The protests in Ukraine are now verging on civil war, with estimated body counts for the clashes between demonstrators and police in Kiev ranging from 33 to 70, with hundreds wounded. The protesters reportedly captured some 67 police officers and paraded them around as prisoners. They are also alleged to have fired at the media.
In other news, entrepreneurs in Pakistan are using images of Barack Hussein Obama to help sell black-market knock-offs of Viagra. Mr. Obama is said to be a symbol of potency and manliness in Pakistan.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Diana West, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, JP, Srdja Trifkovic, 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.
Greece Posts First Current Account Surplus Since 1948
Record spending by tourists has helped Greece post its first current account surplus since official data began.
The surplus was the first for the recession-hit economy since records began in 1948.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Pizza Outlet Owner Kills Self After 200,000-Euro Fine
Inhales car fumes in town near Naples
(ANSA) — Naples, February 20 — The owner of a struggling takeaway pizza joint in a town near Naples took his own life Thursday after being served a 200,000-euro fine.
Eduardo De Falco of Casalnuovo died of toxic fumes after rigging his car exhaust up to the interior of the vehicle. Friends and neighbours said De Falco was a hard worker who had become depressed as his business worsened during Italy’s longest postwar recession. They said the fine was the last straw.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Recession Increases Inequality Among Spanish Regions
After six-yr downturn, northern regions fare far better
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, FEBRUARY 19 — The six-year economic crisis has widened the income gap between Spain’s richer North and the poorer South, new data showed Wednesday.
“The crisis not only increased inequality between people, but also between regions”, a Savings Banks Foundation study said.
More industrialized northern regions, such as the Basque Country, Catalonia, Madrid, and Navarre weathered the recession better than Andalusia, Castille-La Mancha and Estremadura. In these southern regions, the economic downturn has hit the hardest, bringing standards of living well below the national average.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Are We Ready for a Muslim Pres?
by Dean Obeidallah
A new Gallup poll shows that a (slight) majority of Americans would elect a Muslim POTUS. We may only be half-way there, says Dean Obeidallah, but we’ve got history and young people on our side.
Could a Muslim be elected President of the United States? And I’m not talking a person who is “secretly” a Muslim, which is what approximately 50 percent of the Republicans in Mississippi and Alabama believe President Obama is per a 2012 poll. I’m talking a presidential candidate who publicly identifies as a Muslim…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Attorney: Cop Kills Teen Who Answered Door While Holding Nintendo Controller
Officer says she thought Wii controller was a firearm
A 17-year-old was killed by police knocking on his door after he opened it while holding a Nintendo controller, according to the attorney of the late teen’s family.
Christopher Roupe died inside his home in Euharlee, Ga. Friday night after being shot by an officer who was attempting to serve a probation violation warrant for his father.
The police officer told the Georgia Bureau of Investigation that Roupe pointed a gun at her when he opened the door, but the family’s attorney, Cole Law, recently told WSBTV that the teenager was actually holding a Nintendo Wii controller.
“The eyewitnesses on the scene clearly state that he had a Wii controller in his hand,” he said. “He heard a knock at the door and asked who it was, there was no response so he opened the door and upon opening the door he was immediately shot in the chest.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Climate Change Brings More Crime
A new study broadens a notion held by the earliest criminologists: Periods of higher temperatures — on an hour-by-hour or week-to-week basis — are likely to produce more crime.
The study by Matthew Ranson of Abt Associates, a research and consulting firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts, suggests global warming will trigger more crimes including murders and rapes over the next century, with social costs estimated to run as high as $115 billion.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Cultural Exemptions for Muslims — Even From Laws That Don’t Burden Religious Practice
by Eugene Volokh
Occasionally, American laws have exempted members of certain religious groups simply on the grounds that the law is a law for the majority, and the minority deserves its own legal system. These exemptions are distantly related to the “millet” family law model in countries such as Israel and India, discussed in an earlier post, where family law questions are delegated to each religious group’s own religious courts…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
DHS Cancels National License Plate Tracking Plan
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson on Wednesday ordered the cancellation of a plan by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to develop a national license-plate tracking system after privacy advocates raised concern about the initiative.
[Comment: Most likely just a “cancellation…for now…”, since the uproar against the plan was great. An attempt will be made in the future to re-implement the plan, perhaps by piecemeal.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
EPA Declares Bt Residue on GM Soybeans to be Safe at All Levels
(NaturalNews) In another victory for the chemical industry, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has declared that residue of Bt toxin from genetically modified (GM) Bt crops is permissible at all levels in soy foods for humans and soy feed for animals. The EPA has essentially relieved the biotechnology industry of all responsibility for this genetic poison in a final rule published on February 12, 2014, which exempts from residue tolerance requirements all soybeans currently grown for and processed into food.
The rule, which is open for public comment in the Federal Register until April 14, specifically exempts soybeans from having to contain less than a certain amount of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) Cry1F protein residue in order to be considered safe. Under its new EPA designation, Bt toxin will now be considered a “plant-incorporated protectant” (PIP), which directly counters science by implying that GM-induced Bt toxin is somehow safe at all exposure levels.
EPA exemption will allow Bt toxin in drinking water:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Foreign-Made American Flags Banned by US Military; Still OK for Other Federal Agencies
American flags made in foreign lands will no longer fly over military bases, but the rule won’t apply to other federal facilities because lawmakers decided star-spangled banners made in the U.S. are just too expensive.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Intel CEO Refuses to Answer Questions on Whether NSA Can Access Processors
Previously leaked NSA slide bragged that Intel chips were compromised
During a Q&A in which he’d promised to answer any questions put to him, The CEO of computer chip company Intel stayed silent when asked about NSA spying.
Brian Krzanich was taking part in a Reddit online chat session, and set about answering all manner of the website users’ questions, from the company’s relationship with Apple to his favourite type of sandwich. However, when it came to talking about hardware security in the wake of revelations regarding NSA mass spying, he suddenly had nothing to say.
When a second Redditer pursued the line of questioning, asking for a response to questions on the security level of Intel processors, Krzanich still did not address the question.
Reddit users responded with anger and ridicule:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
New York Pipe Bomb Suspect Pleads Guilty to Terrorism Charge
- Jose Pimentel promised 16 years in prison with plea
- He was charged under seldom-used New York state law
- His lawyers claim case is example of overzealous policing
A man accused of building homemade bombs to wage holy war in New York City pleaded guilty Wednesday to a terrorism charge less than a week before his scheduled trial in a rare state-level terrorism case…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
New York City Settles Suit With Wrongly Jailed Man for $6.4 Million
A man who was framed by the rogue detective Louis Scarcella and served 23 years in prison for a murder he did not commit will receive $6.4 million from the City of New York in a settlement that came before a civil rights lawsuit was even filed, lawyers involved in the case said on Thursday.
A $150 million claim filed last year by the man, David Ranta, was settled by the city comptroller’s office without ever involving the city’s legal department — which the lawyers involved in the negotiations described as a “groundbreaking” decision that acknowledged the overwhelming evidence the city faced.
| [Return to headlines] |
The government is considering enlarging the National Security Agency’s controversial collection of Americans’ phone records — an unintended consequence of lawsuits seeking to stop the surveillance program, according to officials.
A number of government lawyers involved in lawsuits over the NSA phone-records program believe federal-court rules on preserving evidence related to lawsuits require the agency to stop routinely destroying older phone records, according to people familiar with the discussions. As a result, the government would expand the database beyond its original intent, at least while the lawsuits are active.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama and the Ten Planks of Communism from Marx’s Manifesto
In 2008, Joe the Plumber correctly identified Obama’s policies as socialistic when Obama responded to Joe’s question concerning the candidate’s small business tax policy by saying, “when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.” This statement is a foundational tenant of socialism straight out of Marx’s Communist Manifesto.
Socialism, as defined by Marx, is what follows capitalism in the transition of a society to communism. Socialism “advocates the vesting of ownership and control of the means of production and distribution of capital, land, etc. in the community as a whole.” Whereas, ‘communism’ advocates “the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or the state.”[1]
Since taking office as President in 2009, the US economy has stalled and most of Obama’s promises are now seen for what they always were; untrue. Promising one thing and delivering another is not only common among politicians, but especially among socialists, because socialism only benefits the political elite, not the masses, and socialists need the masses to support their endeavors, so they promise prosperity and deliver the opposite.
Throughout history, since Marx first published his Communist Manifesto in 1848, every experiment in socialism and communism has ended up in an economic disaster. One need look no further than USSR, Cuba, Venezuela, Europe and now Obama’s America to see evidence of this.
For those who doubt Obama’s policies are socialist, let us compare them to some of the Ten Planks of Communism from Marx’s Manifesto:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Oregon Police Push State Law-Violating ID Scanners on Nightclub and Bar Owners
Oregon seems to be turning into a bastion of privacy, much to the chagrin of various law enforcement agencies. As we recently covered, a district court ruled that the DEA’s warrantless access of its drug prescription database (achieved through “administrative subpoenas” that require no judicial approval or probable cause) was unconstitutional. In Oregon, at least, it appears our nation’s foremost drug warriors will need to comply with the Fourth Amendment.
Now, there’s a pushback against another warrantless collection of data by local police departments. Techdirt reader zip sends in this Williamette Week story detailing the ID scanners police are actively pushing on bar and club owners, supposedly in an effort to cut down on underage drinking.
The data collected is stored for 90 days and is compiled from the many scanners being utilized across the city. The scanners themselves are manufactured by Servall Data Systems out of Alberta, Canada. (Servall Data Systems also has access to the data.) Law enforcement agencies are given access to the collected data at any time requested (no subpoena or warrant needed) according to Servall’s spokesperson.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Seattle Police to Use DHS-Funded Facial Recognition Program
The Seattle Police Department is preparing to purchase a new facial recognition software program with a federal grant from the Department of Homeland Security.
Set to be purchased next month, the software will reportedly be used to scan and compare surveillance video to the city’s mugshot database.
With the city facing mounting opposition for several other privacy issues, police were quick to claim that the software would only be used when surveillance video of a suspected crime was obtained.
“An officer has to reasonably believe that a person has been involved in a crime or committed a crime,” Seattle Police Asst. Chief Carmen Best said.
Despite reassurances from the city and police, surveillance-weary residents pointed to the city’s continued abuses with surveillance technology.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Left-Wing Money Machine and the IRS’s War on Conservatives
Horowitz and Laksin demonstrate the massive disparity between political donations to the Left and Right
Of all the donors who contribute to political causes, no one is more vilified by the mainstream media than the Koch brothers for their “outsized” influence on the national debate. But according to OpenSecrets.org, which complied a list of the “Top All-Time Donors, 1989-2014,” the Koch brothers didn’t even make the top fifty. Meanwhile, none of the top ten donors and only two of the top 20 tilted toward Republicans, with the rest supporting Democrats and only a few on the fence. These findings are hardly surprising. As David Horowitz and Jacob Laksin revealed in their 2012 book, The New Leviathan: How the Left-Wing Money Machine Shapes American Politics and Threatens America’s Future, the American right is severely outgunned by their leftist counterparts in the world of advocacy organizations. What is true of these groups is also true of political action committees and similar organizations, as OpenSecrets reveals. These facts only make the idea that IRS targeting of conservatives was “accidental” all the more ludicrous.
In The New Leviathan, Horowitz and Laksin demonstrate the massive disparity between political donations to the Left and Right. Regarding immigration policy, for example, they note that there are 117 progressive groups with an annual revenue of over $306 million dollars endeavoring to undermine traditional standards for citizenship and legalization, compared to only nine groups with a total of $15 million to defend those standards. On the environmental front, there are 552 groups with $3.56 billion in annual resources that promote greater government control over the environment, compared to only 32 groups with $96 million in annual resources promoting the preservation of private property and free-market solutions to the nation’s environmental problems.
This imbalance is further exacerbated by government funding that is disproportionately aimed at progressive organizations, even when conservative administrations have held sway in Washington, D.C.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Strange Subculture of Rubber Duck Racing
The governor of Wisconsin is due to set into law a bill which will legalise rubber duck racing in the US state. But what is this strange subculture of bath toy racing, asks Vanessa Barford.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
US Navy Seals on Power Grid Attack: ‘a Carbon Copy’ Of How We Would Do it
The threat of a breakdown of our national power infrastructure has been a growing concern for the last decade. With the invention of “Super EMP” electro-magnetic pulse weapons, the possibility of Carrington-class solar flares, and the potential for cyber attackers to remotely compromise our interconnected computer systems, there may come a time in our country’s future when our entire way of life is threatened because we no longer have access to the one thing that keeps it all moving — electricity. Outgoing Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano recently suggested that such a widespread outage is imminent and Congresswoman Yvette Clarke who is a senior member of the House Homeland Security Committee concluded that the chance of a serious geo-magnetic event crippling our power grid is 100%.
The threat is real.
And as recently as last year Americans got a taste of what such an attack may look like. Though not reported at the time out of national security concerns, it was recently revealed that an entire domestic power grid sub-station came under attack in what seems to be a professionally executed assault. The attackers first cut phone lines from the sub-station and they then proceeded to fire 100 rounds from long-range at critical components such as the generators that keep the station cooling systems operational. This resulted in millions of dollars worth of damage and a reported electrical outage that spanned nearly a month.
According to officials this was a sophisticated attack likely involving the coordination of multiple individuals. And they’re not the only ones who think so.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
What George W. Bush Misses About Being President
President George W. Bush has made a point of staying out of the political limelight since he left the White House five years ago, but there’s still one perk he misses from his time as president — Air Force One.
“A lot of people ask me, do I miss much about being president? The answer’s really no,” Bush said in Dallas, Texas today. “I mean I miss people I served with. I miss Air Force One. In eight years, they never lost my baggage.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
WhatsApp: The New Billionaires Behind it
Until 24 hours ago, WhatsApp founder Jan Koum and his business partner Brian Acton were relatively unknown outside Silicon Valley tech circles. Now they are being discussed worldwide as California’s latest billionaires. The internet is alive with the news that Mr Koum, 37, and Mr Acton, 42, have sold WhatsApp to Facebook for $19bn (£11.4bn).
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Rush Limbaugh has been asking a mighty good question lately.
With a president in office who seems addicted to lawlessness, enabled by a Senate that approves of his lawless actions and will never, ever rein him in — “What do we do? We’ve never had to deal with this before. What do we do?”
Here is a chief executive who openly refuses to execute laws he doesn’t like, in defiance of his oath of office — the Defense of Marriage Act and various immigration laws, for instance; who goes far out of Constitutional bounds by unilaterally amending or pruning or delaying laws passed by Congress, as if he were a one-man super-legislature. And nothing happens. For the next three years, this former community organizer is going to rule us as a king. And nothing is going to stop him.
What do we do?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Whistleblower Fired After Warning of Danger at Hanford Nuclear Site
A nuclear engineer who has continually warned of major safety issues at Washington state’s Hanford nuclear cleanup site was fired Tuesday after executives accused her of “unprofessional conduct.”
Donna Busche, the site’s environmental and nuclear safety manager, is now the third high-level employee to be removed after exposing Hanford’s growing danger.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Who Lost America? The True Crisis in America, Part 4
“Good government should produce an atmosphere of national responsibility and opportunity created for the people by the combined efforts of their elected representatives. Divisions will always exist as to government’s direction, and decisions must be resolved by the objective application of both personal and political integrity. The structure of government should be firm and open, and should not be burdened by becoming a proving ground for either individual or party ideology. Politics is one thing. Good government is quite another.” Bromwell Ault
That lofty statement gives credence to our founding fathers, but in 2014, via our past four presidents, we must question their motives. For the past 200 years, we Americans voted men and women into office in order to move our country forward with vision, ideas and actions. That’s not happening today.
In his book Who Lost America? by Bromwell Ault, he asks what happened to that vision. What happened to our government now reeling in hopeless gridlock by staggering through the latest crisis without a plan to stop the next calamity?
Congress skids up to the door of a “national debt” deadline with all the finesse of a drunk staggering into the gutter. Congress serves something other than the interests of the American people who elected those 535 people to coordinate the business of a successful country.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why Would the FCC Ask Newsrooms About Their Story Selection Process?
For the last 10 days, FCC-watchers have been abuzz about the commission’s upcoming attempt to “identify and understand the critical information needs of the American public.” Anxieties about the study have been afoot for a while, but the recent furor began on February 10, when Ajit Pai, a Republican commissioner at the agency, published an op-ed attacking the idea in The Wall Street Journal. Warning that the effort was the “first step down” the “dangerous path” of “newsroom policing,” Pai made his case against the study:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Dissident Bulgarian Writer Georgi Markov Monument Planned in Sofia
Bulgarian dissident writer and playwright Georgi Markov, whose mysterious death in 1978 sparked much controversy throughout Europe, will have a monument in his honor in Sofia. The statue will be erected on “Journalist” square in Sofia, where Markov was born and lived before fleeing to the West in 1969…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Arrests Three Suspected Former Auschwitz Guards
Three elderly men suspected of having served as SS guards in the Nazi death camp Auschwitz have been arrested in south-western Germany. It follows a federal push to investigate Nazi crimes.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Family of Pickaxe Killing Victim to Sue Interior Ministry
Italian govt said to have failed to set up victims’ fund
(ANSA) — Milan, February 19 — The family of a man killed last year when a Ghanaian migrant went on a pickaxe killing spree in Milan has said it will sue Italy’s Interior Ministry for damages in a civil suit.
The relatives of Alessandro Carolè plan to claim the Italian government has failed to follow a European Union directive requiring Italy to establish a special fund for victims of violence, said lawyer Anna Cifuni, who represents the victim’s family.
Mada ‘Adam’ Kabobo, an undocumented immigrant, killed three men and injured several others in an hour-long string of apparently random attacks in Milan early on May 11, 2013 before being stopped by police. Kabobo reportedly suffered from mental problems and told police: “I never sleep”. He also reported hearing voices. A forensic psychiatrist told a court in Milan last month that the 21-year-old migrant was not mentally fit to be in prison and that he should be held in a psychiatric hospital pending his trial.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Carabinieri General: Well-Known Businessman Arrested
Ragusa, Bisignani accused of rigging bids at premier’s palace
(ANSA) — Rome, February 19 — A police chief and a well-known businessman were put under house arrest Wednesday for alleged irregularities tied to the awarding of contracts at the premier’s palace. Antonio Ragusa, general in the paramilitary Carabinieri police force, is accused of corruption and bid rigging while he was the head of the Instrumental Resources Department at Palazzo Chigi in 2010.
Luigi Bisignani is accused of tax fraud. He has been a part of similar investigations involving high-ranking politicians over the years. Most recently he was sentenced to one year and seven months in prison in 2012 for leaking sensitive information during an investigation into an influence-peddling case known as the P4 affair.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Defence Chief Says He is Confident in Renzi on Marines Case
India not welcome in NATO exercises, says Italian military head
(ANSA) — Rome, February 19 — Italy’s Chief of Defense Staff Luigi Binelli Mantelli said Wednesday that he is confident the new premier and his cabinet will support efforts for a swift resolution to the case of two Italian marines accused in India of killing two fishermen while on anti-piracy duty.
He said that Italy was also “opposed to the participation of Indian ships in NATO exercises”.
“The marines affair is to be handled by any government taking office,” said Binelli Mantelli, outside a conference at Rome’s Luiss university.
Premier-designate Matteo Renzi is poised to form a government in the next few days.
“(Foreign Minister Emma Bonino, Defense Minister Mario Mauro) have taken charge (of the case) and I am certain that any government that will be formed will continue to support this commitment,” he added.
“I do not know if it will solve the problem, but certainly it is not a passive attitude on the part of our government’s commitment,” he said.
Officials and the families of marines Salvatore Girone and Massimiliano Latorre were frustrated on Tuesday when India’s Supreme Court announced the latest in a series of delays in the case that has been percolating without charges for two years.
Bonino said she would be urging a range of allies, from the NATO military alliance to the United Nations as well as the European Union, to press the Indian government to deal with the situation. Latorre and Girone are accused of killing fishermen Valentine (aka Gelastine) and Ajesh Binki after allegedly mistaking them for pirates and opening fire on their fishing trawler while guarding the privately owned Italian-flagged oil-tanker MT Enrica Lexie off the coast of Kerala on February 15, 2012. The EU is backing Italy and has said the case threatens the future of anti-piracy operations.
One week ago, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he was “personally concerned” that two Italian marines may be facing charges laid by India under an international terrorism act.
He said the case could have “negative implications” for the fight against piracy, echoing European Union officials.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Pompeii Blockbuster Film Expected to Boost Tourism
$100-mln movie on eruption of Vesuvius to open on Friday
(ANSA) — Naples, February 19 — A new, 3-D film about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and subsequent destruction of the city of Pompeii in 79 AD is expected to provide a dramatic boost to tourism at the famed archeological site in southern Italy.
Officials say they hope the blockbuster film from British director Paul W.S. Anderson, opening in theatres on Friday, will help to popularize the story of Pompeii and the excavation near Naples. “This film will bring in many American tourists, I’m sure,” said Mattia Buondonno, an official guide registered with Pompeii’s archaeological officials who helped Anderson better understand the excavations for his $100-million film.
“They have done a good job”.
Archaeologist Antonio Varone said he was “amused” with certain historical inaccuracies, including a chariot race.
But added that if the film helped to “stimulate curiosity” about the story of Pompeii, it would be helpful.
The film tells the story of a young slave gladiator Milo, played by British actor Kit Harington, known for his work as Jon Snow on HBO’s Game of Thrones.
It features a pyrotechnic reproduction of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that spewed ash and pumice to kill almost the entire population of Pompeii, some 2,000 people, and encase the city.
Early reviews of the film have not been kind.
The popular Variety trade newspaper described the “sword-and-sandals saga” as campy, with particular appeal for teen-aged girls and gay men.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Investigators Probe Death Threats Against TAV Officials
‘Revolutionary court’ damns police, politicians over rail line
(ANSA) — Turin, February 20 — Special investigators opened a probe Thursday into a death threat issued against officials of a high-speed rail link between Italy and France.
The letter, sent to the ANSA news agency on Wednesday, came from the Nuclei Operativi Armati (Armed Operational Nuclei, NOA) which said its “revolutionary court” had condemned to death officials and police who were allegedly “repressing” protests against work on the Treni Alta Velocita’ (TAV) line north of Turin.
The No-Tav citizens’ movement trying to stop the link disassociated itself from the NOA and condemned its actions, saying it objected to “violence against persons”.
The ‘No TAV’ movement, which has clashed with police and been blamed for acts of sabotage, condemned the NOA and reiterated it was engaged in a program of civil disobedience only.
The letter came as a chilling reminder of leftist and rightist terrorist campaigns in Italy that left scores dead in the 1970s and ‘80s. Opponents argue the project linking Turin to Lyon is wasteful of public funds and destroys pristine countryside.
Supporters say it will cut down on automobile and truck pollution and make shipping and transit more efficient.
The Italian and French governments have insisted that the link will not only speed passenger and freight traffic but also boost both countries’ economies.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Cleaner Throws Out ‘Rubbish’ Sala Murat Artwork
A cleaner has mistakenly thrown away contemporary artworks meant to be part of an exhibition in southern Italy. Works made out of newspaper and cardboard, and cookie pieces scattered across the floor as part of Sala Murat’s display were thrown out.
Lorenzo Roca, from cleaning firm Chiarissima, said the unnamed cleaner was “just doing her job”. He added his firm’s insurance would cover the value of the art, estimated to be around 10,000 euros (£8,200).
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Lithuania Opens Probe Into CIA ‘Black Site’ Allegations
(VILNIUS) — Lithuanian prosecutors said Thursday they have opened an investigation into claims that a Saudi terror suspect was held in an alleged secret CIA jail in the Baltic state. The probe concerns the “possible illegal transportation of persons across the state border”, Vilnius prosecutors said in a statement…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
‘Long and Difficult’ Process Ahead in Etihad-Alitalia Deal
EC poised to resume talks with new Renzi government
(ANSA) — Brussels, February 20 — The European Commissioner responsible for competition, Joaquin Almunia, threw up a potential barrier Thursday to a planned investment by Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways in struggling Italian airline Alitalia.
Almunia warned that “long and difficult discussions” would be needed amid allegations of the use of disguised State aid in the deal, in contravention of European competition rules.
He noted that the issue had been under discussion between the EU and the former government of Enrico Letta, now in the process of being replaced by premier-designate Matteo Renzi.
“We were talking to the Letta government,” said Alumnia about allegations made in early February by German airline giant Lufthansa, which asked the EC to halt the planned investment by Etihad on grounds it would benefit from anti-competitive State aid.
“Now we are waiting to see who will be interlocutor in the Renzi government in order to resume contact and continue the conversation,” said Alumnia.
“Long and difficult discussions will be necessary,” he added.
In early February, Etihad and Alitalia issued a joint statement saying they were in the “final phase” of negotiations for a deal that would see the Abu Dhabi carrier buy as much as a 40% stake in its Italian counterpart, the equivalent of a much-needed capital injection of 350 million euros.
The main issue in talks has been Etihad’s condition that Alitalia renegotiate some of its the debt, as well as cut payroll costs by potentially as much as 128 million euros.
In mid-February the airline reached a deal with unions to avoid nearly 2,000 redundancies.
The agreement involved reduced working hours for a percentage of staff, and the rotations of other positions with temporary layoffs.
The complaint by the Frankfurt-based Lufthansa came as Alitalia CEO Gabriele Del Torchio said the troubled airline was poised to sign a 200 million euros financing deal with banks as part of a 500 million euros bailout package engineered by the Letta government last autumn.
This also included a controversial 74-million euro investment by Italy’s state-owned post office Poste Italiane, which prompted other European carriers to called on the EC to intervene.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Norway: Kind-Hearted Strangers Help Boy Freezing at Bus Stop Without a Coat
Caring strangers gave up their jackets, jumpers and scarves to help a young boy freezing at a bus stop in Norway. The social experiment was set up by the SOS Mayday action network to raise awareness about the thousands of children suffering in war-torn Syria…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Scotland: Rutherglen Mosque Leaders Vow to Help Alleviate Parking Problems
Leaders at the Minhaj-ul- Quran International Centre in Rutherglen have vowed to do whatever they can to help solve the traffic crisis on Greenhill Street. We reported two weeks ago residents of Greenhill Street were unhappy at the volume of traffic visiting the centre, which includes a mosque, especially at prayer time on a Friday…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘Vamp in the Veil’ Wins High Court Fight Over £14m Knightsbridge Property Empire
The so-called “vamp in the veil” today won a High Court battle over her £14 million Knightsbridge property empire. Sara Al Amoudi was accused of posing as a Saudi princess to trick property tycoons Amanda Clutterbuck, 56, and Ian Paton, 45, into transferring six luxury flats into her name.
In an extraordinary case, the couple claimed that Ms Al Amoudi conned them by posing as the wealthy daughter of a billionaire Saudi sheikh, when she was in fact a former prostitute from Ethiopia…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘Their Sentence Won’t Teach Them’: Anger of Bus Bell Attack Victim as Trio Are Spared Jail
A passenger attacked by three teenagers after he asked them to stop pressing the bell on a night bus today hit out after they were allowed to walk free from court. Bronson Maisey, 40, had his front tooth knocked out in the assault on the N25 bus to Stratford when the trio pounced on him. In front of a dozen other passengers, he was punched and slapped and had to cling to a pole as his attackers tried to drag him off the bus…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Alterations to Bradford Mosque Approved
A mosque which had built an extension without permission has agreed to cover the walls with stone rather than render. The mosque, at the former Royal Hotel in Fagley Road, Bradford, was granted permission to become a place of worship last June, but some changes have been made without planners’ consent…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Peter Cunningham was oblivious to the damage until he tried to open his door. When it wouldn’t budge, he looked up to find his house had split in two.
Days earlier, teenager Zoe Smith had gone to get her car off the driveway only to discover it had vanished into the earth.
They are both victims of an increasingly prevalent danger lurking beneath us — – sudden collapses in the ground known as sinkholes.
The name may evoke images of huge swathes of land hundreds of metres across giving way in the middle of nowhere.
But, as we’ve seen in recent weeks, they are very often small enough to fit in your back garden or your garage. And can very well end up there.
The British Geology Survey has warned that sinkholes are an ‘ongoing feature of the landscape’ and the country is likely to see more as the ground is set to remain saturated for some time.
A range of factors — natural and man-induced — can trigger a sinkhole collapse, but some people are more at risk depending on the type of rock underneath them.
They often occur when rocks made of chalk, limestone or the mineral gypsum are dissolved by acidic rainwater, which explains their prevalence in recent weeks…
A farmer whose offer to dredge a river for free was rejected by the Environment Agency is furious after 300 acres of his pasture land was left flooded.
Andy Baggs, 57, has spent years unsuccessfully asking for the silt in the River Frome to be extracted in a bid to protect his fields.
After being told there was no funding available to carry out the work he volunteered to do the job himself at his own expense.
‘They told me the river will do what it naturally wants to do and now half of my farm is under water.
[Comment: Check out the pics; many areas flooded due to the stoppage of dredging of clogged (with silt) local waterways by UK’s Environment Agency…]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Jurors heard the gang wrongly believed Mr Thompson, who has been a guard at the maximum security prison for 11 years, was ex-military. The guard said: ‘He approached me, pushed something sharp into my throat and said, “I have killed two people. I will kill you. I will kill you”.’ The Times reported he added: ‘I saw Awale playing with the knives. At one stage he was rubbing the knives together, rather like someone who was preparing to carve up a Sunday roast.’…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Judge Blasts Peterborough Sex Gang
Thursday 4pm: An immigrant child sex gang was blasted by a judge today for failing to respect their adopted country by abusing a string of young girls — and failing to learn English. Judge John Bevan QC laid into the four Roma men and boys from the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and an Iraqi Kurd, as he sentenced them for raping and sexually assaulting five girls aged as young as 12…
[JP note: A second major case involving a Peterborough sex gang is set for trial on 24 March 2014 at Cambridge Crown Court. In Bristol, some fifteen men have been arrested under Operation Brooke which will result in another major trial at some point.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Man Who Throttled Bus Passenger With Scarf May be Free in Four Years
A man who tried to kill a bus passenger by strangling him with his scarf could be free within four years after being jailed for the attack.
South African Eric Mjola, 33, wrapped his scarf around the throat of Tesco security guard Reynolds Quadjovie, 39, who choked before he passed out…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Peterborough Sex Attack Gang Jailed
A gang that raped and sexually assaulted five vulnerable girls in Peterborough have been jailed at the Old Bailey. Hassan Abdulla, 33, was jailed for 20 years while Zdeno Mirga, 18, described as the “boss” by one victim, was jailed for 16 and a half years. Both were convicted of multiple rapes and child prostitution.
Jan Kandrac, 17, and Renato Balog, 18, were jailed for five and a half and 12 years respectively. A 14-year-old boy, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was given a non-custodial six-month youth rehabilitation order after being convicted of sexual activity with a child. The men and youths were of Czech and Slovak Roma and Kurdish backgrounds…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Algerian Islamists Boycott Presidential Election
Algiers — The Algerian presidential election scheduled for April 17th will take place without the Islamists. Islamist party Justice and Development Front (FJD, or El Adala) on Saturday (February 15th) called for the poll to be postponed. Along with Fellow Islamist parties Ennahda and Movement for the Society of Peace (MSP), El Adala had already announced a boycott of the poll.
This is the first time since the advent of multi-party politics in Algeria at the beginning of the 1990s that Islamist parties have all withdrawn from a presidential election…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Al-Jazeera Reporters Face Court, Trial Adjourned
Journalists from Qatar-based news channel Al-Jazeera have gone on trial in Cairo, shouting in court their detention conditions were “psychologically unbearable.” The trial has been adjourned until March 5.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Amazigh Minority Won’t Recognize New Constitution
Constituent assembly to be elected tomorrow
(ANSAmed) — TRIPOLI — As Libya prepares to elect its constituent assembly on Thursday, the Amazigh Berber minority on Wednesday said it will not recognize the country’s future constitution.
“We will not recognize those who do not recognize us”, the Amazigh Supreme Council said.
Tomorrow’s vote, to be held on a national holiday, will elect a 60-seat assembly, its members equally divided between the country’s three regions: Cyrenaica (east), Fezzan (south) and Tripolitania (west).
Six seats are reserved for women, and six more are to be divided up among Libya’s three minorities: the Tebu, the Tuareg and the Amazigh people.
There are 692 candidates, including 73 women, with the Tebu fielding 14 and the Tuareg 6.
The Amazigh are boycotting, saying they are just as marginalized as under the former regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. They want more representation on the assembly, and constitutional recognition of their culture and their Tamazight language.
The new constitution will be key in rebuilding the Libyan State and its institutions. If women and minorities are left out, it won’t be able to uphold their rights, according to Human Rights Watch.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Tourism Companies Urge Travelers in Egypt to Take Caution
International tourism companies have urged holiday-makers in Egypt to remain in their hotels if they are already in the northern Sinai region of the country.
The request came after the Sinai-based Islamist militant group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, or Supporters of Jerusalem, this week claimed responsibility for the bombing of a tourist bus on Sunday in the Sinai and threatened more attacks.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Abbas, Kerry to Hold Second Paris Meeting
JERUSALEM (JTA) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas agreed to meet for a second day to discuss core issues in the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.
Kerry and Abbas met for two hours on Wednesday evening in Paris, where they “had an in-depth discussion about the core issues” surrounding a peace deal and agreed to continue the discussion on Thursday, according to news reports citing an unnamed senior State Department official…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
2 Killed by Sniper Fire in Lebanon’s Tripoli
BEIRUT, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) — Two people were killed and eight others injured Thursday by snipers in Lebanon’s northern port city of Tripoli, a security source told Xinhua. The Lebanese army has closed the main highway linking Tripoli and Akkar in the north due to heavy sniper fire, the source said on condition of anonymity…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
European Travelers to Jordan Drop by 12.5% in 2013
Regional turmoil, economic crisis contributed to the decrease
(ANSAmed) — AMMAN, FEBRUARY 19 — The number of European tourists to Jordan has dropped by 12.5 percent in 2013, compared to 2012, official figures showed today.
A total of 672,000 Europeans visited Jordan last year, which represents a setback to the local tourism sector, a main source of national income.
Persistent regional turmoil, conflict and the economic crisis hitting the continent have contributed to the drop, according to Abed Al Razzaq Arabiyat, director general of the Jordan Tourism Board.
According to UN World Tourism Organisation, 80 percent of European tourists preferred to remain within the European zone to reduce spending, while 20 per cent travelled to other continents.
Visitors from the Arab region were the highest, amounting to more than three million, with Saudis coming first, Arabiyat was quoted by the Jordan Times.
Overall number of visitors dropped by 14 percent; including brief visitors who travel from neighbouring countries to see Petra, the major attraction that the kingdom has to offer.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
In Two Years, Some 500 Indian Workers Died on 2022 World Cup Construction Sites
For Qatar, the death toll is “normal” given the large number of workers from India in the country. Activists and international organizations accuse the Gulf State of continuing to violate the human rights of foreign workers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Obama May Escalate Role in Syrian War
Americans unquestionably oppose any U.S. military intervention in Syria of the “boots on the ground” variety. They’re not fans of the idea of air strikes there, either. But how would they respond to narrowly tailored attacks targeting Islamist fighters who may be looking to use that country’s lawless war zones as a staging ground for potential attacks on U.S. allies, U.S. interests and possibly the United States itself? Would such a limited approach really help increasingly desperate moderate fighters squeezed between those extremists and strongman Bashar Assad’s troops? And what risk would it pose in terms of sucking the United States into an escalating role in the Syrian conflict?
Those are central, pressing questions as President Barack Obama assesses his handling of arguably the worst foreign policy disaster of his administration and gives fresh thought to a limited military role, according to current and former administration officials and congressional aides.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Rebels Ready for Spring Offensive Against Damascus
Government and opposition are preparing for a military showdown in Daraa province, the gateway to the capital. Thousands of fighters trained in Jordan by Western forces are said to be getting ready. Ban Ki-moon calls on all parties to return to the peace table for talks.
Damascus (AsiaNews/Agencies) — In southern Syria, rebels are planning a “spring offensive” against Damascus, this according to government and opposition sources.
Fresh rebel troops are coming in from Jordan after being trained by Western powers. The Syrian army, meanwhile, is redeploying troops in Quneitra province located on the ceasefire line with Israel, to stop any rebel advance in Daraa province.
For his part, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that only talks in Geneva could bring peace to the country. With this in mind, he called on all parties to return to the negotiating table after the failure of second round of meetings.
As thousands of US-trained rebels make their way into the area, fears are growing.
Abdullah al-Qarazi, an ex-officer in the Syrian army, made it clear that the offensive will take place.
“Daraa (province) is the gateway to Damascus. The battle for Damascus starts from here,” al-Qarazi said.
“For now, we only have guarantees (for weapons) from the countries that support” the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad, he said.
“If the promises are honoured, God willing we will reach the heart of the capital,” he added.
Since the summer of 2013, rebels have controlled Daraa and strategic positions near the Jordanian border, which can be used as a conduit for arms.
They also set up a coalition of 47 factions and opened communications channels with fighters in Damascus province and in Quneitra, the main town in the Syrian Golan Heights.
But the army is standing idle. According to a government official, everything is ready for a battle in Daraa.
Despite the winds of war, the United Nations is still hopeful. Martin Nesirky, a spokesman for Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, made it clear that the UN leader “remains convinced that Geneva II is the way to go.”
The UN chief is calling on “the parties to think long and hard and to come back as soon as possible so that this process can continue,” Nesirky noted.
“This is a process, not a single event taking place in one or two meetings,” he added, and this is something that “is going to take a long time.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Media: U.S. Training Thousands of Militants in Jordan
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, FEBRUARY 20 — About 3,000 Syrian militants opposing the regime in Damascus and Islamist extremist movements have been trained by US forces in northern Jordan over the past eight months in cooperation with the Jordanian army and with other, unspecified Arab armies, according to Saudi pan Arab daily al Hayat, which is based in London. The paper cited sources with the Syrian armed opposition.
The newspaper did not only quote anonymous sources but also the leader of a Syrian rebel brigade, Ali Rifai, operating in Tell Shihab, a southern region of Daraa bordering with northern Jordan. According to the source, the standard training of thousands of Syrian rebels defined as “moderate” in military bases of the Jordanian army has lasts between eight to 12 days.
The training is monitored by US officers and focuses on the use of light and medium weapons like anti-aircraft and anti-tank rockets.
The same newspaper said that, according to sources with insurgents in the Daraa region, munitions and weapons from the Hashemite kingdom have recently arrived , in particular anti-tank grenades and rockets.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
United Nations Officials Talking With Syrian Terror Group
Long a prime target of al Qaeda-inspired attacks, the United Nations has been discreetly cultivating informal contacts with the terror organization’s Syrian affiliate in hopes of persuading the militants to allow aid workers to safely deliver humanitarian assistance to civilians in opposition-controlled territory, U.N. officials told Foreign Policy.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Canadian Women Rally to Beat U.S. In Overtime for Hockey Gold
The women’s gold-medal hockey game on Thursday night between the United States and Canada followed an eerily familiar script. Four years after the men’s teams from the two countries played a riveting Olympic final that was decided in overtime, the women did the same.
This time, as in Vancouver in 2010, Canada came out on top when the forward Marie-Philip Poulin beat the American goaltender, Jessie Vetter, with a shot from the left circle with 11:50 remaining in overtime. Poulin, 22, also scored the goal that sent the game into overtime.
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Deadly Clashes Shatter Ukraine Truce
ARMED protesters have stormed police barricades in Kiev in renewed violence that has left at least 25 people dead and shattered an hours-old truce. The clashes came as European Union foreign ministers held crisis talks with Ukraine’s embattled president.
Opposition lawmaker Oleh Lyashko warned that Mr Yanukovych himself is in danger if he does not offer some concessions. “Yanukovych, you will end like (Muammar) Gaddafi,” Mr Lyashko told thousands of angry protesters. “Either you, a parasite, will stop killing people or this fate will await you. Remember this, dictator!”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Exposed: Ukrainian ‘Protesters’ Backed by Kony 2012-Style Scam
Viral video produced by company linked to ‘regime change’ NGO
As they seize weapons, take over government buildings and fire on media outlets, the US-backed Ukrainian protesters are being afforded legitimacy with the aid of a Kony 2012-style viral video which triumphs the grass roots nature of the demonstrations yet is linked to shadowy NGOs that have been directly involved in staging phony ‘color revolutions’ in the past…
The origins of the video are not quite as ‘grass roots’ as is portrayed. The clip was produced by the team behind A Whisper to a Roar, a documentary about the “fight for democracy” all over the world, which was funded by Prince Moulay Hicham of Morocco. The “inspiration” behind the documentary was none other than Larry Diamond, a Council on Foreign Relations member. The Council on Foreign Relations is considered to be America’s “most influential foreign-policy think tank” and has deep connections with the U.S. State Department.
Diamond has also worked closely with the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The National Endowment for Democracy is considered to be the CIA’s “civilian arm” and has been deeply embroiled in innumerable instigated uprisings, attempted coups and acts of neo-colonial regime change since its creation in 1983, including the contrived 2004 “Orange Revolution” that brought US puppet Viktor Yushchenko to power in Ukraine…
Diamond’s connection to the viral “I am a Ukrainian” video clearly suggests that the clip is a crude effort to convince an unthinking public that the Ukrainian uprising is completely organic and is not being instigated by western powers, when the opposite is in fact the case. The clip is reminiscent of the Kony 2012 scam, where a viral video utilized simplified propaganda and emotional manipulation to convince millions of people of the necessity of U.S. military involvement in Africa.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Kiev Protest Violence Kills Scores
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Protesters advanced on police lines in the heart of the Ukrainian capital on Thursday, prompting government snipers to shoot back and kill scores of people in the country’s deadliest day since the breakup of the Soviet Union a quarter-century ago.
Musiy told The Associated Press that at least 70 protesters were killed Thursday and over 500 were wounded in the clashes — and that the death toll could rise further. In addition, three policemen were killed Thursday and 28 suffered gunshot wounds, Interior Ministry spokesman Serhiy Burlakov told the AP.
Protesters were also seen leading policemen, their hands held high, around the sprawling protest camp in central Kiev. Ukraine’s Interior Ministry says 67 police were captured in all. An opposition lawmaker said they were being held in Kiev’s occupied city hall.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine: Protestors Capture 67 Police in Kiev
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Fearing that a call for a truce was a ruse, protesters tossed firebombs and advanced upon police lines Thursday in Ukraine’s embattled capital. Government snipers shot back and the almost-medieval melee that ensued left at least 33 people dead…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Ukrainian Protests Degenerate From Hooliganism to Terrorism
[A transcript of a video interview with Srdja Trifkovic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKkiazCsZ8M]
RT: In Ukraine there have been accusations of the use of live ammunition by both sides in the conflict. Protesters are well armed but it is unclear just where they’ve sourced their firearms from. They were also using grenades, fireworks and Molotov cocktails against law enforcers. Others threw rocks, wielded baseball bats and metal rods. Attempts were also made to ram trucks through police cordons. Let’s now get some analysis from Srdja Trifkovic, foreign-affairs editor for the Chronicles magazine. Mr. Trifkovic, we understand that the EU is talking about imposing sanctions on the authorities, or on those who are responsible for violence in Ukraine. Can we expect them to be fair? Can we expect them to single out who is behind the violence?
TRIFKOVIC: Absolutely not. We have witnessed brazen hypocrisy from the European Union ever since the beginning of this crisis. Let us just remember the list of various EU functionaries and ministers from its member-countries, such as Poland, Germany and Lithuania, who went to Ukraine in December to harangue the demonstrators in Kiev. What we are looking at, objectively, is that from the phase of demonstrations, early on, the protests had degenerated into hooliganism in mid-December, and into terrorism since January 19. Any talk of sanctions against Yanukovych or his ministers overlooks the fact that a major responsibility for the behavior of—and we can no longer use the term “demonstrators,” I would rather use the term “rebels,” because we are looking at a de facto armed rebellion—lies with Ukraine’s opposition politicians, and first and foremost with the neo-Nazi party Svoboda which has been recruiting young men of a thuggish disposition in Lvov, Ivano-Frankovsk and other places. It has effectively provided logistic support to the rebels in the Maidan Square.
RT: There’s no doubt that the EU is concerned about the events in Ukraine, because all this violence and bloodshed is happening in its backyard. Europe should react somehow, don’t you think?…
| — Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine Sanctions Imposed Amid Kiev Clashes
European Union foreign ministers have agreed to impose sanctions on Ukrainian officials “responsible for violence and excessive force”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine Crisis Talks Underway in Brussels as Deadly Fighting Escalates
EU foreign ministers in Brussels have sanctioned visa bans and asset freezes on those responsible for the bloodshed in Ukraine. Days of deadly violence have rocked the capital, Kyiv.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine Violence: Soros Hooligans Beat Cops
Obama characterized gun-toting demonstrators as peaceful
EU Commission boss Jose Manuel Barroso said today his fellow globalist apparatchiks believe now is the time to impose sanctions on the government of Ukraine.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine’s Demonstrators: Nationalists or Anti-Nationalists?
Violence within the demonstration movement in Ukraine has been blamed upon the Pravy Sektor (Right Sector), an ultra-nationalist splinter group that has broken away from the main Euromaidan movement. Their hero is Stepan Bandera, a WWII-era nationalist who initially welcomed the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union as a means of achieving Ukrainian independence.
Bandera was ultimately imprisoned by the Nazis — who had no intention of fostering nascent independence movements — before being assassinated by KGB agents in 1959 for his continuing anti-Soviet stance. Former President Viktor Yushchenko made Bandera a posthumous Hero of the Ukraine in 2010, an honour revoked by the subsequent pro-Russian government.
Ukrainian nationalism was an influential factor in both World Wars, although it remains difficult to define. Nationalism is a notoriously tricky concept, very basically described as a devotion to one’s country. Writing in 1941, Harold Weinstein attempted to understand nationalism in Ukraine and its potential impact on World War Two:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
US-Backed Ukrainian Protesters Shoot at Media
The Interior Ministry of Ukraine said that at least 23 police officers had been injured by sniper fire on Independence Square. The protesters are “openly using fire arms against the Berkut [Special Forces],” wrote the Interior Ministry in a statement.
“The injured are currently receiving emergency medical help,” said the Interior Ministry.
Police say that the sniper fire originated from the roof of Kiev’s Conservatory and targeted officers. The Ukrainian opposition claims that protesters were also caught in the gunfire.
“I think the opposition has crossed the line. I think the policy of negotiations has exhausted itself,” said the deputy head of the Party of Regions, Oleg Tsarev, in parliament.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Western-Backed Opposition in Ukraine Will Soon Get Looted Weapons
The Kyiv Post and other sources inside Ukraine reported earlier today weapons looted from government stocks will soon reach protesters. Authorities in the country admitted arms were stolen from the Security Service headquarters and regional police.
Government offices in Lviv and Ternopil were attacked in western Ukraine on February 18. Protesters raided the Security Service in Ivano-Frankivsk, according to Volodymyr Borodko, a law enforcement deputy with the Sluzhba Bezpeky Ukrayiny, or SBU, the Ukrainian Security Service.
The raiders made off with 267 pistols, two rifles, three machine guns, nearly 100 grenades and approximately 15,000 rounds of ammunition, a representative of the Interior Ministry, Serhiy Burlakov, told the newspaper.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why Does Ukraine Seem So Much Like Syria?
In Ukraine, US-backed rebels seize weapons from a military depot and begin firing on police — killing at least ten. The rebel groups occupy and torch government buildings, trade union headquarters, the central post office, and political party headquarters. They occupy local government facilities in other cities and physically attack local authorities. Their goal is to overthrow the elected government.
Reports of rebel reinforcements arriving, with “bulky backpacks near the scene of the latest protests,” are suspiciously reminiscent of the “Internet in a Suitcase” project funded by the US government to provide tools for “activists” in regime-change candidate countries. The US has similarly trained and equipped the Syrian rebels.
US-backed rebels are photographed all over Ukraine with weapons, sometimes photographed shooting at police. In Syria, the US covertly provided the weapons and approved Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other “friends of Syria” to provide even more. A Russian official has accused the US of arming the Ukrainian opposition.
As in Syria, where US Ambassador Robert Ford adopted the rebels from the beginning of the insurrection, US officials have beat a steady path to the Ukrainian rebels to offer their support and assistance. Senator John McCain has even dined with Svoboda Party president Oleh Tyahnybok, shown here in a rather different pose. US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland was recorded plotting the overthrow and replacement of the Ukrainian government with the US Ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hard Sell? Pakistani Merchants Use President Obama’s Face to Sell Imitation Viagra
Black market versions of the anti-impotence drug featuring different caricatures of Obama — apparently a symbol of strength and virility — can be found across Pakistan.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Ambassador to New Delhi Back Amid Marines Row
Renzi ‘considering new initiatives’ in anti-piracy case
(By Sandra Cordon) (ANSA) — Rome, February 19 — After Italy recalled its ambassador to India over the case of two anti-piracy marines held for two years without charge, premier-designate Matteo Renzi was said to be considering “new initiatives” Wednesday in the case.
While ambassador Daniele Mancini met with officials in Rome, Nicola Latorre, chairman of the Senate defence committee, said Renzi was considering new measures and Foreign Minister Emma Bonino said the new administration would maintain the Italian government’s commitment to the case.
At the same time, Italian representatives to the United Nations raised the issue at the highest levels, sources said.
The meetings in New York were aimed at reinforcing Italy’s concerns about delays in the case with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who had previously suggested it was a bilateral issue.
The sessions came on the same day that Foreign Minister Emma Bonino said that she is also urging the president of the European Parliament to intervene in the case, to increase pressure on the government in New Delhi.
“I wrote to the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, urging his intervention in the case,” Bonino said earlier in the day.
Bonino said that it was “important to involve colleagues from other countries,” and institutions such as Schulz in pressing India to move rapidly on the case. Officials and the families of marines Salvatore Girone and Massimiliano Latorre were frustrated on Tuesday when India’s Supreme Court announced the latest in a series of delays in the case.
The marines are accused of killing fishermen Valentine (aka Gelastine) and Ajesh Binki after allegedly mistaking them for pirates and opening fire on their fishing trawler while guarding the privately owned Italian-flagged oil-tanker MT Enrica Lexie off the coast of Kerala on February 15, 2012. Italy has been seeking support internationally in the case and last week, European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton raised the issue with Ban.
Ashton and other EU officials have said that the case has serious implications for all anti-piracy missions.
Meanwhile, the spouses of the two marines met with officials and urged the Italian ambassador to refuse to return to New Delhi until the case is resolved.
Vania Ardito, wife of Girone, and Paola Moschetti, partner of Massimiliano Latorre, spoke after meetings with government officials.
Bonino “has secured the commitment of the new government for the release of Salvatore and Massimiliano,” Ardito told a news conference.
Moschetti added that the women pressed officials to ensure there is “continuity” between the former government of Enrico Letta and the incoming administration in handling the case. The marines “cannot be victims of delays and complexities” amid continued uncertainty whether India will press terrorism charges, Bonino said Tuesday after the Supreme Court announced it was postponing until February 24. The court said that it wanted to give the Indian government time to deliver a written response about whether to prosecute the marines on the basis of a harsh anti-terrorism, anti-piracy law in the case.
The idea of using such a law caused additional outrage in Italy, as Rome said it would equate the country with a terrorist state.
Italian Defence Minister Mario Mauro has said Indian authorities have hit “the limit” of Italian patience in the case.
“There is no justice in this case. We are faced with ambiguous, unreliable behaviour on the part of the Indian authorities”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Jakarta and Singapore at Loggerheads Over the Name of a New Indonesian Naval Ship
Jakarta’s decision to name a Navy corvette KRI Usman Harun after two commandoes considered heroes in Indonesia but criminals in Singapore has increased tensions between the two countries. For experts, Indonesia’s upcoming presidential elections and US-Sino relations in the Asia-Pacific region are behind the geopolitical tug of war.
Jakarta (AsiaNews) — This year’s Indonesian presidential elections and power games in the Asia-Pacific region are behind the dispute between Singapore and Indonesia over the name given to an Indonesian warship under construction, this according to geopolitics expert Adhie Sachs. In his view, the confrontation between the two nations is a significant international issue.
In Indonesia, people are waiting to see who will replace President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono who developed closer relations with the West and the United States. A friend in Jakarta would be good for the latter.
However, a statement by Singapore’s Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen that the Indonesian Navy corvette KRI Usman Harun would not be allowed in Singapore territorial waters is fuelling tensions.
Indonesian leaders have reacted angrily to the decision. Their national pride wounded, some Indonesian lawmakers slammed the Singaporean minister.
The ship is named after two Indonesian marine commandos — Harun Thorir and Usman Janatin Ali — whose act of sabotage in mid-March in 1965 caused major loss of life in Singapore.
The two planted a bomb at the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank building on Orchard Road in Singapore killing three people and injuring another 33.
Caught by Singapore forces as they tried to escape, they were tried and hanged in Changgi in 1968.
President Sukarno recognised their action as a “state mission” designed to prevent the creation of a new Federation of Malaysia with Singapore.
President Suharto declared them national heroes, and gave them a state funeral with full honours and burial in the cemetery of Kalibata, South Jakarta.
Eventually, political tensions between the two neighbours softened after Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew came to power in Singapore and was forced to lay a wreath of flowers on the grave of the two “heroes” in an official state visit in 1973.
After decades of neighbourly relations, things between two countries soured after Singapore leaders objected to Jakarta’s decision to name a corvette after the two “criminals”, and decided to ban the new ship from Singapore territorial waters. This in turn angered leaders in Jakarta.
Slated to join Indonesia’s Easter Navy Fleet, the ship will become operational by the end of this year.
Therefore, diplomatic tensions caused by Indonesia’s decision in 2012 to name the ship after the two marines (a decision it will not change) and the statement by Singapore’s defence minister should not cause any further row or confrontation with Singapore.
Still, tensions between the two countries reflect a much broader geopolitical problem in the region that will inevitably involve Indonesia’s new leaders.
For Adie Sachs, the timing of the dispute is no coincidence coming so soon before Indonesia’s upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections in April and October.
Whoever will be the next president, he will have a significant role to play in the South China Sea and in the Asia-Pacific region at a time of frosty relations between China and the United States.
Indeed, Beijing’s decision to conduct its recent naval exercises in the Indian Ocean rather than in the troubled South China Sea is no accident, especially after Jakarta granted the Chinese ships the right to sail through the Straits of Malacca.
For the US government, this is a wake-up call. Yesterday, America’s top diplomat, US Secretary of State John Kerry, flew to Jakarta on an official visit.
Although Kerry met with his Indonesian counterpart Marty Natalegawa to discuss regional issues and climate change, there is much more at stake, namely the future balance of power in Asia and the world.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Nepal’s National Airline Left With One Plane After Too Many Crashes
Fatal accidents and other troubles, including safety issues, have left the Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) with a single plane. “We do not have the money to buy a new aircraft, or manufacture a new one,” company spokesman says.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Grinning Generals Who Highlight Flaws in Our Afghanistan Exit
By Rob Crilly
So it’s your first week in one of the most senior positions running international forces in Afghanistan. In the military jargon, you have just taken responsibility for the International Security Assistance Force Joint Command and are the deputy commanding general of American forces in the country. You might assume that your every move is subject to scrutiny.
How might you kick off your tenure?
If you are Lt Gen Joseph Anderson, it is by flying to Kandahar to meet one of Afghanistan’s most controversial military figures: Maj Gen Abdul Raziq, accused of corruption, drug running and, most extraordinarily of all, mass murder…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
China’s Rubber Boom Obliterates Southern Forests
A major increase in sales of car tires in China is being driven forward by a burgeoning middle class. Many of the tires are made from local rubber. That’s good for business, but bad for the environment.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Boko Haram Attack in Northeast Nigeria Kills 60: Police
AFP_KANO: An attack by scores of Boko Haram militants in the northeast Nigeria town of Bama has killed 60 people and caused massive destruction to public buildings, police told AFP Thursday.
Residents said gunmen stormed the town at roughly 4:00 am on Wednesday, armed with heavy weapons and tossed explosives into various buildings, forcing residents to flee into the surrounding bush.
“We are collating the figures and the death toll has risen to 60 from the Bama attack,” said Lawal Tanko, the police commissioner in Borno state, which is the epicentre of Boko Haram’s four-and-half-year Islamist uprising.
“The toll is likely to rise,” he said. “The attackers caused enormous destruction. They burnt down some of the major landmarks in the town including the local government secretariat,” and the palace of the area’s top cleric, Tanko added.
He said the airforce dispatched fighter jets to suppress the raid from its base in the state capital Maiduguri some 60 kilometres (40 miles) away and dropped bombs on the fleeing insurgents.
“I can’t say how many of the gunmen were killed but the number is huge,”Tanko said.
The latest unrest in Nigeria’s embattled northeast came as Boko Haram’s leader Abubakar Shekau threated to widen his rebellion to the southern oil-producing Niger Delta region.
In a video statement delivered to AFP Wednesday, Shekau promised to strike the region which churns out some two million barrels of crude per day, the highest oil output in Africa.
Shekau has made various threats in a series of videos since 2012 and many have not materialised.
It is not clear if the extremist leader, declared a global terrorist by the United States, has the capacity to spread Boko Haram’s violence beyond the group’s stronghold in the northeast.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Mugabe at 90 — Dictator or Freedom Fighter?
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe turns 90 on Friday. In the West, he is perceived as a dictator, but in Africa he still has many supporters.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
by Diana West
House Speaker John Boehner made headlines on February 6 for tabling immigration “overhaul” — one week after indicating it was at the top of this session’s agenda.
But don’t think anyone has put the hatchets away. Measures hacking away at the US border, US citizenship, and US law itself continue across the land even as Congress increasingly becomes the 535-figured-headed white elephant on the Hill. More American Betrayal, and at breakneck speed.
A recent chronology of do-it-yourself, forget about the legislature, immigration-policy-making.
Feb. 4: TheStreet.com reports “DREAMers Get BiPartisan Support as Donald Graham Joins Grover Norquist.”
TheStreet,com reports:…
| — Hat tip: Diana West | [Return to headlines] |
EU Sticks to Bottom Line on Migration
The EU says it cannot compromise on the principle of freedom of movement but will allow Switzerland time to find a solution after a controversial referendum approved immigration curbs.
“It is a serious … not a minor change which we have to assess calmly,” chief operating officer of the EU external affairs service David O’Sullivan said of the referendum outcome. “Freedom of movement is a fundamental core value” of the European Union and as such is not open for negotiation, O’Sullivan said on Thursday after talks with Yves Rossier, his counterpart in the Swiss foreign ministry…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: GB Announces 2.4 Mln Migrant Repatriation Program
Aiming at reducing illegal migration to the United Kingdom
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, FEBRUARY 20 — The British Embassy in Athens on Wednesday announced a program for helping local authorities repatriate some 1,500 irregular migrants over the course of the next year, as Kathimerini online reports. The UK government has pledged 2 million pounds (2.43 million euros) for the scheme, which will be run jointly with the Greek Ministry of Public Order and the International Migration Organization (IMO).
“Our assessment is that the UK remains a primary final destination country for many of the irregular migrants in Greece,” British Ambassador John Kittmer was quoted as saying.
“British funding for this program is ultimately about reducing illegal migration to the UK. That is why we are co-operating with the Greek government as it faces the continuing challenge of illegal migration,” he added. The program aims at helping repatriate some 1,500 irregular migrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East over the course of 12 months. Speaking at the presentation of the program in Athens, Public Order Minister Nikos Dendias praised the initiative, saying “the British Home Office and the Foreign & Common Wealth Office have once more demonstrated the UK government’s ongoing commitment to support the Greek government’s efforts to manage migration more effectively and at the same time to provide migrants with safe and dignified alternatives for their return home.” It is estimated that some 18,500 migrants have left Greece voluntarily since the start of the crisis.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Academics Are Left Wing Because…
Chris Bertram is professor of Social and Political Philosophy at Bristol, he tweets as @crookedfootball and blogs at Crooked Timber. In Today’s post he argues that “Squeezing the rich is good, even when it raises no money”. Essentially his argument boils down to the left’s new theory of everything — that inequality is bad.
This may, or may not be the case. But the argument that punishing the wealthy ends up hurting the poor, by shrinking the pie, is not even considered as valid. There are so many near lies, distortions and pure hate for people who do things an academic political philosopher doesn’t understand, that the article is worth looking at in more detail…
“…First, in a complex society structured by all kinds of institutional rules, the idea that people have full liberal property rights in their pre-tax income is unwarranted. They participate in a co-operative venture with others in society subject to certain conditions, and those conditions include one that part of “their income” already belongs to the wider society, via the state. This point, hated by libertarians, defeats the widespread view that people are having “their money” take off them: it wasn’t theirs to start with. Though I think such an argument, with some caveats, is correct, it is a second and third consideration that I’d want to rely on here.
This view seems dangerously close to the totalitarian view that all your money is the state’s except that which they let you keep. This man is a professor of Political philosophy. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
I recently applied for the Head Football Coaching position at my local public school. I am an alumnus having graduated in 1971. My family has been active members of the community for over 60 years.
I don’t need the job…I run a ministry…but saw a great opportunity to build into the lives of the next generation. Although I am not a supporter of public schools I do believe that those children in the schools are worth saving. Jesus told us to “go into all of the world” and I believe the public schools are fertile ground.
I submitted my application, jumped through all of the hoops, was vetted by four different interviews, and finally recommended to the school board as the choice for the position. My credentials and experience put me head-shoulders-and stove-pipe hat above any other candidate.
That is, until the homosexual lobby got involved. Change.org and Equalityohio.org two far-left organizations unleashed their hounds of hell after my character.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
New laws which have been widely criticised by the international community as Russia hosts the Winter Olympics prevent under 18s from being subjected to so-called ‘gay propaganda’.
Mr Ecclestone told Ben Wyatt at CNN: ‘He [Mr Putin] hasn’t said he doesn’t agree [with homosexuality] just that he doesn’t want these things publicised to an audience under the age of 18.
‘I completely agree with those sentiments and if you took a world census you’d find 90 per cent of the world agree with it as well.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Twisted Motives Behind Political Correctness
One aspect of liberalism with which I am now very familiar is political correctness. I didn’t understand it at the time, not until I stepped outside the cultism of it and looked in from a wiser place. It always bothered me, but I couldn’t quite grasp why until later. Then, it hit me like a revelation. Political correctness was not a political ideology. No, it was a religion, a full-fledged spiritual con, a New Age ghetto of frothing mishmash that is sociological voodoo. And the leftists were eating it up like steak night at an all-you-can-eat buffet.
These people were rationally retarded. Every idea they proposed they merely parroted from books and articles they had read. They were like malfunctioning automatons trapped in a cycle of discontented social criticism. Their desperation to invent meaning in the midst of their irrelevant lives made me feel ill. If they could not find a legitimate cause to champion, they would create one out of thin air and defend it relentlessly, regardless of how shallow it truly was.
When I outline my analysis of economic destabilization within the United States or I write about the rise of the police state, I am driven by a fundamental sense of concrete concern. There are indeed real problems in the world, swirling in a storm of obvious factual conflicts. But the warriors of the PC culture don’t see any of it. Rather, they fantasize about injustices that don’t exist, trespasses that are ultimately fictional. They imagine themselves champions of some greater purpose that, in the end, doesn’t matter…
What truly motivates these people? Why do they do what they do? I think my experience with leftists makes me a well-positioned observer of the psychology of the culture. Here are the hidden thought processes I have witnessed while dealing directly with the PC army.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Global Food Supply Deliberately Engineered to End Life, Not Nourish it
(NaturalNews) After having now analyzed over 1,000 foods, superfoods, vitamins, junk foods and popular beverages for heavy metals and other substances at the Natural News Forensic Food Labs, I have arrived at a conclusion so alarming and urgent that it can only be stated bluntly.
As more and more lab results have been documented here at the Natural News Forensic Food Lab, it has become increasingly apparent to me that humanity cannot survive the mass engineered poisoning of the food supply.
You are, of course, being expertly distracted from all this with Powerball jackpots, tabloid celebrity news, staged political drama and of course the all-time favorite distraction of every crumbling empire: violent sports.
What I’ve published so far just barely scratches the surface of what we are finding. Here’s an overview of some of the incredibly shocking findings we have now documented:
1) The now-infamous “yoga mat chemical” used by Subway in their breads is also widely used across the fast-food industry. McDonald’s, Chik-Fil-A, Wendy’s, Arby’s and many other restaurants also use the chemical azodicarbonamide which is linked to cancer. Importantly, this is not a contaminant. This is an ingredient which is intentionally added to the recipes in order for the chemical to be consumed by the masses.
2) There is no logical reason why chemicals like azodicarbonamide need to be added to recipes of fast food breads and buns. The chemical serves no necessary functional or nutritive purpose. It seems to exists solely for the purpose of delivering the chemical to hundreds of millions of consumers by blending it into popular fast foods. The sandwiches in which this chemical is found are merely delivery mechanisms for toxic substances that harm human biology.
3) Many mainstream, popular vitamin brands are intentionally spiked with such high levels of copper that if taken on a daily basis, they will cause mental insanity and psychosis. Some of these vitamin brands are routinely advertised on television to the mainstream masses, encouraging them to consume the vitamins, many of which are manufactured by companies owned in full or part by pharmaceutical interests.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pingback: Uffe: EUSSR Erwache! | Voldposten
Quote:
Could a Muslim be elected President of the United States?
end
Yes.
Would a Muslim preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States?
Sure.
Would a Muslim preserve, protect and defend its first ten amendments?
Of course not.
Of course NEVER.
Quote:
An immigrant child sex gang was blasted by a judge today for failing to respect their adopted country by abusing a string of young girls — and failing to learn English.
end
Oh, but your Honor, don’t you understand that they believe themselves to be superior to you in every way, and in possession of perfect truth?
Why learn English when the truth is in Arabic or Urdu?
Why learn English when the English show themselves to have no integrity?
Force their respect and maybe they’ll learn English.
Expel them and then your problem is solved easily.
No you don’t say
It features a pyrotechnic reproduction of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that spewed ash and pumice to kill almost the entire population of Pompeii, some 2,000 people, and encase the city.
And I thought that it was real. :-;
And who is in charge of the upper Thames, where all of the recent flooding took place…..
[Comment: Check out the pics; many areas flooded due to the stoppage of dredging of clogged (with silt) local waterways by UK’s Environment Agency…]
In Two Years, Some 500 Indian Workers Died on 2022 World Cup Construction Sites
add in the 4++ Nepali and who knows, ? Pakistanis, ? Bangladeshis and probably ? Filipinos.
You’ll get a better picture.
“Mr Baggs said said (sic): ‘The two rivers have needed dredging for some time but the Environment Agency just kept telling me that there was no funding.
‘The silt and mud has built up so much over the years that it has caused a blockage and led to the water levels to rise.
‘I offered to dredge the river myself at my own expense, using my own machinery and labour. It was a unique offer and took the cost out of it for them.
‘I wanted to take out the sediment and marginal vegetation on the bends in the river over a 1.8km stretch.
‘The Environment Agency were very negative about my offer and wrote back to me stating there is was a general presumption against the removal of sediment from the water course.
‘Natural England had the overall say because the river bed is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Somebody came out, saw the obstructions for themselves but said categorically ‘no dredging’.'”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2563667/Would-sinkhole-fit-garage-As-gardens-driveways-collapse-country-examine-face-reveal-parts-UK-risk.html
NOTE: The bureaucratic decision to forbid dredging is Agenda 21 (in)activity designed to revert the land back to its ‘natural’ state – bereft of humans and farm animals. The Agenda 21 crowd has also been known to intentionally flood the best farmland on the Mississippi River. Communists intend to control the food supply. Read it and weep.
http://www.exohuman.com/wordpress/2011/06/the-deliberate-flooding-of-america%E2%80%99s-heartland/
I’ve only become aware of Agenda 21 recently, thanks to posts here. Ignoring if you will, alleged small-scale implementation of the agenda as in Somerset or the Mississippi, the cost of implementing the whole scheme in the US, with rehousing of tens of millions of Americans, would make the current deficit look like peanuts- even the Rockefellers couldn’t afford it!
Hi Mark, Your best feature is your open mind, and your second best feature is your sense of humor. 🙂
Since the global warming fiasco (now climate change), the New World Order has moved to sustainability and income equality to separate the mass of people from their land and property – in preparation to separate the mass of people from their lives.
To the New World Order elites, the common mass of people is dispensable. The NWO plans to eliminate the bulk of current humanity via manufactured crises (e.g., war, artificial water shortage, famine, disease, WMD releases, (un)natural disasters including flood, forest fire, etc.). Mass depopulation is the name of the game.
Survivors? The New World Order will seek to cause people to become refugees managed by foreign troops to disorient people and prevent people from organizing and fighting. Federal or foreign troops will herd people in the USA into either FEMA camps or high density cities. FEMA camps will sort for execution or re-education. Cities will facilitate management of the masses for disposable use or culling at the whim of the elites.
As a Brit, you might like to start with Lord Monckton. 🙂
Monckton – Agenda 21 is a ruthless depopulation agenda:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Hyl9YzJsQg
Monckton – Speaking to Congress 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08SVnB_PBNQ
Here is a list of articles from his website: http://lordmoncktonfoundation.com/articles
The first article is a good article:
http://o.b5z.net/i/u/10152887/f/200_scientists_quotes.pdf
Thanks Egghead. Looked at some of the material, and I’m in agreement about climate change likely being primarily beyond human control; natural cycles of the sun are probably the main culprit. On TV a few days ago Michael Portillo, a former Defence Minister under Margaret Thatcher, said the only thing we can sensibly do is mitigate the effects.
However I maintain that the Agenda 21 programme would bankrupt any nation implementing it, and cannot imagine China or Russia going for it, so even if, say, the US & Europe did, it would accelerate our relative decline in prosperity, leaving the Masters of the Universe (or our bit of it) fighting over the remaining slices of a diminishing cake.
As for Lord Monckton- I checked his Wikepedia entry, and with friends like this, who needs enemies? I’ll likely vote UKIP in the European elections in May, but with fantasists like him, and the idiotic local councillor who recently blamed the floods on gay marriage, I may have to grit my teeth!
“…the Agenda 21 programme would bankrupt any nation implementing it….”
Hi Mark, All that I can say is that the people who are implementing their feudal rule over the serfs do NOT see bankruptcy as an issue that directly affects them – except as a means to cement their despotic power….
Nordic Terrorist Makes Bombshell Claim — and the Media Missed It
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/02/21/the-story-the-msm-missed-nordic-terrorist-claims-he-embraced-counterjihadists-in-manifesto-to-discredit-them-protect-neo-nazi-allies/
Saw a link to this on Jihad Watch. All GoVers should see this as the site is referenced.