A high-level commander in the Supreme Military Council of the US-backed Free Syrian Army was killed yesterday by a faction linked to Al Qaeda. Groups affiliated with Al Qaeda have allied with the FSA against the Assad regime, but this one promises to kill all members of the FSA’s Supreme Military Council.
In other news, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano has announced her resignation. Ms. Napolitano will assume the office of president of the University of California system after she leaves her federal post.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, JP, Russkiy, Seneca III, 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.
Commission Dismisses German Banker’s ‘Nazi’ Jibe
The European Commission dismissed as an “inappropriate analogy” comparisons made by Bavarian bank boss Stephan Gotzl between Hitler’s 1933 enabling act and its Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM). The commission reiterated the SRM proposal respected the EU treaties and was designed to “protect the European taxpayer in case of bank failure.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
German Officials Liken EU Banking Power Proposal to “Nazi Enabling Acts”
In June, an EU commission put forth a banking resolution proposal giving itself powers in which the ability to shut down banks would be centralised in the European Commission.
Brussels would have the clout to overrule the bank’s home country and use funds from a central pot.
Specifically, the commission proposed the resolution authority to “be equipped with a single bank resolution fund”. The fund would have the power to borrow from markets, using the “assets of euro area banks” as a guarantee and backstop.
Nazi Enabling Acts
The proposal was presented on Tuesday by Michel Barnier, EU commissioner for internal market and services, and immediately went up in flames when German politicians likened Brussels bank powers to Nazi ‘enabling acts’.
The head of a Bavarian banking association compared the European Commission’s plan to grant itself the final say on winding up troubled banks to the type of law that allowed the Nazis to seize power.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Here Comes the Pain: Detroit to “Significantly Cut Vested Pensions” For Retirees
During the summer of 2011, as Ben Bernanke and his mainstream propaganda arm convinced Americans that green shoots were cropping up all over the nation, warnings of the coming destruction of America’s pension funds had begun to emerge…
Just two years on we’re seeing the warnings manifest in the real world.
Once again, we focus the microscope on Detroit, which to those paying attention, is America’s canary in the coal mine signaling what’s to come for the rest of the country.
With the threat of a city bankruptcy looming, Detroit city workers and retirees are pushing back against the state-appointed emergency manager, filing lawsuits to limit his options and refusing to accept demands to keep details of their discussions secret.
One lawsuit, filed in Ingham County Circuit Court in the state capital Lansing, seeks to stop Governor Rick Snyder from allowing the emergency manager, Kevyn Orr, to file Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy. That lawsuitclaims Orr’s plan to significantly cut vested pensions would violate strong protections in the Michigan constitution for retirement benefits of public-sector workers…
Notice that everyone assumes the unfunded liabilities are $640 million, but in reality, once you start looking at the numbers, the city owes five times as much — $3.5 billion! That’s a significant miscalculation.
It’s very simple to figure out what happens here using basic arithmetic.
Labor unions and city employees can sue the city to their heart’s content. This will not change the facts:
There’s no money.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Public Sector Loses 368,000 Jobs in 10 Years
Down 11.5% since 2001, Istat says
(ANSA) — Rome, July 11 — Italy has lost 368,000 full-time public-sector jobs in 10 years, the national statistics agency said Thursday. In 2011, just over 2.8 million people were employed by the government, mostly in the armed forces and police, down 11.5% since 2001. 2011 marked the beginning of massive austerity cuts and public-sector layoffs in an effort to avert a Greece-like economic collapse. Istat said the number was also down due to a number of public entities being converted to private ones. In addition, temporary staff was down 21.3% in the same period, while hiring outside contractors went up 18%.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: ‘Family Housing Market Down 74 Bln Euros in Six Years’
‘IMU partly to blame’ says builders’ association
(ANSA) — Rome, July 11 — The Italian housing market for families has lost 74 billion euros with respect to six years ago, the president of the Italian builders’ association ANCE said Thursday. “The market is practically still,” Paolo Buzzetti told members at a meeting. Buzzetti added that an unpopular housing tax known as IMU “has contributed in a decisive way to this drop”. Rolling back IMU was a major platform that helped launch ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi’s center-right People of Freedom (PdL) party to second place in February elections and eventually secure a stake in the current left-right coalition government. He has threatened to bring down the government if it fails to roll back the tax despite calls from international bodies such as the IMF and the OECD to retain it in order to ensure financial stability.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Portugal: Gov’t Seeks Bailout Review Pushback to September
President continues talks on ‘grand coalition’ government
(ANSAmed) — LISBON — Portugual on Friday requested a bailout review originally scheduled for next week by officials from the European Union and the IMF to be delayed until September “because of the ongoing political situation”, the government said. The government said it needs more time to iron out its next anti-crisis program. This is the eighth time it has requested such a delay since the 78-billion-euro bailout was granted in 2011. Also on Friday, President Anibal Cavaco Silva is in talks with leaders from the three major parties to find a way out of the crisis sparked by the resignation last Friday of Foreign Minister Paulo Portas, a critic of austerity.
After an initial refusal, the Socialists are now examining Cavaco’s proposed “national salvation” government. Lukewarm overtures also came from Premier Pedro Passos Coelho, who leads the Social-Democratic party, and from Portas, whose CDS-PP party is an indispensable ally of the center-right government.
Portas last Friday threatened to withdraw from the ruling coalition, but stepped back into the ranks when he was appointed deputy premier and finance minister.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Shorter Vacations for Greeks, 73% Will Not Holiday
According to survey by consumers’ institute
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS — This year 73% of Greek nationals will not go on holiday compared to 63% last year while many of those who will take a vacation have decided to make it shorter, according to a national survey by consumers’ institute Inka.
According to the poll, this scenario is mostly due to the economic crisis — in 70% of cases — which has hit Greece in the past three years. Moreover, the great majority of the 27% who will actually go on holiday will only take a short break — just four days for 40% of those polled. Also, 80% will be staying with relatives or friends while on holiday to cut costs.
Vacations abroad have been reduced by 50%, the survey also found.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Former Cop Turned Nurse Assaults Patients at Oregon Hospital
[WARNING: Disturbing content.]
A 38-year-old nurse fired from Legacy Emanuel Medical Center will be in court Thursday morning to face an indictment accusing him of sexually assaulting three women who were seeking treatment at the Portland hospital’s emergency room.
Jeffrey Neyle McAllister, who previously worked as a police officer in Beaverton and Seaside, was arrested Wednesday at his Northwest Portland home.
McAllister attacked three patients in private rooms in the ER between last September and this past April, the indictment alleges. The investigation began after a patient came forward in early April, police said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Janet Napolitano to Resign as Secretary of Homeland Security, Official Says
Janet Napolitano, who has served as President Obama’s secretary of homeland security since the beginning of his administration, is stepping down to become president of the University of California university system, administration officials said Friday.
Ms. Napolitano, a former governor of Arizona, has overseen the administration’s handling of homegrown terrorist incidents, major disasters and immigration, one of the most expansive portfolios of anyone in the cabinet. She had her eye on becoming the next attorney general, but with this move is taking herself out of the Washington political arena.
| [Return to headlines] |
Judge in Zimmerman Case Pressured by Obama Administration?
Bizarre outburst against Zimmerman suggests prejudice
Speculation is raging that the judge in the George Zimmerman case could have been put under pressure by the Obama administration after she staged a bizarre outburst during which she interrogated Zimmerman while repeatedly silencing his lawyers.
The hostile exchange began when Judge Debra Nelson asked Zimmerman if he planned to testify.
Essentially, Judge Nelson told Zimmerman he had the “absolute right to remain silent” but then proceeded to demand he answer her questions interrogation-style while silencing his lawyers.
Defense attorney Don West twice objected to Nelson’s interrogation, prompting the judge to raised her voice and exclaim, “Your objection is overruled!” in a manner more befitting of an angry parent lecturing a child than a legal professional.
Both of Zimmerman’s lawyers appeared shocked as attorney Mark O’Mara asked under his breath, “what is going on?”
Several legal experts and observers said the outburst was unprecedented.
“I have never seen that in more than 30 years of court reporting,” tweeted journalist Kathi Belich.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Justice Dept. Helped Organize Anti-Zimmerman Marches and Protests
As the defense in the trial of George Zimmerman rested on Wednesday, a public-interest group acquired government documents that revealed the Department of Justice’s complicity in turning the shooting and killing of a young man into a racial incident that warranted protests and demonstrations by the nation’s African Americans, according to a statement released on Wednesday.
Judicial Watch officials stated that local, state, and federal records requests identified an obscure unit of the Department of Justice — the Community Relations Service (CRS) — which was dispatched to Sanford, Fla., following the shooting of Trayvon Martin in order to to help organize and manage rallies and protests against the shooter George Zimmerman, who claims he killed the 17-year-old Martin in self-defense.
The incident and trial created a media frenzy that almost constantly highlighted the race of the deceased and that of his killer, according to former police detective Sid Franes. “Had this shooting not been seen through a racial prism, it’s doubtful the trial would garner such high-profile news coverage,” he said.
A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the Justice Department was filed by Judicial Watch on April 24, 2012 and 125 pages were received on May 30, 2012.
The non-profit, non-partisan group then appealed the request on June 5, 2012, and received an additional 222 pages on March 6, 2013.
According to the documents:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Liberal Doom and Gloom 90 Years Ago
If you told me in 1922 that global warming was going to drown the planet because of melting icebergs, or that “at many points well-known glaciers have entirely disappeared,” replaced by moraines of earth and stones, or that seals vanished, I might have believed you.
“The Arctic Ocean is warming up, icebergs are growing scarcer and in some places the seals are finding the water too hot,” said the Washington Post on November 2, 1922, citing a report to the Commerce Department received from Bergen, Norway. This report was based on statements by fishermen, seal hunters, and explorers; “soundings to a depth of 3,100 meters showed the gulf stream still very warm.” Additionally, the report said that “scarcely any ice has been met as far north as 81 degrees 29 minutes.” As a logical thinker, if this were true, I would have definitely considered the Gulf Stream a possible cause of the alleged warming, not the greenhouse gases, or the currently maligned CO2.
The Washington Post continued in its 1922 article, “Within a few years, it is predicted that due to the ice melt, the sea will rise and make most coastal cities uninhabitable.”
John Lockwood, who found the above-mentioned article said, “This was one of several such articles I have found at the Library of Congress for the 1920s and 1930s. I had read of the just-released NASA estimates that four of the 10 hottest years in the U.S. were actually in the 1930s, with 1934 the hottest of all.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
New App Allows Its Users to Tattle on Gun Owners
App’s website encourages users to report gun owners who hold anti-government political views.
A new Smart Phone app describing itself as “tattle ware” allows users to upload information regarding locations where they have “gun related concerns,” allowing people to anonymously report their neighbors and others if issue is taken with their ownership of firearms.
o Marker app, created by a group called The Walkingtools Laboratory and available through the Google Play Android marketplace, says “marking dangerous sites on the App’s map” will let “you and others… be aware of the risks in your neighborhood.”…
As much as the software’s developers claim safety as their motivation for creating the app, the truth is it’s just technology geared to promote distrust, fear and contempt among the general population, while at the same time attempting to demonize gun ownership.
Much like 1930-Germany’s official secret police, the Gestapo, relied on a large network of informers comprised largely of average citizens, the new app enlists average citizens to spy on one another, and encourages users to single out individuals who may not feel comfortable having their firearm ownership broadcast publicly.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
New Black Panthers: “Unrest All Over America” If Zimmerman Acquitted
The extremist New Black Panthers Party has predicted “unrest all over America” if George Zimmerman is acquitted, although the group denied that it was organizing riots in light of claims its leader had vowed to burn down white communities.
A quote being attributed to New Black Panthers leader Samir Shabazz by numerous Internet sites states, “This time we’re doing it right… This time we’re not burning down our communities. This time we’re going out to Whitey’s suburbs and burning down HIS community. We’re going to make Whitey feel the pain.”
There appears to be no primary evidence that Shabazz actually made that statement, although he has previously made vile threats about murdering white people.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
NYPD Releases Toxic Gases on Non-Consenting Guinea Pig Citizens in Subway ‘Attack Drill’
(NaturalNews) You may not have heard much of anything about it, but millions of New Yorkers who use the Big Apple’s underground public transit system recently become the victims of a major chemical attack — no, not an attack by some unknown terrorist cell from the Middle East, but one initiated by the New York Police Department (NYPD).
According to new reports, the NYPD, in conjunction with a prominent federally-run laboratory, blasted plumes of a chemical gas known to cause respiratory problems and lung injury into the New York City subway system as part of a coordinated “attack drill.” The purpose of the drill, as officially stated, was to assess how terrorists might try to disburse more harmful chemicals into a public place as part of a future biological attack.
After placing a number of air-sampling devices both inside subway tunnels and at ground-level entryways all around the city, NYPD officers working together with officials from the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Long Island proceeded to pump tracer gases known as perfluorocarbons into subway tunnels during people’s morning commute. They then tested how the gases spread throughout the day.
NBC New York explains that the chemical gas, which is derived from the waste of aluminum processing plants, was sprayed into subway tunnels at such low concentrations that nobody was expected to become injured by them, at least according to the so-called experts. In fact, most of the mainstream media sources reporting the story have declared the gas to be “safe.”
But numerous safety data sheets on perfluorocarbons tell a much different story, as do various studies that have evaluated the chemical’s effects on mammals over the years. As it turns out, perfluorocarbons have been shown in at least one randomized trial to cause respiratory distress syndrome, acute lung injury, and other health problems when inhaled.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Saving America: One City, County and State at a Time
“Take over your city and school boards and tell the county to take a hike. Then create a tight-knit association of free cities. Take over your county and tell the state to take a hike. Then create a tight-knit association of free counties. Take over your state and tell the federal government to take a hike. Then create a tight-knit association of free states. Take over the federal government and reclaim freedom for all Americans. That is how the socialists took over America, one school board, one city, one county, one state at a time and finally the federal government. That is how conservatives will save America from the ravages of socialism by creating small, but ever-growing strongholds and associations of freedom. If freedom cannot be reclaimed in this manner, then freedom will only be reclaimed in blood.” Ron Ewart
– From Virginia going liberal in 2012, to New York and Pennsylvania and finally to the seven remaining 13 colonies in the Northeast that started America’s march towards freedom, America’s states and counties are turning blue. Actually, America is turning red, the color of socialism and communism. Large urban centers around the great bodies of water from the Atlantic, to the Great Lakes, to the Caribbean and on to the Pacific Ocean, are driving the Electoral College into the jaws of liberalism and Progressivism with growing urban populations that are dependent on government. From government itself, to academia and to those who make (not report) the news, liberalism has taken over America one school board, one city, one county and one state at a time. Liberals now OWN most city, county and state governments and the federal government.
This all happened while conservatives in the general population busied themselves with anything but politics. The fundamental transformation of America took place right under their noses. Obama is not the only President who was and is complicit in this radical transformation. He is just one of a long line of liberals that aided and abetted the transformation, from Wilson, to FDR, to Kennedy, to Johnson, to Carter, to Clinton and now Obama. The fundamental transformation is just about complete. Turning back the clock may be virtually impossible because the transformation has come so far. Nevertheless, there still might be time to save America if we hurry and get our collective act together.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Shocking Photos: Racist 1969 FBI Coloring Book for Kids Advocates Killing ‘Pig Cops’
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
Disturbing and highly racist photos from a 1969 coloring book distributed to kids via the FBI’s ‘COINTEL’ program were a part of the secretive operation that sought to infiltrate groups like the Black Panthers by spreading such insane propaganda in their name.
Amazingly, the COINTEL program is an admitted staple in what makes up the secret programs that the FBI and federal government at large have and continue to run against public interest. What’s more, anyone can easily access a large amount of information on programs like COINTEL with a simple Google search. You’ll find that COINTEL has a major entry on Wikipedia, where the operation is plainly stated as historical fact that was both illegal and conducted secretly until busted in 1971. You can also see the images on the The University of Notre Dame website.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Step Up Before It’s Too Late, Mr. President
Dear Mr. President:
– From the moment you chose to insert yourself, and, as Judicial Watch has discovered, your minions at the Justice Department into a local incident in Sanford, Florida, a travesty of justice has unfolded.
That your administration’s orchestrated discontent was aided and abetted by a media more than willing to alter reality with doctored audio, (courtesy of NBC, attempting to make George Zimmerman appear racist); doctored video, (courtesy of ABC, who purposefully covered Zimmerman’s head wounds with a strategically placed graphic); and the execrable New York Times, which referred to Zimmerman as a “white Hispanic” (which, by the way, makes you a “white African-American”) is unsurprising.
What is surprising is the apparent motive here. Apparently you and your administration believe an enraged black American community is a united black American community. United behind what? The kind of racial arson perpetrated by the likes of Al Sharpton, whose stature was enhanced by the appearance of both you and your attorney general, Eric Holder, at one of Sharpton’s National Action Network events?
Whatever verdict the jury renders in this case, made even more transparently unfair by the 11th hour addition of a manslaughter alternative to the original charge of second degree murder, as well as the prosecution’s pathetic attempt to file felony “child abuse” charges against Zimmerman, is almost irrelevant. The incalculable damage to the advancement of racial harmony in America has already been largely accomplished.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Government Is Spying On ALL Americans’ Digital and Old-Fashioned Communications
Even now — after all of the revelations by Edward Snowden and other whistleblowers — spying apologists say that the reports are “exaggerated” or “overblown”, and that the government only spies on potential bad guys.
In reality, the government is spying on everyone’s digital and old-fashioned communications.
For example, the government is photographing the outside information on every piece of snail mail.
The government is spying on you through your phone … and may even remotely turn on your camera and microphone when your phone is off.
As one example, the NSA has inserted its code into Android’s operating system … bugging three-quarters of the world’s smartphones. Google — or the NSA — can remotely turn on your phone’s camera and recorder at any time…
According to the NSA’s former director of global digital data — William Binney — the NSA’s new data storage center in Utah will have so much storage capacity that:
“They would have plenty of space … to store at least something on the order of 100 years worth of the worldwide communications, phones and emails and stuff like that,” Binney asserts, “and then have plenty of space left over to do any kind of parallel processing to try to break codes.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Iconoclast: Another Saudi Royal Human Trafficking Case, This Time in Orange County California
Saudi Royals have an ugly habit of bringing their cultural values with them when they come to America, slavery.. We are referring to the latest case of a Saudi Princess Meshael Alayban who has been arraigned in a Santa Ana Courtroom in Orange County, California for keeping a Kenyan and four Filipina women in virtual domestic slavery. Huffington Post chronicled the latest violation of US human trafficking law…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
The Iconoclast: Saudi Princess Arraigned in Orange County Court on Human Trafficking Charges
The Orange County Register (OCR) has an update on our post of the arrest of Saudi Princess Mashael Alayban. Alayban was arraigned in Superior Court in Santa Ana, Thursday, July 11, 2013 on human trafficking charges arising from the compliant of a Kenyan woman in Alayban employ who left the condo complex in California and contacted local police for assistance. It now appears that Alyban is the sixth wife of a grandson of the first saudi King,Abdulrahman bin Nasser bin Abdulaziz al Saud. While the OCR cites similar charges against Saudi royals in Florida and London, it neglected to report the 2006 case of a Saudi Prince and his wife in Colorado that we referred to our post. The OCR article notes what occured in court: on Thursday., as well as background on the compliant by the kenyan women employee of Princess Alayban, as well as the Saudi family real estate holdings in Orange County. The Saudi government put up the $5 million bail and the court retained the princess; Saudi passport to prevent possible flight. Upon posting bail , Princess Alayban was released to reappear at hearing on the charges scheduled for July 29th. OCR noted that Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas likened Alayban’s actions to slavery…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Will North Colorado be the 51st State in the Union?
There are ten counties in northern Colorado that are discussing plans to secede from the state of Colorado in order to form a new state that would be known as “North Colorado”. North Colorado would have a population of more than 300,000 people, and it would be the 42nd largest state in the country by land area. The county officials that are leading this movement say that a “collective mass” of issues has resulted in this desire to leave the state of Colorado for good. In recent years, the Democratically-controlled state legislature has been pursuing new regulations on the oil and gas industries, it has imposed strict new renewable energy standards throughout the state and it has adopted new gun control measures that are highly unpopular with rural voters. The desire to be independent of the meddling bureaucrats in the state capital is certainly a commendable goal, but there are some obstacles that will make establishing a new state very difficult. Hopefully the challenges will not cause those pursuing this new state to lose heart.
Recently, representatives from ten Colorado counties held a meeting in the town of Akron to map out the boundaries for the new state…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: Two Terror Suspects Being Questioned in Athens
Two people believed to be involved in attacks orchestrated by the guerrilla organization Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire were being questioned by counter-terrorism officers in Athens on Friday following their arrest in Thessaloniki.
The two men, both aged 30, are being probed in particular for their possible involvement in a suspected spinoff organization, Informal Anarchist Federation-International Revolutionary Front, which claimed responsibility for mailing a booby-trapped envelope to the former head of the country’s anti-terrorism unit Dimitris Horianopoulos and for bombing the cars of the Korydallos Prison Governor and of a jail guard in Nafplio as well as other attacks.
The letter bomb to Horianopoulos was intercepted and destroyed in a controlled explosion.
The two suspects were to face a prosecutor on Friday afternoon.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Pernigotti Chocolates Sold to Turkish Group
Latest Italian icon to go abroad
(ANSA) — Milan, July 11 — Pernigotti chocolates became the latest historical Italian brand to end up in foreign hands Thursday, sold to the Turkish Toksoz group.
The 150-year-old chocolatier, famed for its ‘gianduiotti’ hazelnut-flavoured nuggets, has annual sales of around 75 million euros.
Last week storied cashmere firm Loro Piana was swallowed up by the world’s largest luxury group, LMVH.
LVMH has acquired several iconic Italian brands over the years.
Last month it purchased a majority share in Milan’s historical Cova pastry-shop brand, based in the heart of the city’s well-heeled fashion district.
In 2011 it took over the luxury Italian fashion brand Bulgari.
In the same year, fashion house Brioni went to France-based PPR and a controlling stake of Moncler was sold to French investment company Eurazeo.
France is not the only foreign investor in iconic Italian fashion houses.
In 2012 the Qatar royal family bought the Valentino Fashion Group (VFG) under its holding company Mayhoola for Investments Spc.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy to Lure More Foreign Investment Says Letta
‘Destination Italy’ expected to get green light in September
(ANSA) — Rome, July 12 — Italy needs to lure more foreign investment, Premier Enrico Letta said Friday, announcing a new project set to get a green light in September.
The project, Destination Italy, will involve several ministries to attract foreign direct investment which is “still scant,” the premier said.
Investment in Italy is lower than in its rivals.
Rigid labour laws, slow justice and red tape are frequently blamed
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Royal Parents William and Kate to Keep Media at Bay
LONDON (AFP) — The world’s media have been camped for days outside the London hospital where Prince William’s wife Catherine will give birth, but the royal couple are expected to tightly control access to the new heir to the throne.
Once the newborn is presented to the public, the little prince or princess is likely to be kept out of the spotlight for weeks, if not months, experts say.
For all that the royals have complained about media intrusion in the past, notably following the death of William’s mother Diana, they now successfully manage their exposure through a slick PR operation.
“Control over access to the baby and to their family absolutely lies in the hands of William and Kate,” said Patrick Jephson, former chief of staff to Diana.
“There will be unprecedented media interest in this baby and that will continue for the rest of its life,” he told AFP.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Time to Wise Up to the Muslim Brotherhood
by John Ware [Standpoint magazine July/August 2013]
In June, the House of Commons hosted a talk on the Muslim Brotherhood movement, and how it is spreading across the globe. Steven Merley, a former financial trader turned investigator of extremist movements, has probed the Brotherhood for over a decade. It is particularly active in Britain and according to Merley, its strategy is to “create mischief” with a heavy emphasis on Muslim victimhood including the charge that the West has been waging a war on Islam. This has been a powerful radicalising factor in young Muslims.
The Brotherhood’s tactic to advance this strategy, says Merley, has been to establish a dizzying number of organisations and initiatives which create the impression of broad-based support. In reality, the sponsors are the same individuals and groups whose leaders have not changed over decades. Just as the US Justice Department and FBI take Merley’s work seriously, we should too. He is no ideologue and is as troubled by right-wing groups demonising ordinary Muslims today as he is by the Brotherhood itself.
By “ordinary” Muslims he means the vast majority who see Islam as a religious belief, rather than the political ideology usually known as “Islamism”. The latter is a variant of Islam developed over 80 years ago in Egypt by the Muslim Brotherhood’s founder, a teacher called Hassan al-Banna. Disturbed by what he perceived as the corrupting influence of Western secularism on Muslims, al-Banna believed that only a return to what he saw as the original and pure form of Islam would restore the Muslim world to former glory.
Accordingly the Brotherhood adopted the slogan “The Koran is our constitution” around which all of society should be organised. To al-Banna there was no difference between religion and politics because religion was politics. Over the decades, from this Islamist ideological trunk have sprung more radical offshoots, including al-Qaeda. For it was al-Banna who inspired the jihadist belief in elevating death over life, which arouses such incomprehension in the rest of us.
Today the original “Society of Muslim Brothers”, as al-Banna called his group, has morphed into a broader movement which the Brotherhood’s former “Supreme Guide” Mohamed Akef says now spans more than 70 countries. Some say that following the collapse of fascism and Communism it is fast becoming the latest — and potentially most dangerous —of history’s grand political ideas. The former head of the MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove, for example, has described the Muslim Brotherhood as being “at heart, a terrorist organisation”.
Let me be clear: followers of the Brotherhood in Britain are not advocating violent jihad here. They condemned the beheading in May of Drummer Lee Rigby by two Muslims on a London street in broad daylight. Their organisations have civic-sounding names; they emphasise human rights, respect for democracy and integration. And by and large they are regarded as harmless, more pious than political with some in the bien pensant slightly in thrall to them as moderate alternatives to violent extremists. The Guardian comment pages have provided leading Brotherhood thinkers with platforms. Yet it is Merley’s contention that what the Brotherhood actually do and say has also contributed to keeping young Muslims angry. I think he is right.
[…]
Steven Merley has fought a long, lone battle to get people even to acknowledge the existence of a global Brotherhood network. By exhaustive attention to detail, he has patiently built up a picture that ought to worry anyone. Yet the Brotherhood scarcely rates a mention in the most of the media. The centre ground seems to have lost its nerve. What particularly worries Merley is that extreme right-wing groups here and in America are filling this vacuum. They claim that all Muslims are the problem and that the Koran is at the heart of a Muslim master-world plot. This is as dangerous as it is unjust.
Yet it is precisely this fear of being tarred by a far-right brush that has caused the centre to press the mute button. The Brotherhood and its secular allies on the Left have succeeded in closing down the debate. Without the Brotherhood’s protective “faith” shield there would be no such inhibition to labelling this movement for what it is: a parallel universe, wreathed in paranoia about the intentions of the West, swearing fealty to anti-racism, community cohesion, peace, justice and all the rest, while simultaneously behaving in a way that keeps young Muslims in a permanently febrile state. “Basically, they play games with the facts,” says Merley. “And they count on the naiveté of reporters, academics and politicians to push their agenda.”
Brotherhood scholars, even the “enlightened” Raschid Ghannouchi, have got it the wrong way round. His “polar opposite” of “human civilisation” is not the West, or “Zionism” for that matter. It is the Brotherhood’s version of what he calls the “Islamic Project”. Chatham House, Prince Andrew and other well-meaning folk, please take note.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
An angry mother has accused a primary school of denying her child water on one of the hottest days of the year for fear of upsetting pupils observing Ramadan.
Kora Blagden, 32, claimed a teacher at son Luke’s school refused to let the 10-year old drink from his water bottle because it was unfair to fasting classmates.
Many pupils at Charles Dickens Primary School, Portsmouth, Hampshire, are fasting during Ramadan, which means they refrain from taking food or water between sunrise and sunset for around 30 days, depending on the moon.
Mother-of-four Kora said: ‘Just before bedtime me and my sons Luke, ten, and Alfie, eight, were talking about Ramadan as we had seen it on the news.
‘Luke said to me he was told he wasn’t allowed to drink in class by his teacher.
‘The reason being, a child who is fasting had a headache and the teacher said it would be unfair if the other children drank in front of the pupil.
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‘They normally have their bottles on their table but they were kept in a tray by the teacher.
‘He went along with it but he was thirsty and didn’t want to offend the other children.
‘Alfie said he was allowed to drink in the morning but not in the afternoon.
‘Luke was dehydrated when he got home and drunk three glasses of water straight away.’
The teacher, who has not been named, made the ruling on Thursday when temperatures soared to 28 degrees.
Ms Blagden confronted deputy head Lisa Florence before lessons began today and was given a verbal apology for the incident.
She said: ‘I spoke to the deputy head and told them what Luke had said to me and I asked why this was allowed.
‘She said it wasn’t fair my son was refused a drink in lesson and therefore drank nothing in lesson time all day..
‘She said they will be speaking with Luke and the teacher, and stated she was sorry my children felt they could not drink.
‘The deputy head said it was not what they had been told to do and it is only what children of Muslim faith do.
‘I have no problem with that but I don’t wish my sons to be told they can’t drink water.
‘Personally I think it is very wrong.’
Charles Dickens is an inner-city school just streets away from the birthplace of the world-famous author of the same name.
The school said there was no ban on children from other religions having food and drink during Ramadan but refused to comment on this individual case.
Portsmouth City Council, who run the 300-pupil school, also declined to comment.
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
Terrorists detonated a nail bomb outside a mosque this afternoon — just an hour after the funeral of murdered British soldier Lee Rigby took place.
Windows were smashed and cars and homes damaged by the large explosion in the car park of Kanz-ul-Iman Central Jamia Mosque in the West Midlands at around 1pm.
Hundreds of worshippers should have been in the area at the time for the first Friday prayers of Ramadam. But by a miraculous stroke of good fortune, religious leaders had delayed the call by an hour.
Eyewitness Rai Kahn, who was one of only three people at the mosque at the time, said: ‘To think that could have been us is very scary’.
West Midlands Police launched a large-scale evacuation o nearby homes and sealed off the area following reports of the explosion this afternoon.
Following the discovery of the nails and debris, the incident was officially categorised as a terrorist attack.
A 75-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of causing an explosion likely to endanger life or damage property.
‘As a result of this, officers initiated a search of the area, and people started to report finding debris and nails in the area.
‘People were evacuated and a cordon was put in place while officers worked with the army bomb disposal experts and specialist officers.
‘There was minor damage to a nearby home, and the army are still searching the area and I believe that it is ready to be declared safe soon, and we can get people to return home.
‘It’s likely that this is an attack given the factors and evidence found already. This includes the loud bang, reports of smoke, the finding of nails and the location of a mosque.
‘From this, we can draw the most likely conclusion that there was a serious explosion and that somebody sought to create a devastating amount of damage.
‘We are treating this as a terror attack, but we are still working to establish if this is connected to any other incidents that have occurred.’
The incident came on the day murdered soldier Lee Rigby was remembered at a private funeral service in Bury, Greater Manchester.
| — Hat tip: Seneca III | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Three Armed Palestinians Arrested in the Sinai
Security forces on alert after killing of Egyptian policeman
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, JULY 12 — Egyptian security forces arrested three armed Palestinians at the Israeli border in the northeastern Sinai peninsula early on Friday, state news agency MENA reported.
The three were part of a larger group and were arrested “while attempting to attack a site of vital interest in the Sinai”, MENA quoted local sources as saying.
The report has not yet been independently verified.
An Egyptian police officer was killed overnight in clashes with unidentified armed men. Egyptian security forces are on alert for further military operations, MENA said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: ‘Policemen Killed, Colleague Badly Injured in Sinai Rocket Attack’
Sinai, 12 July (AKI) — An Egyptian policeman died and another was badly wounded on Friday by a militant rocket attack at security checkpoints in the volatile Sinai peninsula, local media reports said citing security sources.
Friday’s deadly attack took place in the lawless peninsula’s northern city of Al-Arish, near the Israeli border, the sources said, cited by Al-Ahram Online.
Militants earlier on Friday attacked a police station and two army checkpoints in Al-Arish with rocket-propelled grenades, the security sources were cited as saying.
No one was reported to have been wounded in those attacks.
The ousting of Egypt’s longterm president Hosni Mubarak in a popular revolt in 2011 emboldened militant Islamists who have carried out a number of attacks in Sinai and across the border in Israel.
The violence has intensified since the army’s ousting of elected Islamist president Mohammed Morsi on 3 July and the militants have attacked security checkpoints almost every day. Several people have died in the attacks.
Two Christians have been murdered by suspected Islamist militants in Sinai since Morsi was deposed, one of whom was beheaded.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Egyptian Ambassador to Italy Refutes Term ‘Coup’
Military ‘defending the population’s ideas’
(ANSAmed) — ROME, JULY 12 — Egyptian Ambassador to Rome Amr Helmy gave an overview of the situation in his home country in an interview with ANSAmed, denying that what is underway can be considered a ‘military coup’. “What is happening in these weeks in Egypt is not a military coup but the direct consequence of what was demanded by about 30 million Egyptians who took to the streets on June 30, the date of Morsi’s ouster. The West and Western media insist on seeing only two players involved — the military on one side and the Muslim Brotherhood on the other — and ignore the third variable: the people. Of course, overseas as well as in Europe no one was expecting it and now no one knows how to interpret it.” Helmy said that the population “rebelled after a year of bad government, the attempt to eliminate the freedom and rights of women, Copts, and moderate Muslims: the attempt to destroy the country’s cultural identity”.
This warrants ousting a leader and his entourage, even if they did win the elections. “In the Egyptian case,” the diplomat said, “it would have been impossible to wait until the four years of the term was over while watching the country get entirely destroyed.” The army, he reiterated, “took action to support the population and to ensure stability and security in the country, as well as to uphold law and order”. As concerns the reasoning behind locking up Muslim Brotherhood leaders, he said that “first of all, we had to protect them from the rage of the population and make sure they did not suffer harm. And this includes Morsi.” “Secondly, some members of the Muslim Brotherhood incited hatred, violence and acts of terrorism. They are accused of engaging in subversive acts and violating the country’s laws.” As concerns the former president, he said, investigators are looking into his position including how he got out of jail in the most chaotic period of the January 2011 uprising. Helmy feels that international media have failed to understand what actually happened.
“What happened in Egypt is not liked in some circles,” he said, because the plan to change the balance of the entire region has failed.” Some centres of power, he went on to say, “are not happy with what is happening and are trying to undermine it by trying to make it seem a coup. This is a narrow, short-sighted view.” A lot will depend on the next few hours.
“Within 36 or 48 hours at the most, we expect to have a new government in which everyone can play a part. Including the Muslim Brotherhood.” If the group’s members were to refuse to budge from their positions by boycotting the new government, Helmy said, it will go forward anyway.
“The road map has been drawn up and is clear. And today there is not only the will of the people but also a stronger opposition,” Helmy concluded.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
In Cairo, Morsi Loyalists Keep the Faith
CAIRO (AFP) — Tens of thousands of Mohamed Morsi’s loyalists rallied in Cairo Friday, praying for the return of Egypt’s first elected president whose whereabouts remained secret more than a week after the military ousted him.
Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood had called the rally in Rabaa al-Adawiya, a square in northern Cairo, where supporters have staged a defiant sit-in since his July 3 overthrow in a popularly backed coup.
With the onset of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the Islamist’s supporters have turned to prayers as well as numbers in the hope of reinstating the former president.
“God is enough for us, and he is our best custodian,” the protesters chanted.
“We are here to deliver a message to the military that we won’t give up legitimacy,” said Ashraf Fangari, referring to Morsi’s election victory in June 2012.
“We will fight for our rights,” said the government employee.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ramadan: Faithful Display Morsi Image on Temple Mount
Defending legitimacy of ex Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi
(ANSAmed) — JERUSALEM, JULY 12 — A gigantic image of deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi was displayed on the Temple Mount during prayers today on what is the first Friday of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
The image was accompanied by verses praising the Prophet Mohamed and the unsigned slogan: “Jerusalem, for Morsi’s legitimacy, against the coup”. Approximately 80,000 devout Muslims from the West Bank and Israel visited the Temple Mount this morning, Israeli police sources said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Al-Qaida Kills Free Syrian Army Commander
Militants linked to al-Qaida in Syria killed a senior figure in the Western- and Arab-backed Free Syrian army on Thursday, an FSA source said, signaling a widening rift between Islamists and more moderate elements in the armed Syrian opposition.
Kamal Hamami, a member of the Free Syrian Army’s Supreme Military Council, known by his nom de guerre Abu Bassel al-Ladkani, was meeting with members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in the port city of Latakia when they killed him, Qassem Saadeddine, a Free Syrian Army spokesman, told Reuters.
“The Islamic State phoned me saying that they killed Abu Bassel and that they will kill all of the Supreme Military Council,” Saadeddine said from Syria.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon: EU Funds Project to Modernise the Judiciary System
first phase in the courts of Beirut, Jdeidet el Metn and Jounieh
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, JULY 11 — New project funded by the European Union in Lebanon, to modernise and increase the efficiency, credibility and capacity of the judiciary in the country. “Courts’ Automation”, in partnership with the Lebanese Ministry of Justice, comes as part of the Modernisation of the Lebanese Justice programme, under which a number of projects have been undertaken in Lebanon.
According to the Enpi website (www.enpi-info.eu), the initiative involves the automation of judiciary procedures, including proceedings of court cases and management of data, tracking of case status and procedures, and electronic notification to respective parties. It also covers the implementation of a Data Centre in Beirut, a Disaster Recovery Centre in Jdeidet El Metn and a wide network linking all courts.
Judges, chief clerks and clerks will be receiving ICT literacy training and will be trained on the use of the implemented software applications. The project covers judicial procedures of all main courts which include civil, criminal, administrative and special courts, such as the Courts of Appeal and the State Council.
In its first phase, the project will be implemented in the courts of Beirut, Jdeidet el Metn and Jounieh. However, the information system is designed to run in all courts located in other areas.It is expected that the project will be put in real time use by the end of 2014, followed by one year maintenance.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia: Women Inspectors to Monitor Clothing Stores
Lingerie shops are the first to be inspected. Some 45 female inspectors will do what the Muttawa (religious police) did until now. They will ensure that women have “a secure work atmosphere). Show owners cannot employ men and women together on pain of losing their license.
Riyadh (AsiaNews/Agencies) — Saudi Arabia’s Labour Ministry has appointed 45 female inspectors to check abaya and lingerie shops to see if they offer suitable working conditions for Saudi women.
“Shop owners are not allowed to employ men and women together,” said Abdullah Abuthnain, deputy minister for Inspections and Developing Work Atmosphere. “We have set new conditions in order to create a secure work atmosphere for Saudi women.”
The first step towards this goal was taken in January when stores selling lingerie and abaya (traditional Persian Gulf female garment) were ordered to put up 1.6-metre separating wall between male and female working areas.
On Monday, Abuthain said the ministry would carry out regular raids to ensure that shops were sticking to the new rules. Businesses found violating ministry directives could lose their commercial license.
The new inspectors will “take over” from the muttawa (religious police) in Riyadh, Jeddah and the eastern provinces.
In a second phase, additional inspectors would be hired to monitor stores in other regions of the country.
This policy is part of King Abdullah’s broad social reform aimed at encouraging women’s employment.
The Labour Ministry expects it would create at least 44,000 jobs.
In Saudi Arabia, more than one in two women has a college degree but female unemployment stands at 34 per cent.
An analysis by Bloomberg last June showed how the failure to use untapped female labour limits the kingdom’s economy.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia, Hit by Virus, Asks Pilgrims to Wear Face Masks, Advises Sick to Stay at Home
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia, the epicenter of a new respiratory virus, is asking pilgrims coming from across the Muslim world to wear face masks in crowded places.
The list of Health Ministry recommendations carried by the Saudi Press Agency on Friday also advises the elderly, or those with chronic diseases, to postpone their pilgrimage.
The main pilgrimage season comes later this year but hundreds of thousands also visit the kingdom’s holy sites during the month of Ramadan, which began this week.
Saudi Arabia announced two deaths on Sunday, bringing to 38 the number of deadly cases in the kingdom.
The new virus is related to SARS, which killed some 800 people in a global outbreak in 2003. It belongs to a family of viruses that most often cause the common cold.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Court Jails 11 for Qaeda Offences
JEDDAH (AFP) — A Saudi court has sentenced 11 people including foreigners to jail on charges including weapons training, bomb-making and ties to Al-Qaeda, the SPA state news agency reported Friday.
The prison terms handed down by the special court ranged from 18 months to 15 years, it said, without specifying the number or nationalities of foreigners convicted.
Some were convicted of “declaring that it was the duty of young people to go abroad to fight, and permitting suicide attacks, while some had links to people of the deviant doctrine,” a term used to refer to Al-Qaeda, SPA said.
Some were found guilty of “weapons training and training in bomb-making at Al-Qaeda bases,” it said, adding that “some defendants had links to someone involved in organising the travel of youth to fight abroad”.
Convictions also included “supporting Al-Qaeda attacks in the kingdom and abroad… calling the government a supporter of infidels, and allowing the killing of members of the military”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Jails Two Shiites Over Protests
JEDDAH (AFP) — A Saudi special court has sentenced two Shiite men to eight and nine years in jail, respectively, for taking part in protests in Eastern Province, SPA state news agency said on Friday.
The first defendant was found guilty of joining three protests in the town of Awamiya, in the province’s Shiite Al-Qatif region, it said.
He was also found guilty of having “anti-kingdom and anti-rulers pictures on his mobile phone… and of knowing dissidents in Qatif and covering up their activities”.
The second defendant, who was sentenced to nine years, was found guilty of taking part in “most demonstrations” in Qatif.
He was also convicted of “surfing dissident Internet websites, and posting statements inciting opposition to the rulers… as well as calling for the release of prisoners”, SPA said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: ‘Al-Qaeda Kill a Rebel Commander and Threaten Others’
Latakia, 12 July (AKI) -The Free Syrian Army’s Supreme Military Council was due to meet on Friday following the killing of one of its members, allegedly by Al-Qaeda, and threats by the terror network against the rebel command.
Mohammed Kamal al-Hamami — also known as Abu Bassel al-Ladkani — was a member of the FSA’s Supreme Military Council.
He was meeting with members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in the port city of Latakia when they killed him, according to FSA spokesman Qassem Saadeddine.
“We must take the necessary measures on all levels, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant brigades should hand us over those who killed Hamami… so we can hold them accountable,” another FSA spokesman, Louay Almokdad, told Al Arabiya.
“The chief of staff of the Supreme Military Council of the FSA, Brigadier General Salim Idris, mourns our hero and martyr.”
Free Syrian Army units sometimes fight alongside Islamist militant groups in war-wracked Syria, but rivalries have increased and Al-Qaeda-linked groups have been blamed for several assassinations of commanders of moderate rebel units.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: High-Ranking Fsa Commander Killed by Al Qaeda
Violent tension between anti-Assad factions
(ANSAmed) — ROME, JULY 12 — A high-ranking commander of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) was killed in Latakia on Friday by an anti-Assad faction linked to Al Qaeda.
Kamal Hamami, also known as Abu Basir al-Ladkani, was in charge of a key brigade within the FSA and part of the group’s Supreme Military Council. Hamami was “meeting members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ‘to discuss battle plans’, “ FSA spokesman Qassam Saadeddine told the BBC in reference to the organisation that killed the commander.
“The Islamic State phoned me saying that they killed Abu Basir and that they will kill all of the Supreme Military Council,” he said. The brigade Hamami was in charge of was created in 2011 by deserters from the Assad regime’s troops, is based in southern Turkey and is thought to number some 40,000 men. The murder underscores the violent tension between different factions fighting against Syrian troops. Al Qaeda announced in April it was joining forces with Al Nusra, reported the BBC, while Al-Nusra claimed it was only an alliance. The organisation founded by Osama Bin Laden, now led by Ayman Al-Zawahiri, has called on its supporters to fight for an Islamic state in Syria. The imposition of Sharia law in some of the areas controlled by the most fundamentalist fighters is raising concern among the anti-Assad combatants with less extreme positions on religion.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Kazakhstan Celebrates Day of National Symbols
By Manshuk Bekentayeva
ASTANA — On June 4, the “Our Flag! Our Emblem! Our Anthem!” campaign to celebrate the Day of State Symbols of Kazakhstan took place across the country and celebrations, including simultaneous performances of the national anthem both across Kazakhstan and internationally, were held in honour of the holiday.
The sixth national forum of patriots, “My Kazakhstan!” organised with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Information took place in Atyrau on June 3-4 as part of the celebrations. Minister of Culture and Information Mukhtar Kul-Mukhammed, parliament members, authors of state symbols, representatives of the president’s executive office, central and local executive bodies, the People’s Assembly of Kazakhstan and nongovernmental and youth organisations took part in the forum. Kul-Mukhammed read an address from the president in which he emphasised that the state symbols show the unity of all the country’s citizens and that the flag, emblem and national anthem are sacred and important visual attributes of the nation’s independence.
Representatives of NGOs, creative and scientific intellectuals, youth, mass media, war and labour veterans, soldiers and athletes participated in the forum, representing all regions of Kazakhstan. The main event was the annual ceremony honouring the Patriot of the Year. Traditionally, outstanding athletes, distinguished artists, people who have reached the tops in their profession, scientists, innovators, philanthropists and leaders of major social organisations in different categories have received that honour.
A large-scale youth and patriotic campaign, “My Kazakhstan! My Astana!, was held in Astana as part of the Day of State Symbols celebrations. More than a thousand people, including students of higher educational institutions and colleges, representatives of youth organisations and the creative elite, Bolashak programme scholars and Olympic champions took part in it. Participants of this campaign organised a simultaneous international performance of Kazakhstan’s national anthem in Astana, London, Washington, Moscow and Shanghai. A screen in Astana broadcast the event.
At the Ministry of Internal Affairs, across all military units, the best of the best had an opportunity to raise the National Flag of Kazakhstan.
In 1992, the new state symbols of independent Kazakhstan were first approved. These symbols have great significance in the country as tokens of nationhood and independence.
The blue flag, designed by Shaken Niyazbekov, reflects the pure sky and represents peace and prosperity. The sun on the flag is a representation of life, energy and openness; the soaring steppe eagle illustrates the power and sovereignty of the state and its high aspirations. The vertical band with the national ornamental patterns and the national ornaments along the flagstaff represent the art and cultural traditions of the Kazakh people.
The authors of the state emblem are famous Kazakh architects Zhandarbek Malibekov and Shot-Aman Ualikhanov. The state emblem has the shape of a circle or wheel, a symbol of life and eternity that was especially valued among the nomads of the Great Steppes. The image of shanyrak, the round closure at the top of a yurt, in the centre of the state emblem symbolises the peoples’ common homeland. The horse stands for bravery; the wings, the dream of the multinational people of Kazakhstan to build a strong and prosperous nation. The star reflects the dream of building a state open to all countries of the world for cooperation and partnership. Its primary colour, gold, serves as a symbol of wealth, justice and magnanimity.
In the history of independent Kazakhstan, a national anthem as been adopted twice, in 1992 and in 2006. The latest version of the anthem, based on the patriotic song “Menyn Kazakhstanym” (My Kazakhstan) written in 1956 by Shamshi Kaldayakov and Zhumeken Nazhimedenov, is popular among the people. President Nursultan Nazarbayev has contributed to modifying the original lyrics of the song.
In 2012, President Nazarbayev signed the law, “On Amendments and Additions to Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the Issues of State Symbols.” The purpose of the law is to strengthen responsibility for adhering to the legislation on state symbols.
| — Hat tip: Russkiy | [Return to headlines] |
Border Patrol Agents Fear Criminals May Infiltrate Their Ranks After Surge in Hiring
Border Patrol agents are protesting an amendment to the immigration reform bill, which would add nearly 20,000 agents and $38 billion to border security spending. The officers claim that such a hiring surge would compromise quality.
Last month, Sens. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) introduced a last-minute amendment to the immigration reform bill, which garnered Republican support and helped pass the legislation in the Senate. The amendment increases spending on the US-Mexican border by $46.3 billion in the first 10 years and provides funds to grow the Border Patrol from 21,394 agents to 40,000.
The amended bill passed 67-27 in the Senate and now awaits a House vote.
But leaders of the union representing 17,000 Border Patrol officers are starkly opposed to the amended legislation, and argue that doubling the number of agents would lead to hurried and poorly conducted background checks and loosened hiring standards. In a rush to hire the 20,000 additional agents, corners would be cut, training would be shortened, and the government might mistakenly hire criminals…
During the last hiring surge, thousands of applicants with criminal backgrounds applied for jobs with the Border Patrol, including one who admitted kidnapping and ransoming hostages in the Ivory Coast. Several other applicants had molested children or committed rape, the Center for Investigative Reporting’s Andrew Becker discovered. Many of the applicants made it all the way through the hiring process and were stopped after taking a polygraph test. But thousands of other applicants were hired during the 2006 surge without undergoing this exam.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Kyenge Open to Abolishing ‘Crime’ of Illegal Immigration
Italian integration minister says would assess ‘utility’ of law
(ANSA) — Rome, July 12 — Italian Integration Minister Cecile Kyenge told radio listeners on Friday that she was open to assessing whether to wipe the criminal status of illegal immigration from Italian books.
Asked on Radio 24 whether she would cancel the “crime” of illegal immigration, Kyenge said she would “evaluate the utility, the cost-benefits for the country”.
“Local (government) administrations must make an assessment in this sense,” she said.
Kyenge added that determining whether a person is illegal “must be established after verifying the facts, not before”. Kyenge also said that citizenship in European Union countries “begins from an integration process for the parents (of children) who live in a territory”.
The minister gave the example of Spain, where “two years residency are enough to ask for citizenship and to ensure that the children born to couples where one of the two has resided for at least two years, (that parent) can automatically ask citizenship for their children when they are born”.
When asked how many years of residency would be sufficient for Italy, Kyenge responded, “It is too early to say”.
“In parliament there are 20 law proposals on citizenship, that range from ius soli ‘secco’ to ‘temperato’,” the minister said, referring to a legal stance of citizenship granted for being born in the territory to citizenship given over time and a process of integration.
“My proposal is a law that foresees at least five years of residence,” Kyenge said.
Regarding debate so far stirred by her words on immigration, the Congo-born minister said, “For the first time, one will speak in Italy not only of ‘ius soli’ but of citizenship in its higher sense”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Human Trafficking Ring Nabbed in Melilla
Smuggled clandestine migrants into Spain at exhorbitant prices
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, JULY 12 — Spanish police on Friday arrested four people and impounded three vehicles belonging to a clandestine migrant trafficking ring in Melilla, the Spanish enclave in Morocco, police sources said.
Made up of both Moroccans and Spaniards, the ring made an average of 200,000 euros a month by charging up to 55 Sub-Saharan migrants 3-4,000 euros each in return for smuggling them into Melilla in hidden compartments aboard trucks or in car trunks.
The traffickers counted on a fleet of hundreds of vehicles, plus a network of garages in Melilla where they could be taken apart in secret, police said.
The four arrested in today’s operation made up the hard core of the organization, but more arrests could be made in the next few days, investigators said. They will be charged with crimes “against the rights of foreign citizens” and with human trafficking.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The More There Are, The More Concessions They’ll Surely Make
by Andrew Bolt
I guess the West must simply hope that Muslims will be more prepared to assimilate as they get more numerous:
THE world’s Muslim population will grow twice as fast as the non-Muslim population in the next 20 years, when Muslims are expected to make up more than a quarter of the global population, a study predicts.
Using fertility, mortality and migration rates, researchers at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life project a 1.5-per cent annual population growth rate for the world’s Muslims over the next two decades, and just 0.7 per cent growth each year for non-Muslims…
And in Europe, Pew predicts the Muslim population will grow by nearly a third in 20 years, from 44.1 million people, or six per cent of the region’s inhabitants in 2010, to 58.2 million or eight per cent of the projected total population by 2030.
Some European Union (EU) countries will see double-digit percentages of Muslims in their population by 2030: Belgium’s Muslim population is projected to rise from six per cent to 10.2 per cent over the next 20 years, while France’s is expected to hit 10.3 per cent in 2030, up from 7.5 per cent today.
In Sweden, Pew predicts Muslims will comprise nearly 10 per cent of the population compared to less than five per cent today…
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
Mr. HERLONG. Mr. Speaker, Mrs. Patricia Nordman of De Land, Fla., is an ardent and articulate opponent of communism, and until recently published the De Land Courier, which she dedicated to the purpose of alerting the public to the dangers of communism in America.
At Mrs. Nordman’s request, I include in the RECORD, under unanimous consent, the following “Current Communist Goals,” which she identifies as an excerpt from “The Naked Communist,” by Cleon Skousen:
[From “The Naked Communist,” by Cleon Skousen]
[Comment: This was read into Congressional record in 1963 by a Democrat. Do you think any Democrat today would do the same? Also note how many of those Communist goals have been achieved.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Final Warning: A History of the New World Order
In the book A Racial Program for the Twentieth Century, published in 1913 by Israel Cohen of the Fabian Society (a follow-up to Zangwill’s Melting Pot), he wrote:
“We must realize that our Party’s most powerful weapon is racial tension. By propounding into the consciousness of the dark races, that for centuries have been oppressed by the Whites, we can mold them to the program of the Communist Party … In America, we will aim for subtle victory. While enflaming the Negro minority against the Whites, we will instill in the Whites, a guilt complex for the exploitation of the Negroes. We will aid the Negroes to rise to prominence in every walk of life, in the professions, and in the world of sports and entertainment. With this prestige, the Negroes will be able to intermarry with the Whites, and begin a process which will deliver America to our cause.”
On June 17, 1957, this passage was read into the Congressional Record by Rep. Thomas G. Abernathy.
In 1922, the Russian Comintern provided $300,000 for the spreading of communist propaganda among Negroes. In 1925, the Communist Party, U.S.A., told its members:
“The aim of our Party in our work among the Negro masses is to create a powerful proletarian movement which will fight and lead the struggle of the Negro race against the exploitation and oppression in every form and which will be a militant part of the revolutionary movement of the whole American working class … and connect them with the struggles of national minorities and colonial peoples of all the world and thereby the cause of world revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat.”
In 1925, a dozen Blacks were recruited for propaganda training in Russia. That same year, the American Negro Labor Congress was established. In 1930, they changed their name to the League of Struggle for Negro Rights. They merged with the United Negro Congress when it was founded in 1936, in Washington, D.C. By 1940, communists made up two-thirds of its membership. In 1947, they united with the Civil Rights Congress, a communist front group…
The former FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover, said of the Communists goals: “Communists seek to advance the cause of communism by injecting themselves into racial situations and in exploiting them, (1) to intensify the frictions between Negroes and Whites to ‘prove’ that discrimination against the minorities is an inherent defect of the capitalistic system, (2) to foster domestic disunity by dividing Negroes and Whites into antagonistic, warring factions, (3) to undermine and destroy established authority, (4) to incite racial strife and riotous activity, and (6) to portray the Communist movement as the ‘champion’ of social protest and the only force capable of ameliorating the conditions of the Negro and the oppressed.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |