side, it said some administrators feared having to take instructions from PVV politicians, with whom they have different political views.
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Dutch MP Gideon Van Meijeren Convicted of Sedition for Rallying Farmers to Violence
Dutch parliamentarian Gideon van Meijeren was convicted on Tuesday of two counts of sedition stemming from allegations he attempted to rally people to commit acts of violence against public authorities. This was deliberate, and with full knowledge of the unrest in the country at the time, the court said. He was sentenced to 200 hours of community service, matching the recommendation presented by prosecutors in the case. His sentence is unconditional, as Van Meijeren already said he would not abide by any conditions imposed by the court.
The first charge is related to a demonstration in July in Tuil, and the second is related to his remarks during an interview published on YouTube in November 2022. The court ruled that Van Meijeren leveraged his position as a Member of Parliament representing the extreme-right Forum voor Democratie so that he could incite aggrieved farmers into using violence during their protest actions.
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Electricity Prices in Europe Rose in Most Countries in May
In the EU, average monthly day-ahead wholesale prices in May 2024 were higher than April’s in most countries, with exceptions including France and Sweden.
According to Ember, the prices were as follows: Italy — €94.9/MWh (+9.4% month-on-month); France — €27.09/MWh (-4%); Germany — €67.3/MWh (+7.8%); Spain — €30.3/MWh (+120%); Sweden — €23.04/MWh (-52.3%).
As noted by AleaSoft Energy Forecasting, in May, the Iberian market lost its position as the market with the lowest electricity costs, which it had held for three consecutive months. This position was taken by France. Solar energy production last month reached either historical records or monthly records, but wind energy production fell in most countries during this period.
At the same time, prices in the main European markets were influenced not only by changes in the generation mix and demand levels but also by the increase in gas prices and CO2 emissions compared to April. Consequently, day-ahead electricity prices fluctuated significantly throughout May. For example, in Germany, prices were €0.37/MWh at the beginning of the month and peaked at €108.3/MWh on May 27. The Italian market registered the highest weekly average from May 27 to June 3 at €102.6/MWh.
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EU Climate Plan Faces Challenges After Election
The recent European Parliament election, which saw gains for right-wing and far-right parties skeptical of the EU’s “Green Deal,” will complicate the passage of new ambitious climate policies. Despite this shift, most of the current EU green policies are expected to remain intact, as reported by Reuters.
Centrist parties retained a majority, but the rise of right-wing parties indicates tougher approval processes for new climate measures. Future climate policies will depend on the new European Commission’s proposals, with the Parliament having a say on each new policy.
The election results suggest that new EU climate measures will face more challenges, although significant rollbacks are unlikely. Existing policies, such as renewable energy targets and carbon pricing, are already embedded in EU law and being implemented across member states.
The 2040 climate target, aimed at steering the EU towards net zero emissions by 2050, may face delays due to political resistance. Notably, there is little appetite to impose new regulations on sectors like farming, especially given recent protests and rising living costs.
Despite calls from some right-wing factions to scrap parts of the Green Deal, like the 2035 ban on new petrol and diesel cars, broad policy reversals are not expected. The EU’s 2030 target to cut net greenhouse gas emissions by 55% from 1990 levels is legally binding and supported by both national governments and lawmakers.
The election campaign highlighted issues like immigration and economic concerns over climate change, contrasting with the 2019 election focus on climate protests. Achieving the EU’s 2030 climate target will require substantial investments, estimated at 1 trillion euros per year.
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EU Expected to Impose Tariffs on Chinese Electric Vehicles, Potentially Triggering Trade Conflict
The European Union is poised to announce tariffs on imports of Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) this week, initiating what could escalate into a summer trade dispute with Beijing. This move follows a lengthy investigation into China’s state subsidies for its car manufacturing, which is expected to confirm significant support directed towards the EV sector.
Chinese manufacturers are preparing for the impact of new import duties, while experts anticipate retaliatory measures from Beijing that could target a range of EU exports, from cognac to dairy products. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has emphasized the EU’s commitment to protecting industries and jobs within the bloc, particularly in light of concerns regarding China’s surplus production.
The anti-subsidy investigation, initiated last October, has raised suspicions of China flooding the EU market with cheaper EVs due to overcapacity and subdued domestic demand. This investigation is part of a broader inquiry by the EU into Chinese state aid, which includes probes into exports of solar panels, heat pumps, and wind turbines.
Expectations are that Beijing will perceive the imposition of tariffs as a test of strength, particularly given the strategic importance of the electric car sector in China’s export success. Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to maintain his commitment to dominating the global green tech sector through EVs, solar panels, and electric vehicle batteries.
If the EU investigation concludes this week that Chinese car manufacturers have gained a competitive advantage, Beijing will be formally notified of tariffs and given four weeks to challenge the decision. The tariff schedule, if implemented, would vary based on factors such as cooperation with inquiries and the extent of investigation.
While tariffs are expected to be set between 15% and 30%, some analysts suggest higher rates may be necessary to deter Chinese exporters. Despite potential tariffs, Chinese producers like BYD are anticipated to maintain comfortable profit margins due to cost advantages.
China has consistently denied subsidizing its automotive sector, arguing that its exports contribute to Western countries’ green targets. However, Western governments remain wary of China’s dominance in future clean energy and tech markets, aiming to prevent over-reliance and maintain a level playing field.
As tensions rise, EU officials are determined to pursue a strategy of risk mitigation, mindful of the economic consequences seen in the aftermath of energy supply disruptions. With concerns over China’s trade practices growing, the EU is taking proactive measures to protect its industries and ensure fair competition.
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EU Liberals Water Down Threats to Eject Dutch Member After Elections Thrashing
The European Parliament’s Renew group appears to be watering down threats against one of its member parties over their willingness to join the Dutch Government headed by the PVV party of Geert Wilders.
Senior figures within the Liberal faction warned that they could throw out their Dutch member after it agreed to enter the ruling coalition.
While a group meeting to discuss the ejection was due to take place on June 10, it appears no such gathering occurred. Liberal politicians made no mention of it publicly.
In a statement to Brussels Signal, group spokesman Clara de Melo Ponce appeared to confirm that no discussions on the issue had been held.
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European Parliament: Conservative ECR Group Set to Outgun Liberals
Projections indicate that the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group has overtaken the Liberals (Renew) in the European Parliament following the elections over June 6-9 .
Europe Elects, a polls aggregator, has projected that the ECR will end up with 82 seats in the EP, 14 more than in the last legislature. Renew, on the other hand, looks to have dropped from 102 seats in 2019 to 80.
The Conservatives have done especially well in Italy, where Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia party made big gains. In France, Éric Zemmour also picked up five seats, according to forecasts.
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France: Tourists Are Evacuated From Palace of Versailles as Fire Breaks Out in Roof
A fire has broken out at France’s historic Palace of Versailles on the outskirts of Paris, prompting staff to order a mass evacuation of tourists.
Footage shared to social media showed trails of white smoke emerging from the roof of the immense 17th century palace located in its namesake town some 10 miles from the heart of the French capital.
French media reported that a fire alarm was triggered in one of the buildings and alerted staff who promptly called the emergency services.
Firefighters descended on the chateau early this afternoon to extinguish the blaze as tourists and staff members flooded out of the storied building and into the sprawling gardens that surround it.
Clips showed hundreds of unsettled visitors flooding the courtyard outside one of the buildings as the firefighters entered the building to locate and extinguish the flames.
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France’s Reconquête ‘Excluded From Right Alliance’ Ahead of General Elections
Marion Maréchal, niece of National Rally de facto leader Marine Le Pen and a member of France’s Reconquête, says her party had been excluded from the alliance of the Right ahead of the country’s general elections on June 30.
“Jordan Bardella [RN President] informed me this afternoon of a change of position and the refusal of the RN of the very principle of an agreement,” she said on June 11.
According to Maréchal, RN wanted no “direct or indirect association with [Reconquête leader] Éric Zemmour”.
“This sudden and contradictory decision [after] our numerous exchanges and preparatory work does not live up to … the expectations of the French,” she added.
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France’s Republican Party President Agrees to Alliance With National Rally
Eric Ciotti, President of the French centre-right party The Republicans, has been called on to resign after agreeing to an electoral alliance with the hard-right National Rally (RN) for the June 30 French legislative elections.
“I want my political family to move towards an alliance with the National Rally,” he said on June 11. Some members had already joined him, he added. The two parties held similar political positions, including on immigration.
Ciotti said he recognised that his centre-right party was “too weak to oppose … [French President Emmanuel] Macron’s bloc and the left-wing bloc”. An alliance with RN was a way to “avoid the danger” posed by the hard-left party La France Insoumise.
In the proposed alliance, Republican candidates would not have to stand against hard-right RN candidates in the two rounds of the French elections.
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France’s Hard-Right National Rally Opens Door to Republicans
The President of France’s National Rally (RN) party, Jordan Bardella, says his political movement will support candidates from the centre-right Republican party in the June 30 elections as part of what could become a formal electoral alliance.
Bardella said on June 11 that the RN was working with some members of the Republican Party and urged more to come onboard.
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Future Commander-in-Chief of Lithuanian Army Supports Universal Conscription
Nauseda for the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Army, has expressed his support for universal conscription. He made this statement in the Seimas, reports LRT.
According to Vaiksnoras, implementing universal conscription requires infrastructure, training grounds, and instructors. However, he mentioned that Vilnius can increase the number of young conscripts, thereby expanding the reserve.
He also emphasized that the enhancement of the country’s armed forces should be balanced, ensuring the functioning of all operational combat systems. Other tasks mentioned by the brigadier general include cooperation with the paramilitary Riflemen’s Union and assisting local authorities and civil institutions in preparing for emergencies.
According to Nauseda’s decree appointing the new Commander-in-Chief, which the president signed last week, Brigadier General Vaiksnoras will replace General Valdemaras Rupsys on July 24.
Both pro-government and opposition members of the Seimas have expressed their support for Vaiksnoras’s candidacy.
Last week, the Lithuanian Seimas finally approved a conscription reform, which stipulates that youth will be drafted immediately after finishing school—an initiative supported by 81 members of parliament.
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Germany: BSW and AfD Lawmakers Boycott Zelensky’s Bundestag Speech
Lawmakers from the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) and the Alternative for Germany (AfD) parties boycotted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s speech in the Bundestag, reports Bild.
Only four out of 77 AfD deputies attended after the leader of the AfD parliamentary group recommended that members refrain from attending Zelensky’s speech.
Reports of the BSW boycott emerged earlier in the morning. According to t-online, BSW stated that while they condemn “Russia’s war in Ukraine, which violates international law,” they believe President Zelensky is currently contributing to “a highly dangerous spiral of escalation” and increasing the risk of nuclear conflict.
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Germany’s Wagenknecht: Peace Talks With Russia Instead of Ukraine Aid
German populist politician Sahra Wagenknecht, whose newly founded Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) party debuted with 6.2% of the vote in the European Parliament elections, again called for an end to aid for Ukraine on Tuesday.
“We need ceasefire negotiations instead of more taxpayers’ money from Germany for weapons to prolong the war,” Wagenknecht said on Tuesday, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was in Berlin for an international conference on Ukraine’s reconstruction.
Wagenknecht accused Zelensky of refusing negotiations so far, but said that German have already footed a “war bill” of “at least €53 billion” ($57 billion).
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Germany: Islamic State Terrorists Planned to Attack Liberal Berlin Mosque, Says Prosecutor
A liberal, women-led Berlin mosque known as a haven for gay Muslims was a target for an Islamic State terror cell in Germany, prosecutors say as the group goes to court.
A group of seven immigrants arrested in 2023 across Germany and the Netherlands will soon see their day in court, and German prosecutors allege before their incarceration the men prepared to build bombs and researched targets including a liberal mosque, Jewish citizens, and a fair.
The men, who originated in Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan came to Germany from Ukraine as part of the refugee flow that immediately followed the Russian invasion in 2022. One of the group is alleged to have led an Islamic State terrorist cell in Kyiv, Ukraine, and some of the group are said to have already killed in Ukraine, including by beating. Members of the group have allegedly had contact with Islamic State figures elsewhere in the world who launched successful terror attacks, or who were arrested while in the planning phase.
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‘Great British Tax Cut’: Farage Launches Reform Economic Policy
“We are skint, and it’s getting worse”, warns Brexit’s Nigel Farage as his Reform UK Party launched its economic plan for the UK General Election, giving British workers a tax cut to get the economy moving again.
Nigel Farage and Richard Tice announced the Reform UK Party’s proposal to liberalise tax rules in the UK on Monday, calling for a considerable £40 billion tax cut to promote economic growth and for a change in the way the Bank of England deals with interest payments to free up billions of pounds to pay for it.
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Macron’s Resignation Speculation Stirs French Politics Amid Assembly Dissolution
After the dissolution of the National Assembly, speculation about President Emmanuel Macron’s potential resignation has intensified. The political landscape in France has been shaken by recent developments, with reports from Europe 1 suggesting that Macron has contemplated resignation in conversations with an associate. However, the Élysée Palace has denied these claims.
In the coming days, Emmanuel Macron faces the challenge of demonstrating decisive leadership. His inner circle is circulating the narrative that he has made a courageous choice. A new possibility has emerged: is Macron willing to sacrifice his presidency?
This extreme scenario, discussed by Macron with an interlocutor, suggests that “the resignation of the president is not a taboo. Yes, all scenarios must be considered today,” according to a close associate. He adds, “He is ready to sacrifice the end of his term.”
On Monday evening, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin described the decision to dissolve the National Assembly as a “Gaullist act,” referencing Charles de Gaulle’s resignation in 1969 following a failed referendum. While resignation is not the preferred option, it is intended to heighten the stakes of the upcoming election. Macron aims to provoke a significant reaction. A party official acknowledges this strategy: “Cohabitation with the National Rally can also be a path to let them fail spectacularly before 2027.” One of Macron’s strategists concludes, “The only key to regaining a majority is to awaken consciences.”
Despite the speculation, the Élysée firmly denies any intention of the president to resign.
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Meloni to Host G7 Summit After EU Elections Boost Italian Leadership
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni is set to host the Group of Seven (G7) summit this week as a symbol of stability within the European Union. This comes after European parliamentary elections bolstered her right-wing Brothers of Italy party, establishing her as a significant figure in European politics.
Meloni’s counterparts in Germany and France faced challenges from their right-wing opponents. French President Emmanuel Macron was forced to call snap elections after Marine Le Pen’s National Rally overshadowed his party, while German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s authority was weakened when the right-wing Alternative for Germany outperformed his Social Democrats.
“I am proud that this nation presents itself at the G7, and in Europe, as the strongest government of all,’’ Meloni told supporters early Monday. “This is something that has never happened in the past, and which is happening now. It is a satisfaction, and also a great responsibility.”
Although Meloni leads a right-wing party, she has maintained a centrist stance on foreign policy, strengthening her position as a reliable trans-Atlantic partner amidst ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza. She aims to reinforce this role during the G7 meeting in southern Puglia from June 13-15, focusing on global conflicts, the spread of AI, and African issues, especially concerning migration and human trafficking.
“Meloni is the moderate face of this right-wing bunch,’’ said analyst Matteo Villa of the IPSI think tank in Milan. “Meloni is poised as a moderate center-right party now that has much consensus that can act as a bridge between the far right and the center right. Meloni is narrating herself as a much more moderate leader.”
Despite her initial campaign promises for a naval blockade of charity ships rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean, Meloni has since adopted more pragmatic policies, directing rescue ships to northern ports. This approach, though still contested by charities, is a significant shift from her original stance.
“These policies have changed, they have become more pragmatic,’’ Villa said.
As a result, Meloni is gaining support from voters beyond the right-wing spectrum. Brothers of Italy secured 28.8% of the Italian vote in recent polls, strengthening their majority from the national elections held less than two years ago. This result confirms Meloni’s dominance in the coalition government with the right-wing anti-migrant Lega, led by Matteo Salvini, and the center-right Forza Italia party, now headed by Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani after Silvio Berlusconi’s death last year.
The opposition Democratic Party also gained ground, finishing with 24% of the vote, thereby narrowing the gap with Brothers of Italy. This outcome re-establishes the Democratic Party as the main opposition, while the 5-Star Movement, which once led the government from 2018-2021, continued its decline to 10% of the vote.
“We continue like a hammer every day to nail the Meloni government on social and wage issues that it ignores,’’ PD leader Elly Schlein said Monday. “Of course, we will do so by working stubbornly, in a united way, to build an alternative that this country needs to this right.”
“Giorgia Meloni, we are coming,’’ Schlein added.
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Netherlands More at Risk of Terrorism Linked to Jihadists, Right-Wing Extremists
The terrorism threat level in the Netherlands remained at the “substantial” level for the second straight assessment, but the risk of an attack has slightly increased, Dutch counterterrorism office NCTV said in its semi-annual update on Wednesday. The level ranks fourth most severe on a five-point scale, and indicating a real possibility of a terrorist attack. The national threat assessment report, DTN, highlights the growing concern surrounding right-wing extremism and the continued threat from jihadists fueled by recent events.
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Norway to Assemble Leopard 2 Tanks and Plans to Enter International Market
Norway will assemble Leopard 2 tanks and plans to become a player in the international market. Out of the 54 German-made Leopard 2 tanks ordered by Norway, 37 will be assembled by the Norwegian subcontractor Ritek, which aims to become a Scandinavian hub for servicing and modernizing Leopard tanks. This was reported by AFP, citing the country’s Ministry of Defense.
According to the agreement with the German company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, the Norwegian firm Ritek will act as a subcontractor for the German tank manufacturer. In the future, a new production line in Levanger, located in western Norway, is expected to assemble tanks for other countries. Ritek is also set to become the Scandinavian center for servicing and modernizing Leopard tanks.
“This agreement will help strengthen the potential of NATO and European countries to increase tank production in the future,” said the Norwegian ministry.
In February 2023, the Norwegian government ordered 54 Leopard 2 A8 tanks for a total of 19.7 billion kroner to replace 36 outdated Leopard 2A4 tanks.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Norwegian Parliament Approves €140 Billion Defense Investment Until 2036
On June 11, the Storting, Norway’s parliament, unanimously approved a long-term plan for the development of the Norwegian Armed Forces until 2036, which includes a record increase in defense spending, reports NRK.
The plan stipulates that by 2036, Norway will spend 1.635 trillion Norwegian kroner (approximately 140 billion euros) on various defense objectives, which is 611 billion kroner more than previously planned. The Storting’s decision incorporates measures that complement the proposal presented by the Norwegian government in April.
Key measures include an additional long-range air defense system to protect Oslo, the purchase of six new submarines instead of five, and improved pension conditions to ensure an increase in military recruitment.
Moreover, the Norwegian parliament requires the government to report annually on the status and progress of the long-term plan.
The new defense plan is expected to increase the number of conscripts and reservists and expand the number of brigades in the Norwegian Army from one to three.
The increased defense spending will allow Norway to meet NATO’s target of allocating 2% of GDP to defense expenditures by 2024, two years earlier than previously planned.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Orban: Western War Hawks Only Want to Exploit Ukraine’s Natural Resources
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has claimed that Ukraine supporters in the West are merely seeking to exploit the country for its natural resources while saying that the war could be over in a day if Europe coalesces around the position of peace.
In an interview with HirTV, Prime Minister Orban said that the main aim of Western backers of the proxy war with Russia in Ukraine is to expand “wealth and influence” rather than the vague notion of protecting democracy or stemming Moscow’s supposed imperialistic ambitions.
“Ukraine is a rich country in its resources, and that is what they want to acquire. At the end of the matter, there is money, power, agricultural land, and economic opportunities,” the Hungarian leader said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Parliament ‘Hooligans’ Meet to Discuss Creation of New Right-Wing Group
Several right-wing parties are set to meet in Brussels to discuss the formation of a new European Parliament group.
Nicknamed the “Hooligans”, the proposed alliance aims to bring together various nationalist and identitarian [those opposed to cultural mixing] parties from across the bloc.
According to an anonymous source, representatives from various interested groups are set to discuss the possible alliance behind closed doors on June 12.
Said to be attending the meeting are representatives from Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party, Poland’s Konfederacja, Cyprus’ ELAM and Hungary’s Mi Hazank.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Protests Break Out in France After EU Parliament Vote
Eyewitness video showed protesters marching, torches being thrown, and police chasing demonstrators down a street. Reuters was able to locate the video from roads, buildings and business stores which matched street view imagery of the area. The date of the footage was also verified by original file metadata from the source.
RN won 31.4% of the European Parliament vote while French President Macron’s Renaissance party coalition had 14.6%. Macron has since announced snap elections for the lower house of parliament, with the first round scheduled for June 30, less than three weeks away, and the run-off on July 7.
According to a recent opinion poll conducted by Toluna Harris Interactive for Challenges, the RN is forcecast to win the snap election, but would fall short of an absolute majority.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
King Philippe of Belgium accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Alexander De Croo on Monday, marking the start of the consultation process for forming a new government, reports RTBF.
King Philippe accepted the resignation of Alexander De Croo’s government, who decided to step down after his party’s poor results in the national elections, held concurrently with the European Parliament elections.
From this point, De Croo’s government will continue to operate in a caretaker capacity, while negotiations for a new government begin. In the coming days, a number of politicians and current leaders of both houses of parliament will visit the royal palace to discuss possible configurations for a new coalition.
Following these discussions, the king will appoint an experienced negotiator to continue more detailed work with the political parties.
De Croo stated that his successor, the new full-fledged head of the Belgian government, should be appointed “quickly.” However, this speed depends on the coalition formation process, which in Belgium often takes months.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Animal-Rights Protesters Attack Portrait of King
Animal-rights protesters have attacked a portrait of King Charles, in a London art gallery.
Two protesters stuck posters on the glass covering the painting.
The painting itself was unharmed, said the Philip Mould Gallery, and there were no arrests.
The striking red artwork by Jonathan Yeo, unveiled last month, was the first official painting of the King since his coronation.
The Animal Rising group said its supporters had stuck posters to the glass protecting the painting, in what they described as a “light-hearted” action.
They pasted over the royal portrait with a picture of Wallace, a character from the Wallace and Gromit animations.
It was a protest message criticising the welfare standards of RSPCA “assured farm” status, with King Charles a patron of the RSPCA.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Compassionate Left Fail: Brexit Leader Nigel Farage Again Attacked on Campaign Trail
Nigel Farage has been the subject of a second attempted physical assault in a week since returning to front-line British politics, with a protester hurling objects from a building site as the campaigner went by.
Brexit pioneer and now Reform UK leader Nigel Farage campaigned in support of his local candidate in Barnsley, South Yorkshire on Tuesday and was being greeted by waving supporters, video he published showed. An object was then thrown, narrowly missing Mr Farage, by a man wearing a red shirt shouting “fascist, fascist scum”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Rishi Sunak yesterday unveiled his 80-page plan to ‘secure the future of our nation and society’, which the Tories hope will help to turn around his party’s fortunes.
MailOnline outline some of his key policies below.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Wikileaks’ Assange Extradition Appeal to be Heard Next Month
LONDON, June 11 (Reuters) — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s appeal against extradition from Britain to the United States will be heard next month, court officials in London said on Tuesday.
The Australian-born Assange, 52, is fighting extradition to the U.S. where he is wanted on 18 charges, nearly all under the Espionage Act, relating to WikiLeaks’ mass release of secret U.S. documents — the largest security breaches of their kind in U.S. military history.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Von Der Leyen Forced to Look Left and Right in Fight for Survival
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s search for a second term is now reliant on her gaining the support of her former political enemies.
Despite her post-election boast that the European Parliament’s centre had “held”, sources say the cumulative total of more than 400 ‘centrists’ MEPs is unlikely to be enough to get her reappointed.
The German politician’s two-faced politics, which has involved flirting with both the Right and the Greens, has rendered her unpopular within her own European People’s Party, as well as its allied groups, the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and Renew, with numerous representatives within these groups having vowed not to support her return to power.
To this end, pundits believe the leader will seek support for re-appointment from one of two political groups: the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists, or the Greens—European Free Alliance.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘You Will Burn in Hell’: Polish PM Tusk’s Press Aide Threatens Journalist
A press aide to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk reacted angrily when a journalist asked whether it was true that the government had attempted to delay the announcement of the recent death of a soldier.
At a press conference on June 7, Tusk was talking about his decision to dismiss the deputy prosecutor allegedly responsible for the arrest of three border soldiers in March for firing shots during an attempted crossing by illegal migrants.
As Tusk turned to leave, Adrian Borecki from independent TV channel TV Republika, asked if the PM would respond to allegations that the government had tried to hush up the fact that a soldier stabbed in late May by an illegal migrant on the Belarusian border had died of his wounds.
The reporter suggested the government may have been trying to stop the news from getting out before the European Parliament elections on June 9.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Caroline Glick: What Effect Will Gantz’s Resignation Have on Israel’s Government?
Barring any unforeseen events, War Cabinet member and Minister-without-Portfolio Benny Gantz is expected to take his eight-member faction out of the Netanyahu government on Saturday night. With his departure, the national emergency government and the war cabinet formed last October after he joined forces with Netanyahu will be dissolved.
What precipitated Gantz’s departure? Are new elections upon us? How will his decision affect the trajectory of the war?
Two forces are responsible for Gantz’s move: the Biden administration and the far-left, anti-government political campaigners popularly known as the Kaplan force. Gantz joined the government in response to U.S. pressure and a call from the far left to undermine the government from within. He is leaving due to pressure from both.
As Politico reported on Thursday, Biden’s main focus these days is to end the war as quickly as possible. To achieve this goal, he is applying pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to capitulate to Hamas’s demands for a permanent ceasefire.
“The president and his aides are working to make sure Netanyahu is feeling the squeeze from all sides,” the magazine reported.
The report explained that Biden and his team are working not only with international actors but with “Israeli citizens and Netanyahu’s political allies and foes alike.”
The main Israeli citizens in question are the deep-pocketed far-left political campaigners that have been carrying out protests, riots and other direct-action campaigns since 2019 to oust Netanyahu and the political right from power. Since Netanyahu returned to the premiership in December 2022, U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken and other senior officials have regularly met with leaders of the Kaplan force in Israel and in Washington.
Although Gantz’s departure is significant, it isn’t a surprise…
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
Hamas Responds to Gaza Cease-Fire Plan Seeking Some Changes. US Says it’s ‘Evaluating’ the Reply
BEIRUT (AP) — Hamas said Tuesday that it gave mediators its reply to the U.S.-backed proposal for a cease-fire in Gaza, seeking some “amendments” on the deal. It appeared the reply was short of an outright acceptance that the United States has been pushing for but kept negotiations alive over an elusive halt to the eight-month war.
The foreign ministries of Qatar and Egypt — who have been key mediators alongside the United States — confirmed that they had received Hamas’ response and said mediators were studying it.
“We’re in receipt of this reply that Hamas delivered to Qatar and to Egypt, and we are evaluating it right now,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters in Washington.
Hamas spokesman Jihad Taha said the response included “amendments that confirm the cease-fire, withdrawal, reconstruction and (prisoner) exchange.” Taha did not elaborate.
But while supporting the broad outlines of the deal, Hamas officials have expressed wariness over whether Israel would implement its terms, particularly provisions for an eventual permanent end to fighting and full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in return for the release of all hostages held by the militants.
| — Hat tip: JW | [Return to headlines] |
Russian Politician Calls on Scholz, Macron to Quit After EU Elections
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has expressed some biting comments following the results of the European elections, calling for the resignation of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron.
“[The results] come as a reflection of your inept policy of providing support to the [B]andera authorities in … Ukraine at the cost of your own citizens, your idiotic economic and migration policy!” Medvedev posted on the social media platform X on Monday.
Stepan Bandera was a contentious Ukrainian nationalist, whose name is frequently used by Moscow to discredit Kiev’s political leadership by labelling them as fascist.
Now is the time for Scholz and Macron to resign, Medvedev wrote. “To the ash heap of history!” he added.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
How Muslims Defeated Hindus in the Voting Rate in India!
Muslims defeated Hindus in voting rate resulting in decrease in the numbers of seats of BJP in 2024 Lok Sabha Election.
Upendra Bharti | HENB | New Delhi | June 11, 2024:: Even though the total number of voting in India is lagging behind, the Muslims have overtaken the Hindus in terms of voting. A survey by a non-governmental organization claimed that while Hindus voted on an average of 60 percent, Muslims voted on an average of about 95 percent in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. And this high percentage of voting in the 2024 election in comparison to the Hindu voters came to BJP as a debacle in the seat sharing. While BJP got 303 seats on their own in 2019, the ‘Hindutva’ party won in only 240 seats this time anyway with an almost rejection from the Muslim electorate. Consequently, The Muslim voters voted for Congress and the I.N.D.I Alliance.
In fact, Muslim voters are leading by 35 percent in the voting rate than Hindus, the non-governmental source claimed, showing the figures of some states. It was seen that in Maharashtra, among the number of Muslim voters, 93.87 percent of them voted, whereas only 57.33 percent of the Hindus franchised their voting rights there. In other words, in states like Maharashtra, 42.67 percent Hindu voters abstained from voting.
The same picture has been observed in Rajasthan. Even though 94.62 percent of Muslims voted there, only 60.04 percent of Hindu voters voted. In West Bengal, 95.45 percent Muslim voters exercised their democratic rights, but only 62.41 percent Hindu took part in voting. Similarly, in Uttar Pradesh, 92.38 percent of the total Muslim voters voted, but only 61.07 percent of Hindus voted there. According to the source, this situation has been seen more or less all over India. As soon as this survey report came out, the question arose in the political circles, whether the low voting rate of Hindus had affected the result of the BJP?
Months ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Commission has been active in creating voting awareness among all voters. But even then, the voter turnout in this election is low compared to past elections. They also used prominent faces of the country to campaign to vote. According to the commission data, the total voter turnout this time was 66.30 percent (67.40% in 2019). In comparison, voter turnout was disappointing in major states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Experts think that the reason for this is the terrible heat wave or indifference about the voting rights in the minds of a majority of voters.
Accordingly, a significant piece of information has been found in private sources. It shows that on an average 40 percent of Hindu voters did not go to vote, while only 6 percent of Muslim voters abstained from voting. And seeing this situation, a group of experts claimed that Hindu voters avoided voting because of their apathy in politics in the polling procedures, the biggest festival of the democracy. This has come as a big blow to BJP as off now. But, one thing is also clear from these statistics that the Hindu voters, even though the literacy rate is higher among them, the awareness of franchising the civil rights is much higher among Muslims.
Therefore, Muslims go to the polling station to ensure their right to vote. But the majority of Hindus avoid voting as it is not so important. Peculiarly, Hindus don’t understand how useful even a single vote is to obtain any democratic rights in this biggest democracy in the world!
As numbers matter in democracy, the huge increase of numbers in Muslim population in the country along with high voting rate in the Muslim community are two major aspects to defeat the Hindus in a big way, Hindus in India are not ready to understand yet.
In India, out of total population, 78% are Hindus, 2 % and Sikh-Jain-Buddhist-Parsis (roughly 80%) and Christians are 3% and Muslims are 17%.
| — Hat tip: Upananda Brahmachari | [Return to headlines] |
New Zealand Reverses Left-Wing Plan to Tax Cow Burps, Farts
New Zealand is scrapping a scheme to price gas emissions from livestock — squelching a so-called burp and fart tax initiated under the previous left-wing government led by now departed authoritarian Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
New legislation will be introduced to parliament this month by the ruling conservative coalition to remove the agriculture sector from a new emissions pricing plan, thus responding to farmer pressure that the plan would make their business unprofitable.
“The government is committed to meeting our climate change obligations without shutting down Kiwi farms,” said Agriculture Minister Todd McClay.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Supporters Attack Several Villages in Eastern Congo, Killing More Than 80 in a Week
An attack by Islamists on several villages in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has more than 80 people dead and nine injured. Reuters reports this information, citing a statement from a DRC army spokesperson.
According to the spokesperson, the attack in the border region of Beni was carried out by members of the ADF group, which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS).
“The group originates from neighboring Uganda and is likely responsible for another attack in Congo earlier this week that claimed 16 lives,” the statement said.
It was specified that the militants used both firearms and machetes.
Last month, the Congolese army reported thwarting a coup attempt by repelling an armed attack on the home of Vital Kamerhe, former chief of staff and close associate of President Félix Tshisekedi.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Mexico: Peso Tumbles Further After Leftist President-Elect Sheinbaum Confirms Drastic Reform
The Mexican Peso has continued falling against the dollar on news that the country’s leftist President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum has committed to pushing through deeply controversial reforms of the judiciary widely seen as negative for Mexico’s efforts to create an attractive and prosperous business climate.
In a Monday press conference she previewed plans to put her cabinet in place, after which she confirmed that the “constitutional reform of the judiciary would be among the first reforms to be approved.” A fundamental change is that that federal judges will get elected by popular vote, instead of appointment.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Mexican Police Rescue 4,000 People From Cartel Violence
Hiding as criminals looted and shot, thousands of people in Mexico found themselves caught in the crossfire of rival gangs and needed protection from the police. In northern Chiapas state, police have secured the safety of 4,187 people, according to the prosecutor’s office. These individuals had been hiding in their homes for days to escape the intense violence between rival cartels, as reported by Spiegel.
The rescued individuals were taken to shelters. On Sunday, the prosecutor’s office reported the arrest of six armed men. In the city of Tila, armed clashes resulted in the burning of homes and businesses. Two bodies were recovered, one of which was a minor.
Violence in Chiapas has escalated recently, primarily due to a power struggle between Mexico’s two largest criminal organizations, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel. Experts say the conflict is mainly about control over border towns and, consequently, the drug and arms trade.
The first attacks occurred on Tuesday evening of the previous week. By Wednesday evening, criminals had burned down his house, but he managed to escape. During this time, the criminals also cut down power poles, leading to a blackout. The population in Tila is poor, with many of the 83,000 residents living below the poverty line.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Eight suspected terrorists from Tajikistan were arrested at across the country over the weekend. The arrests took place in New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles.
According to a report from NBC News, the eight illegal immigrant terrorists that were arrested have suspected connections to ISIS and had crossed into the US over the southern border. The suspects had been on the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force radar and were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, three people familiar with the matter told the outlet on Tuesday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Eight men from Tajikistan with potential ties to ISIS out of central Asia were arrested over the weekend in New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles, three people familiar with the matter told NBC News on Tuesday.
The suspects had been on the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force radar and were arrested by personnel with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, better known as ICE, the sources say.
All eight men crossed through the southern border into the United States and their criminal backgrounds checks came back clean at the time they crossed the border, according to two officials familiar with the matter.
At least two of the men crossed the border in the spring of 2023 and one of those men used the CBP One app, created by the Biden administration to allow migrants to book appointments to claim asylum, those officials say.
| — Hat tip: Conservative Tree House | [Return to headlines] |
Biden Moves to Give Mass Amnesty to ‘Paroled’ Illegal Immigrants Married to US Citizens
The Biden administration is moving to grant illegal immigrants who have come to the US under Biden’s “parole” authority mass amnesty if they are married to a US citizen.
The program is known as “parole in place,” according to CBS News. The program would also make it easier for illegal immigrants who came in under the parole program to receive amnesty and become American citizens. The move comes as the White House supposedly took steps in order to curb more illegal immigration with an executive order that would still allow at least 1.5 million illegal immigrants into the US every year.
White House spokesperson Angelo Hernandez Fernandez that the Biden administration is continuing “to explore a series of policy options, and we remain committed to taking action to address our broken immigration system.” CBS reports that about 1.1 million illegal immigrants are married to US citizens and stand to benefit from the program. Generally, illegal immigrants who are married to US citizens have to leave the country for a time and then come back in order to get a green card.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Boston’s Logan Airport Sheltering Over 100 Migrants With More Families Arriving ‘At All Hours’
The number of migrants being sheltered at Boston Logan Airport appears to have increased, with throngs of families lining a baggage claim surrounded by suitcases and using sparse blankets for makeshift mattresses.
Over a hundred migrants are currently spending their nights sleeping on the floor at the Boston airport, The Post’s new photos show — an apparent uptick in recent weeks from the dozens who were being housed there a few months ago.
“We continue to see migrants at the airport. They come to Logan a number of ways. They also arrive at Logan at all hours,” a representative from MassPort previously told Boston 25 News when the numbers of migrants behind housed at Logan spiked.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
EU Confirms Right to Asylum for Refugee Women Supporting Gender Equality
The European Union Court has confirmed that refugee women from third countries who adhere to the principle of gender equality may be eligible for asylum status within the EU.
The case involved two young women from Iraq who arrived in the Netherlands in 2015 and unsuccessfully sought asylum. They argued that if they returned home, they would not have equal rights with men and could face persecution for the “identity they formed in the Netherlands.”
Dutch authorities rejected the Iraqi teenagers’ applications, prompting a local court to refer the case to the EU Court for interpretation of the directive on asylum qualification.
The European Court ruled that women who have stayed in the EU for an extended period and seek asylum on the basis of potential persecution in their home country can be considered part of a “particular social group,” which is one of the grounds for granting asylum.
The decision also noted that the extended stay of the applicants in an EU member state can be a factor, “especially if it coincides with the period during which the minor applicant developed their identity.”
According to European and international asylum and protection standards, migrants seeking refugee status must demonstrate well-founded fears of persecution in their country of origin. Such persecution is limited to race, nationality, religious or political beliefs, or membership in a particular social group.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Finland Scrambles to Close New Migrant Route Via Russia to Europe
HOILOLA, Finland (Reuters) — Only the whine of mosquitoes mars the tranquility of this idyllic spot amid the rolling forests and blue lakes of eastern Finland, on the European Union’s longest border with Russia.
But Finnish authorities fear the peace and quiet of places like Hoilola could soon be shattered by the arrival of large numbers of asylum seekers — part of what Helsinki sees as a “hybrid war” being waged by Russia against the West.
Finland is deploying more border guard patrols, drones and electronic detectors and is building fences along sections of the border. In Helsinki, parliament is expected to approve before its summer recess tough new legislation that critics say will violate the country’s human rights commitments.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
PVV Will Staff New Immigration Minister; VVD Keeps Justice, Finance Ministries: Report
The PVV will be responsible for the new Minister for Immigration position that will staff the first Cabinet of expected Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof, according to ANP. The minister will be one of five ministerial postsfilled by the far-right nationalist party, which surged in campaign leading up to the November election largely by hammering the sitting Cabinet on issues related to immigration, migrants, and asylum. The breakdown of the 16 ministerial posts per party is expected to be confirmed on Wednesday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Breaking: Judge Overturns Florida’s Law Banning Child Sex Changes
On Tuesday, a federal judge struck down a law from Florida that bars minors from getting puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones for sex change interventions if a parent consents to treatment. He compared to law to discrimination against minorities and women.
Senior Judge Robert Hinkle stated in his opinion that Florida went too far by barring trans-identified minors from being prescribed puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones if they have parental consent, per the Associated Press.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Healthy Masculinity’ is the Most Destructive School DEI Program You Never Heard of
The ‘Healthy Masculinity Club’ at a Portland high school is described as a “place for guys to not be guys” while the ‘Healthy Masculinity’ class at Montpelier High School in Vermont indoctrinates boys on “how traditional concepts of masculinity have harmed women.”
The ‘Healthy Masculinity’ movement is a component of DEI, but it has attracted less attention and controversy than other ‘woke’ indoctrination programs that target ‘whiteness’ and teach racism or promote pornographic sexual identity programming. Nevertheless it may be even more destructive than all of the other high school DEI programs put together.
Much like ‘whiteness’ courses, the premise of ‘Healthy Masculinity’ is that there is something wrong with being a man. A Call to Men, for example, defines masculinity as a ‘Man Box’ in which men are “expected to be strong, successful, powerful, dominating, fearless, in control, and emotionless” that men have to “break out of” to end their ‘toxic masculinity’.
The Tucson Unified School District in Arizona promotes A Call to Men’s lesson materials that teach that all men and boys are complicit in violence against women and girls and that “the Man Box does not allow us to be fully human.” Vulnerable boys are programmed to repeat the cultlike mantra, “I was taught gender norms which means I can unlearn it and teach myself to be free.”
Such classes, for now mostly elective, analyze manhood through the Marxist model of power relations and come away with the conclusion that everything wrong with the world is due to men or ‘toxic masculinity’ and could be fixed by ‘unmanning’ men. It’s hard to think of a worse message to feed developing teenage boys, but that’s exactly what schools are doing.
‘Healthy Masculinity’ courses are part of the larger woke deconstruction of sex as a set of artificial constructs. To be a boy or a man, students are told, is not a natural biological phenomenon, but a set of artificial warped ideas about masculinity or ‘toxic masculinity’. And the goal of ‘Healthy Masculinity’ is to teach boys to unlearn those ideas and to stop being men.
| — Hat tip: Daniel Greenfield | [Return to headlines] |
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on Tuesday that he and Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen have sued the Biden administration over a new rule in the Affordable Care Act that would force healthcare providers to perform sex change procedures or risk federal funding.
“This is yet another example of Joe Biden trying to sidestep the Constitution and use agency rulemaking to advance unpopular, unlawful, and destructive policies,” Paxton said in a statement. “We are suing to stop the Biden Administration from withholding federal healthcare funds to force medical professionals to perform these experimental and dangerous procedures.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Time is Running Out for Free Speech and Privacy Revisions on Flawed UN Cybercrime Convention
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has been involved in the process of drafting the UN Cybercrime Convention in a bid to improve it from the point of view of free speech and privacy (though questioning the treaty’s necessity in the first place.)
The recent take regarding the latest in a series of drafts — of which it has been consistently critical — is that it is simply too flawed to be adopted without significant changes. Countries sometimes having irreconcilably different opinions on key issues regarding the convention’s scope is cited as a reason for EFF’s stance.
But time is running out for the major changes urged here to actually happen, as the concluding session will be held from late July until August 9, after 2.5 years of discussions and as many as seven negotiating sessions. The ultimate decision to adopt or reject the document will be made by the UN General Assembly.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
___________________________________________________________
Now, after the EU elections are over and done with and the Swedes have, as usual, demonstrated
their lack of wisdom and common sense, it may be appropriate to give a realistic account of the
EU-idiocy.
It is delivered by Rainer Rupp.
Who is Rainer Rupp ?
WIKIPEDIA
Rainer Rupp (born September 21, 1945 in Saarlouis, Germany) is a former top spy who worked under the code names Mosel and later Topaz for the East German underr￤ttelsetj￤nsten HVA (General Reconnaissance Administration) at NATO headquarters in Brussels from 1977 to 1989, releasing documents of the utmost importance (Cosmic Top Secret) to the East Bloc.
Biography
Rupp grew up in West Germany with a strong leftist political orientation. In 1968, as a student in Mainz, he was offered employment as a spy for the GDR, and he agreed out of conviction. He continued his studies in Brussels, trained as a spy in East Berlin and was recruited by NATO in 1977. He rose quickly through the ranks, handing over some 10 000 pages of photographs to his superiors, including the exact site plans for the deployment of
cruise and Pershing II missiles in Western Europe, as well as the key MC 161 document summarizing NATO strategy and NATO’s analysis of the Warsaw Pact and its intentions. These documents were immediately transferred to the KGB.
He would photograph documents in his office, or take them home and photograph them in his wine cellar. He met contacts all over Europe and received instructions via number stations, radio programs that broadcast messages encrypted as number sequences. His British wife knew about his activities and tried to persuade him to stop. He later said “When I did it, I thought it was my moral duty.”
NATO had no knowledge of Topaz’s existence until GDR officer Heinz Busch defected in 1990. Busch, however, did not know who Topaz was. Several meetings with the intelligence services of a number of countries followed in order to identify Topaz, who himself attended some of these meetings.
Using the Rosenholz files, which had fallen into the hands of the CIA after the dissolution of the GDR, Rupp was arrested in 1993 while on vacation in Germany. He confessed and received a 12-year prison sentence in 1994. He was released early in July 2000. Rupp joined the PDS and served temporarily as an advisor on security and foreign policy issues; however, he left the party in 2003.
Averted nuclear war claim.
Rupp claims that his activities may have averted a nuclear war in the fall of 1983, a claim that is not entirely unfounded according to American experts. In an interview for the Channel 4 program “1983: The Brink of Apocalypse”, about the Able Archer 83 exercise, broadcast in the UK on January 5, 2008, he said that he had broadcast the message that NATO was not preparing to launch a surprise nuclear attack on the Soviet Union during the exercise to his HVA controllers. He did this by encoding the message on a device disguised as a calculator which then turned the message into a short electronic burst that could be transmitted to a fixed telephone number. He saw this as crucial to preventing a Soviet pre-emptive strike against NATO forces. In the same program, Rupp said he was proud of the damage he had done to NATO over the years of his intelligence work.
***
From a Europe of peace and prosperity to war and decline
A commentary by Rainer Rupp.
https://apolut.net/europawahlen-von-rainer-rupp
(from German by LN)
On June 6-9, voters in the 27 EU countries will elect 720 MEPs to the European Parliament for the next five years, in what is expected to be a major shift away from the parties that have governed until now.
With the so-called “European Parliament”, the governments of the EU countries that have been groomed by the hegemon in Washington to follow a unified political course with the United States – with the exception of Hungary and Slovakia, which are in opposition – want to dress the neoliberal unity in Brussels in a democratic garb. The ￥tg￤rders that the so-called European institutions in Brussels – the EU Commission and the EU Council – increasingly dictate to their member states can no longer be trusted.
The unelected bureaucrats of these Brussels institutions operate – protected by multiple administrative laws – far from the will of European voters. Meanwhile, they have even gone so far as to blackmail the democratically elected governments of member states by threatening them with penalties and enforcing economic coercion, forcing them to follow the prescribed uniform course, such as participating in the annual tens of billions of euros in support of the EU proxy war against Russia in Ukraine.
For example, only a few months ago, a secret plan was revealed within the EU bureaucracy to ruin the Hungarian economy through financial manipulation if Prime Minister Viktor Orban continued to refuse to release EU funds to the fascist and neo-Nazi leadership in Ukraine.
()to be conttinued
Part 2
Months before the election day for the so-called “European Parliament”, a gigantic and correspondingly expensive propaganda campaign was underway in all member states to dumb down the population. They are supposed to believe that the European Parliament is important and controls the EU institutions and that everything is somehow democratic. But the European Parliament is not a real parliament, it’s just a mirage, a reflection of a real parliament. Because the European Parliament lacks two fundamental components that all other democratic parliaments worthy of the name have:
For the time being, the European Parliament cannot actually make any laws, but only approve the laws made by the European Commission or, at a later stage, send them back to the Commission with proposed amendments. But the European Parliament cannot make a law on its own initiative and vote on it, as any decent parliament can do.
Secondly, the European Parliament cannot scrutinize the European Commission, whose role is similar to that of the executive branch of a government, to see whether it is acting in accordance with or in contravention of, for example, the Constitution.
The European Parliament cannot do this because there is no European constitution or constitution-like basis! There is only the Lisbon Treaty, agreed between the (neoliberal) governments of the member states.
The first attempt by the EU institutions to impose a ‘constitution’, drawn up by EU governments, on European citizens from above failed miserably when it was put to a referendum in France, for example, and later in the Netherlands.
The European Parliament, with its very limited powers, is nothing more than a symbolic, democratic appendage to the neo-liberal television network constituted by the EU institutions, which are at the service of big business.
With its democratic image, the European Parliament is supposed to divert attention from the fact that the influence of national parliaments on decisions that affect all Member States is increasingly undermined in the EU institutions, especially in the Commission and the Council.
The situation is now catastrophic in those areas where national parliaments have completely relinquished their national sovereignty or competence to the EU. This applies, for example, to all EU foreign trade decisions, including decisions on trade sanctions. National parliaments no longer have any influence over decisions in this area, which is far from being the only one. Similarly, the national parliaments of euro area Member States have no say in the EU institutions’ crucial monetary and exchange rate policy decisions.
Consequently, the citizens of EU countries, who can still influence the party-political composition of their national parliaments through elections, no longer have any influence on the decisions of the EU institutions in this respect.
Apart from the propaganda effect for the EU institutions ￤r the real purpose of the European Parliament elections is to make citizens believe that the deeply undemocratic EU ￤r is democratic and that everything is done for the benefit of EU citizens.
European Parliament elections have been held every five years in the European Union since 1979. Formally, they meet all the criteria for a free and secret ballot, but in Parliament the elected representatives have little to say except a lot of talk. This is why the candidates who stand for election are usually national politicians who are no longer relevant or who are perfectly acceptable people.
Since its inception in 1979, the European elections have always been accompanied by politicians and their press representatives using evocative phrases such as “Europe of peace”, “Europe of prosperity”, “Europe of freedom”, “Europe of tolerance”, etc., ad nauseam. “But you shall know them not by their words but by their deeds.” This or something similar was a warning already in the Old Testament of the Bible. So let’s take a look at their deeds:
For the past five years, the European Parliament has been dominated by a majority from a coalition of three parties: the center-right European People’s Party (EPP), the center-left Socialists and Democrats, and the liberals of Renew Europe.
Together, these three in the so-called Parliament have provided the propagandistic soundtrack to the EU’s political shift in an increasingly authoritarian direction. They have also drummed up support for the European Commission’s insanely expensive ‘Green Deal’, which fleeces the masses and benefits the financial industry and the share prices of a few industrial companies at their expense.
(to be continued)
totally agree on the eu part, it is all fake and scam to give huge salary to burocratic parasites.
but i would add that all “democratic parliaments” are that way. there is really no difference at all from the fake congress of the us, or the fake parliament of italy, they are the same principle: a scam to give hige salaries to burocratic parasites.
Part 3
The three parties have used threats of job losses, social exclusion, bullying, slander and other coercive measures, or lies and false promises about the harmlessness of the alleged mRNA “vaccine” to either coerce or otherwise manipulate millions of people into allowing themselves or their children to be injected with an untested anti-corona substance. Meanwhile, the European Commission, led by the scandal-ridden von der Leyen, has procured “vaccines” from the pharmaceutical group Pfizer for tens of billions of dollars in secret deals behind the scenes, with von der Leyen again accidentally deleting the documents on payment and handling on her mobile phone, as was also the case in the past with the corruption allegations against the Bundeswehr.
In retrospect, the disastrous handling of the so-called ‘pandemic’ ordered by the EU, the digital surveillance of people, the media censorship, the repression and even the prosecution of dissenters seems to have been a plan and an attempt to transform the EU’s sham democracy into a genuine EU autocracy.
Then came the totally ill-conceived and amateurish ‘boomerang sanctions’ against Russia, the criminal military aid and support to the fascist Kiev regime, the slavish loyalty of the EU, which has followed every Anglo-American move to escalate the conflict in Ukraine and has lately increasingly rushed ahead with an ecstatic belligerence. The people of the EU have already paid hundreds of billions of euros for the madness of the EU institutions, which have kept a thoroughly corrupt regime alive so that it can kill as many Russians as possible before it finally collapses.
Instead of peace and dialogue, Russophobia and Sinophobia dominate even in the European Parliament. When it comes to the genocide in Gaza, there is EU money and arms aid for the Zionist murderers and a few sympathetic phrases for the Palestinian victims of the racist Israeli regime. And so one could go on with one example after another, all of which show that the EU and the European Parliament have ended up in George Orwell’s upside-down world.
Instead of the promised peace and prosperity, we have a proxy war in Ukraine and the former v￤lst￥ndet is melting away like snow in the sun under exploding inflation, falling real wages and ever higher taxes. Instead of peace, the EU sponsors genocide, racism and fascism.
But wait a minute! The EU has set up a billion-euro peace fund, the European Peace Facility (EFF), to provide international support for peace-building. But this EU Peace Fund (EFF) only has something to do with peace in the Orwellian sense.
In describing the totalitarian autocracy of the future, Orwell had prophesied about the “new language”, in which the meaning of all the old familiar words is reversed, i.e. stupidity is strength, unity is weakness and war is peace. In this sense, the EU is sending arms to Ukraine, funded through its ‘European Peace Facility’. Great! One hundred percent Orwell!
And another small example. In February 2023, EU foreign policy chief Josef Borrell defended the EU’s blocking of Russian media by claiming that the ban on RT-German and RT-International, Sputnik and other media “protects freedom of expression in the EU”. At a conference against “disinformation”, which was closed to journalists, Borrell justified his actions.
“We are not attacking freedom of expression, we are just protecting freedom of expression,” he said.
So, if we can no longer inform ourselves, hear, read and see what Russians think, say and how they see the world and us, does that protect our freedom of expression? Or does it help the EU and its member state governments to harass us, manipulate us and make us dependent on war?
The spirit of Orwell is experiencing a brilliant renaissance in the EU!
In the European elections on Sunday, every vote for the old parties means that this development is getting worse. In Germany, there’s only one party that wants to kill the Brussels threat, and
it’s blue.
The EU is Hitler’s 4th reich.
No, it rather resembles an early Soviet Union in the making.
Sidenote: Why do so many people use up superlatives prematurely? Everything bad is a Hitler right away. We may get there or not, but if we do you’ll be out of terms to describe it.
I agree with you on almost all counts. However, you are in bizzaro world on the support for Israel. The Palestinians are the murderers and the cause of Israel unwillingly needing to protect themselves from annihilation. The Palestinians one goal is to eradicate the state of Israel.
Hamas purposely uses their civilians as human shields, all for propaganda against Israel. Seems to be working as the BBC uses Hamas numbers of those killed in the war ( who are half combatants and armed 16 and 17 year old “children”). This European and American half hearted support is because of the glaring facts. In the meantime, our populations and especially universities have been systematically brainwashed by Muslim Brotherhood billions sponsored courses and student groups. They infiltrate every far left minority cause to pretend to support their causes and bring down the West from within.
Two-minute game-changer. Watch..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ruBB9jO8xY&t=258s