Gates of Vienna News Feed 2/7/2015

The Nigerian presidential election has been postponed for six weeks due to security concerns, specifically the continuing terror attacks by Boko Haram. The electoral commission made the decision, but critics say the postponement is intended to improve the electoral chances of Goodluck Jonathan, the incumbent president.

In other news, President Barack Hussein Obama’s recently published national security strategy lists climate change as one of the eight major threats to the national security of the United States.

To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.

Thanks to Fjordman, Insubria, Papa Whiskey, 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.

Financial Crisis
» Conquering China’s Mountain of Debt
» Currency Devaluations Are an Undeclared War
» Moody’s Threatens to Downgrade Greece
» Switzerland: National Bank Head Defends Currency Move
» Ukraine’s Currency Just Collapsed 50 Percent in Two Days
 
USA
» 6 People Charged in U.S. With Supporting ISIS
» Harvard Bans Professors From Having Sex With Undergraduates
» Obama Quietly Reveals That He Met With Muslim Leaders With Ties to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood
» Obama’s National Security Strategy Lists Climate Change Among ‘Top Strategic Risks’ To U.S.
» U.S. Accuses Bosnian Immigrants of Assisting Terrorists Overseas With Arms, Cash
 
Europe and the EU
» Don’t Waste Time on Soap Operas Says Pope
» Gauguin Painting Sells for Record $300 Million
» Italy: Renzi Gets SC Defectors, Berlusconi Faces Fitto Bid
» Italy: Roma Girls as Young as 13 ‘Sold’ In Milan
» Italy: Prosecutors Ask Court to Send Bossi to Trial
» Italy: Fitto Urges ‘Scrap Party Posts’ as FI Tensions Boil Over
» Italy: Renzi Tells NCD to ‘Lick Wounds’ After Presidential Election
» More ISIS Fighters From One Swedish Town Than Entire USA
» Pope Gives Out 300 Umbrellas to Rome Homeless
» Switzerland: Funding Ends for North Korean Officer Training
» ‘We’re Leaving Britain — Jews Aren’t Safe Here Any More’
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Israel Finds Italian Useful for Business and Culture
» Music: ‘Tosca’ at the Masada in Israel
 
Middle East
» Abdullah 2016? Internet Falls in Love With ‘Warrior King’
» ISIS Escapee Says That They Want to do Something Bigger Than 9/11
» Jordan Vows to Completely ‘Wipe Out’ ISIS
» Saudi Postpones Flogging of Blogger for 4th Week
» Yazidi Mass Grave Found in Northern Iraq
 
South Asia
» Beijing, Bangkok to Expand Military Ties Amid Junta’s Souring Relations With Washington
 
Far East
» Abe, Hostages Labeled Troublemakers in Conformist Japan
» Chinese Authorities Seize Thousands of Rolls of Toilet Paper Printed With Hong Kong Leader’s Face
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Nigeria Postpones Presidential Vote Over Security
 
Immigration
» Finland: Immigration Service Likely to Get Residence Permit Authority
 
General
» Pluto’s Evaporating Ice Leaves it With a Blank Face
» U.N. Climate Chief: We’re ‘Intentionally’ Transforming the World Economy
 

Conquering China’s Mountain of Debt

China’s officially stated deficit is about 2 percent of its gross domestic product. That’s a fiction, says Chen Long, China economist at researcher GavekalDragonomics in Beijing, because it doesn’t include any of this indirect local borrowing. Add it in and the deficit rises to about 5 percent of GDP, Chen estimates. The National Audit Office found that as of 18 months ago, local debt—including indirect borrowing—totaled 17.9 trillion yuan ($2.86 trillion), up 63 percent since the end of 2010, much more than the 40 percent expansion of the economy.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Currency Devaluations Are an Undeclared War

(Bloomberg) — The global currency war is threatening to prove a silent killer.

So says David Woo, head of global rates and currencies research at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York.

While some question the existence of any conflict — arguing that falling exchange rates merely reflect efforts by central banks to spur lackluster domestic economies — Woo expresses concern.

“There is a growing consensus in the market that an unspoken currency war has broken out,” he said in a report to clients this week. “The reason why this is a war is that it is ultimately a zero-sum game — someone gains only because someone else will lose.”

The standard view on war-mongering is that by easing monetary policy, central banks from Asia to Europe are hoping to weaken their currencies to boost exports and import prices. Trade rivals then retaliate, creating a spiral of devaluations as witnessed in the 1930s.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Moody’s Threatens to Downgrade Greece

Moody’s placed Greece’s credit rating on review for a downgrade Friday, citing “high uncertainty” about the country’s talks with creditors.

The Moody’s warning came as Greece and its key creditors in Europe appeared still far apart over Athens’s demands to renegotiate its 240-billion-euro ($275-billion) bailout with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Switzerland: National Bank Head Defends Currency Move

Swiss National Bank President Thomas Jordan says his institution had no choice but to remove the Swiss franc’s peg to the Euro, citing worse effects for the economy if they had waited longer to do so.

In his first interview since the January 15 decision, Jordan told Swiss Public Radio SRF that “all other alternatives would have been much worse for Switzerland” and that “putting off the decision would have had much bigger consequences” for both the country as a whole and the national bank.

Jordan said the franc continues to be overvalued but added that expects it to ultimately stabilise.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Ukraine’s Currency Just Collapsed 50 Percent in Two Days

Ukraine, to use a technical term, is broke. That’s what you call a country whose currency has lost half its value in just two days.

The problem is simple: Ukraine has no money and barely any economy. It’s already talking to the IMF about a $15 billion bailout and what’s euphemistically being called a debt “restructuring”—i.e., default—as its reserves have dwindled down to $6.42 billion, only enough to cover five weeks of imports. (Three months worth is considered the absolute least you can get by with).

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

6 People Charged in U.S. With Supporting ISIS

WASHINGTON — Six Bosnian immigrants have been charged in the U.S. for allegedly supporting the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Department of Justice said Friday.

The suspects, five of whom were arrested in the U.S., are all charged with providing material support to terrorists and conspiring to provide material support and resources to terrorists, the DOJ said in a statement.

They were identified as Ramiz Zijad Hodzic, 40, his wife Sedina Unkic Hodzic, 35, and Armin Harcevic, 37, who live in St. Louis County, Missouri; Nihad Rosic, 26, of Utica, New York; Mediha Medy Salkicevic, 34 of Schiller Park, Illinois; and Jasminka Ramic, 42, of Rockford, Illinois.

The suspects immigrated from Bosnia, the Justice Department said. Three of them became naturalized U.S. citizens and the others have legal resident of refugee status.

According to an indictment unsealed Friday, the defendants sent weapons, U.S. military uniforms and tactical equipment to a man named Abdullah Ramo Pazara, a Bosnian who traveled from St. Louis to Syria in 2013 to join ISIS. They also used Western Union and PayPal to transfer money to Turkey and Saudi Arabia, where third parties sent it to Syria and Iraq.

[This is the Muslim ethnic group we saved from genocidal attacks back in the last century by bombing their Serbian enemies — and this is the thanks we get. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Harvard Bans Professors From Having Sex With Undergraduates

Harvard University has instituted a total ban on professors having sex with undergraduate students, strengthening language it said didn’t reflect its expectations on appropriate relationships between faculty members and students.

Harvard said in a statement released Thursday the change came as part of a formal review of its policy on Title IX, the federal civil rights law prohibiting sex discrimination in education.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Obama Quietly Reveals That He Met With Muslim Leaders With Ties to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood

After closing his meeting with American Muslim leaders to the press and even keeping the guest list secret, Obama has finally revealed it, and it contains the usual suspects. Details interspersed below: “Obama quietly hands out names of Muslim leaders he met with privately,” by Dave Boyer, The Washington Times, February 6, 2015:

The White House has finally divulged the names of American Muslim leaders who met with President Obama this week, including Imam Mohamed Magid, who has advised the administration on formulating responses to incidents that Islamists consider offensive.

After stonewalling journalists for two days about the names of the participants at the meeting Wednesday, the White House quietly attached the list of attendees to the end of its daily press briefing transcript Thursday evening.

[The usual Friday night disclosure, timed to minimize media interest. What a bunch of sneaks. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Obama’s National Security Strategy Lists Climate Change Among ‘Top Strategic Risks’ To U.S.

The Obama administration’s new national security strategy, released Friday, puts a top priority on climate change, calling it “an urgent and growing threat.”

Climate change, the strategy says, is “contributing to increased natural disasters, refugee flows, and conflicts over basic resources like food and water.”

The strategy lists climate change as one of eight “top strategic risks” to U.S. interests, along with a catastrophic attack on the U.S., threats or attacks against citizens abroad, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

U.S. Accuses Bosnian Immigrants of Assisting Terrorists Overseas With Arms, Cash

ST. LOUIS — Six Bosnian immigrants have been accused of sending money and equipment to terrorists overseas, including fighters with the Islamic State group and al-Qaida in Iraq, the U.S. attorney’s office announced Friday.

An indictment unsealed Friday in St. Louis said the defendants donated money themselves and in some cases collected funds from others in the U.S. and sent the donations overseas. It says two of the defendants used some of the money to buy U.S. military uniforms, firearms accessories, tactical gear and other equipment, which was shipped to people in Turkey and Saudi Arabia who forwarded the supplies to terrorists.

The supplies and money eventually made their way to fighters in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere, according to the indictment.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Don’t Waste Time on Soap Operas Says Pope

Or on neighborhood gossip, Francis says

(ANSA) — Vatican City, February 3 — People should not waste valuable prayer time by watching soap operas, Pope Francis said Tuesday.

They should also not spend time that could be given over to prayer by listening to idle gossip, the pontiff said at a Mass in St Martha’s House, the Vatican hostel he lives in.

“At home, 15 minutes, pick up the Gospel, a small passage, imagine what happened and talk with Jesus about it,” said Francis, who has often stressed the importance of prayer.

“So your gaze will be fixed on Jesus and not so much on a TV soap opera, for example. “Your ears will be focused on the words of Jesus and not so much on your neighborhood gossip”, said the pope.

“This is how contemplative prayer helps us in hope. Living the substance of the Gospel. Always pray”.

Francis said that “keeping our gaze fixed on Jesus” is the core of hope. He stressed that if we do not listen to the Lord, we may be “optimistic or positive” people but without the hope that we learn “from contemplating Christ”. This led the Holy Father to speak of “contemplative prayer”. The Pope said that “it is good to pray the Rosary every day”, to talk “with the Lord, when we have a problem, or the Virgin Mary or the Saints ..”. But, “contemplative prayer” is important and this can only be done “with the Gospel in hand”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Gauguin Painting Sells for Record $300 Million

A painting of two Tahitian girls by the French artist Paul Gauguin has been sold for $300 million (€265 million), believed to be the highest price ever paid for a piece of art.

Unconfirmed reports say the 1892 oil painting, entitled “Nafea Faa Ipoipo” (When Will You Marry?), was sold to a Qatari buyer, underlining the oil-rich Gulf state’s growing influence in the international art market.

Qatar held the previous record for the biggest sum paid for a painting after it purchased Paul Cézanne’s “The Card Players” in 2011 for a reported $250 million (€221 million).

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Renzi Gets SC Defectors, Berlusconi Faces Fitto Bid

‘We have the numbers’ says PD chief

(ANSA) — Rome, February 6 — Premier and Democratic Party (PD) leader Matteo Renzi on Friday said he “had the numbers” to pass flagship institutional reforms without the support of the centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party of ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi, who pulled his backing after the PD chief imposed Sergio Mattarella as Italian president, deepening a rift in FI.

“We have the numbers even without (FI), but I hope that reason prevails (in Berlusconi’s party),” he said.

“If Forza Italia wants to eat its words” on an institutional reform deal called the Nazareno Pact, “buon appetito”, quipped the premier.

The PD will still respect Berlusconi and FI even if they confirm they are pulling out of the Nazareno Pact, Renzi went on. “We don’t aim to speak ill of our opponents, but to work well for Italy,” he said.

Renzi got a fillip in his search for votes Friday as eight Senators and MPs with the centrist Civic Choice (SC) said they would sit with the PD caucus and some would even join the premier’s party.

The eight said in a statement: “We welcome the invitation of Renzi to follow a common path”.

The migrants from Civic Choice include Gianluca Susta, party leader in the Senate, Stefania Giannini, who is education minister, Alessandro Maran, Linda Lanzillotta, well-known labour-law reform expert Pietro Ichino, Ilaria Borletti Buitoni, Irene Tinagli, and Carlo Calenda.

“The project of (former premier Mario) Monti is exhausted,” said Giannini.

Monti set Civic Choice up in a surprise bid for office in the 2013 general election after serving for 14 months as a technocrat premier who imposed austerity to bring Italy back from the brink of a Greek-style crisis.

The split between Renzi and Berlusconi over the imposition of Mattarella — a former critic of the ex-premier and media magnate’s conflicts of interest — has raised questions about the future of the so-called Nazareno Pact.

The leaders of the two parties had reached that deal one year ago on pushing through Parliament much-needed election reforms and the abolition of the Senate as a lawmaking body.

Renzi has said that he believes that he has enough support to pass his reforms to Italy’s widely condemned election laws as well as the institutional reforms — which require a two-thirds majority if they are to avoid going to a referendum — with or without the FI.

But the addition of the Civic Choice MPs and Senators will give Renzi some extra cushioning during the votes.

Meanwhile the trouble in FI sparked by Mattarella, who once resigned as minister rather than back a law consolidating Berlusconi’s TV empire, deepened Friday with leading dissident Raffaele Fitto announcing he would call his own “convention” on the future of the party.

While arguing that he is a “rebuilder”, not a “breaker” of FI, he said that the gathering on February 21 “will be the occasion when we will begin to show our proposals for Italy as well as for Forza Italia, and for the centre right”. Earlier in the week, Fitto denounced Berlusconi’s leadership and said the party was heading in the wrong direction.

Like a sizeable minority in the party over which Berlusconi had long reigned supreme, Fitto claimed Berlusconi had been tricked by Renzi in the election of Constitutional Court judge Mattarella as Italy’s 12th president, replacing Giorgio Napolitano who quit last month.

Berlusconi himself appeared to be shocked that an agreed candidate for president was not part of the Nazareno Pact, even though Renzi had publicly stated on several occasions that it only covered electoral and Constitutional reforms.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Roma Girls as Young as 13 ‘Sold’ In Milan

Asking price 3,000-7,000 euros

(ANSA) — Milan, February 5 — Roma girls as young as 13 are being sold for sex on the streets of Milan, police said after busting a pimping gang of Roma men Thursday.

The price of a girl in her low teens varied from 3,000 to 7,000 euros and the cost of a piece of turf to pimp her out ranged from 200 to 500 euros, they said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Prosecutors Ask Court to Send Bossi to Trial

League founder one of five to be suspected of fraud

(ANSA) — Genoa, February 5 — Prosecutors in the Ligurian coastal city of Genoa asked that former Northern League leader Umberto Bossi and ex-party treasurer Francesco Belsito be sent to trial on charges related to allegations of embezzlement and fraud against the State to a total of 40 million euros. The scandal involving alleged irregularities in documentation to obtain reimbursements for electoral spending forced Bossi, founder of the regionalist League, to quit in April 2012. Prosecutors also asked that three other top party officials be sent to trial in the same case, which was originally handled by prosecutors in Milan before being transferred to Genoa for territorial competence.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Fitto Urges ‘Scrap Party Posts’ as FI Tensions Boil Over

Disident calls for overhaul of Berlusconi political organization

(ANSA) — Rome, February 4 — Long-standing party tensions came to a head Wednesday when Raffaele Fitto, a leading dissident in Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia (FI) party, said a “break with the past” was essential.

At a news conference, Fitto called for all posts in the centre-right party to be scrapped and new officials appointed by an FI congress or primaries.

The party founded by Berlusconi, three-time former premier, “is in a swamp” and for too long its “hypocrisy” has prevented a necessary scrutiny of its internal problems, Fitto said. FI must recover from past “errors that cannot be underestimated,” said Fitto, adding that he does not see any “political, legal or statutory value” in the position of FI chairman.

Fitto also denounced as a failure the so-called Nazareno Pact on institutional reform struck almost a year ago between Berlusconi and Premier Matteo Renzi of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD).

“There is no pact. There’s (Renzi) who dictates things, changing every time, and (Berlusconi) who accepts,” Fitto said. The pact focussed on an agreement between the two parties in promoting a new election law and a revamp of Italy’s slow, costly political system.

Fitto, 45, has led opposition to the 78-year-old Berlusconi’s leadership which came to a head last week when Renzi imposed Sergio Mattarella as Italian president without FI’s agreement.

Mattarella was elected Saturday and officially installed in the position of head of State on Tuesday.

Fitto said formal talks must be held regarding allegedly failed strategies and falling poll ratings, adding he would take his arguments across the country if necessary.

“There are those who in the local chapters are doing more damage than hail,” said Fitto, an MP from the Puglia region who lists his profession as ‘politician’.

“Change is necessary to give oxygen, breath, to thousands of local councillors, electors, and sympathizers who are far away”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Renzi Tells NCD to ‘Lick Wounds’ After Presidential Election

Premier says junior coalition partner must get over vote

(ANSA) — Rome, February 2 — Premier Matteo Renzi on Monday told the New Centre Right (NCD) party, junior partners in his coalition government, to “lick its wounds” and get over the election of new President Sergio Mattarella at the weekend. NCD leader Angelino Alfano told the party to vote in favour of Mattarella but many members of the group felt resentment that Renzi had managed to push through the candidate of his centre-left Democratic Party (PD). Indeed, Maurizio Sacconi quit as NCD’s Senate whip in protest.

“Today we must work calmly. Those who need to lick their wounds should do so, but there’s now needs for rows,” Renzi told RTL radio.

“We have elected a gentleman (as president). The day after you have to start over — rows are part of old-style (Italian) politics.

“We are here to govern Italy, not to shore up internal alliances”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

More ISIS Fighters From One Swedish Town Than Entire USA

“The Swedish Center for Jihadists is Gothenburg,” says terrorism expert Magnus Ranstorp. In an interview in newspaper Svenska Dagbladet last fall, Ranstorp estimated there being some 50 out of the 150 “Swedish” ISIS warriors originating from the Gothenburg region. ‘Exclusion areas’ like Hammarkullen, Biskopsgården and Angered, featured in the infamous police report of areas where the gangs are taking over published last year, are not surprisingly topping the list for terrorism recruitment grounds.

And apparently, recruitment is picking up. Newspaper Aftonbladet recently published a follow-up interview with a returned ISIS fanatic that participated in the Syrian carnage and has since published recruitment videos specifically aimed at Swedish would-be Jihadists. In the interview, which is chilling to the bone from the sheer madness seeping out through the lines, the young man matter-of-factly estimates the number of fellow Gothenburg-warriors to now reach 150.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Pope Gives Out 300 Umbrellas to Rome Homeless

Left by tourists in Vatican Museums

(ANSA) — Vatican City, February 5 — Pope Francis has given out 300 umbrellas to homeless people around the Vatican and in other parts of Rome to help them through a severe rainy spell in the Italian capital, Papal Almoner Konrad Krajewski told ANSA Thursday. The umbrellas were left by tourists in the Vatican Museums, said Msgr Krajewski, who oversaw the initiative.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Switzerland: Funding Ends for North Korean Officer Training

The Swiss defence ministry has decided to stop paying for North Korean army officers to attend a Geneva training centre following a public outcry at the practice.

Since 2011, Swiss taxpayers have shelled out CHF160,000 ($173,000) to put eight North Korean military personnel through courses at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP). A defence ministry spokesperson has confirmed reports on Swiss public television (RTS) that the subsidy has now ended.

Army personnel from the totalitarian state can still attend GCSP courses, but now at their own expense, the ministry has decided.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

‘We’re Leaving Britain — Jews Aren’t Safe Here Any More’

Yet this summer the Goulds will leave everything behind — their north Manchester home filled with memories, their lovely, rambling garden, their busy social life — and leave the UK for good.

It may sound dramatic — incomprehensible, even. But the family, who are Jewish, no longer feel safe in this country. They believe they have no choice.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Israel Finds Italian Useful for Business and Culture

Convention on ‘Dante’s language’ ends

( by Massimo Lomonaco) (ANSAmed) — JERUSALEM — A convention on the Italian language drew to a close in Israel on Wednesday with ambassador Francesco Maria Talo’ noting that it is a language of “beauty and culture” that is also useful for business. National institutions dealing with the Italian language as a way to promote culture and identity gathered for the meeting, including the Italian Cultural Institute under Simonetta De Felicis. “This will also have an effect on the future,” he added, “and our enterprises must understand this when they decide whether or not to sponsor cultural events focusing on Italian.

We need to be farsighted, in order to gain potential consumers’ trust.” The Italian language has proven a success in Israel, with 200 Israeli high school students taking Italian as one of their high-school leaving exams in 2013 and 12 schools in which the language is offered. Over 1,000 students in Israel sign up for Italian courses at the Italian Cultural Institute every year and about 3,000 Israelis study at Italian universities, with an average of about 500 new enrollments every year. In addition to the Master’s program for teachers of the Italian language at the University of Tel Aviv, a two-year course for Italian-Hebrew translation may soon be established at the Bar Ilan University — noted the culture attache of the embassy, Simonetta Della Seta — “a true success story for Italian”. The convention stressed that the trend must be fostered and extended to the business and scientific specialization sectors as well for the purposes of economic development. For this reason, one of the working groups was on the ‘Use of Italian in Business and Tourism’. Coordinated by Cristina Caputo, head of the embassy’s economic and trade office, it included the Italian Trade Commission (ICE), the Chamber of Commerce and Banca Intesa. Manuela Consonni, head of the Department of Italian Studies of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said that Israeli Arabs and Palestinians had also begun to study Italian, “ as shown by the language courses held in Ramallah, in the West Bank”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Music: ‘Tosca’ at the Masada in Israel

On June 4 at Opera Festival with Oren; also ‘Carmina Burana’

(by Massimo Lomonaco) (ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, FEBRUARY 3 — ‘Tosca’ at the Masada, the fortress dominating the Dead Sea, one of the most beautiful places in Israel. Puccini’s opera, directed by Daniel Oren, will open on June 4 the ‘Israeli Open Festival in Masada’, which has reached its fifth edition. This year, the festival will feature, right after Tosca, on June 5, Carl Off’s ‘Carmina Burana’ directed by James Judd.

Presented today at a press conference, the festival — the top event at this level in Israel — has seen its public increase, attracted by both open-air music and the archaeology.

Masada is a unique site — enabling a view of Jordan, though it is under sea level — which has been declared a UNESCO world Heritage Site in 2001. Each year, organizers explained, the event attracts a public of some 60,000 people, 10,000 of whom come from abroad for the festival and then remain in Israel.

Indeed the event boosts employment and tourism in the area of the Judean Desert. As stressed by Hanna Munitz, director-general of the Israeli Opera, this year’s edition includes “two major productions, which are totally different one from the other” but have as background “the same huge proscenium” (3,500 square meters) built every year only for the program. Also, 900 artists, including the musicians and choir, will perform and 2,500 artisans will work on the production, located in an area which is particularly arduous.

Italian opera has been the top protagonist of the festival since its debut, except for 2012 when Bizet’s ‘Carmen’ was staged. Before the Tosca, it was the turn of ‘Nabucco’ in 2010, ‘Aida’ in 2011, and ‘Traviata’ in 2014.

Daniel Oren — director of the Israeli Opera — has also been a stable presence at the Festival, conducting since the beginning of the event. And he was the one who chose the opera singers for Puccini’s drama (the director is Nicolas Joel). Tosca will be interpreted by Bulgarian singer Svetla Vassileva, while her beloved Mario will be both Italian tenor Fabio Sartori and Argentine Gustavo Porta. Scarpia will be Russian baritone Sergei Murzaev and the American Scott Hendricks. ‘Tosca’ will also be staged on June 6-11-13.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Abdullah 2016? Internet Falls in Love With ‘Warrior King’

In an otherwise dismal week for the fight against Islamist terrorism, Americans have been cheered up by one tough-talking world leader: The king of Jordan.

King Abdullah II drew praise for his strong words and forceful military response to the Islamic State’s murder of Jordanian pilot Lt. Moaz al-Kasasbeh. The otherwise quiet monarch emerged suddenly as a terrifying foe to organized terror.

Following news that the Islamic State had murdered al-Kasasbeh, Abdullah, who was in America on business when he learned of the grisly execution, told U.S. lawmakers in a closed door meeting that he would pursue the group, which controls substantial portions of Jordan’s neighbors Iraq and Syria, until Jordan’s military runs “out of fuel and bullets.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

ISIS Escapee Says That They Want to do Something Bigger Than 9/11

A British medical student — who went looking for ISIS on a search for a friend’s twin daughters who left home to marry terrorists — lived with ISIS, earned their trust, and managed to escape to Turkey. He said that ISIS, or Daesh, are planning something bigger than 9/11.

“They want to be more better than al-Qaeda,” Ahmad Rashidi said to NBC’s Richard Engel on Meet the Press. “They want to do something more better than the World Trade Center.”

He added that the U.S. bombings are making Daesh “happy” because they elevate the group’s status to that of al-Qaeda.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Jordan Vows to Completely ‘Wipe Out’ ISIS

AMMAN, Jordan — The United Arab Emirates said Saturday it ordered a squadron of F-16 fighters to Jordan, which an official said would participate in airstrikes on the Islamic State group after the UAE earlier suspended its involvement.

The UAE fighter jets will participate in airstrikes on Islamic State targets, said a Jordanian official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the issue to journalists.

The UAE announcement, carried by the state news agency WAM, did not say what role the Emirati warplanes would play. An Emirati official declined to elaborate.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Saudi Postpones Flogging of Blogger for 4th Week

Saudi Arabia on Friday postponed for a fourth straight week the flogging of blogger Raef Badawi who was sentenced to 1,000 lashes for insulting Islam, his wife said.

Badawi’s case has already prompted worldwide outrage and criticism from the UN, US, the EU and others.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Yazidi Mass Grave Found in Northern Iraq

The remains of 23 men from the Yazidi religious minority were found during the excavation of a mass grave in northern Iraq, an official said on Saturday.

It is the latest evidence of atrocities committed in areas held by the Islamic State (IS) group to emerge since Kurdish forces pushed the jihadists back.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Beijing, Bangkok to Expand Military Ties Amid Junta’s Souring Relations With Washington

China and Thailand agreed yesterday to expand military links over the next five years, from increasing intelligence sharing to fighting transnational crime, as the ruling junta seeks to counterbalance the country’s alliance with Washington.

The agreement came during a two-day visit by Defence Minister Chang Wanquan to Bangkok, and as the Thai junta looks to cultivate Beijing’s support amid Western unease over a delayed return to democracy.

“China has agreed to help Thailand increase protection of its own country and advise on technology to increase Thailand’s national security,” Thai Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan said.

“China will not intervene in Thailand’s politics but will give political support and help maintain relationships at all levels. This is China’s policy.”

Under the junta, Thailand has stepped up engagement with China at a time when Beijing increases its influence in Southeast Asia with a raft of loans and aid for infrastructure.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Abe, Hostages Labeled Troublemakers in Conformist Japan

In a nation where conformity takes precedence over individuality, one of the most important values is to avoid “meiwaku” — causing trouble for others. And sympathy aside, the two Japanese purportedly slain by the Islamic State group are now widely viewed as troublemakers.

So is Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Many Japanese feel that if the hostages had not ignored warnings against travel to Syria, or if Abe had not showcased Tokyo’s support for the multinational coalition against the Islamic State militants, Japan would not have been exposed to this new sense of insecurity and unwelcome attention from Islamic extremists.

“To be honest, they caused tremendous trouble to the Japanese government and to the Japanese people. In the old days, their parents would have had to commit hara-kiri to apologize,” said Taeko Sakamoto, a 64-year-old part-time worker. She did, first, express sympathy over the deaths of Kenji Goto and Haruna Yukawa.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Chinese Authorities Seize Thousands of Rolls of Toilet Paper Printed With Hong Kong Leader’s Face

Mainland authorities yesterday confiscated some 7,600 rolls of toilet paper featuring the face of Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, which the Democratic Party had planned to sell at this year’s Lunar New Year fair.

They also seized 20,000 packets of tissues bearing more images of Hong Kong’s top official.

Democrats last year grossed about HK$100,000 by selling 4,000 rolls of toilet paper decorated with the chief executive’s face, which were manufactured by the same company.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Nigeria Postpones Presidential Vote Over Security

The electoral commission in Nigeria has postponed the 14 February presidential election by six weeks over concerns about the security situation.

Commission chief Attahiru Jega said he had been told troops would not be available to help patrol the ballot because they would be fighting Boko Haram militants in the north-east.

Nigeria and four other states plan to deploy a joint force of 8,700 soldiers.

The election will now be held on 28 March instead.

President Goodluck Jonathan is facing a strong challenge in the contest.

[Return to headlines]
 

Finland: Immigration Service Likely to Get Residence Permit Authority

A plan is underway to transfer the issues related to residence permits for foreigners from the police and the border guard to the Finnish Immigration Service.

The change is being deliberated at the Ministry of the Interior.

According to the proposal, the immigration service will also handle the initial tasks involved in asylum seeking which currently are processed by the police and the border guard.

The reform is aimed at establishing the immigration service as the authority responsible for migration issues.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Pluto’s Evaporating Ice Leaves it With a Blank Face

Pluto’s got a blank face. It seems that the dwarf planet’s nitrogen-rich ice evaporates faster than realised, disappointing those who hoped its pockmarks could keep a census of the outer solar system.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

U.N. Climate Chief: We’re ‘Intentionally’ Transforming the World Economy

The United Nation’s top climate change official Christiana Figueres announced this week that the group is actively working to “intentionally transform” the world’s economic development model, a task she called the “most difficult” one the group has ever undertaken.

“This is probably the most difficult task we have ever given ourselves, which is to intentionally transform the economic development model, for the first time in human history,” UNFCCC Executive Secretary Figueres stated at a press conference in Brussels Tuesday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

One thought on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 2/7/2015

  1. “It may sound dramatic — incomprehensible, even. But the family, who are Jewish, no longer feel safe in this country. They believe they have no choice.”

    I believe them. I did not feel safe there and I am English.

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