Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has backed off from his controversial proposal to build a shopping mall in what used to be a military barracks in an Istanbul park. The planned mall sparked the continuing demonstrations that have rocked several cities in Turkey. However, Mr. Erdogan insists that he will go ahead with plans to build a mosque in the park.
In other news, a new study says that in the years since Portugal joined the European Union in 1986, it has received an average of €9 million daily in funding from the EU. This process has left Portugal with a huge load of debt, but also some nice roads, bridges, and soccer stadiums.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Diana West, DS, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, 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. 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.
EU Funds: ‘Portugal Received €9m Per Day for 25 Years’
Diário de Notícias, 30 May 2013
Between Portugal’s entry into the European Union in 1986, and 2011, the country has received approximately €81bn in EU funding, according to a study released today.
The EU funds in turn led to overall internal and external investment topping €156bn — twice the troika’s bailout to Portugal. This investment, explains Diário de Notícias, has also aggravated the country’s debt.
But the paper also recognises that EU money has developed the country and lists some of the major investments, such as —
the 9,468 kilometers of new road; 2,353 kilometers of rail lines; the Vasco da Gama Bridge; five new football stadiums; construction of nine hospitals, 662 schools and 248 wastewater treatment centres; vocational training for more than 1 million young people, and the introduction of a User Card for National Health Service.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Portugal’s Main Union Calls General Strike on June 27
Portugal’s main trade union on Friday called for a general strike to protest austerity measures on June 27.
“It’s a general strike for everyone… because we must stop this policy that imperils the future of the Portuguese,” General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (CGTP) secretary general Armenio Carlos told a news conference.
“It’s not just a protest strike, but also one of proposals… with measures for job creation, to stop this (austerity) policy, for another distribution of income, for improving pensioners’ purchasing power (and) for better public services,” said Carlos, whose union is close to the Communist Party.
The more moderate UGT, tied to the main opposition Socialist Party, will say Monday whether it will take part in the strike. The two unions have joined forces in the past, but grew apart after the UGT signed on to a reform of the labour code.
Main issues include the slashing of 30,000 civil service jobs, a longer work week and higher social charges.
Friday’s call for a new strike came a day after a walkout shut down the Lisbon metro system and many businesses, also in protest over austerity measures.
Portugal’s economy, which has been propped up since May 2011 by a bailout package from the European Union and International Monetary Fund of 78 billion euros ($100 billion), is expected to contract 2.3 percent by the end of the year.
The sharp spending cuts have sparked popular discontent, and unemployment is forecast to climb to a record 18.2 percent.
Portugal has agreed with lenders to bring its public deficit to 5.5 percent of output this year, four percent in 2014 and 2.5 percent in 2015, below the EU’s ceiling of 3.0 percent.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Dying Dollar and the Rise of a New Currency Order
For years now, the collapse of the dollar has been in the cards. Recent developments show mounting pressure on the dollar’s reserve currency status. With a major international deflation going on, the threat of inflation through money printing is unreal. However, should the dollar’s reserve currency status end, the repatriation of trillions of petro- and eurodollars could lead to a strongly inflationary scenario…
We are seeing the advent of the new currency order. There will be a number of more or less equal blocks: a dollar zone, a Yuan/BRICS zone and the euro, with the Yen and the Pound as lesser entities. These will later be able to converge to even more ‘cooperation’, in the Money Power’s relentless march towards World Currency.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Analysts: Watch Philadelphia for Next Terrorist Attack
Some analysts are suggesting Philadelphia, the historic city of “Brotherly Love,” is where the nation’s next terrorism attack will happen. Middle East Forum terror analyst Hillel Zaremba said one reason is that the city’s mosques — one website lists 24 in the metropolitan area — are tied to a larger network. “Many of them have ties to Islamist organizations. They have had, I use had, because they’ve gotten smarter and have scrubbed a lot of their websites of the references,” Zaremba said. “But there are very troubling indications of the kinds of things they believe in and the causes they support — that would lead one to believe that they are from a hardline, Islamic worldview.” Zaremba points out that what goes on in the mosque has a lot to do with the radicalization process…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Army’s Fingerprint and Iris Databases Head for the Cloud
The next time U.S. soldiers snap a picture of your eye or scan your face, they’re likely to store all that personal, physical data in the cloud.
The Army’s Intelligence command recently awarded a sole-source contract to bring the classified Defense Cross-Domain Analytical Capability, a database storing various kinds of security-relevant information the Army collects, onto the proverbial “cloud” of distributed servers and networks. Among the focuses of the project: “integrating Biometrics into the cloud,” according to a description of the contract.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Congress: Who the Hell Do You People Think You Are?
To Congressman Randy Neugebauer:
Let me start off by saying I have been registered no party since 1996, so I have no political ax to grind.
As you are aware, the National Security Administration (NSA) is building a facility in Utah benignly called the Utah Data Center. $2 billion borrowed dollars since the people’s purse is nearly $17 TRILLION dollars over drawn thanks to free spenders like you who pay no attention to Art. 1, Sec. 8 of the U.S. Constitution. More debt plus the interest slapped on our backs, our children and grand children for the rest of our lives.
You may have heard Comrade Mad Max Waters (Democratic/Communist Party USA) made the following statement:
“The President has put in place an organization with the kind of database that no one has ever seen before in life,” Representative Maxine Waters told Roland Martin on Monday. “That’s going to be very, very powerful,” Waters said. “That database will have information about everything on every individual on ways that it’s never been done before and whoever runs for President on the Democratic ticket has to deal with that. They’re going to go down with that database and the concerns of those people because they can’t get around it. And he’s [President Obama] been very smart. It’s very powerful what he’s leaving in place.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Disturbing Pattern: Obama Puts America’s Enemies Above America
We are witnessing a disturbing pattern. President Obama always puts the best interest, well-being and rights of our enemies above providing protection and justice for the American people.
My wife ranted, “It is as if Obama is desensitizing us to the suffering of our people in these terrorist attacks.”
The Benghazi scandal perfectly illustrates her point. The Obama Administration has paid lip service expressing its regrets that four Americans died. But are you feelin’ the love; a vibe of real compassion or concern coming from the Administration about the torture and deaths of Ambassador Chris Stevens, information officer Sean Smith, and former navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty? Absolutely not! As a matter of fact, U.S. Assets in the area ready to come to the defense of Ambassador Stevens was ordered to stand down by someone of power in the Obama Administration.
Obama and company have lied and done everything in their power to stonewall and cover-up what happened in Benghazi…
This next example should get your blood boiling.
Retired Sgt. Alonzo Lunsford, shot seven times in the Ft. Hood terrorist attack is stuck with paying his own medical bills. The shooter, Nidal Hasan has been paid $278,000 while waiting trial.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Is Samsung Developing Fingerprint Scanning Technology for Future Galaxy Smartphones?
It seems Samsung is following its rival Apple for developing fingerprint scanning technology. Both Samsung and Apple are in a race for testing biometric technology for their upcoming products — Galaxy and iPhone respectively.
Samsung fan site, SamMobile recently published a set of leaked firmware build for Samsung Galaxy S3, which also seemed to have incorporated fingerprint scanning technology. The leaked firmware suggests that the company is working to employ biometric scanning to their upcoming high-end Galaxy range of device.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Journalist Lemmings Dive Off Cliff While AG Holder Spies, Blusters & Prevaricates
Of all of the accidentally hilarious aspects of the implosion of Obama’s War Against the Bill of Rights, none is more informative than his broadside against journalism and Freedom of the Press. What does it say about those who take their very sustenance from the 1st Amendment Free Speech clause that many want to extinguish other people’s constitutional liberties at every possible opportunity?
In fact, these journalism-lite “professionals” are simply one more example of the failed American intellectual elite whose commitment to leftist doctrines supersedes any interest in unbiased reporting. Will the media’s obsession with supporting the progressive movement at every turn cost them their own livelihood and personal freedoms? This ironic outcome seems more likely with each passing day
A brief history of American Freedom of the Press would include the English foundation, being John Milton’s immortal Areopagitica and the original British Parliament Free Speech provision. Milton wrote:
This is true Liberty when free born men
Having to advise the public may speak free,
Which he who can, and will, deserv’s high praise,
Who neither can nor will, may hold his peace;
What can be juster in a State then this?
The Framers of the Constitution understood how important a free press was to keeping a democracy healthy by keeping the People informed. So the First Amendment states:
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Motorola Shows Off Tattoo and Swallowable Password Hardware
Motorola has shown off an electronic authentication tattoo and an FDA-approved pill that uses the body to transmit passwords, and says it wants to see a new generation of smartphones geared towards such wearable — or edible — technology.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Schools Scanned Students’ Irises Without Permission
Parents in Polk County, Florida are outraged after learning that students in area schools had their irises scanned as part of a new security program without obtaining proper permission.
Students at three facilities — an elementary school, a grade school and a high school — had their eyeballs scanned earlier this month as part of a ‘student safety’ pilot program being carried out by Stanley Convergent Security Solutions.
“It simply takes a picture of the iris, which is unique to every individual,” Rob Davis, the school board’s senior director of support services, wrote home to parents in a letter dated May 23. “With this program, we will be able to identify when and where a student gets on the bus, when they arrive at their school location, when and what bus the student boards and disembarks in the afternoon. This is an effort to further enhance the safety of our students.The EyeSwipe-Nano is an ideal replacement for the card based system since your child will not have to be responsible for carrying an identification card,” he added.
Parents at Daniel Jenkins Academy, Bephune Academy and the Davenport School of the Arts received the letter from the school board on May 24 informing them of the EyeSwipe-Nano program and that their child’s principal should be notified if they don’t want their son or daughter to participate.
But elsewhere in the letter, the board explained that the program would begin last Monday, May 20. By the time the letter was received on Friday, iris scans had already been completed at the three area schools without a single student opting out, Angel Clark wrote for The Examiner this week.
Because Memorial Day landed on May 27, parents were unable to receive confirmation from the school until this Tuesday, nearly one week after the scans began.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Storm Chasers, TV Personalities Among Oklahoma Fatalities
(CNN) — Three storm chasers were among the nine people killed in powerful storms that struck Oklahoma on Friday night, relatives told CNN on Sunday.
Tim Samaras, 55, his son Paul Samaras, 24, and Carl Young, 45, died while chasing a tornado in El Reno, relatives said.
“Thank you to everyone for the condolences. It truly is sad that we lost my great brother Tim and his great son, Paul,” Jim Samaras wrote in a statement posted on his brother’s Facebook page.
“Our hearts also go out to the Carl Young family as well as they are feeling the same feelings we are today. They all unfortunately passed away but doing what they loved,” he wrote.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tornado Chaser Tim Samaras Killed in Oklahoma Twister
His son Paul was also killed in the El Reno, Oklahoma tornado.
Tim Samaras, one of the world’s best-known storm chasers, died in Friday’s El Reno, Oklahoma tornado along with his son, according to a statement from Samaras’s brother.
“They all unfortunately passed away but doing what they LOVED,” Jim Samaras, Tim’s brother, wrote on Facebook, saying that storm chaser Carl Young was also killed. “I look at it that he is in the ‘big tornado in the sky.’“
Tim Samaras, who was 55, spent the past 20 years zigzagging across the Plains, predicting where tornados would develop and placing probes he designed in the twister’s path in to measure data from inside the cyclone. (Read National Geographic’s last interview with Tim Samaras.)
“Data from the probes helps us understand tornado dynamics and how they form,” he told National Geographic. “With that piece of the puzzle we can make more precise forecasts and ultimately give people earlier warnings.”
Samaras’s instruments offered the first-ever look at the inside of a tornado by using six radially placed high-resolution video cameras that offered complete 360-degree views. He also captured lightning strikes using ultra-high-speed photography with a camera he designed to 1 million frames per second.
Samaras’s interest in tornados began when he was 6, after seeing the movie The Wizard of Oz. For the past 20 years, he spent May and June traveling through Tornado Alley, an area which has the highest frequency of tornados in the world.
Samaras’s team used probes that Samaras designed to measure the pressure drops within the tornados themselves, but The results were often frustrating. Tornados developed from only two out of every ten storms the team tracked and the probes were useful in only some of those tornados.
But when the probes did work, they provided information to help researchers analyze how and when tornados form.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
US Attorney Enforcing Sharia: Does He Know it?
by Diana West
Hackle-raising headline of the week: “Feds Suggest Anti-Muslim Speech Can Be Punished”
Politico ran the story on May 31, picking up on this May 21 story from the Tullahoma (TN) News: “Group sets meeting to increase tolerance of Muslims, culture.”
The only way to accomplish such a goal in the USA where liberty — freedom of religion, freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, equal protection under the law — is protected by our founding documents is to prevent Americans from learning that Islamic law specifically forbids and punishes the exercise of such freedoms.
Fact: there is no freedom of religion under Islamic law; there is only a capricious “tolerance” for the dhimmi (Christians and Jews in Islam) that controls and constrains religious identity to a punishing and humiliating degree, often leading to death. Fact: there is no freedom of speech, either, with critics and students of Islam subject to charges of apostasy and blasphemy, often leading to death. Fact: there is no equal protection under Islamic law. Islam is a supremacist creed, where Muslims and men command greater legal and social power than non-Muslims and women.
Why is the US government out to increase “tolerance” of all that?
The answer is complex…
| — Hat tip: Diana West | [Return to headlines] |
Google Gestapo Coming to a City Near You
Lithunia, Greece and various parts of Europe are experiencing the pressure of the Google Gestapo as they drive across countries in their spy-mobiles. Google Street View service has partnered up with local tax authorities, and together they are draining the pockets of residents as they turn people against each other and into citizen spies.
The Lithuanian Tax office has gone as far as creating their own iPhone app so residents can upload information about their neighbors. “We were very impressed,” said Modestas Kaseliauskas, Lithuanian State Tax Inspectorate. “We realized that we could do more with less and in shorter time.” Hundreds of thousands of dollars are being collected out of an already cash strapped European public.
Last year over 2,500 people reported citizens that they thought might be tax evaders. Gives a whole new meaning to “see something, say something.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Berlusconi Blasts Orgy Claims as ‘Pathological Fantasy’
Ex-premier says accusations could be ‘no further from reality’
(see related story on ‘pimps’ trial) (ANSA) — Rome, May 31 — Silvio Berlusconi on Friday described prosecutors’ claims that three of his associates had helped create ‘Bacchic orgies’ at the ex-premier’s home as the result of pathological “fantasy”. Prosecutor Antonio Sangermano talked of orgies as he requested seven-year prison terms for TV anchorman Emilio Fede, bankrupt ex-talent scout Lele Mora and Nicole Minetti, a former Lombardy regional councillor and Berlusconi’s former dental hygienist, for providing prostitutes for parties at the former premier’s house.
“The arguments used by the Milan prosecutors about what allegedly happened at my house in the trial of Minetti, Mora, Fede are further from the truth than it is possible to imagine,” Berlusconi said. “The fantasy of the prosecution truly appears to be boundless and it is approaching judicial pathology that can only cause indignation and concern.
“I’m certain that the power of the truth will demonstrate that these incredible, unacceptable reconstructions are groundless”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Livestock to be Fed Larvae Reared on Cow, Pig Excrement in EU Trial to Meet Rising Meat Demands
It is hardly the most appetising of prospects, but it could just be the only viable way to satisfy the ever-increasing global demand for meat.
A plan to feed animals with protein-rich maggots which have been reared on cow and pig excrement is currently being trialled by the EU.
Soya beans which are normally used in feed for animals such as chickens, pigs and fish, are in great demand so scientists and farmers have been searching for a cheap and viable alternatives.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Christian Awarded Compension After ‘Racist’ Letter From Halal Meat Farm
A Christian has been awarded £2,500 compensation after complaining he was targeted by a “racist” email while working at a Birmingham halal meat firm.
Christopher Turton was one of only two white workers at the National Halal Food group in Harborne Road, Edgbaston, and worked alongside up to 300 Muslims.
He had been promoted to National Concessional Manager for the company when the email was sent between fellow employees.
It questioned if Mr Turton had been favoured in landing his new role, asking: ‘‘Is it because he is white?’’ and also pointed out he was not a ‘Muslim brother’.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Hotel Breaks Discrimination Law on Orders of Bilderberg
The Bilderberg Group ordered a hotel at which journalists from Infowars were set to stay to cover the organization’s secretive confab next week to cancel the reservations in an unprecedented attempt to block freedom of the press.
Alex Jones and his reporters all received phone calls from the Grove Hotel in Watford, England today informing them that their reservations — which ran until the day before Bilderberg are set to meet in the same location — had been cancelled.
The manager of the hotel informed us that due to “consultations with the security services” in preparation for a big conference taking place next week, all the rooms had been cancelled.
When asked if Jones and his crew were considered a “security risk,” the hotel manager responded “I’m not implying that,” suggesting that the rooms were cancelled simply because Bilderberg ordered the Grove to do so.
To be clear, Infowars reporters had not attempted to book rooms during the Bilderberg conference, this was days before the Bilderberg conference, and yet the rooms were still cancelled.
The Grove’s action in discriminating against individuals for their political beliefs is a violation of the 2010 Equality Act. Previous cases under the same law brought by those discriminated against by guest houses due to their sexuality have been successful. A 2012 European Court of Human Rights judgement affirms the fact that discrimination against an individual due to their political beliefs is unlawful under the Equality Act.
The security operation surrounding Bilderberg — a huge chunk of which is being paid for by taxpayers to the tune of millions of pounds — is so paranoid that it doesn’t want reporters anywhere near the sprawling luxury Grove estate days before a single Bilderberg member even arrives.
This is yet another damning indictment of how Bilderberg is comprised of authoritarian control freaks who despise transparency and freedom of the press, to the extent that they now exert power over private businesses like the Grove in order to cause problems for members of the media.
All this coincided with a hack attack on Infowars.com, which has been under sustained attack over the last 12 hours.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Police Quiz Woolwich Suspect
Suspected Woolwich attacker Michael Adebolajo is being questioned by police for a second day regarding the death Drummer Lee Rigby.
One of soldier Lee Rigby’s suspected killers has continued to be questioned by police today as protest marches were due to begin around the country.
Michael Adebolajo, who was shot by police, was released from hospital yesterday and taken into custody.
The 28-year-old had already been arrested on suspicion of Drummer Rigby’s murder, and yesterday was further arrested on suspicion of the attempted murder of a police officer.
Michael Adebowale, 22, has already been charged with murdering the young soldier and is due to appear at the Old Bailey on Monday.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Tony Blair Says Murder of Lee Rigby Proves ‘There is a Problem Within Islam’
Tony Blair today makes his most powerful political intervention since leaving Downing Street by launching an outspoken attack on ‘the problem within Islam’.
The former Prime Minister addresses the shocking killing of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich by going further than he — or any front-rank British politician — has gone before over the issue of Muslim radicalism.
Writing in today’s Mail on Sunday, he departs from the usual argument that Islam is a peaceful religion that should not be tainted by the actions of a few extremists.
Instead, Mr Blair urges governments to ‘be honest’ and admit that the problem is more widespread.
‘There is a problem within Islam — from the adherents of an ideology which is a strain within Islam,’ he writes.
‘We have to put it on the table and be honest about it. Of course there are Christian extremists and Jewish, Buddhist and Hindu ones. But I am afraid this strain is not the province of a few extremists. It has at its heart a view about religion and about the interaction between religion and politics that is not compatible with pluralistic, liberal, open-minded societies.’
He adds: ‘At the extreme end of the spectrum are terrorists, but the world view goes deeper and wider than it is comfortable for us to admit. So by and large we don’t admit it.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Major food companies are ‘hoodwinking’ shoppers by naming products after ingredients that aren’t even in the packet, an investigation has found.
Beef and Tomato Pot Noodle, Uncle Ben’s chicken rice and Schwartz bacon-flavour bits are just some of the big brands which fake their meat content to entice consumers.
Instead, manufacturers create phoney meat flavouring using lumps of soya protein, yeast extract and powdered vegetables.
One popular product even achieves its meaty appearance by colouring their food with crushed insects.
But an investigation conducted for MailOnline by leading consumer activist Martin Isark found that nearly all of this information was buried on the back of the packet where shoppers are often too busy to look.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A white Muslim convert threatened to kill Prince Harry just a day after the shocking murder of a soldier in Woolwich.
Ashraf Islam, 30, formerly known as Mark Townley, confessed to police that he wanted to kill the third in line to the throne, who has served in high profile tours of Afghanistan.
Islam walked into a police station in Hounslow on May 23 and told detectives that he wanted to murder the prince hours after soldier Lee Rigby, 25, was killed.
He was charged under Section 16 of the Offences against the Person Act, which carries a possible jail term of up to 10 years, following an investigation by the Metropolitan Police’s Counter terrorism Command unit.
According to the Daily Star detectives found a laptop belonging to Islam which showed internet searches for ‘guns’, ‘vans’ and ‘kidnapping’.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The younger brother of one of the men accused of murdering Drummer Lee Rigby was paid thousands of pounds by MI6 as part of spying operations in the Middle East, The Mail on Sunday has discovered.
Jeremiah Adebolajo, who uses the name Abul Jaleel, was also asked to help ‘turn’ his brother, Michael, to work for MI5, who were already aware of Michael’s close links to extremist groups.
The claims are made by the Adebolajo family and a well-placed source who contacted The Mail on Sunday.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Morsi’s Plans for Suez Silicon Valley Divide Nation
Wary of creating a ‘state within a state’
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, MAY 31 — Egyptian President Mohamd Morsi plans to build a super-modern industrial zone on the western banks of the Suez Canal, transforming the Port Said, Ismailia and Suez provinces into hubs for technology, commerce, communications and tourism with what amounts to an ‘Egyptian Silicon Valley’ near Ismailia. The plan would also include a tunnel under the canal and the creation of a technology institute of higher education in the area. The project aims to “create advantages and development for Egypt and the Sinai”, and would theoretically increase Suez Canal revenue exponentially. Nevertheless, it does not enjoy the support of the population, even though it is based on an idea brought up by the previous regime and studied over the past few years. One of the four main sources of revenue for the state budget along with oil, remittances and tourism, the waterway connecting the Mediterranean with the Red Sea since the late nineteenth century — separating Egypt from the Sinai peninsula and in so doing rendering it “Asian and not African” — saw its revenue capacity decrease less than the other sources after the ‘Arab Spring’. It continued to function regularly even after January 25, 2011, when the ‘revolution’ began which led to the ouster of Hosni Mubarak after 30 years in power.
Stressed in Morsi’s presidential election campaign last year and highlight of his Nahda (‘Renaissance’) Project to get Egypt back on its feet, the plan for development of the canal banks includes large-scale, costly works: for example, east of Port Said a 1,200-metre-long and 500-metre-wide wharf would be built, along with facilities ensuring high quality services for ships.
Factories would be built in the industrial zone for the production of machinery, tractors, consumer goods, fertilizers, carpets, textiles, and building materials. There are no clearly defined limits, but the area slated for development would go from east of Port Said to the northwest of the Gulf of Suez, the Ain Sokhna port and the technological valley of Ismailia, along with unspecified “other new zones”.
“It is true that — at the economic level — this plan holds much promise for Egypt,” said political science and economics instructor Fakhri El Fekki, according to the weekly Ahram Hebdo, since it could raise canal revenues to “100-120 billion dollars a year, about 20 times the current level.” However, “no careful study has yet been carried out on the project,” he said. “There is talk of making use of large foreign companies. Under these conditions and with the current economic crisis in the country, there is a significant risk that it will be impossible to pay off the expenditure”. Under international law, those firms “will have user rights if they can buy parts of the new project.” Objections are also raised at the legal level. A draft law has been drawn up for the plan which would allow only the president to decide on the boundaries of the area involved.
Moreover, a Canal Development Department will have to be set up within 6 months from the date of the enactment of the law. This body — underscored international law expert Ali Al Ghatif — would hold ownership of the land involved, its funds would be private, its annual budget would be submitted solely to the head of state — who would be the only authority with power over it — and an annual report would be submitted to Parliament, which would not be able to express its opinion on the matter.
“It will be a state within a state,” said Al Ghatif.
When the canal was first built and only a few days after the pomp of the inauguration ceremony on November 16, 1869, in which French Empress Eugenie took part, Paris and London sent their representatives to get back the money Egypt had borrowed from them for the construction. Later, Ahram Weekly notes, it was Egypt to end up under British occupation for 70 years, after proving unable to pay off its debts.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Since the release of the official Israeli government al-Dura Commission report on May 19th there has been a welter of reports in the media in the US, Israel, and the UK denigrating the official report, “The France 2 Al-Durrah Report, its Consequences and Implications.” This despite overwhelming forensic, ballistics and other physical evidence that the IDF couldn’t possibly have killed Mohammed a-Dura on September 30, 2000 in an episode captured on video by a Palestinian camera man working for France 2 TV news. That is if indeed he was killed. Further there have been several documentaries disputing the comments of Charles Enderlin France 2’s producer of the infamous 55 second segment. Enderlin, who was not present at the scene in Gaza inaccurately, commented: . everything has turned over near the Netzarim settlement in the Gaza Strip…here Jamal and his son Mohammed are the targets of gunshots that have come from the Israeli position… A new burst of gunfire, Mohammed is dead and his father seriously wounded. The iconic footage captured by France 2 coupled with the unprofessional and some say unethical comments of M. Enderlin triggered the violence of the so-called Al Aqsa Mosque Second Intifada and were used by al-Qaida to stoke its Jihad against the West. We posted an Algemeiner article on the al-Dura affair, co-authored by Morton Klein and Dr. Daniel Mandel of the Zionist Organization of America. We interviewed Dr. Daniel Mandel, Director of the Zionist Organization of America’s Center for Middle East Policy. Dr. Mandel holds a PhD in Middle East Diplomatic History from the University of Melbourne. He is the author of the book, H.V.Evatt & the Establishment of Israel. One of the principal conclusions that Dr. Mandel reaches in our discussion is that Israel has to develop a comprehensive political and military doctrine to combat the calumnies of disinformation and demonization by Palestinians and Jihadists. This is offensive not defensive war which is Israel’s present doctrine. Israel cannot rely on its business as usual, believing that somehow putting out press releases and fact sheets through the Prime Minister’s press aides and Foreign Ministry officials will somehow get the truth out. One of the suggestions emerging from our interview with Dr. Mandel is that Israel should consider having the al Dura investigative evidence reviewed by an international panel of experts of repute in several disciplines and let the group release an independent report at an international press conference. Whether, the Netanyahu government would adopt such a suggestion is quite another matter. Unfortunately, the delays over 13 years since the France 2 al-Dura video was released have only buttressed the Churchill quotation cited by Dr. Mandel: A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to put on its pants. The Al-Dura affair has not had it wings clipped by the Israeli government report. Perhaps Israel should consider the adoption of the proactive strategy Dr. Mandel calls for to combat the Palestinian propaganda war in the international media.
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Palestine — Pouring Money Into a Bottomless Pit
US Secretary of State John Kerry at a meeting of the World Economic Forum in Jordan this week proposed investing another four billion dollars in trying to resolve the 130 years old Jewish-Arab conflict.
Why these billions would succeed — when tens of billions given at previous international aid meetings failed — remains a mystery.
The belief that economic prosperity for the Arabs living in the West Bank will bring a lasting end to the conflict has proved worthless in the past and will continue to do so in the future.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Drone Strikes in Yemen Leave 7 Dead
At least 7 suspected militants belonging to Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) were killed in two drone strikes carried out in southern Yemen.
The men were traveling in two cars when the drones attacked them according to a local official in the country.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Peter Hitchens: We Set Syria Ablaze… Now We’re Hurling in Explosives
I confess that I used to think highly of William Hague. I now freely admit that I was hopelessly wrong.
The man has no judgment, no common sense, and is one of the worst Foreign Secretaries we have ever had, which is saying something.
His policies — disgracefully egged on by a BBC that has lost all sense of impartiality — are crazily creating war where there was peace.
Syria for all its faults was the last place in the region where Arab Christians were safe. Now it never will be again. Who benefits from this? Not Britain, for certain.
Now, Mr Hague’s strange zeal for lifting the EU arms embargo has caused Moscow to promise a delivery of advanced anti-aircraft missiles to Syria. Israel has threatened to destroy them if deployed. Syria has said it will respond with force.
This is exactly how major wars start. Mr Hague is not just pouring petrol into a blazing house full of screaming people. He is hurling in high explosives as well. It may even be that some people actually want such a war, with Iran as its true target.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Turkish PM Erdogan Retires Mall Project, Vows Mosque in Taksim
PM Erdogan says the controversial military barracks to be built in Taksim will not be used as a shopping mall, while promising to build a a mosque in the iconic square
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stepped back from building a shopping mall in the Artillery Barracks project to replace Taksim Gezi Park, while also announcing that a mosque will be built on Taksim Square.
“You cannot make an AVM [shopping mall] familiar to the international ones in this area. There is no conclusive AVM project here. Maybe we will make a city museum there or an architectural work that will put different activities in place. Is there any certain document? No,” said Erdogan on June 2 in Istanbul as he attended the Rumeli Turks Association’s general assembly.
Erdogan also said the much debated Atatürk Cultural Center (AKM), also on Taksim Square, should be demolished, proposing to build an opera house and a mosque there instead.
“A mosque will be built in Taksim,” said Erdogan adding that he did not have to receive permission from the main opposition leader or a “few marauders” for the projects. He said that the authority had already been given by people who voted for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP)…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Moscow Opens First Bike-Sharing Network to Beat Jams
One of the world’s least cycle-friendly cities, Moscow, will on Saturday launch its first bicycle sharing scheme allowing residents to pedal around for free and escape the traffic gridlock.
The scheme, similar to those already in place in cities such as London and Paris, will start on a modest scale with 1,000 bicycles placed at 50 stands around the city centre.
“This gives us hope that civilisation is coming to our city,” said Sergei Yakobson, who runs a website that urges people to ditch cars for the saddle.
“If 15 percent of drivers used the system this summer, we would breathe more easily in Moscow,” said the president of the Federation of Russian Car-Owners, Sergei Kanayev.
On Tverskoi Bulvar in central Moscow, on the eve of the scheme’s launch, the bright-red bikes in racks were attracting plenty of attention.
“The idea is great, especially the first free half-hour and the second half-hour for 30 rubles ($1). But the city is not designed for cycling. It will be dangerous as soon as you get out of the small quiet streets and find yourself in the snarled traffic,” said Alyona, 22, a medical student.
The city is severely lacking in cycle paths and most cyclists stay on the pavements.
Moscow city hall has announced that it will develop a total of 131 kilometres (81 miles) of cycle paths by the end of this year, a tiny figure compared with other large cities.
New York has more than 1,100 kilometres (684 miles) of cycle paths while Stockholm has 760 kilometres (472 miles), Berlin has 620 kilometres and Paris has 440 kilometres.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Taliban Bomber ‘Who Killed Three Soldiers’ To be Freed From the British Guantanamo
A Taliban bomb-maker suspected of directing an attack that killed three British soldiers could be freed within weeks if lawyers win their battle to close the ‘British Guantanamo’, it was claimed last night.
Defence sources have told The Mail on Sunday that the terrorist leader is being held at a controversial prison within Camp Bastion.
But after pressure from human rights lawyers, the Taliban explosives expert is likely to be released into the notoriously corrupt Afghan judicial system, with the danger that he will be freed to launch fresh attacks.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Japan Competing With China for Africa Trade
In 2011, China’s trade with Africa reached 138.9 billion dollars, five times Japan’s. Tokyo needs oil, rare earths and markets for its vehicles and high tech. Its aid includes agricultural projects, technical training, and maritime security off the coast of Somalia.
Tokyo (AsiaNews/Agencies) — The Japanese capital will host an International Conference on African Development on 1-3 June, organised by the government of Shinzo Abe.
More than 50 African leaders will attend the meeting, which is held every five years and is one of the biggest events on its kind.
Japan’s prime minister is expected to meet personally at least 40 leaders, in order to enhance his country’s trade with the continent hitherto dominated by the Chinese.
Africa’s economic growth is luring Japanese exporters, and Tokyo wants to tap into the continent’s vast natural gas and oil reserves after the 2011 Fukushima disaster led to the closing of its nuclear plants.
So far, China has taken advantage of the continent’s potential with its companies fuelling China-Africa trade to the tune of US$ 138.6 billion in 2011, nearly five times Japan’s commerce with the continent, this according to Foreign Ministry data.
Currently, Japan buys metals and energy from Africa and exports vehicles and machinery. Now the government wants to buy rare earths to end its dependence on China, the world’s leading supplier of these minerals, and is willing to offer assistance in the high-tech sector, especially to South Africa.
However, as it battles a major economic crisis, Japan has been focused on domestic affairs. Since coming to power six months ago, Shinzo Abe has in fact not visited a single African country. By comparison, Chinese President Xi Jinping, who took office in March, has already visited Tanzania and the Republic of Congo, reiterating a pledge for US$ 20 billion in loans.
At the three-day summit, Shinzo Abe will reiterate an early pledge on agricultural development projects and technical training in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as help to enhance maritime security off the coast of Somalia.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
By Shoebat Foundation on June 2, 2013
In 1992, Barack Obama’s half-brother Malik was the best man at Barack’s wedding. Some time thereafter — no later than 1995 — Barack shared an office with Bill Ayers, founder of the Weather Underground. The two men shared that address (115 South Sangamon St., 3rd Floor, Chicago) for at least three years.
Since that time, Malik began working with the Islamic Da’wa Organization (IDO) and became the Executive Secretary. As such, he is working with and for an entity that is an extension of the Sudanese government, which is identified by the U.S. State Department as a State Sponsor of Terror and is led by a mass murderer wanted for crimes against humanity, Omar al-Bashir.
Al-Bashir’s victims number in the millions.
Back to Ayers… Let us remember that the Weather Underground founder is “unrepentant” about his terrorist past, which means Obama made a decision to ‘pal around’ with a terrorist in Ayers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Riyadh Expels Nepalese Migrants
The Saudi government ultimatum will expire on July 3. Kathmandu authorities concerned by sudden return of 120 thousand migrant workers. Experts: “If the government fails to generate jobs, the country risks hunger and poverty.”
Kathmandu (AsiaNews) — Illegal migrant workers from Nepal will have until July 3rd to leave Saudi Arabia. It is expected that about 120 thousand Nepalese will be forced to return home as a result of the ultimatum issued on May 10 by the authorities in Riyadh. The Nepalese government is attempting to negotiate terms for their expulsion.
From Kathmandu, the Foreign Minister, Arjun Karki, calls the situation ‘worrying’ and has stated that “the Nepalese authorities are trying to persuade the Saudi government to reconsider the position of migrants.” The sudden return home of 120 thousand workers to the kingdom, would risk plunging the Himalayan country into an abyss of hunger and poverty. Binod KC, director general of the Department of Foreign Employment in Nepal, explained that “it is a serious problem and that it is unrealistic to think that this huge labor force can be absorbed by the local industry.”
According to some experts a surplus workforce would drag Nepal into a severe economic and social crisis, when you consider the total dependence of many families from the monthly financial contributions from migrant workers. At the moment, there are more than 400 thousand migrant workers spread out among Malaysia, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
In Saudi Arabia, two of the nine million immigrants are believed to be illegal. In June 2011, the Minister of Labor in Riyadh launched a campaign of ‘Saudization’ of the country to facilitate the recruitment of young Arabs, replacing a small percentage of the foreign workforce. Even Qatar, next to Malaysia for the large presence of Nepalese immigrants, has implemented a strict policy against illegal workers, arresting them and sending them to forced labor camps.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
by Steven Hayward in Higher education
Our friends at the Young America’s Foundation note that there are exactly zero conservatives among the commencement speakers at Ivy League universities this year, though this shouldn’t surprise anyone by this point. I have a theory on this: the Ivy League is still reeling from Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s 1978 Harvard commencement address, “A World Split Apart,” which was a fulsome attack on everything that Harvard stands for. It could well have been called “A World Split Apart—By Harvard.” If you’re old enough to remember, it caused a huge ruckus. Won’t ever let that happen again.
So who did Harvard honor at commencement this year? Oprah. Need I point out that she’s attained the dimensions of people who only need to be referred to by a single name. Like Bono. Or Prince. Or Cher. Or Yanni. Though—sorry—I think Oprah, as a commencement speaker, could well deserve the nickname “Yawnie.”
Anyway, of all the places one would least have expected criticism of Oprah at Harvard, Time magazine would be high on the list. In fact it wouldn’t have even made my list. Yet here is Time, suggesting that Harvard is embracing a devotee of “phony science”:…
| — Hat tip: DS | [Return to headlines] |
HHS Website for Girls, 10 to 16, Informs Youth About Birth Control, Gay Sex, ‘Mutual Masturbation’
A government website designed for girls ages 10 to 16 offers health advice and information on a wide range of topics, including homosexuality, anal sex and “mutual masturbation.”
The Health and Human Services’ girlshealth.gov includes tips on fitness and nutrition and an “environmental health” section where girls can read about leading a “green” lifestyle.
But the site also includes a glossary that explains anal sex and “mutual masturbation” and includes information about birth control and how to access everything from condoms to “emergency contraceptives.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Official Cross-Dressing Day for Kids Helps Confuse Them About Gender
The report from Fox said the school, when confronted by concerns about a “gender-bender” day, did decide to alter the name to “Switch it up.” But the focus remained the same, said critics. One mother who held her son home from school that day suggested it created an impossible situation for students — either to go along and dress up as the opposite sex, or to refuse to participate and be pointed out as someone who did not do anything. Terrence Falks, a member of the school board, defended the activity, saying his own son-in-law remembered similar events in a church school. But parent Sam Ward said it just teaches children the wrong lesson about gender.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
We Are Now One Year Away From Global Riots, Complex Systems Theorists Say
In a 2011 paper, researchers at the Complex Systems Institute unveiled a model that accurately explained why the waves of unrest that swept the world in 2008 and 2011 crashed when they did. The number one determinant was soaring food prices. Their model identified a precise threshold for global food prices that, if breached, would lead to worldwide unrest.
The MIT Technology Review explains how CSI’s model works: “The evidence comes from two sources. The first is data gathered by the United Nations that plots the price of food against time, the so-called food price index of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN. The second is the date of riots around the world, whatever their cause.” Plot the data, and it looks like this:
Pretty simple. Black dots are the food prices, red lines are the riots. In other words, whenever the UN’s food price index, which measures the monthly change in the price of a basket of food commodities, climbs above 210, the conditions ripen for social unrest around the world. CSI doesn’t claim that any breach of 210 immediately leads to riots, obviously; just that the probability that riots will erupt grows much greater. For billions of people around the world, food comprises up to 80% of routine expenses (for rich-world people like you and I, it’s like 15%). When prices jump, people can’t afford anything else; or even food itself. And if you can’t eat — or worse, your family can’t eat — you fight.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Yahoo to Users: Let Us Read Your Emails or — Goodbye!
As of June 1, all Yahoo email users are required to upgrade to the company’s newest platform, which allows Yahoo to scan and analyze every email they write or receive. According to Yahoo’s help page, all users who make the transition agree to let the company perform “content scanning and analyzing of your communications content” to target ads, offer products, and perform “abuse protection.”
This means any message that Yahoo’s algorithms find disturbing could flag a user as a bully, a threat, or worse. At the same time, Yahoo can now openly troll through email for personal information that it can share or hold onto indefinitely.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The EU is basically a big income transfer system. A nation receives support from the EU based on it’s GNP (on paper). The smaller the GNP (on paper) is, the larger the support. Paradoxically, this favours the countries with the highest rate of corruption, and punishes those with the lowest.
I’m afraid it’s a bit more complicated than that.
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