As the Sunni insurgent forces of ISIS bear down on Baghdad, the Iranian-born Shiite leader Ayatollah Ali Sistani called on all Iraqis to take up arms and defend the country against the invading forces. Meanwhile, President Barack Hussein Obama has ruled out sending any American troops to Iraq to support the Iraqi government against ISIS.
In other news, Russia says that Ukraine violated Russian territory by sending two armored vehicles across the border. Meanwhile, the United States confirmed that Russia has sent tanks and other equipment to the separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, JP, 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.
ECB Praises Italy on Deficit, Demands Action on Debt
Rome has achieved a ‘sustainable correction’ in finances
(ANSA) — Rome, June 12 — The European Central Bank (ECB) praised Italy’s progress on reducing its budget deficit in its monthly bulletin on Thursday and called for it to now work harder on bringing down its massive national debt of over two trillion euros. The bulletin said Italy had “achieved a sustainable correction” of its excessive deficit in recent years, along with Finland, Germany and Latvia. But it added that Italy should prioritise “putting the large debt-to-GDP ratio on a stable downward path”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Inflation Drops to 0.5% in May
Food prices post biggest drop since 2010
(ANSA) — Rome, June 13 — Italy’s inflation rate fell from 0.6% in April to 0.5% in March while the trolley of most frequently bought items was virtually unchanged, Istat said Friday, confirming preliminary estimates two weeks ago.
Food prices posted their biggest drop since 2010 in a sign that the economy is continuing to struggle, the statistics agency said.
The monthly drop in overall inflation was 0.1%, Istat said.
Lower inflation is good for savers but usually a sign the economy is not as active as it could be.
Italy is trying, but so far failing, to get out of its longest postwar recession.
The prices of the most frequently bought goods in Italy’s inflation trolley rose 0.1% in May on an annual and monthly basis, the lowest rise since July 2010, Istat said.
The cost of food, household maintenance and personal care was almost unchanged, Istat noted as the country keeps suffering a vicious economic pinch.
Food and non-alcoholic beverage prices fell an annual 0.2% in May, the biggest drop since June 2010, Istat said in another sign of the flatlining economy.
Seasonal factors were behind the drop, especially for fruit and vegetables hit by unseasonable weather, the statistics agency said.
Italy posted negative growth of 0.1% in the first quarter of 2014 after positive growth of 0.1% in the last quarter of 2013, the only up-blip in its longest postwar recession.
However, recent manufacturing figures were stronger than expected.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
People of Ontario Voted to Stay in Their Province’s Crippling Recession
Ontario voters voted yesterday to remain in their province’s crippling recession by handing another victory to the scandal-plagued Liberals on the proverbial silver platter.
Some people thrive on moral and financial bankruptcy. Just ask Ontario voters.
No one captures the dismal reality better than the Toronto Sun’s Christina Blizzard:
“TORONTO — It’s Friday the 13th.
“Get ready for a horror show.
“Voters in Ontario not only gave the nod to bad behaviour — they rewarded it by giving the scandal-plagued government of Kathleen Wynne a majority government.
“Go figure.
“Despite the $1 billion blown on gas plants, the Ornge air ambulance fiasco, the deleted e-mails, the disgraceful $317-million bailout of MaRS, voters still weren’t ready to boot a Liberal government that’s embroiled in two — count ‘em — OPP investigations out the door.
“Apparently the devil you know is better than trying your luck with a party that hasn’t blown $1 billion on eHealth…”
With little mention from the mainstream media, the province of Ontario is in worse economic shape than the state of California.
California has approximately $170 billion debt for 35 million people.
Blatantly ignoring all credit watches and warnings and with no credible plan to balance the books, Ontario has a $300 billion debt and a $15 billion operating deficit for about 13 million people.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
American Leaders Must Free Meriam Yahya Ibrahim
by Phyllis Chesler
Free Meriam Yahya Ibrahim Now.
I demand that my government, and especially President Obama, take visible and immediate steps to open her cell door and bring her here. Her husband is an American citizen as are their two children. If this were not enough, she is a worthy candidate for political asylum based on religious persecution. I have recently worked with Christian lawyers in the United States who have been successful on behalf of their Christian clients who faced being honor killed by their families, not by the state, for converting to Christianity.
Meriam never converted to Christianity. It was her and her mother’s life-long religion.
How can President Obama, whose father was a Muslim but who was a practicing Christian, live with himself if he does not free this beautiful, innocent African sister who has been jailed under medieval circumstances, treated like an animal, and who faces 100 lashes and public execution? Her crime? She refuses to renounce her religion, insists she never practiced Islam, does not want to leave Christianity and is even willing to withstand torture and death for its sake.
| [Return to headlines] |
Bay State Gun Bill Echos British Attempts to Take Guns in 1775
The bill by Massachusetts Speaker Robert A. DeLeo to restrict gun rights in the Commonwealth is not only a wrongheaded policy that will make the state less safe. It is also provides sad closure to the time when Massachusetts was a laboratory of democracy and a place where liberty was cherished…
Of course, no one is surprised that liberals like Charles E. “Charlie” Baker Jr., support the DeLeo bill. Nor would anyone be surprised if King George William Frederick “George III” Hanover joined Baker and other liberals to celebrate Massachusetts moving one step closer to finally completing the mission launched by the British Army.
The DeLeo bill represents the latest gambit in the campaign to restrict American gun rights by using treating gun ownership as a public health issue. Physicians are directed in the bill to collect information from their patients about their guns and then discourage their patients from keeping or bearing arms.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bergdahl Arrives Back on US Soil as Officials Consider $600,000 Pay-Out for Released Pow
US soldier accused by fellow troops of desertion after walking off Afghanistan base could be in line for $600,000 in back-pay and PoW compensation
Bowe Bergdhahl, America’s last American prisoner of war, has arrived back on US soil as officials prepare an investigation into his disappearance that will determine whether he receives more than $600,000 in back-pay and compensation…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Expected Effects of the Law of Intended Consequences
by Servando Gonzalez
Author of Psychological Warfare and the New World Order: The Secret War Against the American People and I Dare Call It Treason: The Council on Foreign Relations and the Betrayal of America.
So, the question remains, why do the conspirators who control the U.S. government hate us so much? The answer is very simple. They hate us because we are here, on planet Earth. That’s the reason why, according to their own admission, they want to kill no less than 85% of the population in this planet.
This idea, however, is not new. About a century ago, a small group of rich and powerful sociopaths, who already had taken control of most of the U.S. government, reached the conclusion that the world was overpopulated and that we — that is, you and me — were useless eaters who were consuming the Earth’s natural resources that, by Natural Law, belong to them. So, they concluded that, in order to preserve these natural resources, they have to kill most of the people on this planet…
In order to accomplish their evil plans, this cabal of very powerful and immensely rich sociopaths realized that they had a big obstacle in carrying out their plans: Christianity. Christians believe that life is sacred, because if is a gift from their God. Therefore, despite exceptions to the rule that you should not kill, most Christians are reluctant to kill other human beings, particularly killing them on a large scale.
Granted, the belief that life is a gift from God is not a scientific truth, it is just a belief. Nevertheless, it has a high socially redeeming value, unless your ultimate goal is killing most of the people in this planet…
The techniques the brainwashers have applied to lower the student’s moral threshold are very sophisticated, some of them closely resembling psychological warfare operations used by intelligence services all around the world.
A common technique successfully applied in some schools is the showing of films depicting extreme violence and carnage, and the use of death and suicide rehearsing, in which student’s write suicide notes, visit mortuaries, and even lay in coffins to feel the experience of death. This is a carefully planned psychological conditioning to lower the moral threshold of the students to accept violence and death as natural.
[Comment: Recommended reading.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Is a Second American Revolution Now Inevitable?
The Bundy ranch incident, which occurred only a short drive from Las Vegas, has been a revelation for many people. Mistakes were made, provocateurs reared their ugly heads, and lessons were learned. But overall, America has been fundamentally changed, even if the average person does not realize it yet. The information war came within a razor’s edge of evolving into a shooting war, with the establishment in retreat, licking its wounds while planning how it can gain back its composure and carefully crafted image of “invincibility”.
What frightens the establishment most, I think, is that the American people have become active participants in their own national environment once again. At Bundy ranch, they stopped asking for mercy, they stopped begging the system to police itself, they stopped waiting for the rigged elections, and they stopped relying on useless legal avenues to effect change. Rather, they took matters into their own hands and changed the situation on the ground on their own. For oligarchy, this development is unacceptable, because one success could lead to many.
Already, we are beginning to hear whispers of possible Federal retribution against those who participated in the confrontation.
This has been cemented within the efforts of a new task force against “domestic terrorism” organized by none other than Eric “Fast and Furious” Holder.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Leaked Counter Terrorism Bulletin Warns Police of Impending ‘Far-Right Violence’
A leaked New York State Counter Terrorism Bulletin provided exclusively to Infowars reveals how law enforcement are being told to prepare for increased violence from “far-right extremists.”
Published by the New York State Intelligence Center, the document, entitled “CTB 14-07: Recent Spike in Violence Targeting Law Enforcement,” details several recent shootings while warning police to be on the look out for people displaying anti-government viewpoints…
The bulletin even attempts to label those who believe the government is interested in gun confiscation as “far right” conspiracy theorists, ironically only one day after President Obama publicly endorsed the “success” of Australia’s gun confiscation program…
Although the bulletin asks law enforcement to differentiate between law-abiding citizens and potential extremists, the federal government’s definition of extremism has vastly expanded in recent years.
Earlier this month, a Washington Times piece revealed a chilling Department of Defense directive that outlined instances in which President Obama believes he would be authorized to use lethal military force against Americans domestically. Similar to the bulletin, the Times article also mentions supporters of the Bundy Ranch, revealing how the President debated using military force against them.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Who Converted to Christianity Sues Church for Publishing Baptism News
TULSA, Okla. — A former Muslim who converted to Christianity has filed a civil lawsuit against a Tulsa church, arguing that leaders endangered his life by publishing his baptism announcement. The man, only identified as John Doe, filed the suit this week against First Presbyterian Church and its pastor…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Ramps Up America’s Destruction
If people aren’t extremely concerned about what’s going on in this country now, you might want to check them for a pulse. Frankly, I am having a hard time getting my mind around the rapidity of the nation’s decline.
I have written two books chronicling President Obama’s nightmarish path of destruction, but since the second one was published, events have been happening at an even more explosive pace. Who would have ever imagined that Ronald Reagan’s famous statement that “freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction” would turn out to be a gross understatement?
In the past several weeks alone, alarming events have transpired that are enormously disturbing by themselves. Taken together, they are borderline horrifying, yet Obama proceeds, undeterred.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pentagon Preparing for Mass Civil Breakdown
A US Department of Defense (DoD) research programme is funding universities to model the dynamics, risks and tipping points for large-scale civil unrest across the world, under the supervision of various US military agencies. The multi-million dollar programme is designed to develop immediate and long-term “warfighter-relevant insights” for senior officials and decision makers in “the defense policy community,” and to inform policy implemented by “combatant commands.”
Launched in 2008 — the year of the global banking crisis — the DoD ‘Minerva Research Initiative’ partners with universities “to improve DoD’s basic understanding of the social, cultural, behavioral, and political forces that shape regions of the world of strategic importance to the US.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Psychics in the White House Communications Agency
It’s eerily undeniable. There is a psychic or perhaps even several working at the White House Communications Agency (WHCA) and the United States Secret Service. There’s no other way to explain it, unless one is otherwise inclined to suggest that a vast inter-agency conspiracy exists deep within the bowels of the agency once controlled by the White House Military Office.
How else is one able to explain the uncanny accuracy with which the WHCA supplied the United State’s Secret Service the not-so-secret codename for Barack Hussein Obama at the very onset of his reign? Obama’s codename: Renegade.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a renegade is defined as “an individual who rejects lawful or conventional behavior.” Synonyms of renegade include outlaw, radical, and traitorous. (For the victims of the Common Core educational initiative, a synonym is a word that has the same meaning as another word in the same language).
Think about it, however. After his party nomination, someone within the WHCA had to pick a codename for Obama and they chose “Renegade.” Out of the (approximate) 171,000 words listed in the Oxford English Dictionary, the word that suggests one who exhibits traitorous, lawless and radical behavior was chosen before Obama actually assumed office. What are the odds!…
My in-depth investigation found that the first choice submitted to the United States Secret Service was rejected, however. The name originally submitted to be Obama’s codename was “Quisling.” (For the victims of the Progressive public educational system, a quisling is defined as a person who helps an enemy that has taken control of his or her country).
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Qurans Burned in Front of Dearborn Mosque
DEARBORN — Several Qurans were burned in front of a Dearborn mosque yesterday in possible connection with anti-Islam Pastor Terry Jones’ visit to the city on Saturday.
The three books were burned in front of the Karbalaa Islamic Educational Center, 15332 West Warren Ave. The imam of the mosque, Sheikh Husham Al-Husainy, confirmed that the incident occurred and that police are investigating…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Scandal After Scandal to Divert and Deceive
When even Marxist and “progressive” icon Noam Chomsky is sounding the alarm about Obama’s dissolution of human tights and the US Republic, one knows that America is in the deepest trouble it has been in since prior to the American Revolution in the 1700s. I would even venture to state that the situation in which we find ourselves today is far more dire than in those early days; when my ancestors fought in the American Revolution in order to establish this country.
To date (there may even be more before I’ve finished writing this column), Obama’s scandals partially include (some reports show that these scandals are now in the mid-30+ range) the below items:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Secret Service Agent: Obama is Worse Than You Know (Video)
Alex welcomes Dan Bongino, an author and a former member of the Secret Service’s Presidential Protection Division, to break down Obama’s other numerous scandals.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic Awareness Day: Acknowledging Islamic Achievements and Discoveries
It was learning about women in Islam that impressed Emma Korolew the most about the inaugural Islamic Awareness Day. Organized by Markaz-ul-Islam, the Islamic Centre of Fort McMurray, the day-long event saw over 1,000 people in attendance at MacDonald Island Park on June 7.
“I loved trying on the hijab (Islamic headscarf), and got to keep it too, the henna tattoos, and learning so much about Islam and women’s role in the religion. It’s a great event,” said Korolew…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Kathleen Wynne Leads Liberals to Win Ontario Election
TORONTO, June 12 (Xinhua) — Despite criticisms on her scandal-plagued party, Kathleen Wynne has led the Ontario Liberals to win their fourth straight election on Thursday with a stunning majority victory for Canada’s most populous province…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Britain to Issue First Islamic Bonds by Western Sovereign
The British government has mandated banks to arrange a five-year 200 million pound sukuk — the world’s first Islamic bond to be issued by a Western sovereign. The Islamic bond could be issued in the coming weeks, subject to market conditions, The Treasury said in a statement late on Thursday.
The roadshow will start on June 17 in Jeddah and Kuala Lumpur, then moving to Riyadh, Dubai, Doha, and Abu Dhabi, ending in London on June 20, lead banks said.
A sovereign sukuk is the centrepiece of Prime Minister David Cameron’s bid to position London as a leading hub for Islamic finance, as competition heats up with financial centres in the Middle East and Asia…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Cameron, Berlin Duel Over ‘Absurd’ Juncker Candidacy
British prime minister says ‘nobody elected Juncker’
(ANSA) — Berlin, June 13 — British Prime Minister David Cameron reaffirmed his opposition to Jean-Claude Juncker as candidate for president of the European Union on Friday, saying “nobody has elected” the Luxembourg politician to the post.
“This is nothing personal against Mr. Juncker,” Cameron said in a letter to a German newspaper.
“He is an experienced European politician. But this is absurd,” added Cameron. “Juncker’s name is on no ballot paper. Juncker did not present his candidature anywhere and nobody elected him,” concluded the letter.
A spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Cameron’s position was “not surprising” and denied the Juncker’s candidacy violated EU treaties.
Merkel was committed to “Juncker obtaining the majority and being named president,” said her spokesman, Steffen Seibert.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch Auditors: Where $1 Trillion NATO Budget is Spent?
Dutch auditors claim NATO member states — which contribute to the organization’s budget from a combined $1 trillion in defense spending — are largely unaware of how these funds are being spent, as most of the alliance’s expenditures remain classified.
For decades the accounting records of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which marked its 65th anniversary in April, remained largely ‘blotted out’ as classified, leaving billions of NATO dollars unaccounted for, claim auditors from the Netherlands.
The official controlling body of the Dutch government, the Netherlands Court of Audit (NCA), which also audits the funds annually allocated by Netherlands government on NATO activities, collected information from open sources on NATO expenditures over the last 40 years. The results of this extensive research have been published last Tuesday on a specially-created English language website.
The NCA stipulates it has no “specific mandate to audit NATO,” yet the organization is involved in advising the International Board of Auditors for NATO (IBAN). Financial inspections of the last six years have brought auditors from IBAN, the NCA and other NATO member states to the conclusion that bloc’s finances are not in order.
State officials from all of NATO’s 28 member states actually have no idea where the alliance’s funds go and who’s the final recipient of huge amounts of money, the NCA claims.
“NATO might be wasting a lot of money, or maybe they are short of cash. Frankly, we have no idea,” shared NCA President Saskia Stuiveling.
A third, or $2.4 billion, of the Netherlands’ $7.8 billion military budget in 2013 was spent on NATO missions in Afghanistan. The lack of transparency of military spending “does not contribute to the public support for NATO” among the Dutch citizens, Stuiveling said.
The overall defense budget of all 28 NATO member states exceeds $1 trillion, of that about 75 percent is spent by the US.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Generali to Exit Telecom Italia
Board tasks CEO Greco with specifics, ‘in line with 2007 pact’
(ANSA) — Milan, June 11 — The board of Italian insurer Generali has decided to exit its holding in Telco SpA, the investor group that controls the board of Telecom Italia. Generali owns a 19.3% stake in Telco.
A company statement issued on Wednesday said that Generali CEO Mario Greco had been tasked with deciding on the details of implementation. The stake could be sold on the market or directly to another investor.
The decision is in line with a 2007 shareholders pact, it said. The Trieste-headquartered group noted that the pact would be binding on Generali until it expires on February 28 next year, or until the exit has been finalized should this occur first. The finalization will be subject to the completion of all necessary procedures. Generali noted that the exit is in line with the group’s strategy of actively managing its assets and that it will facilitate investment management.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Grillo’s Five Star Movement to Join Farage in EU Parliament
MEPs from Italy’s Five Star Movement (M5S) overwhelmingly approved in a referendum to join forces with British euroskeptic UKIP, headed by Nigel Farage.
Beppe Grillo, leader of M5S, offered MEPs only three voting options: they could join UKIP’s Europe for Freedom and Democracy (EFD) group, affiliate themselves to the Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), where the British Conservatives have the widest representation, or refraining from entering any group.
The online poll was offered to M5S voters on Beppe Grillo’s blog and was open only for a day (June 12), the EUObserver reports.
Out of 5.8 M who cast their ballot for the party, only 30 000 took part in the Internet poll. About 78 percent of them chose UKIP’s EFD group, with remaining votes almost evenly distributed between the other two options.
UKIP came first in the EU elections held in May and have sent 24 deputies to Brussels, while the M5S, with 17 MEPs, were second in Italy to the ruling Democratic Party of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi (31 MEPs).
Grillo’s movement will now become the second-largest force in the EFD.
Alliance with the Greens, which have been long described as potential alliance, was controversially excluded as a referendum option, despite the fact that the M5S would have dominated the group, as Germany’s delegation, the biggest one there, numbers 11 MEPs.
Grillo and Farage, both with a harsh anti-immigration stance, met in end-May in Brussels to discuss their potential alliance.
The Telegraph adds the two men’s cooperation has already been nicknamed as the “Grillage people” in Brussels.
With the M5S included into the group, EDD will have enough members to qualify as EU-funded (25 MEPs are needed), but falls short of two countries as it has attracted only delegations from five member states.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Ex-Premier Enrico Letta Tipped for EC Presidency
Letta ‘ideal solution’ to succeed Van Rompuy — sources
(ANSA) — Brussels, June 12 — Former Italian premier Enrico Letta is favoured to succeed Herman Van Rompuy as president of the European Council, qualified sources within the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) said Thursday.
The sources called centre-left Democratic Party (PD) member with strong centre-right ties the “ideal solution” thanks to his reputation as an able bipartisan negotiator and direct knowledge of EU institutions. Letta, who successfully cobbled together a right-left coalition government in Italy after inconclusive parliament elections last year, is seen as the “perfect compromise” between Socialists and the centre-right EPP, according to unofficial EPP sources.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Rift Opens Within Renzi’s Party Over Reforms
13 Senators rebel over scrapping Senate
(ANSA) — Rome, June 12 — Premier Matteo Renzi on Thursday faced the first party crisis since becoming charismatic Democratic Party (PD) leader three months ago, as a handful of rebels defied the whip on a controversial reform of the Senate.
There have been rising mutterings about a deal Renzi struck with centre-right leader Silvio Berlusconi over the reform to streamline government but thus far there had been no open rebellion against a leader the PD has been seeking for years, whose media savvy and command of briefs rival or outstrip those of Berlusconi and the other main political player, anti-establishment leader Beppe Grillo.
But the PD’s bid to force the abolition of the Senate through parliament brought into the open the opposition of the minority faction which believes stronger government entails keeping the Senate as a necessary check on executive power and on a House that would just rubber-stamp the government’s decisions, analysts said.
Senator Corradino Mineo led a rebellion of 13 Senators, including himself, prompting fears of a wider split.
But Renzi immediately squashed such speculation.
The Democratic Party (PD) is “not a taxi you can take to get elected” and then leave complaining about an alleged “purge”, he said. Italy is at a “crossroads” and “I cannot leave the country to Mineo”, he said, noting that a 41% win in European elections had given him a mandate for reform. Renzi said he was “stunned” that Mineo, who did not agree on a deal with the centre right to turn the Senate into a non-elected assembly, should talk about a purge.
A key Renzi ally, the reform minister, said the rebellion by “a paltry” 13 Senators would not halt Italy’s dynamic young premier’s drive to give the country an efficient political system.
Reform Minister Maria Elena Boschi insisted the government’s institutional reforms won’t be stopped by the rebels. “The process of reform is going ahead, you can’t stop it for a handful of Senators,” said Boschi. The group of 13 PD Senators suspended themselves from the parliamentary caucus on Thursday after Mineo was taken off the Upper House’s constitutional affairs committee because he was not toeing the government’s line. The rebels say the decision to replace Mineo on the commission with the PD’s Senate whip Luigi Zanda, one of the vast majority of Renzi loyalists, is unconstitutional.
The government’s plan to overhaul Italy’s slow, costly political apparatus includes a revamp of the Senate to turn it into a leaner assembly of local-government representatives with minimal law-making powers to save money and make passing legislation easier. Mineo, however, is part of a minority within the PD who want the Senate to continue to be an elected assembly.
“No one asked them to suspend themselves,” added Boschi.
“They’ll have to decide whether to be part of the reform process or make a different choice”. Another senior PD member, Luca Lotti, said the rebels should not try to torpedo the reforms that got an endorsement of sorts when the PD won over 40% in last month’s European elections.
“Thirteen Senators cannot be allowed to put into question the will of 12 million voters and they cannot halt the reforms that the Italian people have asked for,” Lotti said.
“Mineo betrayed the agreement with the group. We are the Democratic Party, not the Anarchy Party”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Minister Says Reforms Won’t Stop for ‘Rebel Senators’
Group of 13 PD members suspended themselves
(see related story) (ANSA) — Rome, June 12 — Reform Minister Maria Elena Boschi said Friday that the government’s institutional reforms won’t be stopped by a group of rebels within Premier Matteo Renzi’s centre-left Democratic Party (PD). “The process of reform is going ahead, you can’t stop it for a handful of Senators,” said Boschi, a close ally of Renzi’s. A group of 13 PD Senators suspended themselves from the parliamentary caucus on Thursday after one of them, Corradino Mineo, was taken off the Upper House’s constitutional affairs committee because he was not toeing the government’s line. The rebels says the decision to replace Mineo with the PD’s Senate whip Luigi Zanda on the commission is unconstitutional.
The government’s plan to overhaul Italy’s slow, costly political apparatus includes a revamp of the Senate to turn it into a leaner assembly of local-government representatives with minimal law-making powers to save money and make passing legislation easier. Mineo, however, is part of a minority within the PD who want the Senate to continue to be an elected assembly.
“No one asked them to suspend themselves,” added Boschi.
“They’ll have to decide whether to be part of the reform process or make a different choice”. Another senior PD member, Luca Lotti, said the rebels should not try to torpedo the reforms that got an endorsement of sorts when the PD won over 40% in last month’s European elections.
“Thirteen Senators cannot be allowed to put into question the will of 12 million voters and they cannot halt the reforms that the Italian people have asked for,” Lotti said.
“Mineo betrayed the agreement with the group. We are the Democratic Party, not the Anarchy Party”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Renzi Faces Internal Revolt Over Reform Plan
Group of 13 Senators suspend themselves from PD
(ANSA) — Rome, June 12 — Premier Matteo Renzi will have to handle an internal revolt over his planned institutional reforms from within his centre-left Democratic Party (PD) when he cames back from a trade tour of Asia on Friday.
A group of 13 PD Senators suspended themselves from the parliamentary party on Thursday after one of them, Corradino Mineo, was taken off the Upper House’s constitutional affairs committee because he was not toeing the government’s line.
The rebels says the decision to replace Mineo with the PD’s Senate whip Luigi Zanda on the commission is unconstitutional.
The government’s plan to overhaul Italy’s slow, costly political apparatus includes a revamp of the Senate to turn it into a leaner assembly of local-government representatives with minimal law-making powers to save money and make passing legislation easier.
Mineo, however, is part of a minority within the PD who want the Senate to continue to be an elected assembly.
“We won’t give up half a centimetre,” Renzi, who got an big endorsement for his institutional and economic reform plans when the PD won over 40% of the vote in last month’s European elections, said during a meeting with Italian entrepreneurs in Beijing Thursday.
“We are convinced we can change the country. You don’t announce reforms, you carry them out, and we aren’t giving anyone the right to veto.
“The votes of the Italian people count more than some politicians’ right to veto”.
Renzi also has problems with ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi over the reforms, after the head of the opposition centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party said he is rethinking his initial support for the institutional reforms.
The premier may soon meet again with Berlusconi, whose initial support was sealed at an encounter in January, a month before Renzi unseated his PD colleague Enrico Letta to become Italy’s youngest-ever premier at 39.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Arrested MOSE Tax Cop Probed in 2nd Corruption Case
Linked to two other finance guard officers
(see related) (ANSA) — Naples, June 11 — Emilio Spaziante, a retired finance guard general arrested last week in the Venice MOSE political corruption probe, is under investigation for unknown crimes in another corruption case that surfaced Wednesday into Livorno tax police commander Fabio Massimo Mendella, who was arrested, and General Vito Bardi, Italy’s second-highest-ranking finance officer.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: ‘2,250 Alitalia Job Cuts to Become Competitive’
Unions worried but aware deal is ‘only chance’ says Del Torchio
(ANSA) — Rome, June 12 — The 2,250 Alitalia job cuts laid down by a deal with Etihad Airlines are a “necessary condition for the airline to become efficient and competitive,” CEO Gabriele Del Torchio said after meeting hostile unions Thursday.
Del Torchio said the unions were “worried about what is going to happen but they also realise that an alliance with Etihad is the only chance (for Alitalia’s survival)”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Fincantieri IPO ‘Up to 1.2 Bn Euros’
Share price 0.78-1.00 euros
(ANSA) — Rome, 13 — The June 16 initial public offering of shares in State-controlled shipbuilder Fincantieri will be worth between 969 million and 1.242 billion euros, the Milan bourse authority said Friday. The IPO, aimed at floating the group, comes out at a non-binding share price of 0.78 euros and a binding price of 1.00 euros, said the float prospectus approved by Consob.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Venice Mayor Reaches Plea Bargain With Prosecutors
Orsoni released from house arrest, says won’t resign
(ANSA) — Venice, June 12 — Lawyers representing Venice Mayor Giorgio Orsoni have reached a plea bargain with prosecutors over his alleged role in corruption linked to the MOSE flood-protection system, sources said Thursday. The centre-left politician agreed to accept a four-month prison sentence, the sources said, and a judge will decide whether the deal is acceptable.
Orsoni, who is being probed for illegal financing of political parties over his 2010 city election campaign, was released from house arrest by a judge earlier on Thursday. He said that he would return to his position at the helm of the city council and had no intention of retiring.
“I have made many enemies and maybe this is the price I’m paying,” Orsoni, told a news conference. “I couldn’t know that an illegal system was used (for the 2010 campaign),” he said, adding that he has assigned fund-raising to third parties.
Orsoni was among 35 people arrested earlier this month over the MOSE probe, while around 100 others are under investigation.
These include former Veneto governor and ex-minister Giancarlo Galan, currently a Senator for ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia (FI) party, and Altero Matteoli, a former centre-right environment and transport minister.
Prosecutors are looking at allegations a corruption scam saw 25 million euros in taxpayers’ money funnelled to political campaigns and away from MOSE, a 5.5-billion-euro system system of retractable dikes set to be operable in 2016 after decades of delays. The MOSE scandal broke less than a month after other high-profile arrests over alleged corruption on contracts for Milan Expo 2015. Renzi has vowed to pass legislation to combat graft after the case, including a move to give greater powers to national anti-corruption chief Raffaele Cantone. He has called for life bans for politicians involved in corruption, saying this is a form of “high treason”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Alleged Jihadist Reported Dead Appears in Court on Terror Charges
Police believe death reports were deliberate to allow Imran Khawaja who allegedly uses the name Abu Daigham al-Britain to try and return home
Reports of the death of an alleged British jihadist in Syria may have been faked to allow him to slip out of the country, it has emerged.
Imran Khawaja is allegedly Abu Daigham al-Britani who was last week said to have died fighting in the civil war. But Khawaja was stopped days later trying to return to the UK and appeared in court on Friday charged with attending a terror training camp and other terrorism offences.
The 26-year-old arrested at Dover, along with a second man, as they tried to re-enter the UK…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Drugs Supply Gang Ring Leader Jailed for Eight Years
A Bradford man, who was the ringleader in a conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine, has been jailed for eight years. Seven people involved in the conspiracy were jailed for a total of nearly 30 years.
Wajid Ali, 28, of Thursby Street, Barkerend, (pictured) had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs. He was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court yesterday…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Ford Open Jail: Worst Prison for Fugitive Inmates With 90 Missing
Police confirm they are still hunting some inmates who fled years ago from Ford jail in Sussex
Nearly 90 prisoners have absconded from Ford open prison, new figures have disclosed, making it the jail with the worst record for fugitive inmates.
The 500-prisoner jail, near Arundel, Sussex, has seen a number of high-profile absconds in the last month amid growing public concern about the problem in the wake of the case of Michael “Skull Cracker” Wheatley…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Parents Claim Boy Found in Street
A three-year-old boy found barefoot in a street last night is being reunited with his family after his parents came forward to report him missing.
West Midlands Police issued an urgent appeal after the boy was found walking alone in Chesterton Avenue, Balsall Heath, Birmingham, just before 10pm. Police appealed for information to identify his parents shortly after 10am today. “An hour later, the boy’s distressed father called police to report his son missing,” said a police spokesman.
The boy, believed to be of Somali origin, was found several streets from his home and taken by officers to a local police station where he was looked after by social services…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt Cop Killed During Islamist Protest
Cairo — A policeman was killed in one of several small Islamist protests that erupted across Egypt on Friday, days after former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who toppled Islamist president Mohammed Morsi after demonstrations, was sworn in as president…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisian Police Clash With Islamist Insurgents
(AGI) Tunis, June 13 — Border guards clashed with a group of Islamist insurgents on Thursday night in Jendubia, the Tunisian Interior Ministry reported. It is suspected that terrorists came from neighbouring Libya, although the ministry said it could not yet provide further details.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
US Spy Agencies Heard Benghazi Attackers Using State Dept. Cell Phones to Call Terrorist Leaders
Adds to body of evidence that Obama administration knew early on Benghazi was a terrorist attack, and not spontaneous protest over an anti-Islam video.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
IDF Launches Massive Manhunt for Three Israeli Youths Feared Kidnapped in West Bank
The IDF confirmed on Friday afternoon that “three Israeli teenagers are currently missing. The individuals were last seen late last night in the area of Gush Etzion,” south of Jerusalem
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq Crisis: Generals in Army ‘Handed Over’ Entire City to Al-Qaeda Inspired ISIS Forces
Three army deserters tell the Telegraph how Mosul, the second biggest city in Iraq, was given to terrorists by senior Iraqi army officials
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq Crisis: ISIS Militants Push Towards Baghdad — Live
Group claims mass killings of Iraqi troops, as militants battle security forces 50 miles from Baghdad
[…]
18.21
ISIS have tweeted the decapitated head of what appears to be an Iraqi policeman with the sentence ‘This is our football, it’s made of skin #World Cup’, followed by a boast of having slaughtered 1,700 soldiers…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq’s Top Shi’ite Cleric Issues Call to Fight Jihadist Rebels
(Reuters) — Iraq’s most senior Shi’ite Muslim cleric urged followers to take up arms against a full-blown Sunni militant insurgency to topple Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, escalating a conflict that threatens civil war and a possible break-up of the country…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq: Rudaw in Mosul: Jihadists in Charge of Sunni Heartland
Rudaw reporter Hemin Malazadah was among the first journalists visiting the troubled city of Mosul, which is now run by militant jihadists as the government troops fled the area earlier this week. This is his report:
MOSUL, Iraq — Mosul, Iraq’s second city, has been in shock since an invasion by jihadists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), who claim Baghdad as their next conquest. Just a few days ago it was business as usual in Mosul, which has a population of more than two million…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq: ISIS Has Broken With the Al-Qaeda Norm — And a New Monster Has Emerged
ISIS is now more relevant and influential than al-Qaeda
Over the past week, the media spotlight has shifted from the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) in Syria to ISIS in Iraq, where the jihadist group has made impressive gains. So impressive, in fact, that Washington is considering air strikes against it, at Iraqi President Nuri al-Maliki’s request…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq: Baghdad Faces the Abyss After Its Military Melts Away
Redrawing of regional map looms large as violence and sectarian confrontation return to Iraq
In December 2011 a band played quietly in the corner of a Baghdad military base as American soldiers lowered three flags and solemnly carried them away. Within minutes, the remaining US commanders had boarded a plane and left Iraq — with Washington vowing they would never return…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Iraqi Kurdistan’s ‘Higher Values’ Pull Tide of Terrified Civilians
Euronews has been in contact with British journalist Hermione Gee, in Erbil, the fourth-largest city in Iraq (after Baghdad, Basra and Mosul), and the capital of the Kurdish region in northern Iraq. It lies 88 kilometres east of Mosul.
Naomi Lloyd, euronews: “Hermione, can you give us an idea of what’s happening there on the ground, and how many people you are seeing fleeing?”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Iraqi Army Wages Tit-for-Tat Battles With Militants in Diyala
BAGHDAD, June 13 (Xinhua) — Iraqi security forces battled insurgents’ attempts to advance toward cities in the country’s eastern province of Diyala on Friday, a provincial police source said.
In Diyala, militant groups seized two villages overnight at the edge of al-Maqdadiyah city, some 100 km northeast of the capital Baghdad, but the security forces retook control of the villages in the morning after a fierce clash, leaving three militants killed, a provincial police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Terror Leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi Was Released by Obama From Camp Bucca in 2009
Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), has transformed a few terror cells on the verge of extinction into the most dangerous militant group in the world.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi or Abu Dua was once held by the US in Camp Bucca Iraq.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Rampages, The Middle East Shakes
By Daniel Pipes
The jihadis’ takeover of Mosul on June 9 won them control of Iraq’s second-largest city, a major haul of weapons, US$429 million in gold, an open path to conquer Tikrit, Samarra, and perhaps the capital city of Baghdad. The Iraqi Kurds have seized Kirkuk. This is the most important event in the Middle East since the Arab upheavals began in 2010. Here’s why
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS’ Media Center Recruiting Western Jihadis
When we posted our Iconoclast article on Iraq disintegrating under pressure of the ISIS blitzkrieg, we noted concern over what half billion dollars in cash and gold from the seizure of banks in Mosul would finance:
What is really worrisome is that the vast treasury that ISIS has seized that will enable them to pay on average $600 a month to attract thousands of foreign jihadis, especially those in the West.
Bill Gertz, noted intelligence columnist at the Washington Free Beacon (WFB) published an article today on how ISIS’ Al Hayat Media Center is engaged in recruiting Western Jihadis in both English and German through websites, videos and brochures, “New Al Qaeda Group Produces Recruitment Material for Americans, Westerners”. The tag line is: “English language appeals raise new concerns of future jihadist attacks in U.S.”, a point emphasized in comments from noted counterterrorism expert, Patrick Poole.
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
NATO’s Terror Hordes in Iraq a Pretext for Syria Invasion
All roads lead to Baghdad and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is following them all, north from Syria and Turkey to south. Reading Western headlines, two fact-deficient narratives have begun gaining traction. The first is that this constitutes a “failure” of US policy in the Middle East, an alibi as to how the US and its NATO partners should in no way be seen as complicit in the current coordinated, massive, immensely funded and heavily armed terror blitzkrieg toward Baghdad. The second is how ISIS appears to have “sprung” from the sand dunes and date trees as a nearly professional military traveling in convoys of matching Toyota trucks without explanation.
In actuality, ISIS is the product of a joint NATO-GCC conspiracy stretching back as far as 2007 where US-Saudi policymakers sought to ignite a region-wide sectarian war to purge the Middle East of Iran’s arch of influence stretching from its borders, across Syria and Iraq, and as far west as Lebanon and the coast of the Mediterranean. ISIS has been harbored, trained, armed, and extensively funded by a coalition of NATO and Persian Gulf states within Turkey’s (NATO territory) borders and has launched invasions into northern Syria with, at times, both Turkish artillery and air cover. The most recent example of this was the cross-border invasion by Al Qaeda into Kasab village, Latikia province in northwest Syria.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Rules Out U.S. Troops on Ground in Iraq
President Obama said on Friday that he would make a decision “in the days ahead” about whether to use American military power to help the besieged Iraqi government stave off collapse at the hands of Islamist insurgents, but he ruled out using ground forces.
“This poses a danger to Iraq and its people and, given the nature of these terrorists, it could pose a danger eventually to American interests as well,” Mr. Obama said of the offensive now threatening Baghdad. “We will not be sending us troops back into combat in Iraq, but I have asked my national security team to prepare a range of other options.”
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Obama’s Alternative Universe: Iraq Edition
By Andrew C. McCarthy
Al-Qaeda devoured Mosul yesterday, which American forces had wrested from the terror network at a cost of significant blood and treasure. It is a major advance in its campaign to set up an (expanding) Islamic-supremacist “emirate” that stitches together swaths of Iraq and Syria.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Washington Won’t Send Troops Back to Iraq
Obama says government is going to need international help
(ANSA) — New York, June 13 — Washington will not be sending American troops back into Iraq, but will consider other options, United States President Barack Obama said Friday.
He spoke as Sunni militants pushed closer towards Baghdad while Iraq’s most senior Shia cleric issued a call to arms. The United Nations has reported that hundreds of people have been killed, including civilians in Mosul.
Obama said the Iraq government “is going to need more help from us, and it’s going to need more help from the international community,” Obama said. “I don’t rule out anything, because we do have a stake in making sure that these jihadists are not getting a permanent foothold in either Iraq or Syria”.
Obama added: “Fundamentally, the future of Iraq depends on Iraqis”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
While Europe Shies Away From Iraq Conflict, China and Iran Offer Help
by Frances Martel
After a decade of the United States and allies working to restore stability in Iraq, the nations of the world watch — some hesitantly, some willingly — as the oil-rich nation struggles to keep afloat amid a jihadist assault. While some have expressed willingness to help the Iraqi government, Europe is particularly not keen on stepping in…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Why Does Qatar Have Such a Deep Influence in Washington?
Last Sunday, June 8, 2014, this writer hosted The Lisa Benson Radio Show of the Salem Radio Network that originates on Phoenix radio station KKNT960AM. The program concerned the prominent role of Qatar, the wealthy tiny Emirate adjacent to Saudi Arabia in the energy rich Persian Gulf and its deep influence with the Obama Administration. Reflective of that was Qatar’s recent pivotal role in providing a safe haven for the release of five senior Taliban commanders from Guantanamo detention. They who were swapped for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl who left his forward operating base in Eastern Afghanistan in late June 2009 and returned to American custody on May 31st, 2014.Against this background, we invited two guests to the Lisa Benson Show on June 8, 2014; Maj. Gen. (ret.) Paul Vallely, renowned military, special operations and intelligence analyst and Dr. David A. Weinberg of the Washington, DC-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, an, expert in both Saudi Arabian and Gulf Affairs. What follows is our interview with Dr. Weinberg on Qatar’s deep influence in Washington.
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
3 Killed in Car Explosion in Eastern Ukraine
KIEV, June 13 (Xinhua) — Three people were killed and four others injured after a car blew up in the center of the rebel-held eastern Ukraine city of Donetsk, authorities said Friday.
According to Donetsk Regional Administration, the incident occurred around 10 p.m. local time (2000 GMT) near the rebel-occupied government building…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Has Sent Tanks to Ukraine Rebels, U.S. Says
The State Department confirmed on Friday that Russia has sent tanks and other heavy weapons to separatists in Ukraine.
A convoy of three T-64 tanks, several BM-21 “Grad” multiple rocket launchers and other military vehicles crossed the border near the Ukrainian town of Snizhne, State Department officials said. Reports and images of the weapons’ presence circulated on Thursday, but there were conflicting claims about where they had come from.
“This is unacceptable,” said Marie Harf, the deputy State Department spokeswoman. “A failure by Russia to de-escalate this situation will lead to additional costs.”
A Western official said that intelligence about the movement of the tanks and other weapons into Ukraine was shared on Friday with NATO allies. Secretary of State John Kerry complained earlier this week about the flow of Russian arms to separatists in Ukraine in a phone call to Sergey V. Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister.
The T-64 is an obsolescent tank no longer in active use by Russian forces, but still kept in storage in southwest Russia.
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Ukraine Troops ‘Take Mariupol,’ Russia Says Border Violated
Moscow claims two Ukrainian army vehicles crossed frontier
(ANSA) Moscow, June 13 — Ukraine said Friday its troops re-captured the port city of Mariupol as Moscow claimed Kiev’s forces had violated Russia’s frontier.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko claimed the victory over Russian-backed rebels in the strategic city and said he has asked the governor of Donetsk to move his regional government temporarily to Mariupol.
The Itar-Tass news agency reported the FSB Russian secret service saying that two Ukrainian army “military vehicles” had crossed the Russian frontier.
Russian President Vladimir Putin asked the foreign ministry to demand an explanation from Kiev for the alleged violation of the Russian frontier in the Rostov region of the Don, Tass said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Ukrainian Armored Vehicle With Troops Breaches Russian Border
At least one Ukrainian armored vehicle crossed the Russian border with Ukraine Friday overnight and stopped in the Rostov Region, according to Russia’s Security Service. The military abandoned the vehicle and returned to Ukraine.
The Ukrainian armored vehicle stopped in near the village of Millerovo, said the head of the press department of the Federal Security Service (FSB) in Rostov Region, Vasily Malaev.
In response to the incident, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the “illegal act” will not promote a peaceful resolution of the conflict. The ministry has also demanded an end to “provocations” on the border, which are making dialogue between the two countries much more difficult. The ministry directed a note of protest to Kiev on Friday.
There are also reports that there was not one, but two armored vehicles. A source from the FSB told LifeNews Channel that two armored vehicles crossed the Russian border.
Initially just one APC entered Russian territory, however it broke down, LifeNews was told. It was discovered by the Border Service, however, Russia’s troops failed to take the Ukrainian military personnel captive as another armored vehicle came to the rescue from Ukraine’s Lugansk Region.
After that the Ukrainian troops fled the territory, returning to Ukraine, leaving the dsabled vehicle behind in Russia.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
WikiLeaks Says Ukraine’s Poroshenko ‘Was US Informant’
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko handed to the US Embassy in Kiev inside information on the forging of a coalition government in 2006, according to Wikileaks data.
Russia’s RIA Novosti agency, citing the purported evidence, tried to inform Ambassador John Herbst in April 2006 on the situation, describing himself as an insider from the party Nasha Ukrayina (Our Ukraine), a bloc associated with former President Viktor Yushchenko.
Cables sent from the Embassy to the US State Department however suggest that the diplomat doubted the authenticity of Poroshenko’s information and considered it to be part of backdoor games aimed at arresting Yuliya Tymoshenko (former Prime Minister) and Oleksandr Turchynov (acting President before Poroshenko’s election).
The two were once allies to Yushchenko, but discrepancies led to mutual accusations just years on from the 2004 Orange Revolution. Poroshenko, on the other hand, took part in the coalition discussions as lawmaker and close to President Yushchenko.
A billionaire confectionary magnate, Poroshenko is seen as a controversial figure, with some relying on him to wind down tensions in east Ukraine and others reminding he is an “oligarch” who has always maintained his strings in politics regardless of who was in power.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Another Body Found Hanging in a Tree in India
State of Uttar Pradesh ‘capital of violence against women’
(ANSA) — New Delhi, June 12 — The northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh is the “capital of violence against women,” a local news agency said Thursday after another body was found hanging from a tree in a village there.
The body of the 16-year-old girl was found on the outskirts of Moradabad, Zee TV reported, one day after another female body was found in similar circumstances in the same state.
India is undergoing a jarring epidemic of reported sexual attacks on women, with Uttar Pradesh dominating the map over the past month.
In one instance a 15-year-old girl and two female cousins were found raped and hanged in different areas. In another, a female judge was drugged, raped and seriously injured in Uttar Pradesh.
The media have paid increasing attention to sexual violence in India since the 2012 gang rape and murder of a student on a Delhi bus.
Last year the government tightened rape laws after widespread protests but the tide of sexual violence has not abated.
In the case of the latest victim, there is no confirmation on circumstances of death nor whether the victim was the victim of sexual violence, Indian Asian News Service IANS said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese ‘Terrorists’ On Trial for Deadly Tiananmen Attack
A gang of suspected extremists is put on trial for allegedly planning and helping carry out an audacious assault on the heart of China’s capital that kicked-off a wave of similar attacks
At least five suspects have gone on trial in northwestern China accused of involvement in a “hideous” terrorist attack on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square last October that left five people dead and 40 injured…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic States Contest Australia Renaming Palestinian Land
‘Disputed’ not ‘occupied’ territories says Canberra
(ANSA) — Rome, June 13 — Twenty Islamic states on Friday protested Australia’s decision to change the denomination of Palestinian land from ‘occupied’ to disputed’ territories — a move hailed by Jewish bodies worldwide.
Delegates delivered the protest in a meeting with Canberra foreign ministry officials.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Nations Threaten Boycott of Aussie Farm Produce
SYDNEY, June 13 (Xinhua) — Arab nations are threatening to block Australian agricultural products, as they believe the Aussie government is pro-Israel, local media reported on Friday.
Australian Attorney-General George Brandis has refused to call East Jerusalem “occupied” and this has angered 20 ambassadors representing Islamic countries who wanted a meeting with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on Thursday…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Niger Inaugurates N121mn Mosque
Gov. Babangida Aliyu of Niger State on Friday inaugurated Paiko Juma’at Mosque constructed at the cost of N121 million. Inaugurating the mosque, Aliyu urged Muslim faithful in the state to live in peace with their neighbours irrespective of religious inclination.
The governor reiterated his administration’s support for both Muslim and Christian faithful in the state toward fostering peaceful coexistence…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Condemns Attack on UN Mission in Mali
WASHINGTON, June 12 (Xinhua) — The United States strongly condemns the attack on a UN mission in Mali that killed four peacekeepers, the State Department said on Thursday.
“We call on the Government of Mali to immediately investigate the incident and hold those responsible to account,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement.
The attack on the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) on Wednesday killed four Chadian UN peacekeepers and wounded several others, including members of the Malian Armed Forces…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
America: Escape Valve for Third World Refugees
If every American saw this video, they would scream at Congress and Obama to effectively close down mass migration into America.
Instead, powerful forces like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Speaker of the House John Boehner and corporations clamor for more immigration in the face of 48 million Americans subsisting on food stamps and tens of millions living off taxpayers with Section 8 housing.
“Late last week, the Obama administration asked Congress for $1.4 billion in extra funding to help house, feed and transport the tens of thousands of children being caught trying to cross the border illegally, and turned to the Defense Department to help temporarily house more than 1,000 of the children,” said Chris Sherman, DC journalist.
Every dollar paid out to care for endless legal and illegal immigration must be borrowed from foreign nations. Our country stands a mind-numbing $18 trillion in debt.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Biden to Germans: You Are Xenophobic
Vice President Joe Biden undoubtedly ruffled some feathers in Germany on Tuesday when he suggested the country was “xenophobic” and much less accommodating to immigrants compared to the United States.
Speaking at an event held by the National Association of Manufacturers in Washington, DC, Biden gave a speech in which he described three things the United States needs to do to “keep our edge” in the global economy. One of these priorities is passing comprehensive immigration reform, but the way Biden chose to frame the issue has made headlines and raised plenty of eyebrows.
“We have to pass an immigration bill,” Biden said, as quoted by the Washington Examiner, which also obtained a recording of the segment. “Look at Germany, look at the rest of the world. We’re the only non-xenophobic nation in the world that’s a major economy.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Camp of the Saints, 2014 Style?
A 1973 French novel eerily prefigures our current immigration mess.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Did FEMA Anticipate Immigration Crisis?
A dizzying number of people are leaving their home countries and embarking on a dangerous journey to the U.S., where federal border guards supposedly tasked with enforcing immigration law give little resistance.
The head of the National ICE Council, Chris Crane, has said the Obama administration has border agents’ hands in a bind with orders stemming from the DREAM Act not to deport detained minors.
But despite the “sudden” influx of immigrants, America seems to have no problems accommodating the “constant, unrelenting stream.”
— From Breitbart:
Minors at the new housing center in Nogales are sleeping on plastic cots while officials wait for 2,000 mattresses to arrive at the facility, according to the Associated Press (AP). Portable toilets and showers were also allegedly brought to warehouse, which has a capacity of 1,500. Around 800 children are currently living at the housing center, but the AP reported that 1,400 minors will ultimately be brought there.
As the issue nears crisis level, numerous indicators suggest the United States had long anticipated this very same mass influx and even attempted to schedule plans for it in advance.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
EU Should Share Out Refugees Rescued at Sea — UNHCR
(Reuters) — European Union countries should help Italy absorb the huge number of migrants arriving by boat from North Africa, by agreeing to take in people rescued in international waters, a U.N. refugee agency spokeswoman said on Friday…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Churches Ordered to Perform Sodomy-Based Wedding Ceremonies
Well, the day we prophesied has arrived. Churches in Denmark — and the U.S. will not be far behind — have been ORDERED to perform sodomy-based weddings whether they want to or not.
According to the London Telegraph, a new law passed by the Danish parliament “make(s) it mandatory for all churches to conduct gay marriages.” No options, no exceptions, no choice. Homosexuals are to be married wherever they want, regardless of whose conscience is trampled and whose sanctuary is defiled in the process.
While an individual priest may not be compelled to perform such weddings, his bishop has been ordered (under threat of what?) to find a replacement for him so that the priest’s church can be used. Thus an individual priest can no longer protect the spiritual integrity of his own house of worship.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘Homosexuality Genetic’? Not Again!
‘The flawed thinking behind a genetic test for sexual orientation is clear from studies of twins, which show that the identical twin of a gay man, who carries an exact replica of his brother’s DNA, is more likely to be straight than gay. That means even a perfect genetic test that picked up every gene linked to sexual orientation would still be less effective than flipping a coin.’
A ‘gay gene’ would be convenient for mothers who would wish to selectively abort such a baby, but it just does not exist. Bailey himself says there are ‘certainly other environmental factors involved.’ The same external factors which would be like water off a duck’s back to someone can affect another individual deeply. Peter Tatchell — rightly opposes ‘gay determinism’
Peter Tatchell is also opposed to the ‘gay gene’ theory on the grounds that it enables an apologetic ‘but I was born this way so you should have pity on me’ line of argument. Peter argues that the line trotted out by homosexual activists that it is ‘impossible to make someone gay’ by classroom propaganda is false. He writes:
‘Removing the social opprobrium and penalties from queer relationships, and celebrating gay love and lust, would allow more people to come to terms with presently inhibited homoerotic desires. In this sense, it is perfectly feasible to ‘promote’ lesbian and gay sexuality and ‘make’ someone queer. Individuals who have a homosexual component in their character, but are inhibited by repression or guilt, definitely can be encouraged to acknowledge their same-sex attraction and act upon it.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Lesbian’s Note: She Was Inspired by Homosexual Church to Murder Lover’s Daughter
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
Two weeks ago, a Daily Mail report said that a Florida mental health counselor accused of murdering her lesbian lover’s two-year-old daughter wrote a note claiming a sermon by a lesbian pastor inspired the killing.
Kimberly Lucas, 40, is accused of drowning her former lesbian partner Jacquelyn Jamason’s two-year-old daughter Elliana and attempting to kill her 10-year-old son Ethan, according to the Daily Mail.
Lucas wrote in the note that a sermon by Metropolitan Community Church lesbian Pastor Lea Brown “really, really touched” her the day before the revenge killing carried out in response to Jamason ending their relationship. Metropolitan Community Church is a homosexual denomination that twists Scriptures to fit a homosexual “christianity” whose god is friendly to homosexual sin.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Texas Fights Back Against Radical ‘Gay’ Attempts to Ban Sexual Self-Determination Therapy
In late 2012 and early 2013, before most people even noticed and opponents had time to organize, elected officials in California and New Jersey passed alarming legislation that will deny families with children who may be experiencing homosexual attractions the right to seek assistance from a licensed mental health professional if that therapist attempts to suggest that the adolescent might not be “gay” or that with counseling the adolescent might be able to diminish their unwanted homosexual attractions. During the twelve months since Governor Chris Christie signed the therapy ban legislation for New Jersey sixteen other states have considered similar “copycat” legislation but in each state the rational arguments made by family organizations, local ex-gays, and responsible mental health professionals has led to the defeat of these bills.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Truth-Telling and Homosexuality
If ever there was a subject which is almost universally surrounded in falsehoods, deception and misinformation, it is the topic of homosexuality. So powerful is the homosexual juggernaut that very few media outlets are left which will dare to challenge anything it claims.
Not only is the lamestream media pretty much useless here, but the activists have done a great job of taking over the schools, the judiciary, the political sphere, and even the corporate arena. There is almost nothing that takes more courage today, and features more risks, than daring to publicly resist the radical homosexual agenda.
My new book which will soon be out documents hundreds of cases of the gaystapo in action — and it sure ain’t pretty. No wonder hardly anyone is willing to speak up and challenge this activist movement. But fortunately there are a few brave voices yet which have not bowed to the activists’ agenda, and are willing to speak truth, even if very costly to do so.
Let me cite a few of these recent voices. And sometimes they come from rather unexpected quarters. One very interesting piece recently appeared by a homosexual historian. In it he argues that nobody is ‘born that way,’ and offers a lengthy case to make his point. David Benkof says in conclusion:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
I’m always getting emails from the ACLU asking me to help them protect America’s schoolchildren from “religion.” The public schools, they say, are to be a religion-free zone. Since they never object when those schools extol Islam or promote paganism, it’s easy to see that when the ACLU says “religion,” what they mean is Christianity.
That’s why my home town had to rename its annual Christmas Parade, after 100 years and more, “the Winter Festival,” which makes it sound like we’re about to set up a wicker man and do human sacrifices. Meanwhile, just a mile down the road, an enormous Hindu Festival goes off every summer without a peep of protest.
Naturally our secular wise men, our ruling class, are rock-solid for protecting children from the baleful influence of Jesus Christ. So many of the churches are so weak and namby-pamby, the de-Christianization of America goes on and on without their even noticing. As long as the new multi-media center puts more fannies in the pews, who cares what judges and other such creatures do to marriage?
All together, they create a religious vacuum. You know what happens to a vacuum: it gets filled. And what is rushing into the vacuum in the children’s souls who have been denied the knowledge of Jesus Christ?
We got a glimpse of it recently when two 12-year-old girls in Wisconsin took a third girl into the woods and tried to kill her. Being inexperienced at murder, they didn’t quite finish the job: at this writing the victim, although stabbed repeatedly, still clings to life. The Guardian has the full story.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Anything that comes out of the US State Dept re Ukraine is a lie. The tanks are Ukrainians, so this is another false flag op by Kiev, to stir up more trouble. The US is playing with fire in Ukraine, Syria and now Irak. When will it all end, and more concerning how?
Please read this to see the real brutal and bloody situation:
http://journal-neo.org/2014/06/14/to-live-and-die-in-donetsk/
https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/savedonbassfromukrainianarmy
Russia Has Sent Tanks to Ukraine Rebels, U.S. Says
The State Department confirmed on Friday that Russia has sent tanks and other heavy weapons to separatists in Ukraine.
tks
I know we have some Al Stewart fans here!
I can’t believe I didn’t bring this one up a long time ago: “Constantinople” – a perfect song for Gates of Vienna. A bit of a warning, really.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdfSK0DEMyg