In an historic moment, Geert Wilders of the PVV met with Front National leader Marine Le Pen for the first time. Mr. Wilders said that he and Ms. Le Pen see eye to eye on most issues, especially immigration, and predicted that there will be meetings with the leaders of other like-minded European parties who share his views on Islam and immigration.
In other news, 21 people were killed during violent confrontations between Uighur civilians and Chinese police in the predominantly Muslim province of Xinjiang.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to AC, C. Cantoni, Fjordman, JD, JP, Paul Green, Steen, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Italy: Tax Evasion Burdening the Honest and Crimping Growth Says Central Bank
Rome, 23 April (AKI) — Rampant tax evasion is weighing heavily on honest citizens who are paying record sums to the state, and is stunting economic growth, a top Italian central bank official said on Tuesday.
“The high level of tax evasion makes the burden on honest tax payers even heavier,” said the head of the Bank of Italy’s research and international relations department, Daniele Franco.
“This presents an obstacle to companies’ growth,” Franco told lawmakers from the Italian parliament, adding that a credit crunch in recession-hit Italy was continuing to hurt firms of all sizes but especially small ones.
Italian tax payers are paying 44 percent of GDP or national economic output — the highest level in 50 years and a figure thant is 3 percentage points higher than the eurozone average, Franco noted.
“The reduction and redistribution of the tax burden is crucial to limit distortions to economic activity,” Franco added.
Italy will have to make “limited” further budget-tightening measures in 2015 to to keep a balanced budget that year, he said.
Italian lawmakers heard testimony from various bodies on Tuesday as they prepare to approve the government’s economic and financial planning document (DEF), a multi-year blueprint for future budgets.
The DEF aims to achieve a balanced budget this year in “structural terms”.
Italy’s parliament in 2012 made a balanced budget a constitutional requirement in the future, in line with the European Union’s fiscal compact to help end the eurozone’s debt crisis.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Palermo Refuse Company Amia Goes Into Liquidation
(AGI) Palermo, Apr 22 — The refuse collection company in Palermo responsible for the city’s street sweeping went into liquidation on Monday. The bankruptcy court appointed two liquidators for Amia, and two for its subsidiary Amia Essemme.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Boston Muslims Gather, Saddened and Shaken
Heiam Alsawalhi, a mother of four from Brookline, does not usually go to the mosque for Friday prayers. But this week, she had to be there. She needed spiritual healing for the grief and rage she felt after the Marathon bombings, she said. She wanted the sense of empowerment felt when a faith community comforts its own. And, she said, she wanted to greet the Jewish and Christian clergy who came to offer their support. “I wanted to shake their hands and thank them for being with us in solidarity,” she said after a service at the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center…
[JP note: These well-meaning Jewish and Christian clergy seem intent on strapping us all into their all-empowering, interfaith suicide belt.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Boston Suspects’ Mother in Terrorism Database Since 2011
Russia expressed concern she and son Tamerlan were religious militants
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Federal Agents Arrest Mississippi Man in Mailing of Letters Laced With Ricin
Federal agents in Mississippi arrested a martial arts instructor early Saturday morning as part of an investigation into the mailing of ricin-laced letters to President Obama and two other officials.
The man, J. Everett Dutschke, was taken into custody without incident at his home in Tupelo, Miss., around 12:50 a.m., said Deborah Madden, a spokeswoman for the F.B.I. in Jackson, Miss.
Mr. Dutschke’s arrest came after criminal charges were dropped on Tuesday against another Mississippi man, Paul Kevin Curtis, a celebrity impersonator who said he had been framed by Mr. Dutschke, a longtime personal rival.
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Obama’s Political Correctness Questioned
Before the Boston Marathon bombings, the Obama administration argued for years that there is a big difference between terrorists and the tenets of Islam.
A senior White House aide in 2009 publicly urged Washington to cease using the term “jihadist” — asserting that terrorists are simply extremists. Two years later, the White House ordered a cleansing of training materials that Islamic groups deemed offensive.
Now, some analysts are asking whether the 2009 edict and others that followed have dampened law enforcement’s appetite to thoroughly investigate terrorism suspects for fear of offending higher-ups or the American Muslim lobby.
It is not just the case of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, a radicalized jihadist whom the FBI questioned in 2011 and cleared of terrorism links. At least five Muslims have attempted mass destruction in the U.S. since 2009, undetected beforehand by law enforcement and the intelligence community:
[…]
Perhaps the best-known casualty of the White House order is Army Lt. Col. Matthew Dooley, a decorated officer who taught at the Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Va. After learning of Col. Dooley’s course and its “outside the box” scenario of nuclear war, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the Joint Chiefs chairman, launched investigations that ended with the officer’s firing.
A briefing by Col. Dooley, whose course “Perspectives on Islam and Islamic Radicals” had been approved by his supervisors, discussed how “political correctness” prevents the military from talking about radical Islam.
“Political Correctness is killing us: How can we properly identify the enemy, analyze his weaknesses, and defeat him, if we are NEVER permitted to examine him from the most basic doctrinal level?“ the briefing read.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama’s tyranny and acceleration in America’s downward spiral
When I first saw the photographs of Al-Harbi in the hospital, I wondered why someone who had just narrowly escaped perishing in a bomb blast would display that Cheshire Cat grin for photographers.
In January, House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul demanded that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano explain why DHS had extended a trusted traveler program to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a nation known to be lousy with al-Qaeda and other Islamist operatives. The move sent a collective shudder down the backs of those genuinely concerned with our national security, since the potential for increased vulnerability was obvious.
I believe I now know from whence comes the grin: Al-Harbi — and no doubt, many others — are laughing their heads off. At us. At America. At the system that is allowing the unrestricted growth of terrorist networks within the United States.
It is more or less common knowledge among conservatives that President Obama has a treasonous relationship with radical Islamist factions such as the Muslim Brotherhood and the terrorist-affiliated Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR). It has been frustrating that his ostensible political opponents (the GOP leadership) have been so passive as regards pointing this and Obama’s innumerable other sinister actions out to the public. But how, one wonders, can this president act with such increasing, brazen gall?
[…]
“Narcissistically disturbed individuals, including sociopaths, chronically feel contempt for anyone or anything that obstructs their personal, selfish agenda. This can be contempt for a spouse, a business partner, their constituency, their politicians, or laws. By contempt, I mean dismissive, scornful levels of disdain. At the heart of contempt is devaluation. When you devalue others enough, you are negating, in a sense, their humanity…” Steve Becker, MSW, LCSW
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Revolution Passed in the Night
Many things are holding the headlines hostage, the terrorist attacks, the crippling effects of Obamacare, the prospect of expanding war in Syria, and as always Iran.
There is one over-riding constant that defines as it divides the present era: the fact that America has a President who advances values and policies diametrically opposed to the traditional beliefs of a vast number of Americans. From bowing to foreign leaders to not knowing how many states there are, from vowing to fundamentally transform America to actually doing it, President Obama is to many the Manchurian Candidate.
Elected the first time on a vague promise of hope and change he has been re-elected on a blatant promise to re-distribute the wealth and complete the transformation of America into a welfare state. His bureaucratically imposed policies such as Cap-n-Trade and the Dream Act are blatant end runs around the authority of a Congress that overwhelmingly rejected both. The alarming reality we all must face is that for the first time in American history we may actually have a president who is anti-American.
Barack Obama is blatant in his anti-American rhetoric. Such as:
“In America, we have this strong bias toward individual action. You know, we idolize the John Wayne hero who comes in to correct things with both guns blazing. But individual actions, individual dreams, are not sufficient. We must unite in collective action, build collective institutions and organizations.” (Emphasis added.)
“And what would help minority workers are the same things that would help white workers: the opportunity to earn a living wage, the education and training that lead to such jobs, labor laws and tax laws that restore some balance to the distribution of the nation’s wealth …” (Emphasis added.)
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Strange Dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center and the Day After
The shocking news that officials in the Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton primary ballot petition fraud had been found guilty by a jury followed the Bush Center opening by mere hours.
As things turn out almost almost five years later, it is now known that both Obama and Clinton cheated from the get-go in making their way on to the 2008 presidential primary ballot.
In other words, when it was too late to stop them in their tracks, a jury in South Bend, Indiana has found that fraud put President Obama and Hilary Clinton on the presidential primary ballot in Indiana in the 2008 election. (Fox News, April 26, 2013). “Two Democratic political operatives were convicted Thursday night in the illegal scheme after only three hours of deliberations in South Bend. They were found guilty on all counts.”
Unfortunately for so many freedom lovers, an Act that took its birth in South Bend continues to this day with a Hollywood-version presidency that includes the Benghazi coverup still runs America.
The particular item from this turn of events that must bite folks most: “The scheme was hatched in January of 2008, according to affidavits from investigators who cite former Board of Registration worker Lucas Burkett, who told them he was in on the plan at first, but then became uneasy and quit. He waited three years before telling authorities about it, but if revelations about any forgeries were raised during the election, the petitions could have been challenged during the contest. A candidate who did not qualify with enough legitimate signatures at the time, could have been bounced from the ballot.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Geert Wilders Looks to Alliance With Front National, Other EU Parties
Anti-Islam campaigner Geert Wilders is looking to form an alliance with other similarly-minded parties, including France’s Front National, to fight next year’s European elections, the Volkskrant reports on Saturday.
Wilders, who leads the PVV in parliament, recently met Front National leader Marine Le Pen for lunch to discuss his ideas for a pan-European approach.
‘We think the same abou 90% of things, perhaps more,’ Wilders said in the Volkskrant interview. ‘We also have a lot of points of agreement in terms of immigration.’
Many meetings
Wilders said the meeting with Le Pen is the first of ‘many’ he plans to have with other European party leaders in an effort of forge an alliance.
‘Next year we can make an enormous advance,’ he told the Volkskrant.. ‘Parties which are against what we call elite are growing in popularity. These are parties which support the national interest, the national identity.’
Wilders declined to say which other parties he is in talks with and would not comment on whether he would visit new German party Alternative fur Deutschland. ‘Some don’t want it to be public,’ Wilders said. He said he did plan to hold talks with the Flemish nationalists Vlaams Belang ‘but they do not know this yet’.
Revolution
A political revolution is under way ‘from England to Germany, from France to the Netherlands and Italy’, Wilders told the paper.
‘We are going to judge people by what they are, without fear for the electoral consquences,’ Wilders said. ‘I have more in common with those parties abroad than with the entire [Dutch] parliament.
The PVV took four of the 25 Dutch seats in the European parliament at the last elections in 2009 with 17% of the vote. As well as wanting a freeze on non-western immigration, the party says the European parliament should be abolished and wants the Netherlands to leave the euro.
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How Britons Fled Grim Jihadist Camp
Dominic Casciani
If one thing is clear from the massive Operation Pitsford trial, it’s that the life of a would-be jihadist is far removed from the fantasy of al-Qaeda propaganda.
Nowhere is the romance more lacking than in the militant training camps of Pakistan — the destination of choice for many aspiring western jihadists.
Four of the men who pleaded guilty to preparing for acts of terrorism — Ishaaq Hussain, Shahid Khan, Khobaib Hussain and Naweed Ali — did so on the basis that they had left their family homes in Birmingham and headed off to join a camp run by men they saw as leading the fight for Islam.
In truth, the trip was an unmitigated disaster.
The Birmingham cell’s leading figure, Irfan Naseer, was grooming these four as potential recruits for his master plan to bomb the UK.
Naseer had himself returned from two jihadist camps in Pakistan full of tales of derring-do.
MI5 once listened in as he told a particularly incredible story of evading a US drone. The tale is reminiscent of a scene from the grim black comedy film, Four Lions, and we’ll never know what really happened.
These four impressionable young men thought they had a top militant contact in Naseer, and a fast track to joining the mujahideen.
He arranged for the quartet to go to a training camp hidden in Pakistan’s mountains.
Mountain hideout
The men travelled in pairs in mid-August 2011. If they were trying to avoid attention they failed miserably.
Counter-terrorism officers were across the entire plot. They assessed they could allow the four to leave, knowing they could ultimately arrest them on their return.
Ishaaq Hussain told his family he was going on a prayer retreat in southern England — a tradition for some observant Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan.
Instead, he and Shahid Khan were driven to Birmingham airport and flew to Islamabad.
Their driver was Rahin Ahmed, Naseer’s hapless gopher.
He had been in charge of looking after thousands of pounds which the group fraudulently raised by posing as charity workers. He lost £9,000 in botched currency trading. His punishment was to run around doing Naseer’s bidding, including ferrying the travellers to the airport.
As he drove the second pair to the airport, he made several last minute checks which were recorded by MI5. It had been bugging the car for some time.
They discussed martyrdom and avoiding saying goodbye to their families.
Meanwhile, Ishaaq Hussain and Shahid Khan had arrived in the mountain hideout. The shock began to set in.
This wasn’t like the training camps of propaganda videos, with the black flag of al-Qaeda flying free in the wind. There were no racks of weapons waiting for recruits. And all the trainers had left for the religious festival of Eid.
Very few people spoke English and the British boys were left to their own devices.
Conditions were, according to Ishaaq Hussain’s account, primitive. They slept on bare ground in sleeping bags, with a hole in the ground for a loo.
What little food they could get was a far cry from Mum’s home cooking or the tasty takeaways of Sparkhill and Sparkbrook.
Mosquitoes posed a more immediate threat than American drones, and if the insects weren’t going to get the Brits, the unbearable heat would.
As soon as the sun set, the men were in darkness. Ishaaq Hussain, 19, had left home two days earlier — where his mother made the beds. Now, with no bed at all, he was disillusioned.
Family ‘outraged’
Once they were reunited, the four Brits put aside their collective embarrassment of being part of a clandestine shambles and began debating how to get out.
With rapidly diminishing batteries on their mobile phones, they called Naseer’s gopher Rahin Ahmed. The phone battery died, but they had enough in another to call relatives.
The men’s families gathered at Shahid Khan’s home, shocked and furious about what their sons were up to.
In the middle of the night, the men received a call from their families telling them in no uncertain terms to get off the mountain and meet an uncle in a nearby town. He had travelled to collect them and would return them to Islamabad where another relative would put them on flights home.
The four crept out of the camp at dawn with their tails between their legs. The only one not to return immediately was Shahid Khan, although the court heard there was no evidence he received any terrorism training during his continued stay in Pakistan.
Back in Birmingham, recriminations began. An influential local man known as “Jimmy” confronted Irfan Naseer. Shahid Khan’s family, the court heard, was “outraged”.
The BBC has approached the families and nobody wants to speak publicly. One close relative told the BBC of their feelings of shame and anger, but added they believed the four were on their way to being reformed.
“All four of you took the decision not to proceed with terror training and all four of you realised what a shocking mistake you had made,” Mr Justice Henriques said during sentencing.
“But it is a chilling thought that unbeknown to your parents you left this country intending to undergo a period of terror training.”
He sentenced each of them to 40 months in prison. That means they’ll almost certainly leave prison within weeks on licence, having spent almost two years in jail, awaiting conviction.
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
Iceland Likely to Restore Rightist Coalition Blamed for Financial Fall
Polls have opened in Iceland for an election expected to return the right to power four years after it lost in the wake of financial catastrophe. The victory would likely end Iceland’s negotiations for EU membership.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Prime Suspect in Sri Lankan Woman’s Death Dies From His Burns
Catania, 22 April (AKI) — A 45-year-old Sri Lankan immigrant who police suspected of murdering his wife died in hospital in southern Italy on Monday from severe burns after a fire at their apartment at the weekend.
Sarath Moragoda’s 42-year-old wife Maduri Warnacula’s charred corpse was found in the couple’s gutted apartment in the Sicilian city of Catania on Saturday, with a rope around her neck and ankles.
Although Moragoda suffered critical burns in Saturday’s blaze, he had not been tied up, leading investigators to suspect that he strangled Warnacula and attempted to destroy evidence of the murder by setting her body on fire, the paper said.
Investigators believe the blaze got out of hand and rapidly spread through the antiquated attic apartment, trapping Moragoda inside.
Police were on Monday questioning the couple’s eight-year-old son who was attending catechism classes at the time his mother was killed, said Catania-based daily La Sicilia.
Neighbours were cited by the paper as saying the couple had recently been heard arguing heatedly inside their rented apartment located in Catania’s run-down Picanello district.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Grillo Calls Letta-Berlusconi Negotiations ‘Incest’
Rome, 26 April (AKI) — Former comedian Beppe Grillo on Friday slated as “a mish-mash bordering on incest” the coalition being negotiated by centre-left premier-elect Enrico Letta and centre-right leader Silvio Berlusconi.
Enrico Letta, who was cabinet secretary in the government led by Romano Prodi in 2006-2088 is the nephew of veteran Berlusconi aide Gianni Letta, who served as cabinet secretary in all three previous Berlusconi governments.
In a fresh attack on Italy’s established parties in his blog, Grillo called the coalition negotiations “an orgy worthy of the best bunga bunga parties,” in a reference to sex parties allegedly hosted by Berlusconi at his residences.
Grillo’s internet-based grassroots Five-Star movement, which got 25 percent of the vote in Italy’s inconclusive February national election, is refusing to back the centre-left Democratic Party or with Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party and outgoing technocrat prime minister Mario Monti’s centrist forces.
Letta appealed to Five Star whips to “thaw” Thursday, but the party says it will only vote for individual laws that it supports.
The party got around 25 percent of votes in the February poll which produced no clear winner although the centre-left controls the lower house of parliament.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Legal Expert Slams Supreme Court Ruling on Marines
Rome, 26 April (AKI) — An Italian legal expert on Friday strongly criticised India’s top court for ruling that a national anti-terror body will continue to probe two marines accused of killing two Indian fisherman, meaning the pair could face the death penalty.
“India is continuing to violate international law and Italy must keep batttling to have the two marines tried by Italian courts,” Angela Del Vecchio, a lecturer in international law at Rome’s private LUISS university told Adnkronos.
Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, ratified by Italy, a state may refer a disputed case to an international judge or to third-party arbitration, Del Vecchio noted.
“The problem is that Italy doesn’t want to do this. I don’t understand why,” she said.
India’s Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) would continue to probe the case of Italian riflemen Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, who are charged with with murder over the shooting of two fishermen off the coast of the southern state of Kerala in February last year.
Italy argued the case should be investigated by the police, not the NIA which probes and prosecute crimes that fall under India’s maritime safety act, legislation which says offences that cause “death to any person” shall be punished with death.
Earlier in April , the NIA charged the two men with murder and violating maritime safety laws.
The Italian government returned the marines to India last month to end an escalating diplomatic standoff, after New Delhi promised Rome that they would not not face capital punishment.
Latorre and Girone say they mistook the fishermen pirates while protecting an Italian oil tanker and Italy claims the incident took place in international waters, meaning India should not have jurisdiction over the case.
There was strong opposition in Italy to the return of the marines for trial by a special court in India and foreign minister Giulio Terzi resigned in protest on 26 March at the decision.
“This incident has been affected by the Italian electoral campaign and by the fact that Italy is the homeland of [Indian National Congress party chair] Sonia Gandhi,” said Del Vecchio.
“All means of damaging Sonia are being used, she claimed.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The recent attack on foreign seasonal workers in Greece shocked the country. It was one incident in a series of attacks on migrants and refugees that has caught the attention of Human Rights organizations.
“In recent years, the number of violent crimes with a racist background hasn’t increased dramatically, but their rising intensity is alarming,” says Kostis Papaioannou, head of the Greek Commission for Human and Civic Rights: it’s increasingly common for attackers to use weapons, severely injuring their victims or even risking their death.
The commission is a member of a Greek anti-racism network which published its annual report on Wednesday (24.04.2013). It documents 154 racist acts of violence in 2012. The actual number is probably much higher, since the report only includes crimes that the victims have reported themselves. The main targets are migrants and refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq, but there are also two EU foreigners and a Greek citizen among the victims.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Historic Prayer Call Heard at Stockholm Mosque
Worshippers at the Fittja mosque in southern Stockholm on Friday heard Sweden’s first-ever call to prayer, which brought some congregation members to tears of joy.
Guluz Kayhan, 45, had tears in her eyes when the notes of Sweden’s first-ever call to prayer ended and worshippers hurried up the steps of the mosque. “I don’t go to the mosque as often as before but I wanted to experience this,” she told The Local as she wiped tears from her blue eyes. Flanked by her two daughters, Kayhan made her way inside, slipping off her shoes. “I’m really proud of Sweden,” said her daughters’ friend Havva Göcmenoglu, 24. “I am proud of being part of a society that respects different religions.”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Switzerland’s ‘Violin Trees’ — Looking for the Perfect Wood
In the Jura mountains between France and Switzerland, there are men who can look at a tree and tell you if there’s a violin inside. Stradivarius violins come from this spruce wood in the Risoud forest.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Lars Hedegaard & Mogens Camre: Den forbudte sandhed.. Sidste udkald for Vesten (“The Banned Truth. Last Call for the West”)
Published by Den Danske Forenings Forlag, 2013, 109 pages, Dkr 95 (€ 13).
By Mikael Jalving
It is a poor title, but a good book. Poor, because knowledge of mass immigration and he economical, political and cultural consequences of it has not been banned, rather condemned. Condemned in the sense that the messengers are routinely sacrificed for the sake of politeness and pious wishes.
For example, when this book is reviewed in the nominally conservative Danish daily Berlingske — acclaimed for its sober style — but then brushed off as hogwash humanism. The reviewer, Claes Kastholm Hansen, a former colleague of one of the book’s authors, made it clear that a debate about real issues is supposed to be sympathetic. A rather strange demand. He writes:
“When we talk of ‘Islam’ and ‘Muslims’, we are not only speaking in the abstract, we are also describing particular individuals, and it cannot be very pleasant to be categorized as a cause of permanent negative changes […]. We must have the skill to confront the problems caused by the massive Muslim immigration and counter the challenges from political Islam, but without denying the humanity of the individual.”
This is mainstream thinking and writing. With your heart worn on your sleeve. And Kastholm Hansen is not even among the worst. He has just written a tactical review, ensuring that he will remain part of polite society.
The authors of what is actually a fairly dry presentation are radically more profane and unsentimental. Here is not much emotionalism. The journalistic class that loves to present Hedegaard and Camre as two frothing racists should thus not read this book. And they certainly won’t. They write and talk, but read nothing that would contradict their benevolent dogma…
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
The Old Guard’s Last Stand: Letta Asked to Form Italian Government
By Hans-Jürgen Schlamp
Enrico Letta has been tapped to lead Italy after being asked on Wednesday to form a government. Even though he is only 46 years old, he’s still a representative of the old political caste and will have no choice but to work together with Silvio Berlusconi.
He did it. Within two days, Giorgio Napolitano, Italy’s 87-year-old savior who was elected president on Saturday, laid the foundation for a new government through talks with representatives of the main parties. It is something the party leaders themselves couldn’t manage to do in eight weeks.
As a result, the center-left Social Democrats (PD), together with Silvio Berlusconi’s center-right People of Freedom (PDL) party, and the group around centrist incumbent Prime Minister Mario Monti, will form a broad coalition government under the leadership of the former Christian Democrat and current PD deputy leader Enrico Letta.
The new government is to be sworn in on Thursday. The following day — or no later than next Monday — the Italian parliament is expected to put the new leadership in Rome up for a vote of confidence that it is likely to pass.
For a while, the aging President Napolitano flirted with an almost “revolutionary” solution: the nomination of the 38-year-old mayor of Florence, the young star of Italian politics, Matteo Renzi. He regularly takes aim not only at his political opponents — especially Silvio Berlusconi — but also at his own supporters.
Renzi gleefully stirs up public acrimony against “people who sit in parliament for 25 to 30 years.” They “cannot decide our future,” he says, calling for new faces in Italian politics and suggesting that the ‘68 generation be vacated “to the archive.” With such statements, Renzi has quickly become the most popular politician in the country — but he’s also become correspondingly unpopular among his colleagues.
The Rising Star Has Too Many Enemies
While Napolitano was still considering whether Renzi could effectively run a government in such difficult times and hold his own with heads of state from Berlin, London and Paris, Silvio Berlusconi was giving the thumb’s down…
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
His face beaming with pride, Nigel Farage shakes the hand of one of his staunchest supporters.
However, the leader of the UK Independence Party is facing embarrassment today after it emerged the man, who is the party’s Leicester candidate, has supported groups with extreme racist views.
Chris Scotton, 24, has ‘liked’ a series of controversial organisations including the English Defence League (EDL), a site suggesting racism is ‘just ethnic banter’ and a group ‘joking’ about ‘losing a black friend in the dark’.
UKIP were today forced to suspend Mr Scotton after his apparent links to the EDL were highlighted by MailOnline. It also confirmed another candidate standing in Suffolk was leaving the party after his previous membership in the British National Party (BNP) was exposed.
It means four UKIP candidates for Thursday’s local elections have left the party in the last week because of extreme views.
Controversial: Nigel Farage is pictured shaking hands with Chris Scotton , who is standing for the party in Leicester. Scotton has apparently ‘liked’ a Facebook group which suggests that racism is just ‘ethnic banter’
The damaging revelations surrounding the party now threaten to undermine its efforts in the local elections.
It emerged today that a number of candidates in the local elections appeared on a British National Party membership list.
Others have claimed that paedophiles should be killed by vigilantes and people living in London should wear face masks to protect themselves from diseases brought into the country from Eastern Europeans…
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
Tina Turner Becomes Enthusiastic New Swiss Citizen
(AGI) Berna — Tina Turner has obtained Swiss citizenship after living in Switzerland for eighteen years .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Armed Drones Operated From RAF Base in UK, Says Mod
Armed drone aircraft have been operated remotely from Britain for the first time, the Ministry of Defence has said.
It said Reaper drones had flown missions controlled from RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire, where campaign groups are expected to protest against the practice later. The MoD said it respected people’s rights to protest peacefully. The drones are mainly used for surveillance, but could use weapons if commanded to by their pilots in the UK. The MoD has defended its use of drones in Afghanistan, which it says has saved the lives of countless military personnel and civilians…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Birmingham Terror Plot Ringleader Jailed for Minimum of 18 Years
Irfan Naseer and co-conspirators planned attacks that could have been more devastating than 7/7 bombings
The ringleader of a plot to carry out terror attacks in the UK, which would have been more deadly than the 7/7 bombings in 2005, has been jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum of 18 years. Irfan Naseer, 31, was described by a judge on Friday as the “leader, driving force and man in charge” of the terror cell in Sparkhill, Birmingham, which planned to set off eight to 10 suicide bombs and timed explosive devices in crowded places.
The other leaders of the cell, Irfan Khalid and Ashik Ali, both 28, were handed jail terms of 18 years and 15 years respectively. Khalid, who boasted of creating “another 9/11”, was ordered to serve a minimum of 12 years, while Ali will serve 10 years before he can be considered for parole.
On the third and final day of the sentencing hearing at Woolwich crown court, London, Mr Justice Henriques told Naseer: “Clearly nothing was going to stop you, short of intervention of the authorities. I have no doubt you would have continued with your plan but for that intervention. Many deaths were planned by a determined team of individuals who were fully radicalised and you, Naseer, were their leader. No lack of assets, skill or manpower was going to stop you.” Henriques said Naseer’s plot had the blessing of al-Qaida and was intended to further the terror organisation’s aims…
[JP note: See also Ed West’s Birmingham — best place in Europe to be pure Muslim http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/edwest/100072294/birmingham-%E2%80%93-best-place-in-europe-to-be-pure-muslim/ quote: Well, there must be many places in Europe where Muslims are entirely free to practise their faith, but I suspect there are few in which they can have so little contact with the civic and legal structure of a Western state if they choose.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Ipswich/East London Sex Slave Gang Sent Down for Total of 28 Years
Three men who abducted a vulnerable 13-year-old girl from the streets of London and forced her to become their sex slave have been jailed. The girl, who was described as being from a broken and troubled family, was subjected to sexual abuse over four days after being persuaded to travel with the men to Ipswich in Suffolk in July last year. Mohammed Sheikh, Hamza Ali and Suran Uddin were all convicted of trafficking and sex offences following a trial…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Jailed Jihad Terrorists to be Set Free in Weeks
The ringleader of a Birmingham terror cell who plotted a suicide bombing campaign in the UK may never be released, a judge warned on Friday.
Four members of the group, who travelled to Pakistan for training in terrorism, will be free within three months after being jailed for 40 months. The 11-strong al-Qaeda inspired gang from Birmingham wanted to use eight suicide bombers in attacks that could have left thousands dead. The ringleader, Irfan Naseer, 31, was given five life sentences for the plot. A judge said he may never be released. However, his followers were treated more leniently. Naseer’s group wanted to cause more damage than the 7/7 London bombings and threatened to carry out “another 9/11”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Operation Pitsford: The 11 Men [Birmingham Terror Plot]
Eleven men have been jailed at Woolwich Crown Court, ending one of the largest ever counter-terrorism operations in the UK. The investigation in Birmingham, known as Operation Pitsford, uncovered a cell of would-be suicide bombers who were trying to recruit others to their cause.
Irfan Naseer and Irfan Khalid
Irfan Naseer and his co-defendant Irfan Khalid had received training from al-Qaeda contacts in Pakistan. They had recorded martyrdom videos there before returning to the UK. Although the court heard that Khalid was committed to the cause, it was Naseer who was the man with the skills and he was secretly recorded explaining to others about how to make a bomb. In one recording, he talked about making eight bombs. In others he indicated he planned to be a suicide bomber.
The pair recruited other men to pose as legitimate charity workers on the streets of Birmingham and they collected thousands of pounds from unsuspecting members of the public. Naseer played the key role in sending four other Birmingham men to Pakistan to receive training.
Irfan Khalid told one member of the inner circle about how he had recorded his martyrdom video in Pakistan, in which he said he boasted that his attack was “another 9/11” and “revenge for everything”. Naseer was sentenced to life with a minimum of 18 years after being found guilty of five counts of preparing acts of terrorism. Khalid was found guilty of four such counts and given 18 years, with a further five on licence…
[JP note: Koranic fans hit the proverbial.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
A master bombmaker trained by al Qaeda was handed five life sentences today and told he may never be released unless he gives up extremism. Irfan Naseer, 31, was a ringleader of a terror cell that planned an attack “worse than 7/7”. He was one of 11 Islamist extremists being sentenced at Woolwich crown court for preparing acts of terrorism. Naseer plotted a campaign of suicide attacks involving at least eight rucksack bombs to be detonated in crowded places. Police have called it the most significant terror threat since the 2006 transatlantic bomb plot…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Terror Plot: Jail Terms for Birmingham Bomb Plotters
Three members of a Birmingham terror cell have been jailed for planning an attack to rival the 7 July and 9/11 atrocities.
The group’s leaders were Irfan Naseer, Irfan Khalid and Ashik Ali. Naseer, 31, was sentenced to life with a minimum of 18 years, Khalid, 28, was given 18 years and Ali 15 years. The judge said Naseer wanted part of Birmingham to be a “little war zone”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Vatican: Pope: Even in Christian Communities There Are “Climbers” Who Are “Thieves and Robbers”
Commenting on the parable of the Good Shepherd at Mass this morning, Francis recalls that “the gate is Jesus.” “I am not a fundamentalist,” this is the Gospel of the Beatitudes that tells us to be humble, poor, meek, just.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) — Even in the Christian communities there are people who do not enter “the sheepfold by the gate,” that is Jesus, but by other means. They are “climbers” who “seek their own … and consciously or unconsciously pretend to enter but are thieves and robbers” because they “steal the glory of Jesus, they want their own glory. “ These were the words of Pope Francis commenting on the parable of the Good Shepherd at Mass this morning in the chapel Casa Santa Marta, attended by staff from the Holy See Press Office and Vatican Radio engineers.
“They want glory for themselves — he explained — and this is what [Jesus] said to the Pharisees: You seek for each other’s approval…’. That’s something of a ‘commercial’ religion, don’t you think? I give glory to you and you give glory to me. But these people did not enter through the true gate. The [true] gate is Jesus and those who do not enter by this gate are mistaken. How do I know that Jesus is the true gate? How do I know that this gate is Jesus’s gate? It’s enough to take the Beatitudes and do what the Beatitudes say. Be humble, poor, gentle, just … “.
As reported by Vatican Radio, the Pope pointed out that “ Jesus is not only the gate, he is also the way, the path to follow on our journey. He said there are many paths that we can follow, some perhaps more advantageous than others in getting ahead, but they are “misleading, they are not real: they are false. The only path is Jesus”.
“Some of you may say: ‘Father, you’re a fundamentalist!’. No, simply put, this is what Jesus said : ‘I am the gate’, ‘I am the path’ [He] gives life to us. Simple. It is a beautiful gate, a gate of love, it is a gate that does not deceive, it is not false. It always tells the truth. But with tenderness and love. However, we still have […] the source of original sin within us, is not it so? We still desire to possess the key to interpreting everything, the key and the power to find our own path, whatever it is, to find our own gate, whatever it is”.
“Sometimes — the Pope said — we are tempted to be too much our own bosses and not humble children and servants of the Lord: And this is the temptation to look for other gates or other windows to enter the Kingdom of God. We can only enter by the gate whose name is Jesus. We can only enter by that gate which leads to a path and that path is called Jesus and brings to a life whose name is Jesus. All those who do something else — says the Lord — who try to enter through the window, are ‘thieves and robbers’. He is simple, the Lord. His words are not complex: He is simple”. And you have to ask for “the grace to always knock on that door.” “ “Sometimes it’s closed: we are sad, we feel desolation, we have problems with knocking, with knocking at that gate. Do not go looking for other gates that seem easier, more comfortable, more at hand. Always the same one: Jesus. Jesus never disappoints, Jesus does not deceive, Jesus is not a thief, not a robber. He gave his life for me: each of us must say this: ‘And you who gave your life for me, please, open, that I may enter”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Serbian Parliament Approves Normalizing Ties With Kosovo
Serbia’s parliament has overwhelmingly approved normalizing ties with its former breakaway province Kosovo. The historic accord will allow Belgrade to begin negotiating its eventual admission to the European Union.
Both the nationalist incumbents and the center-left opposition approved the deal on Friday, which recognizes Kosovo’s authority over ethnic Serbs in the north, while also granting them a degree of autonomy from the ethnic-Albanian-dominated government in Pristina.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
600 Stranded Foreign Tourists Free to Go in Southern Egypt
CAIRO, April 26 (Xinhua) — Some 600 foreign tourists, who were stuck earlier Friday on their way back from the tourist attraction of Abu Simbel temple in southern Egypt’s Aswan governorate, are now free to leave, after local officials’ negotiations with road blockers. “The Nubians blocked the road after overnight clashes among them over distribution of agricultural lands granted by the government to Nubians,” a local official earlier told Xinhua on condition of anonymity…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Book Review: How Humanitarians Trumped Neo-Cons in Libya
Slouching Towards Sirte: NATO’s War on Libya and Africa by Maximilian Forte
Reviewed by Dan Glazebrook
The media has gone very quiet on Libya of late; clearly, liberal imperialists don’t like to dwell on their crimes. This is not surprising. The modus operandi of the humanitarian imperialist is not one of informed reflection, but only permanent outrage against leaders of the global South; besides, in the topsy-turvy world of liberal interventionism, the “failure to act” is the only crime of which the West is capable.
As Forte puts it, their moral code holds that “If we do not act, we should be held responsible for the actions of others. When we do act, we should never be held responsible for our own actions.” With Muammar Gaddafi dead, the hunt is on for a new hate figure on whom to spew venom (Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, North Korean leader Kim Jong-eun); far more satisfying than actually evaluating our own role in the creation of human misery. This is the colonial mentality of the liberal lynch mob.
For the governments that lead us into war, of course, it makes perfect sense that we do not stop to look back at the last invasion before impatiently demanding the next one — if we realized, for example, that the 1999 bombing of Serbia — the textbook “humanitarian intervention”- actually facilitated the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo it was supposedly designed to prevent, we might not be so ready to demand the same treatment for every other state that falls short of our illusory ideals.
That is why this book is so important. Thoroughly researched and impeccably referenced, it tells the story of the real aims and real consequences of the war on Libya in its historical perspective…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Obama & Clinton’s Benghazi Lies Exposed
A searing new Interim Progress Report released by the GOP chairmen of five House committees reveals the disturbing extent of the Obama administration’s deceit and manipulation over the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
As the 43-page document details, not only was gross incompetence to blame for the success of the attack that cost four Americans their lives, but a concerted effort at the highest levels of government was undertaking to cover up the debacle, deceive the public and shield officials, including then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Obama, from responsibility…
The smoking gun revealed in the report — contrary to Hillary Clinton’s congressional testimony that requests for additional security in Benghazi never reached her — was that “an April 2012 State Department cable bearing Secretary Hillary Clinton’s signature acknowledged then-Ambassador Cretz’s formal request for additional security assets but ordered the withdrawal of security elements to proceed as planned.” A Senate report, “Flashing Red: A Special Report on the Terrorist Attack at Benghazi,” released on December 31, confirmed the lack of security, citing “extremely poor security in a threat environment that was ‘flashing red.’“
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Archaeology Strains German-Turkish Relations
An argument between Germany and Turkey about ancient treasures is escalating. Turkey wants its treasures back, but German archaeologists say Turkish sites are being exploited for tourism.
Archaeology often has a lot to do with politics — the current argument between Germany and Turkey is a prime example. Hermann Parzinger, head of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, last December accused Turkey of displaying “almost chauvinistic behavior.” In reply, the Turkish culture minister Ömer Celik told German news magazine “Der Spiegel” that he demanded an apology, and he asked for five ancient objects to be returned that are currently shown in museums in Berlin. He claims they were taken out of Turkey illegally. Parzinger rejects any accusations of illegality for three of these objects: In December 2012, he said that the torso of the Fisherman of Aphrodisias, the sarcophagus from the Haci Ibrahim Veli tomb and a 13th-century prayer niche were all acquired legally.
But “legal” is a fluid concept in the world of archaeology. The export of ancient treasures from the Ottoman Empire has been prohibited by law since 1884. At the same time though, it wasn’t unusual to share the treasures discovered in excavations with teams from abroad. Special permission was often given to take objects out of the country, and there was a flourishing black market. The issue is often less a matter of legality than of morality.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Clampdown on Islam in Europe Drives Young Muslims to Syrian War’
Backslash on multiculturalism in Europe and easy access to global jihad info on the web prompts young Muslims from France and other EU states to join the Syrian rebels, Jean-Yves Camus, a specialist on extremism, told RT. The EU’s anti-terror chief, Gilles de Kerchove, is sounding the alarm over the number of young Europeans going off to the Syrian war. Hundreds of volunteers are already fighting alongside rebels and could pose a serious security threat when they return home, according to the official…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
David Cameron: Syrian Use of Chemical Agents is a ‘War Crime’
David Cameron has accused Syria’s regime of a “war crime” as evidence emerged that two more gas attacks have poisoned another 105 people.
Asked about reports that President Bashar al-Assad’s forces had used chemical weapons, which are banned under international law, the Prime Minister replied: “I choose my words carefully, but what I see does look very much like a war crime is being committed in our world, at this time, by the Syrian government.”…
[JP note: Cameron is probably a crime against something, but quite what is not entirely clear yet — perhaps his crime-worthily liberal and haphazard conveyance of Hardy’s catchphrase: Well, here’s another Eton mess I’ve gotten myself into.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq: 5 Killed, 61 Wounded in Bomb Attacks in Iraqi Capital
BAGHDAD, April 26 (Xinhua) — At least five people were killed and 61 others injured in four bombing attacks that hit the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Friday, police said. A bomb exploded at the entrance to the Qubaisi mosque in Shurta area southwest of Baghdad as worshipers were leaving the Friday prayers, killing four of them, a police source told Xinhua…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Not Convinced Syrian Regime Uses Chemical Weapons
(AGI) Beirut — Russia said it is not convinced by information on the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Syria Says U. S. And UK Are Lying About Chemical Weapons
(AGI) Moscow, Apr 27 — Syria’s information minister has accused the U.S. and the UK of telling “outright lies” about the use of chemical weapons. In an interview, Omran al-Zohbi said he wished to stress yet again that Syria would never use chemical weapons, not just because of the country’s compliance with international law on wars, but also for humanitarian and moral reasons.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
U. S. Has ‘No Proof’ Of Syrian Use of Chemicals Weapons
(AGI) — Cairo, Apr 25 — Pentagon chief, Chuck Hagel said U.S. efforts to determine whether the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons is a “serious business” that cannot be rushed just because a number of countries believe evidence supports that conclusion. He was speaking on the sidelines of an official visit to Cairo, during which he discussed the Syrian crisis and other matters with the Egyptian authorities.
“Suspicions are one thing, evidence is another,” Hagel warned.
“I think we have to be very careful here before we make any conclusions (and) draw any conclusions based on real intelligence,” he emphasised. “That’s not at all questioning other nations’ intelligence. But the United States relies on its own intelligence,” he added, denying that Washington is losing credibility because it is still assessing information on use of chemical arsenals by Bashar al-Assad, while allies such as France, Britain and Israel have concluded evidence suggesting chemical arms have been used in Syria’s conflict.
They were faster, admitted Hagel, who added: “I don’t think you judge these kinds of serious matters based on a time line.” .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
An off-duty US navy sailor wrestled a bus driver to the ground and beat him into submission after he attempted to rape her at knife point, a court heard yesterday.
Prosecutors said that she knocked the knife from his hand, broke it in two, bit him in the hand, forced him to the ground and locked him between her thighs.
The woman, 28, was on 24-hour shore leave in Dubai and was attacked as she returned to the port where she was based after a day shopping.
[ . . . ]
The driver, named as K S, from Pakistan, was arrested the next day at his home and the attending police officer said that he was intoxicated at the time.
[Too bad we have to go to the British press to learn of an American sailor gal’s triumph over a Muslim rapist.]
| — Hat tip: Paul Green | [Return to headlines] |
Police Make Mass Arrests at Moscow Mosque
Russian police and security agents have detained 140 people following prayers at a mosque in Moscow. A statement from the Federal Security Agency reported by Russian news agencies said that those detained at the Dorul Arqom Islamic cultural center on April 26 included 30 citizens of unspecified foreign countries. RFE/RL’s Tajik Service reports that most of those arrested were ethnic Tajiks who were taken to various police stations…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Detains 140 Muslims at Prayer Room
MOSCOW: Russian law enforcement officers detained 140 people at a Muslim prayer room in Moscow on Friday as part of a search for Islamist militants, Russian news agencies quoted Federal Security Service (FSB) officials assaying.
FSB and Federal Migration Service officers took the detainees, including more than 30 foreigners, to police stations near the site in southern Moscow, state-run RIA cited the FSB’s Moscow branch as saying. There was no indication of any link to the April 15 attack at the Boston Marathon, in which US authorities believe two ethnic Chechen brothers with roots in Russia’s North Caucasus set off bombs that killed three people and wounded 264. President Vladimir Putin said in a television appearance on Thursday that the Boston bombings justified his tough line against militants in the North Caucasus and that Russia and the United States must step up cooperation against militants…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
11 Killed, 40 Injured in Bomb Blast in Pakistan’s Karachi
ISLAMABAD, April 26 (Xinhua) — At least 11 people including a child were killed and 40 others injured on Friday night in a bomb blast that targeted a political meeting in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi, local media and police said.
According to the reports, the bomb exploded near a corner meeting of a political party Awami National Party (ANP) or “People ‘s National Party” in Mominabad area of Karachi, killing six people on the spot while injuring 45 others including six children…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Afghan Taliban Announces to Launch Annual Rebel Offensive
KABUL, April 27 (Xinhua) — The Afghan Taliban on Saturday announced to launch an annual rebel offensive, according to a statement released to the media by the insurgent group. The Taliban, fighting Afghan government and the NATO-led coalition forces, in the statement said that they would start the annual spring operation codenamed “Khalid bin Waleed” — the name of Islamic history’s general — from Sunday…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
India: More Than 48 Thousand Children Abused Between 2001-2011
Statistics revealed in a report by the Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR). The main victims are girls, mostly assaulted in state-run orphanages and institutions. Card. Gracias, president of the Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), tells AsiaNews: “The protection of children is at the heart of the education, social and health care ministry of the Catholic Church in India.”
Mumbai (AsiaNews) — Between 2001 and 2011, India recorded at least 48,338 cases of abuse of children, an increase of 336% from 2,113 to 7,112 incidents a year. Most of the violence takes place against girls in schools and orphanages run by the state. The abusers are principals, teachers, staff members, or older guests. This scenario has been denounced by the Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) in the report “ India’s Hell Holes: Child Sexual Assault in Juvenile Justice Homes”, presented today to Rashida Manjoo, UN Commission on the Rights human Special Envoy for violence against women. The delegate is in New Delhi as of yesterday through to the months’ end.
The report cites data from the National Crimes Record Bureau. The Indian state with the highest rate of child abuse is the Madhya Pradesh: 9465 cases between 2001 and 2011. Next is Maharashtra, 6,868 cases; Uttar Pradesh, 5,949; Andhra Pradesh, 3977; Chhattisgarh, 3,688. According to the ACHR, the violence does not take place as isolated incidents, but continues over time. four basic factors are complicit in this trend: lack of inspections, hundreds of unregistered children, the presence of “phantom” supervisory authorities, the lack of separate facilities for males and females.
“The terrible brutality which is faced by children, boys and girls pains me — notes Card. Oswald Gracias, president of the Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) speaking to AsiaNews. Protection of children is at the heart of the education, social and health care ministry of the Catholic Church in India. “
Precisely for this reason the Church, said the cardinal, “through its institutions, organizations dioceses and religious congregations, has always helped to protect children from exploitation and abuse. Throughout the country we are committed to support programs and development to enhance women and defend their rights. Our goal is to save hundreds of boys and girls from human trafficking, and raise awareness among families and communities of the responsibilities towards their children. “
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
China: Clashes Between Police and Civilians in Xinjiang Leave at Least 21 Dead
The incident in which 15 police officers and 6 civilians were killed remains unexplained. For Beijing, it was a “cowardly terrorist attack”. Exiled Uighur groups deny the allegations.
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) — Clashes between Uighur civilians and ethnic Han Chinese police broke out in the northern province of Xinjiang, leaving at least 21 people dead. According to local sources, the violence broke out last night in Selibuya Township, near Kashgar, one of the most turbulent areas of the province inhabited mostly by ethnic Uighur, a predominantly Turkic and Muslim ethnic group.
Chinese authorities claim that the six civilians who died in the incident were suspected terrorists, but groups associated with Rebiya Kadeer, a Uighur leader living in exile in Germany for the past three years for her pro-independence activities, deny that claim. Indeed, it is still unclear what actually happened.
According to the Xinhua, Communist China’s official news agency, the incidents broke out in the afternoon in Kashgar, about 1,200 km from the capital Urumqi, when three community workers saw suspected terrorists armed with knives, hiding in the house of a local resident.
The workers warned their superiors but were captured by the suspects. When police arrived, they were attacked by the “terrorists”, who killed the three community workers they held and set fire the house where they had corned the police. Eight suspected terrorists were arrested.
The province of Xinjiang has long been the scene of clashes and ethnic tensions. In 2009, it was placed under special rule by China’s police and army, following riots that had left nearly 200 people dead. After the bloody incident, hundreds of people were convicted and sent to prison; some people were given the death penalty.
Chinese authorities claim that the perpetrators of violence are Muslim extremists, but Uighur exiles counter that Beijing has exaggerated the threat of Islamic terrorism in order to justify its crackdown against the Uighur.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Nepal Promises China to Crack Down on Tibetan Refugees
On a visit to Beijing, the leader of the Maoist party in Nepal Prachanda promises Xi Jinping to repress any anti-Chinese protests. “The national stability and integrity of both countries will not be compromised in the name of religious freedom and human rights.”
Kathmandu (AsiaNews) — Nepal will stop any anti-Chinese protests, even by “repressing” Tibetan refugees in Kathmandu who continue to ask for a free Tibet. This was the promise renewed by Pushpa Kamal Dahal, chairman of the Maoist party of Nepal (Unified Communist Party of Nepal, UCPN) nicknamed “Prachanda”, to the Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting in Beijing. The two met on April 18, on the sidelines of a one-week visit to China by the Nepalese politician.
“The two leaders — reported Chudamani Khadka, Prachanda’s personal assistant — talked about bilateral-interests and importance of stable Nepal for stable and developed China. The UCPN-Maoist sticks with the ‘one-china policy’ and we will support China to stop any anti-Chinese activities in Nepali land. This was commitment by Dahal to new Chinese President”
Prachanda’s is actually an old promise. Nepal has 1,414 kilometers of common border with Tibet and 1990-2006 the parliamentary monarchy, on the advice of India, allowed the free movement of Tibetan exiles into the country. The Dalai Lama and members of the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamsala (India) visited the country several times, which is home to more than 20 thousand refugees. After the abolition of the monarchy in 2006 and the rise to power of communist and Maoist formations Nepal has changed course, abandoning its historic ally India and tying close relations with China. In exchange for economic aid, Beijing has called for the closure of the borders with Tibet and the repression of all anti-Chinese activities.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Ethiopian Airlines Resumes Dreamliner Flights
Ethiopian Airlines has become the first airline to resume flights of the Dreamliner jet, while Japan’s ANA is set to begin tests. The Boeing 787 was grounded worldwide three months ago owing to battery problems.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Somali Jihadi Tweets Picture of ‘Assassination Attempt’
The most-wanted American jihadi in Somalia has tweeted bloody photos of himself after an apparent failed assassination attempt.
Omar Hammami, a former member of militant Islamic group al-Shabab, posted photos of his bloodied face and neck after having allegedly been shot by an assassin whilst sitting in a tea shop in Somalia. After falling out with the religious group, Hammami has publicised several death threats made against him, announcing last Friday that al-Shabab’s leader was sending forces to kill him.
“Just been shot in neck by Shabab assassin, not critical yet,” the 29-year-old posted, amongst a series of frantic tweets.
“Sitting in tea place then 3 shots behind to left, pistol I think, they ran,” he later added. Hammami later revealed that the bullets had just missed his arteries and windpipe and that he was being treated with antiseptic and gauze…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
California Bill Would Let Non-Citizens Serve on Juries
SACRAMENTO, California — The California Assembly passed a bill on Thursday that would make the state the first in the nation to allow non-citizens who are in the country legally to serve on jury duty.
Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont, said his bill, AB1401, would help California widen the pool of prospective jurors and help integrate immigrants into the community.
It does not change other criteria for being eligible to serve on a jury, such as being at least 18, living in the county that is making the summons, and being proficient in English…
Assemblywoman Diane Harkey, R-Dana Point, said there is no shortage of jurors.
“Jury selection is not the problem. The problem is trial court funding,” Harkey said before the vote. “I hope we can focus on that. Let’s not break something; it’s not broken now. Let’s not whittle away at what is reserved for U.S. citizens. There’s a reason for it.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
For Social Liberals, There’s Now No Reason Not to Legalise Polygamous Marriage
Will legalising same sex marriage lead to the legalisation of polygamous marriage? Claims that it might are typically met with accusations of scare-mongering. However, in a provocative article for Slate, Jillian Keenan — an enthusiastic support of same sex marriage — not only accepts the legal recognition of polygamy as a possibility, but regards it as one to be welcomed…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Leftist Nazis, The Gaystapo, And Islamofascists
Death camps, Gulag, mass-starvation tactics, killing fields can all be laid at the feet of left-wing collectivist ideologies.
Recently I came across several references to “the far right Nazis,”and “the far right Fascists.”Although this is a subject I have covered before, it will continue to be a topic of great importance for as long as the Left continues to lie about it, and people swallow their lies.
Fascism always has been, and always will be a left-wing ideology — period. That means that the Nazis, being a subset of Fascism, are left-wing as well. I cannot stress enough the importance of understanding this truth.
The oft repeated lie that Fascism and the Nazis are right-wing has effectively served three important purposes:
- It has enabled the political left to deny any culpability for the atrocities committed by Hitler.
- It has unfairly and incorrectly shifted the blame for the Holocaust, Nazi eugenics, and other Nazi programs onto the right-wing, i.e. conservatives.
- It has served to muddy the waters to such an extent that true conservative values are tainted by “guilt through association” right from the starting gate.
I am not claiming that Communism and Fascism are the same thing — they are not. They are, however, variations on the same theme — the theme of collectivism. That is, they both promote Big Government at the expense of individual freedom. As such, they both belong on the left side of the political spectrum.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |