The Proposed Regulation of the Media in the EU

JLH has translated a brief article from Junge Freiheit about the recently proposed initiative to stifle what remains of independent media in the EU:

The EU Wants Control Over the Media

Berlin. The EU Commission is planning to take control of the media in the EU. For a long time, this has been the responsibility of the individual states. A report presented on Monday contains several suggestions for how the EU Commission should unify national laws and regulate the media.

The 51-page paper entitled “Free and Pluralistic Media for a Sustainable European Democracy” analyzes the situation of the media in individual states. Legislation in this political arena is still a matter for the individual states. The authors, including former Lithuanian president Varla Vike-Freiberga and former German attorney-general Hertha Däubler-Gmelin (SPD), think that should change.

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Explosions and Guns

There are reports of an explosion deep underground in Iran.

An earthquake you ask? Umm… guess again.

From World Net Daily:

An explosion deep within Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility has destroyed much of the installation and trapped about 240 personnel deep underground, according to a former intelligence officer of the Islamic regime.

The previously secret nuclear site has become a center for Iran’s nuclear activity because of the 2,700 centrifuges enriching uranium to the 20-percent level. A further enrichment to weapons grade would take only weeks, experts say…

“Experts” say more than their prayers. I look forward to further reports on this. I’m sure our leaders in Washington will be shoving one another to get to the microphones first.

Lots more at the link, and your guess is as good as mine. So guess away, within our normal living-room debate limits, of course.

Meanwhile, the ad below is quickly going viral. Again, lots of kibitzing around the neighborhood about this “girl’s” gun safety habits, but is sure is fun to watch. Don’t know which part I like best: the nifty gun safe under the bed or the cool way the bad guy faints.

This video is dedicated to the Lurker from Tulsa:

The views on this thing have gone up by ten thousand in the fifteen minutes since I first accessed it on You Tube.

Commentary:

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Socialism, Accommodation, Armed Neutrality, and Swiss Sovereignty

JLH has translated three articles about current issues in Switzerland. All of them have in common the fear that the Swiss federal government is attempting to surrender the country’s ancient traditions of liberty, autonomy, and local governance.

The process pushing the Swiss towards accommodation with the New World Order comes both from the outside — via the hegemonic aspirations of the European Union — and the inside, from progressive-minded big-state Gutmenschen.

The translator includes this note:

The first two articles have to do with the encroaching power of the EU. The third — hinted at in one of the others — is dismally familiar as a socialist trend in our own countries.

Some of us think of the Swiss as the last bastion against the creeping despotism of the EU, but the tiny country that defied a mighty empire to become free is under external and internal pressure to morph into another one of the marbles in the game being played by the unelected elites of the EU. I just hope that the SVP is able to use the referendum effectively as before, but what is happening to the country is not unfamiliar to any of us in Europe or America.

At the top in the EU and in every country in and outside of it, there is a web of intrigue and greed that I think of as “Where the elite meet to cheat.”

As someone said here not too long ago: “God help us all.”

The first article is from Neue Zürcher Zeitung:

Christoph Blocher Warns Against a Silent Coup

by Stefan Hotz

Alfred Heer, president of the SVP (Swiss People’s Party) of Canton Zurich, did not hold back in his welcome address on Friday evening in the Schützenhaus Albisgütli. In his opinion, the intention of the national government to apply for a seat for Switzerland in the UN Security Council is a sign of megalomania.

In the face of the malaise in the asylum system, the Bundesrat (Federal Council) is acting “like a stupid elementary school child incapable of doing the simplest homework, but dreaming of someday being a professor at Harvard,” said Heer.

The Albisgütli as the Cradle of Freedom

Then, as every year, the national councilor Christoph Blocher strode up to the podium, in front of at least 1200 people. The former Bundesrat councilor recalled that almost twenty years ago the Zurich SVP was the first cantonal party to reject the European Economic Area. And so the hall in the Albisgütli became the cradle of freedom and independence. Quite possibly this hall would one day be as important a memorial for Swiss freedom as Rütli.[1]

In Blocher’s view, the highly indebted European states and the United States are conducting a financial and economic war against Switzerland. Instead of resisting, those responsible in Bern would fold and continue to accommodate.

“Durehebe” — Blocher’s Call to Persevere

The speaker dwelled at length on a report commissioned by the Bundesrat and authored by Professor Daniel Thürer in 2011, on the implementation of the bilateral treaties with the EU. Blocher interpreted the language in it as an attempt to effectuate entry to the EU without a plebiscite, even as a coup by the government and administration.

The remedy for that, he said, is: “Durehebe — nöd lugg laa gwünnt.”[2] Specifically, Blocher demanded that all bilateral agreements that bind Switzerland to accept EU law and foreign jurisdiction be subject to an obligatory referendum. Otherwise, a referendum must be activated, as also against the removal of the Depositors’ Right to Privacy.

“Welfare-Sponger” Initiative only Touched Upon

To combat treasonous proposals and the obsequious behavior of the government, Blocher demanded that meetings of the Bundesrat be public.

The SVP councilor touched only briefly on the “Welfare-Sponger” initiative, which was talked about in recent days. Much more important, said Blocher, is the blueprint for family policy, which will be voted on March 3rd. It will occasion costs in the billions and will disenfranchise families.

Maurer’s Plea for the Military Draft

The guest speaker, Federal President Ueli Maurer, did not say one word about Blocher’s speech. With reference to Henry Durant, he characterized the humanitarian tradition as an important guidepost for Switzerland. But the basis for its good works is armed neutrality.

This gave Maurer opportunity for a plea for a universal military draft: “An army of volunteers is not enough to ensure security.”

Under Pressure

Faced with the debt crisis, the sovereignty of small countries like Switzerland, he said, will come under pressure. “We must see to it that the law — not power — means something,” said the president. “We want to live in freedom and in peace with other countries.”

The 150th anniversary of the Red Cross this year, according to Maurer, is an opportunity to demonstrate the humanitarian tradition of Switzerland.

1.   Where the four cantons bound themselves by oath to resist the imperial Habsburg army.
2.   Wild guess by non-Schwyzerdütsch speaker: “Persevere, don’t loosen your grip, and you’ll win.”

 

The second article is from the Swiss People’s Party website:

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