Shi’ite militias are mustering in the area around Ramadi in the al-Anbar province of Iraq. Mujahideen for the Islamic State overran Ramadi yesterday, and the Shi’ites reportedly aim to take the city back.
In other news, 190 or so motorcycle gang members are facing charges in the biker gang shootout in Waco, Texas, which involved five different gangs and left nine people dead.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, K, 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.
Credit Squeeze Toward Italian Households Slows in April
ABI calls 0.8% decline in loans best seen since May 2012
(ANSA) — Rome, May 18 — A continuing decline in loans toward Italian households in April slowed its downward spiral, the Italian banks’ association ABI said on Monday.
ABI billed the continuing credit squeeze as the “best result” since May 2012. The issuing of credit toward households fell 0.8% last month compared to April 2014, whereas credit sank 1% in March compared to twelve months prior.
At its nadir, in November 2013, total loans shrank by 4.5% compared to the previous November.
The return of growth in loans made by Italian banks could come “in the next few months” given data on new loans issued in the first quarter, which confirm and consolidate the first signals of recovery seen at the end of last year, explained ABI Deputy General Director Gianfranco Torriero. “The positive signs on (credit) flows are seen especially in the mortgage sector, and now for businesses, thanks to a recovery in aggregated demand and in exports,” Torriero said. Torriero added that medium and long term loans were penalized by medium and long term collections — in other words, through bonds, which fell 14% in April, marking a 69.6 billion euro decrease in absolute value year on year. Meanwhile, deposits increased by 41.6 billion euros in April compared to the same month last year, a rise of 3.4%.
March 2015 saw deposits rise 3.5% compared to March 2014.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The Debt to GDP Ratio for the Entire World: 286 Percent
Did you know that there is more than $28,000 of debt for every man, woman and child on the entire planet? And since close to 3 billion of those people survive on less than 2 dollars a day, your share of that debt is going to be much larger than that. If we tookeverything that the global economy produced this year and everything that the global economy produced next year and used it to pay all of this debt, it still would not be enough. According to a recent report put out by the McKinsey Global Institute entitled “Debt and (not much) deleveraging”, the total amount of debt on our planet has grown from 142 trillion dollars at the end of 2007 to 199 trillion dollars today. This is the largest mountain of debt in the history of the world, and those numbers mean that we are in substantially worse condition than we were just prior to the last financial crisis.
When it comes to debt, a lot of fingers get pointed at the United States, and rightly so. Just prior to the last recession, the U.S. national debt was sitting at about 9 trillion dollars. Today, it has crossed the 18 trillion dollar mark. But of course the U.S. is not the only one that is guilty. In fact, the McKinsey Global Institute says that debt levels have grown in all major economies since 2007. The following is an excerpt from the report…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
79 Members of Congress Have Been in Office for at Least 20 Years
No wonder Washington never changes — 79 members of Congress have been there since Bill Clinton’ s first term in the White House. This list includes names such as Reid, Feinstein, McConnell, McCain, Pelosi, Boehner, Rangel and Boxer. In this article, I am going to share with you a complete list of the members of Congress that have been “ serving” us for at least 20 years. They believe that they are “ serving” us well, but without a doubt most Americans very much wish that true “ change” would come to Washington. In fact, right now Congress has a 15 percent approval rating with the American people, and that approval rating has been consistently below 20 percent since mid-2011. So of course we took advantage of the 2014 mid-term election to dump as many of those Congress critters out of office as we possibly could, right? Wrong. Sadly, incumbents were re-elected at a 95 percent rate in 2014. This just shows how broken and how corrupt our system has become. The American people absolutely hate the job that Congress is doing, and yet the same clowns just keep getting sent back to Washington again and again.
Our founders never intended for service in Congress to become a career, but that is precisely what it has become for many of our “ public servants” . As of this moment, there are 79 members of Congress that have been in office for at least 20 years, and there are 16 members of Congress that have been in office for at least 30 years.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Al Sharpton’s Daughter Suing NYC for $5m After Tripping in Crosswalk
Al Sharpton’s daughter is reportedly suing New York City for $5 million after she tripped on a crosswalk and sprained her ankle.
Dominique Sharpton, 28, claims she was “severely injured, bruised and wounded” in October when she tripped on some uneven pavement downtown, according to the suit filed against the city departments of Transportation and Environmental Protection, The New York Post reported.
She claims that that Oct. 2 fall left her with “internal and external injuries to the whole body, lower and upper limbs, the full extent of which are unknown, permanent pain and mental anguish.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Biker Gang Accused Could Face Death Penalty
Some 170 bikers are facing murder charges — and potentially the death penalty — after nine people were killed during a shootout between rival motorcycle gangs in Waco, Texas.
A fist fight broke out in the bathroom of the Twin Peaks restaurant before spilling into a car park as the bikers attacked each other with clubs, chains and knives before opening fire.
Eight of the bikers died at the scene on Sunday, with another dying in hospital.
Eighteen others were taken to hospitals with injuries including stab and gunshot wounds.
Police say the arrested bikers, who come from five different gangs, face charges of engaging in organised crime for capital murder.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The festivities were centered in the Capitol Hill area of Seattle. Residents were warned to take cover and stay inside. Businesses were advised to vacate and protect what they could.
Three officers were attacked and hurt. Two had to go to the hospital with serious injuries. In retaliation, the police hit protesters with pepper spray and flash-bang grenades. Police for the most part were on bicycles. 15 protesters were arrested amid the violence.
25 or so cars were damaged by protestors. A number of businesses had their windows smashed and fires were set. Dumpsters were overturned. Art in the parks was marked with the Anarchist symbol — one person was even spray painted because he would not move.
Let’ s look at some of the organizers who came out to play…
Black Lives Matter
A common thread you will find through all the protests now is Black Lives Matter. Here is what they laid out for the Seattle protest:
[Comment: Communist plot to agitate blacks against white proceeding apace. Google “communist goals” which was read into congressional records. See how many goals have already been achieved.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Presumed Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush was recently asked about the “Draw Muhammad” contest in Garland, TX that was attacked by two jihadists, and what Mr. Bush thought of event organizer and ardent counterjihadist Pamela Geller.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was not, but a new book gives insight into how she might think about the issue given her support as Secretary of State of a policy put forth by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) at the UN that comes into direct conflict with the First Amendment.
[Comment: Recommended reading.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Garland Shooting Event Revised — Shining a Spotlight on FBI’s Role Before Attack
Additionally, as we previously reported at 21WIRE shortly after the story first broke, the main suspect named in the incident, Elton Simpson, had been under the watchful eye of the FBI for nearly a decade and was in close contact with an undercover informant during that time. The following is an excerpt from that report, which also discloses that Simpson served 3 years probation after being arrested by the FBI in 2010 making a ‘false statement’ concerning an alleged attempt to join serving only 15 days in jail:
“Elton Simpson, was already under surveillance by the FBI and was even the subject of a terror investigation. More importantly, we can also confirm Simpson was being handled by an FBI informant. Court papers filed in Arizona name the FBI undercover informant as Mr. Daba Deng, a Kenyan and who, from 2007, was paid $132,000 by the FBI to “become friends with Mr. Simpson”, and who appears to have groomed Simpson through a local mosque, and helped to develop Simpson’s ideas about “jihad”.”
The same report outlined the relationship Nadir Hamid Soofi, the apparent ‘second’ shooter had with Simpson and likely with authorities:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Microsoft Study Finds Technology Hurting Attention Spans
Conducting both surveys and EEG scans, Microsoft has published a study suggesting that the average attention span has fallen precipitously since the start of the century. While people could focus on a task for 12 seconds back in 2000, that figure dropped to 8 seconds in 2013 (about one second less than a goldfish). Reportedly, a lot of that reduction stems from a combination of smartphones and an avalanche of content.
[Comment: Plasticity — the rewiring of the the brain. Can be reversed by reading books. The avalanche of content rewires brains to skim and not read/think deeply.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Military Push for Emergency Robots Worries Skeptics About Lethal Uses
It’s 6-foot-2, with laser eyes and vise-grip hands. It can walk over a mess of jagged cinder blocks, cut a hole in a wall, even drive a car. And soon, Leo, Lockheed Martin’s humanoid robot, will move from the development lab to a boot camp for robots, where a platoon’s worth of the semiautonomous mechanical species will be tested to see if they can be all they can be.
Next month, the Pentagon is hosting a $3.5 million, international competition that will pit robot against robot in an obstacle course designed to test their physical prowess, agility, and even their awareness and cognition.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
MORE and OBS, Next Revolution Fellowship
There is MORE, Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment, and OBS.
Remember Ella Baker? If not, then you may remember Van Jones, the Green Czar that was exposed by Glenn Beck and snuck out of the White House in the middle of the night. Yes, that guy. Van Jones carries the torch for Ella Baker.
So, this OBS and MORE with Next Revolution is based on Ella Baker’s legacy and you saw their work in Ferguson, Missouri.
Does this logo appear rather militant?
Or this one?
Do you wonder about their application and approval by the IRS?
There is paid training, travel expenses and protest instructions. Enter OBS…
OBS, Organization for Black Struggle has some interesting partners. They include: Advancement Project, Black Workers for Justice, Black Youth Project, Black Lives Matter, Dream Defenders, Jobs with Justice, Justice for Reggie, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Million Hoodies Movement for Justice, Ohio Student Association, Peace Economy Project, Sankofa, SisterSong and there are more as listed here.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
NBC Downplays How Rich Clintons Are, Worries it Could ‘Complicate’ Hillary’s Message (Video)
The disclosure that Bill and Hillary Clinton raked in $30 million over just the last 16 months came as a shock to many, including MSNBC host Steve Kornacki who said he did a “double take” upon hearing the news.
Roughly $25 million came from speaking fees for the former first couple, and another $5 million to Hillary in book royalties.
To be in the top 1 percent a person must earn somewhere in the neighborhood of $400,000 per year. Bill Clinton has earned 25 percent more than that for one speech. Hillary Clinton earned 1250 percent more than the minimum to be in the 1 percent club in book royalties alone. Together, Bill and Hillary earned 7,500 percent more than the lowest entry point of the 1 percent of income earners.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
NSA Transfers Spy Gadgets to Local Police Departments
For those of a certain generation, one of the best childhood memories is the day the Sears Christmas catalog arrived in the mail. Kids eagerly grabbed the book, which was at least an inch thick, and started their holiday gift lists.
Now local law enforcement agencies can experience that same sense of anticipation and unbridled joy as they choose which spy equipment they want from Uncle Sam’s Big Technology Wish Book, or as it’s officially known, the National Security Agency 2014 Technology Catalog (pdf).
The National Security Agency (NSA) is offering technology to local law enforcement agencies, including programs that pick different voices out of a crowd; cryptographic key generation; transmitter location; and even one that can facilitate the sorting of large amounts of data, such as that that might be gathered in a cell tower dump. Some of this technology can be used in conjunction with devices such as a Stingray, a cell tower mimicking device provided to some agencies by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Stingrays allow a user to glean identification data from a cell-phone user.
[Comment: All this tech will eventually be turned on American public to find “dissidents” — STASI’s wet dream.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama: ISIS a “Fantasy That Can’t Function in the World”
by Daniel Greenfield
Obama said it’s important “we maintain a proper perspective,” on the Islamic State, describing it as a “death cult or a entirely backward-looking fantasy that can’t function in the world.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Restricts ‘Military’ Gear Going to Police
President Barack Obama has banned the US government from giving certain kinds of military-style equipment to local police forces.
The announcement follows criticism that police were too heavy handed in dealing with protests in Ferguson, Missouri, that turned violent last summer.
It means armoured vehicles on tracks, camouflage uniforms and grenade launchers will no longer be given out.
Tensions between police and African-American communities are strained.
A series of fatal shootings by police have increased mistrust and sparked protests across the US.
In Ferguson and in Baltimore, those protests turned violent, with looting and arson.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ObamaCare: Doctors Turning Away From Individual Treatment in Favor of “Population Care”
Advancing the convenient fiction that whatever is good for the group must be good for the individual, population medicine has become an indispensable framework of analysis for the central planning of health care. Accordingly, government agencies can now avail themselves of the findings of this discipline to decide which services, drugs, and interventions should be paid for and promoted, and which must be deemed unnecessary or even fraudulent. The decisions can thus be rendered under cover of “scientific proof.”
An example of activities promoted by population medicine is the “risk calculation,” which doctors are expected to embrace, or else face penalties for practicing outside of the desired norm. Risk calculation involves inputting a handful of patient factors — age, weight, cholesterol, blood pressure, and the like — into a formula to obtain the patient’s “personal risk” of dying or suffering a specific outcome in the future. Based on this mathematical insight, an intervention is prescribed. A patient can thus enjoy the privilege of being treated like a number not just figuratively, but quite literally.
Needless to say, the architects of population medicine overlook that the concept of “personal risk” is rather devoid of meaning, as statistician Richard von Mises explained many decades ago. Willful or naïve, this oversight is turning medicine into an enormous risk management enterprise aimed at solving an impossible game of health optimization.
According to the wisdom of population medicine, for example, to be healthy is to confine our weight, our blood cholesterol, or our blood sugar to an ever-more narrow range of “normal values” defined — and repeatedly revised — not on the basis of any physiological reality, but by the will of committees of medical technocrats. With each new revision in the definitions of what constitutes a “normal” blood pressure, blood cholesterol, or blood sugar, millions of hapless citizens whose numbers happen to fall outside the desired range are instantly turned into patients, to the great delight of the pharmaceutical industry.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pentagon Admits Preparing for Mass Civil Breakdown, Joint Drills Raise Concern
This program, costing millions of dollars, has been designed for the purposes of immediate and long-term “warfighter-relevant insights” development. The Pentagon explains that the purpose is for senior officials and decision makers in “the defense policy community” to form a contingency plan in the event of wide scale social unrest.
The recently revealed documents add that the purpose is further to inform policy implemented by “combatant commands.”
This all started back in 2008 when the global banking crisis formed the impetus for the DoD “Minerva Research Initiative”.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Prominent Clinton Foundation Donor Imprisons Crew of Journalists Investigating Worker Exploitation
The Clinton Foundation has enjoyed close ties to Qatar government for years. The country has donated between $1 million and $5 million to the Clinton Foundation, and was the only foreign government donor to have also lobbied the State Department during Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state. The country’s official World Cup 2022 committee has donated between $250,001 and $500,000, at least a portion of which was donated in 2014. Amwal, one of Qatar’s most prominent investment firms, has also contributed to the foundation.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Racial Profiling by Cops Gone Wild
On May 6, a white man and a black man conducted a high-risk experiment.
The two pro-gun, open carry supporters walked the streets of their neighborhoods with the exact same type of gun — an AR 15 — slung over their backs. They both live in places where it’s legal to open carry, and they both got stopped by police.
That’s where their similarities end.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Rep. Louie Gohmert Suggests Feds Using Jade Helm to “Provoke a Fight” With Citizens
Congressman Louie Gohmert has called for changes to the Jade Helm military exercise, arguing that the labeling of Texas and Utah as “hostile” states in Army documents related to the drill is “suspicious,” while suggesting that the federal government is trying to “provoke a fight” with citizens.
In a piece published by the Highland County Press, Gohmert, who is Vice Chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security, suggests that the Utah and Texas may have been labeled negatively because they are red states.
“Once I observed the map depicting “hostile,” “permissive” and “uncertain” states and locations, I was rather appalled that the hostile areas amazingly have a Republican majority and believe in the sanctity of the United States Constitution,” writes Gohmert.
“When the federal government begins, even in practice, games or exercises, to consider any U.S. city or state in “hostile” control and trying to retake it, the message becomes extremely calloused and suspicious.”
Gohmert says that when he was in the U.S. Army, areas of America were never dubbed “hostile” and that fictitious names were used in such instances. Such descriptions represent “an affront to the residents of that particular state considered as hostile, as if the government is trying to provoke a fight with them,” he writes.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
San Francisco Woman Proves That HIV Doesn’t Always Cause Aids: No Symptoms After 23 Years
(NaturalNews) In the 23 years since she was diagnosed with HIV, 61-year-old Loreen Willenberg of Sacramento, Calif., has never taken any drugs to restrain the virus. She has never shown symptoms or become ill from HIV or AIDS. She has experienced no drop in her CD4 T-cells, the immune cells targeted by HIV.
“I haven’t had a decline of CD4 cell count at all, and that’s pretty magnificent, and I’m very humbled by that,” Willenberg said.
“In a clinical sense, I’m not progressing towards AIDS,” she said. “I’m not progressing towards the disease stage.”
Many of the 35 million people who are infected with HIV take complex drug cocktails to prevent damage to their immune system. Scientists hope that Willenberg and others like her can help uncover the key to preventing HIV from progressing to AIDS — without drugs.
According to Dr. Richard Pollard, Willenberg is one of approximately 500 known “elite controllers” whose bodies seem naturally immune to the effects of HIV.
“Their body has such an effective way of reacting to the virus that it’s hard to even detect that they’re virus positive,” he said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Simulated Worlds: Artificial Paradise in the Global Ghetto Matrix
Scientists are predicting that computer generated simulated worlds will eventually seem more real than reality. In the same way that artificial intelligence in computers is supposed to transcend Man’s intelligence in an event called the “Singularity,” scientists are predicting a “Simulation Singularity.”
Oculus Rift has created a series of virtual reality headsets that can allow people to escape into simulated worlds, making virtual reality affordable for ordinary people. Ironically, this will happen as our real world degrades due to the transfer of wealth from the American middle and lower classes into Third World economies. The ghettos of America are now expanding incrementally as the middle class shrinks. But, just like people in the ghetto often manage to acquire expensive running shoes, high-end cell phones, and giant flat screen televisions, the population of this newly expanding ghetto will be able to purchase devices manufactured by companies like Oculus Rift, which will allow them to escape their unpleasant reality and enter simulated worlds.
As the wealth of the global middle class is redistributed and their standard of living is artificially lowered they will be able to enter artificial worlds of interactive simulated reality where they can have self-designed artificial personalities and bodies. People will be able to enter battlefields in simulated war games, play sports, or enjoy entertainment, nature, and travel to other planets and participation in simulated worlds of sexuality. The name of the game will be to escape reality. In this ever-expanding global ghetto, people will live in tiny apartments, rundown houses, or eco-friendly centrally-planned housing projects where they can stay high on legal and illegal drugs designed to enhance their experience in the simulated worlds.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Camaraderie Between the Justice Dept. And Bilderberg 2002 & 2011
Only a handful are aware of the partnership between the Bilderbergs founded in 1954, and the U.S. Justice Department, a camaraderie and partnership we will explore in the this column. Anyone who has done enough research about ‘secret’ societies cannot come to any other conclusion that their ultimate goal has always been to destroy our republic and drag America into their utopian nightmare of a one world government.
In The Ties between the Katzenbach Memo, Warren and 9/11 Commissions we looked at then deputy attorney general Nicholas Katzenbach’s memo to Lyndon Johnson’s right hand Bill Moyers, where the deputy attorney general recommend: put J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI in charge of covering up President John F. Kennedy’s public execution.
The Katzenbach Memo proves the collusion between the justice department and the behind the scenes power structure running America, the Ivy Leagues secret societies like Yale’s Skull & Bones and Book & Snake, along with the Bilderberg Group, the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission etc.
After Bill Moyers left the White House in 1967, (his last role as Johnson’s press secretary), he became a fixture on television networks including CBS, NBC and PBS where he was positioned to shape public opinion. Moyers sat on the CFR’s board from 67-74. He began attending secretive Bilderberg conclaves in 1967 and later sat on their steering committee with Skull & Bones member Henry John Heinz, one of the founding Bilderbergs in 1954 with David Rockefeller Sr., the CFR’s chairman from 1970-85.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Clintons and Their Banker Friends
The Clinton era epitomized the vast difference between appearance and reality, spin and actuality. As the decade drew to a close, Clinton basked in the glow of a lofty stock market, a budget surplus, and the passage of this key banking “modernization.” It would be revealed in the 2000s that many corporate profits of the 1990s were based on inflated evaluations, manipulation, and fraud. When Clinton left office, the gap between rich and poor was greater than it had been in 1992, and yet the Democrats heralded him as some sort of prosperity hero.
When he resigned in 1997, Robert Reich, Clinton’s labor secretary, said, “America is prospering, but the prosperity is not being widely shared, certainly not as widely shared as it once was… We have made progress in growing the economy. But growing together again must be our central goal in the future.” Instead, the growth of wealth inequality in the United States accelerated, as the men yielding the most financial power wielded it with increasingly less culpability or restriction. By 2015, that wealth or prosperity gap would stand near historic highs.
The power of the bankers increased dramatically in the wake of the repeal of Glass-Steagall. The Clinton administration had rendered twenty-first-century banking practices similar to those of the pre-1929 crash. But worse. “Modernizing” meant utilizing government-backed depositors’ funds as collateral for the creation and distribution of all types of complex securities and derivatives whose proliferation would be increasingly quick and dangerous.
Eviscerating Glass-Steagall allowed big banks to compete against Europe and also enabled them to go on a rampage: more acquisitions, greater speculation, and more risky products. The big banks used their bloated balance sheets to engage in more complex activity, while counting on customer deposits and loans as capital chips on the global betting table. Bankers used hefty trading profits and wealth to increase lobbying funds and campaign donations, creating an endless circle of influence and mutual reinforcement of boundary-less speculation, endorsed by the White House.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Waco Biker Shoot-Out: 170 Face Charges in Texas
Texas police say 170 people are to face organised crime charges after a bike-gang shooting that left nine people dead and 18 others injured.
The feud broke out between several gangs at a shopping district in Waco.
What started as a fist fight soon descended into a battle with knives, clubs, chains and eventually guns.
One witness described the scene as “a war zone”, while a Waco policeman called it the most gruesome scene he had encountered in his career.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Belgium: “30,000 Brussels Residents Leave the Capital Every Year”
Some 30,000 local Brussels residents are turning their back on the Brussels Region every year. Most of these people are middle-class families with a yearly income of between 20,000 and 50,000 euros before tax. Their decision is bad news for the city coffers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Belgium: Seven Women Convicted on Terrorism Charges
A court in Antwerp has convicted seven Muslim women for participating in the activities of a terrorist group. Four of those convicted are currently in Syria where they have joined the terrorist group IS. They have been sentenced to five years in gaol and a 15,000 euro fine. A warrant has been issued for their immediate arrest.
The four women left for Syria in March 2014. They used the social media site Facebook to spread their extreme Islamist views.
In letters they wrote just before leaving to join IS, the women spoke of their loathing for Western democracy and that they wanted to die as martyrs.
They have since all married jihadi and have possible also joined one of IS’s women’s battalions.
The three other women convicted are all still in Belgium. They have been give prison sentences of up to 30 months, part or all of which suspended. They have also been given suspended fines.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Britain Leaving EU Won’t ‘Make a Bit of Difference’ Says Jcb’s Graeme Macdonald
The boss of digger giant JCB says leaving the EU won’t ‘make a blind bit of difference’ to trade with Europe, it was reported last night.
Chief executive Graeme Macdonald said cutting ties with Brussels would be better for Britain if Prime Minister David Cameron fails to renegotiate membership.
Mr Macdonald said that while Europe was an ‘important market’ for JCB, the public were victims of ‘scaremongering’.
‘I really don’t think it would make a blind bit of difference to trade with Europe,’ he told The Guardian.
‘There has been far too much scaremongering about things like jobs. I don’t think we or Brussels will put up trade barriers’.
Because the UK is so important as an export market, EU countries would not back out on trade deals, he added.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
British Manufacturing Giant Breaks Ranks on ‘Brexit’
(LONDON) — A top British manufacturing firm has broken ranks with much of the business community by saying Monday that leaving the European Union would make no difference to Britain’s ability to trade.
Graeme Macdonald, CEO of construction equipment maker JCB told The Guardian: “There has been far too much scaremongering about things like jobs. I don’t think we or Brussels will put up trade barriers.”
He added: “I really don’t think it would make a blind bit of difference to trade with Europe.”
The company’s chairman, Anthony Bamford, told the BBC that Britain “could negotiate as our own country rather than being one of 28 nations in Brussels.”
“We could exist on our own, peacefully and sensibly,” said Bamford, a major donor to Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservatives and a member of the House of Lords.
Cameron has promised to hold a referendum on Britain’s EU membership by 2017 and has said he will advocate Britain staying in, provided he can agree reforms that he has yet to spell out in full.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Danes Like Norwegians the Most … French the Least
Yesterday, Norwegians around the world celebrated their May 17 constitution day, which marks their split from Denmark in 1814. But while the Danes affectionately refer to their northern brothers as ‘fjeld aber’ (‘mountain monkeys’), the Norwegians need not fret, for the Danes love them the most.
A new Gov survey for Metroxpress newspaper showed that Danes like the Norwegians more than any other nationality. Some 19 percent said they liked their Norwegian brethren the most, followed by the Germans (13 percent), the Swedes (11 percent), the English (8 percent), the Americans (7 percent), and finally the Faroese and Dutch (both 2 percent).
The Norwegians are like us in many ways,” Thorsten Olesen, a historian at Aarhus University, told Metroxpress. “Their culture resembles our own and they are easy to get close to.”
At the opposite end of the spectrum, it is the French who are the least liked.
An interesting detail of the survey, however, revealed that it was mostly the Danish men who liked the French the least. The women were considerably more positive.
“It’s becoming a little unscientific now, but women probably have a thing for south European men. If you had included Italy in the survey, it probably would have been positive,” Olesen said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Danish Jihadists Cashed in on Welfare Benefits
Thirty-two Danes have collected nearly 400,000 kroner worth of unemployment benefits while fighting in Syria, it was revealed on Monday.
According to an Employment Ministry document obtained by Radio24syv, the Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) told the Danish Agency for Labour Market and Recruitment (STAR) that there have been 32 instances of Danes receiving unemployment benefits from the state while waging jihad in Syria.
The payments to the 32 individuals amount to a total of 378,000 kroner ($58,000 or 51,000 euros).
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark Best Place for Cyclists
Denmark tops the country list in Europe for the best place for cyclists, reports AFP. The Netherlands is second followed by Sweden and Finland, according to a report published Monday by the European Cyclists’ Federation. The rankings are based on the number of regular bikers, safety and cycling market size.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
French Mayor Suspended After Calling for Islam to be Banned
A French mayor has been suspended from his party after calling for the country to ban Islam.
Robert Chardon, the UMP mayor of Venelles in southern France, tweeted: “The Muslim religion must be banned in France” and added that anyone practising the religion must be “immediately escorted to the border”.
He also claimed Islam will be banned in France by 2027.
The tweet was part of a discussion former president Nicolas Sarkozy began with the public, using the hashtag #NSDirect.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary Commemorating Victims of Soviet Labor Camps
700,000 deported, 300,000 never came back
(ANSA/AP) — BUDAPEST — Hungary this year is commemorating the estimated 700,000 civilians and soldiers taken away 70 years ago to the Gulag, the forced-labor camps of the Soviet Union. Maria Schmidt, a historian and director of the House of Terror Museum, says about 300,000 of the deported never returned and the topic was taboo during the communist era which ended in 1990. Schmidt says the Gulag memorial year called attention to “the fact that the suffering of the Hungarian people did not end with the end of World War II.” Karoly Miklosi, an 88-year-old Gulag survivor who sells his autobiography out of a briefcase at a Budapest train station, says he wrote the book for his family but thousands of teachers have bought it to use in schools.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: PD Rebel Fassina Says New Political Party May be Born
Schools reforms could prompt dissenter’s final break
(ANSA) — Rome, May 14 — Democratic Party (PD) rebel Stefano Fassina said Thursday that “a new entity could be born” because he says the current PD is not adequate.
During a television interview, Fassina said that “many social sectors” are no longer properly represented by the existing party.
He also suggested his final break with the PD was coming over Premier Matteo Renzi’s controversial school reform plan.
Fassina said the PD was headed for a “decisive” reform of Italian schools and “without radical fixes, my path with the PD ends”.
Fassina had said the government’s Jobs Act labour reform and its ‘Good School’ bill are “tracing a direction that is unsustainable for me”.
He quit as junior economy minister in January 2014 after Renzi quipped that he did not know who he was.
Fassina said at the time that he resigned because a cabinet reshuffle was needed to reflect the new situation after Renzi won a party primary in December.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: 10 Arrested on Suspicion of Defrauding German Taxman
Suspects almost all Sicilian emigrants living in Germany
(ANSA) — Caltanissetta, May 12 — Ten people were arrested on Tuesday as part of an international anti-crime operation across Italy, Germany and the Netherlands.
The suspects, almost all Sicilian emigrants resident in Germany, are accused of defrauding the German tax authorities of 17 million euros and laundering the money in Italy. They include Rocco Morgana, 24, and Salvatore Benintende, 68, who investigators consider to be the masterminds of the organisation. They were arrested on charges of tax fraud, issuing false invoices and exploiting illegal labour in league with their eight presumed accomplices. Police also carried out searches and seized assets worth over 1.5 million euros as part of the operation, which grew out of a probe dating to 2006.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Chinese Comms Manager at Expo Arrested for Biting Police
Woman released from jail after document check gone awry
(ANSA) — Milan, May 13 — The Chinese communications manager of a Milan Expo pavilion was released from jail Wednesday after her arrest for biting the hand of an Italian finance police officer during a document check.
The lawyer for the woman, Benedetto Maria Bonomo, asked the judge to delay the case until July 1 so the defense has time to prepare.
A second Chinese national involved in the incident was also questioned for initially refusing to exhibit his documents, but he was not arrested. The episode took place when the Italian finance police attempted to conduct a document check Tuesday evening at the apartments of the Expo Asian delegations, because they feared someone was attempting to bypass them. Communication difficulties aggravated a heated discussion that broke out between the finance police and the Chinese, triggering the biting incident.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Renzi Promises A3 Highway to be Completed Next Year
Salerno-Reggio motorway under construction for 25 years
(ANSA) — Rome, May 18 — A controversial stretch of southern Italian highway under construction for roughly 25 years, to the tune of some nine billion euros amid delays and mafia infiltration, will be completed next year, says Premier Matteo Renzi.
The 440-kilometre stretch of the A3 highway, first targeted for modernization in 1990 by the European Union, will be finalized in 2016, Renzi pledged in an interview on RAI television on Sunday.
About 100 kilometres are still under construction on the project but Renzi said that a new board at highway manager ANAS will “accelerate (construction) and by next year, we will conclude the work,” Renzi said.
“The telenovella of the Salerno-Reggio Calabria is about to end,” said the premier. The highway linking Italy’s southern region with the rest of the peninsula, was originally built in 1972 and less than 20 years later, was flagged for modernization work that was supposed to be finished by 2003.
Countless traffic tie-ups and accidents have been blamed on the old design.
The outgoing president of ANAS, Pietro Ciucci, defended work on the project, saying that at a cost of about 20 million to 21 million euros per kilometer, the expense was not excessive.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: The US Wants to Carry Out Passport Checks at Schiphol
The United States has asked the Netherlands for permission to set up border controls on Dutch territory to speed up immigration procedures in the US itself, justice minister Ard van der Steur has told parliament. The US currently has pre-clearance facilities in 15 different countries including Canada, Ireland and the UAE and wants to expand this into other European airports, Van der Steur said. Pre-clearance will allow people travelling to the US to enter without going through passport checks and to transfer to internal flights more easily.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Tells Italian Bishops to Speak Out on Corruption
Francis calls for ‘bishop pastors’ not ‘bishop pilots’
(ANSA) — Vatican City, May 18 — Pope Francis on Monday told an assembly of the Italian Bishops Conference (CEI) to speak out against “a widespread mentality of public and private corruption” which Francis said “has impoverished the people, especially the youth and the most vulnerable”.
He also told the CEI that lay Christians in their communities do not need a “bishop-pilot” who directs all of their actions.
Instead, said the pope, they need a “bishop-pastor” who can help guide their spiritual lives. In their work, he added, they should also avoid discussing rumours, personalities, opinions that he warned could “weaken the collegiality” of their organization in dealing with lay people as well as each other.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Prince Charles to Meet Sinn Fein Leader Gerry Adams
Prince Charles is to meet Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams at the start of a royal visit to Ireland on Tuesday.
Mr Adams will be among a number of politicians to greet the prince as he begins his four-day visit.
The meeting in Galway will be the first in the Republic of Ireland between the Sinn Féin leadership and a member of the British Royal Family.
Party chairman Declan Kearney said it was to promote “reconciliation and healing”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Bitcoin Launched on Stockholm Exchange
The world’s first Bitcoin-based security on a regulated exchange has been launched in Sweden. The digital currency began trading on the Stockholm market on Monday.
Finansinspektionen, Sweden’s financial watchdog, authorized Stockholm-based Bitcoin tracker XBT Provider last month to launch the digital currency on the Nasdaq Stockholm exchange.
Bitcoin is a digital currency and peer-to-peer payment system introduced as open source software in 2009 by developer Satoshi Nakamoto.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Nurse Victorina Chua Guilty of Murdering and Poisoning Patients at Stepping Hill Hospital
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
How did Filipino serial killer get a job in the NHS? Fears ‘devil’ nurse who murdered two patients and poisoned 20 more faked his qualifications to work in a UK hospital
Victorino Chua, 49, injected deadly levels of insulin into saline bags and ampoules while working on two wards at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport.
A nurse who murdered two patients and poisoned 20 others may have been working in an NHS hospital without the proper qualifications, it was revealed today.
Serial killer Victorino Chua, 49, secretly injected deadly levels of insulin into saline bags and ampoules while working on two wards at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport.
Chua, who called himself an ‘angel turned evil’’, has been convicted of murdering Tracey Arden, 44, and Derek Weaver, 83, but cleared of killing Arnold Lancaster, 71.
Police fear he is not fully qualified nurse after they discovered three different versions of his medical school record in the Philippines and believe he got someone else to sit his final exam.
Despite questions over their vetting and calls for a public inquiry the hospital and the Nursing and Midwifery Council say he passed the requirements when he arrived to work in Britain in 2002.
The Filipino father-of-two, described as a ‘narcissistic psychotic’ who enjoyed watching his victims suffer, tampered with medicine and gave it to patients himself or put them back so his colleagues would unwittingly use them.
After a number of poisonings police were called in so he started to tamper with prescription charts instead — doubling or trebling dosages to unsafe levels or removing drugs they needed to take…
Ann Barnes, chief executive of Stockport NHS Foundation Trust, said: ‘Remember, some of the victims of this are actually our staff and some of our staff have gone through a really difficult time and were put under a degree of scrutiny as a result of us not knowing in the early days, not knowing what was happening.
‘It’s been a huge strain on the organisation and on the staff and they have been exemplar.’
Mrs Barnes also apologised to the families of victims.
She added: ‘All I can say is sorry: sorry for them being put through this unbelievable experience where their loved ones or themselves — many patients are still with us — have gone through what we now know are heinous crimes.
‘The sorry is not that I think there is anything we could have done about it, but it is sorrow for their position.‘
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
Caylen Candy (left) and Chyanne Powell (right) carried out ‘acts of degradation and violence’ on their victim and warned they would kill her if she told anyone, St Albans Crown Court heard.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
Two young children had their necks sliced open with a steak knife after being attacked as they slept by a woman who was staying as a house guest, a court has heard.
Sadie Jenkins, 28, allegedly went into the bedroom of a 16-month-old girl and seven-year-old boy and began sawing at their throats.
She is said to have later told doctors ‘voices told me to do it’ and claims to have been ‘legally insane’ at the time because of drug use.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Anti-Government Protesters Take to Streets of Skopje
Tens of thousands gathered in Skopje to call for the resignation of Macedonia’s Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. But he promised only larger demonstrations of his government. Boris Georgievski reports from Skopje.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU and Mediterranean Partners Step Up Energy Relations
European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Cañete and Moroccan Energy Minister Abdelkader Amara today unveiled three new Euro-Mediterranean platforms on gas, the regional electricity market, and renewables and energy efficiency.
On gas, the platform will discuss how to develop production in North Africa and eastern Mediterranean countries for domestic markets and for export to the EU. It will also debate regulatory, financing and infrastructure issues.
The regional electricity market platform will centre on gradually removing technical, regulatory, and infrastructure barriers to free trade of electricity across borders.
On renewable energy and energy efficiency, the platform will analyse regulatory frameworks and markets to encourage investments. It will exchange best practices in areas including measuring energy efficiency, national energy efficiency plans, energy codes for buildings and minimum energy performance standards for appliances.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU and Algeria Launch Dialogue on Energy
The EU and Algeria have launched a political dialogue on energy. Meeting in Algiers yesterday, Miguel Arias Cañete, European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, and Yousef Yousfi, Minister for Energy and Mines of Algeria, agreed to cooperate on natural gas, renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy market integration and infrastructure development.
Two groups of experts — one on natural gas and the other on electricity, renewables and energy efficiency — will be created. In addition, a business forum will be set-up with the first meeting scheduled for 2016 in Algiers.
Algeria is third biggest supplier of gas to the EU, and the EU is the biggest importer of Algerian gas. However, due to a lack of new investment, gas production in the country is declining and large reserves of gas remain unexploited. Enhanced links on energy could boost investments in Algerian gas while improving Europe’s energy security.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Egyptian Cleric: ISIS is Better Than the Shiites
In video addresses posted on an Internet channel on April 29 and 30, 2015, Egyptian cleric Sheik Dr. Ahmad Al-Naqib criticized ISIS, but said: “there is no doubt that they are much better than the criminal Rafidites (i.e., Shiites), who kill the Sunnis because of their Sunni identity.” AL-Naqib is a lecturer on education at Mansoura University.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ICSR Insight: Between the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda in Tunisia
By Aaron Y. Zelin, ICSR Rena and Sami David Fellow
Over the past month, there are increasing signs that The Islamic State (IS) intends to build a base and set up a new wilayah (province) in Tunisia in the near future named Wilayat Ifriqiya, a medieval name for the region of Tunisia (as well as northwest Libya and northeast Algeria). This would challenge al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghrib’s (AQIM) Tunisian branch Katibat ‘Uqba ibn Nafi’s (KUIN) monopoly on insurgency and terrorism since their campaign in Jebel Chambi began in December 2012, opening another front in the broader AQ-IS war. As a consequence, outbidding between these two adversaries could lead to an escalation in violence, with Bardo National Museum style attacks becoming more common.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia Says 172 Nationals Held by Libya Militia
Tunisia said Monday that it was negotiating for the release of 172 nationals being held by a Libyan militia as bargaining chips for one of its commanders detained in Tunis.
The foreign ministry’s Arab and African affairs chief Touhami Abdouli said the Tunisians had been detained in western Libya by a militia that is part of the Libya Dawn alliance which controls the capital Tripoli and third city Misrata.
Libya has been wracked by conflict since the 2011 overthrow of veteran dictator Moamer Kadhafi in a NATO-backed uprising, with rival governments and powerful militias battling for power.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UN Chief Raises ‘Serious Concern’ At Death Sentence for Ousted Egyptian President Morsi
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is raising “serious concern” at the death sentences against ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and 105 others.
U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said Monday that Ban reaffirmed the United Nations’ position against the death penalty.
An Egyptian court sentenced Morsi, who led the now outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, and the others to death Saturday over a mass prison break during the 2011 uprising that ousted longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
by Jonathan Spyer
Iran has witnessed the largest Kurdish anti-regime demonstrations in years.
The events this week in the Mahabad area of Iran’s Western Azerbaijan province cast light on the difficult situation faced by one of the region’s least-noticed minorities — the Kurds of Iran.
The apparent attempt by an intelligence officer in Mahabad to rape an Iranian-Kurdish hotel worker, 25-year-old Farinaz Khosrawani, and the latter’s subsequent suicide by jumping from a fourth-floor window, led to furious protests by Kurds in both Mahabad and beyond. The hotel was burned by protesters; authorities responded heavy-handedly, using rubber bullets and tear gas.
There is currently a media and social media blackout from the area, but word-of-mouth reports suggest the situation remains tense.
Soran Khedri, a former official of the Iranian-Kurdish Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) organization, told the Jerusalem Post that at least one demonstrator has died, and that in the last 48 hours, PJAK guerrillas had attacked an Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps checkpoint in the area, killing two IRGC personnel.
The Kurds of Iraq and Syria have become highly significant and visible players on the regional stage over the last decade. Turkey’s Kurds, of course, have long been noted internationally — because of the insurgency of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) against a succession of governments in Ankara…
| — Hat tip: K | [Return to headlines] |
IS-Held Ramadi: Shia Militias Gather Near Iraqi City
A day after Islamic State (IS) militants completed their capture of Ramadi, Shia militias are assembling east of the Iraqi city ready for a possible counter-attack.
Iraqi state TV described columns of tanks and other military vehicles entering al-Habbaniyah military camp.
The Iraqi government called for help from the Iran-backed militias after the military was routed on Sunday.
About 500 people died in the city — only 70 miles (112km) west of Baghdad.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanese Political Debate on the War in Syria Deteriorates Into Exchange of Insults
Guests on a Lebanese TV show recently hurled insults at one another during a political debate on Hizbullah’s involvement in the war in Syria. Things got heated when Tareq Chindeb, a professor of international law, criticized Hizbullah, and former Lebanese MP Nasser Kandil responded by telling the host to “kick him out of the studio.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Locals Attack Syrian Refugees in Turkey’s Southeast, Wound 3
A group of locals in Turkey’s southeastern province of Sanliurfa have attacked Syrian refugees in their neighborhood on Sunday, injuring three of them; 10 assailants were consequently detained by the police.
According to Cihan news agency, the suspects organized the attack via social media several days before the incident under the cover of a call for a rally titled “We don’t want Syrians.” The planned rally could not be held after Sanliurfa Governor Izzettin Küçük issued a statement last week banning such an event.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Military Intel Predicted Rise of ISIS in 2012, Detailed Arms Shipments From Benghazi to Syria
Seventeen months before President Obama dismissed the Islamic State as a “JV team,” a Defense Intelligence Agency report predicted the rise of the terror group and likely establishment of a caliphate if its momentum was not reversed.
While the report was circulated to the CIA, State Department and senior military leaders, among others, it’s not known whether Obama was ever briefed on the document.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi-Led Coalition Airstrikes Resume in Yemen After Five-Day Ceasefire
Following a five-day humanitarian armistice, Saudi-led coalition airstrikes against Shiite rebels have resumed in Yemen’s port city of Aden. United Nations envoys have called for an extension to the ceasefire.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia ‘Could Buy Pakistani Nuclear Weapon’
Saudi Arabia intends to buy an “off the shelf” nuclear weapon from Pakistan, according to US officials quoted in The Sunday Times.
The report comes amid ongoing negotiations between Iran and other world powers over its nuclear programme, and a potential thawing of relations between the US and Iran.
Saudi Arabia is wary of a potential deal on Iran’s nuclear programme and Prince Turki bin Faisal, the former Saudi intelligence chief, has warned that it could pave the way for nuclear proliferation in the region.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The War Against ISIS in Iraq Just Took a Dark Turn
The Islamic State terror group just claimed a big victory in Iraq with the seizing of the provincial capital of Iraq’s largest region.
And Baghdad’s actions before and after the setback are raising red flags about the strategy to fight ISIS.
Reuters described the loss of Ramadi, which lies about 80 miles from Baghdad, as the “biggest defeat for the Baghdad government since last summer,” when the Islamic State [also known as ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh] seized Mosul and declared its “caliphate.”
Significantly, the loss might have been preventable had Baghdad been willing to empower the area’s Sunnis.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why Does Baghdad Let ISIS Keep Winning?
Ramadi may have fallen to ISIS on Sunday, but the city has been under attack for over a year. Sectarian politics kept the government from defending it—and could empower ISIS further.
The road to Baghdad runs through Ramadi. So why hasn’t the Iraqi government done more to reinforce the city, which been under siege from ISIS forces since early 2014, even before the fall of Mosul?
The answer is politics: Ramadi is predominantly Sunni, and powerful elements of Baghdad’s Shia ruling class fear empowering Iraq’s Sunnis more than they fear allowing ISIS to continue attacking and bleeding the country’s Sunni regions.
“Ramadi is very close to Baghdad,” said Gen. Najim Abed al-Jabouri was recently appointed Nineveh operations commander for the Iraqi army. “If the terrorists control Ramadi, Baghdad is under a bigger threat.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Why Saudi Arabia Has Lost Faith in the US
One key sentence in President Barack Obama’s press conference at Camp David last week clearly illustrates the gulf between Washington and its allies on the Arabian Peninsula when it comes to Iran.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Crimean Police Detain Demonstrators Commemorating the Deportation of Tatars Under Stalin
Police in the capital of Russia-annexed Crimea have detained demonstrators trying to take part in an unauthorized motorcade to observe the anniversary of the mass deportation of Crimean Tatars.
Tatars, a Turkic ethnic group, ruled the Black Sea peninsula from the 15th century until Russian conquest in the 18th century. In May 1944, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin accused the Tatars of collaborating with German forces and ordered their deportation, many to Central Asia.
Tatars commemorate the deportation on May 18. This year’s events in Simferopol were much smaller than those before Russia’s March 2014 annexation of Crimea, which most Tatars opposed.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Gave Up on Ukraine, Press Simply Ignored it
Obama’s message in this, through Kerry, to Ukraine’s President Poroshenko, and indirectly also to Ukraine’s Prime Minister Yatsenyuk (the leader whom Nuland herself had selected), is: we’ll back you only as long as you accept that you have failed our military expectations and that we will be stricter with you in the future regarding how you spend our military money. We’re getting in line now behind the Hollande-Merkel peace plan for Ukraine.
Dmitriy Yarosh, and the other outright nazis who had been threatening to overthrow Poroshenko if he doesn’t renew the war against Donbass and seize Crimea; Dmitriy Yarosh, who was the man who had led the Ukrainian coup for the U.S., and whose thugs had dressed as Yanukovych’s security forces when gunning down both police and demonstrators in the February 2014 coup, in order for Yanukovych to become blamed for the bloodshed on that occasion; is now, in effect, being told: if you will try another coup, this time to overthrow our own stooges in Ukraine, then you’re finished, Mr. Yarosh. Don’t do it.
Merkel and Hollande thus won. Putin had decidedly won. Obama and the nazis he had empowered in Ukraine have now, clearly, been defeated. But the mess that Obama’s people have created in Ukraine by their coup and subsequent ethnic-cleansing to eliminate the residents of Donbass, will take decades, if ever, to repair.
Western ‘news’ media can cover it all up, but they can’t change this reality, which, increasingly as time goes by, will expose the press’s failure to have even reported on this historically important U.S. coup in Ukraine and its ultimate failure.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine to Prosecute Captured ‘Russian Soldiers’
Ukraine says it will prosecute two men it claims are elite Russian soldiers captured fighting in eastern Ukraine. The two wounded men were seized in the town of Shchastya, almost 30km (19 miles) from the Russian border.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
What if Putin is Telling the Truth?
On April 26 Russia’s main national TV station, Rossiya 1, featured President Vladimir Putin in a documentary to the Russian people on the events of the recent period including the annexation of Crimea, the US coup d’etat in Ukraine, and the general state of relations with the United States and the EU. His words were frank. And in the middle of his remarks the Russian former KGB chief dropped a political bombshell that was known by Russian intelligence two decades ago.
Putin stated bluntly that in his view the West would only be content in having a Russia weak, suffering and begging from the West, something clearly the Russian character is not disposed to. Then a short way into his remarks, the Russian President stated for the first time publicly something that Russian intelligence has known for almost two decades but kept silent until now, most probably in hopes of an era of better normalized Russia-US relations.
Putin stated that the terror in Chechnya and in the Russian Caucasus in the early 1990’s was actively backed by the CIA and western Intelligence services to deliberately weaken Russia. He noted that the Russian FSB foreign intelligence had documentation of the US covert role without giving details.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
India: Chhattisgarh: Government Official Forbids Missionaries to be Called “Father”
In schools administered by them, the priests of the district of Mahasamund will be called “Pracharya”, “Sir”. Bishop of Ranchi to AsiaNews: “Unconstitutional abuse of power “.
Mumbai (AsiaNews) — An “unconstitutional abuse of power that, and once again evidence of how a small harmless community that is contributing so much to nation building is being harassed and taunted”, says Mgr. Theodore Mascarenhas, auxiliary bishop of Ranchi, commenting on a provision taken in recent days by an official of the district of Mahasamund in Chhattisgarh. The authorities have issued a circular banning Christian missionaries in the area from being addressed as “father” by their students. Instead they must now be addressed as “pracharya” which means “Sir”.
For months now Christian missionaries are being targeted by Hindu radicals in the Indian state, especially by militants of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). In Bastar district they began by banning Christian activities in some villages and setting out to “convince” Catholic missionaries to be called “pracharya” in their own schools.
However, the circular issued on May 11 by the official school district Mahasamund is even more serious, because it has legal value. The previous move by the VHP against the Catholic priests of Bastar wasan informal agreement, which the priests gave their assent to in order to avoid worsening an already tense situation.
The measure has drawn criticism not only from the Christian community, but also members of the opposition. Bhupesh Bhagel, head of the Congress in Chhattisgarh, has described the gesture as “a clear attempt to radicalize Chhattisgarh”. SN Trivedi, party spokesman, said: “It is really regrettable that once again the government of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has given in to the unconstitutional demands of the VHP “.
The ultra-nationalist Hindu party is at the helm of the central government of India and of many states of the country, including Chhattisgarh. According to many analysts, since the election of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister attacks on ethnic-religious minorities increased.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Migrant Laden Boats Pushed Back to Sea. Malaysian Activist: ASEAN Must Solve the Boat People Crisis
Situation is critical in Aceh with continuous attempted landings. The UN and Thailand schedule regional summit on May 29. Malaysian Catholic: the emergency caused by the Myanmar for failing to grant citizenship to the Rohingya refugees. ASEAN must adopt a reception policy.
Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews) — The migrants emergency continues in the seas of Southeast Asia continues with thousands of people fleeing persecution and abuse adrift at sea, aboard makeshift boats or searching for a coast to land on. Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur, the two nations involved, have so far received only survivors of sunken ships, while others were ferried off their coast, outside their territorial waters.
Right now, the situation is most critical in Langsa, in the Indonesian province of Aceh, where they at least 1,500 boat people landed just hours ago. The mayor of the city is appealing for help “immediately” from the central government and “any other institution” of good will. Throughout the region, Southeast Asian governments seem unwilling to tackle the tragedy and ensure the desperate people — a large majority Rohingya from Myanmar, joined by migrant workers from Bangladesh — a safe haven.
The eyes of the region are focused on the government of Naypyidaw, accused of having given rise to the emergency with repeated attacks and violence against the Rohingya, a Muslim minority persecuted in Myanmar. The Burmese government denies the charges and says it has no responsibility in the affair. A crossfire of accusations and retaliation, which adds further drama to a situation on the verge of collapse.
In recent weeks thousands of “boat people” from Myanmar and Bangladesh managed to swim to shore, or were rescued or intercepted off the Indonesian and Malaysian coast. The crisis which has deepened with the crackdown imposed by Thailand — the real hub for human trafficking — after the discovery of a mass grave near the border with Malaysia in which dozens of Rohingya corpses were buried.
Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, has expressed full support for the government of Thailand, which has proposed a regional summit in Bangkok on 29 May. During a telephone conversation with Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-chan, the head of UN spoke of the need for “significant” measures to deal with the migrant emergency and create an international coalition that will have the task of solving the problem. Leaders of 15 countries have been invited to the summit, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Australia and the United States.
Anil Netto, a columnist with the Malaysia Herald, expert in human rights issues and the problems of injustice in socio-economic development, says that the problem of trafficking in human lives “has been ignored in the region for too long”. And the phenomenon has been “widespread” and “now the issue has exploded” in all its tragedy. He told AsiaNews: “The plight of the boat people has reached alert levels in other parts of the world”, just think of how many “are fleeing areas of conflict in the Middle East” and head “to Europe” in search of a safe haven.
The activist and scholar says that the Malaysian government in Kuala Lumpur, according to “principles of humanity”, should allow Rohingya boat people “to find a safe haven” in the country, pending “a shared and long-term solution”. He calls for a “greater involvement” at the level of ASEAN countries and says it is “shameful” that some of the governments are “washing their hands” of the problem.
He condemns the push back policy adopted by Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur, because “cannot escape responsibility”. The root of the matter, he warns, revolves around Myanmar’s full membership of ASEAN and “the legitimacy” guaranteed its military leadership, which at home perpetrates violence and abuse.
And the Rohingya, denied the right of citizenship, are one of the worst elements of the dispute. Like many other scholars, Anil Netto states that “the solution to the crisis” is “simple” and is to “guarantee citizenship to Rohingya in Myanmar”, thus ASEAN should “put pressure” on Naypyidaw. “Asean — he concludes — has a role to play in providing a safe haven for boat people, until there is a solution to the crisis once and for all”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Nepal: Quake Survivors Forced to Drink Contaminated Water, “Only the Christians Help Us”
A village has run out of drinking water and the survivors are forced to drink that is mixed with animal carcasses and dead people. Political parties (majority and opposition) only send aid to their supporters. The director of Caritas Nepal explains the relationship between government and associations in an emergency.
Kathmandu (AsiaNews) — In the Nepalese village of Singati (district Dolhaka) the population has no clean water to drink. Krishna Tamang, a survivor of the earthquake, said: “About 50 percent of the houses were left standing after the earthquake of April 25, but the May 12 aftershock destroyed them all. We residents have pulled out at least 150 dead bodies from the rubble. In the village there is the stink of decomposing bodies. We have no clean water and we are forced to drink from sources contaminated with the carcasses of dead animals and people”. In this devastation “just some philanthropic organizations and Christian associations have reached us and brought emergency supplies and food, but until today [yesterday, editor’s note] twe have had no sign of the government”.
Almost a month after the earthquake that devastated Nepal, the situation is still far from back to normal. To date, the death toll is 8,567 dead, more than 18 thousand wounded and dozens of people who have suffered permanent mutilation. As evidenced by analysts and survivors themselves, the Catholic Church, Caritas from around the world and foreign and local Christian associations are the only ones helping those who are still stuck in remote areas and still at risk.
The Catholic churches in the country — including the Cathedral of the Assumption in Lalitpur (Kathmandu), the church of Baniyatar and the Godavari — are in full service. In addition to raising funds for the survivors, they have organized teams of volunteers to provide relief and distribute aid.
Celebrating the Mass yesterday Fr. Bijaya Toppo, a Catholic priest, said: “We all should offer humanitarian aid to the victims of the earthquake, according to our ability. We are Catholics and different to others, because our service is not discriminatory: we witness the presence of Jesus with prayer and work. “
Fr. Ignatius Rai, pastor of the Cathedral of the Assumption in Kathmandu, says: “The Church and Catholic organizations are working in the most affected districts, such as Gorkha, Nuwakot, Dhading, Dolakha, Sindhupalchowk and Okhaldhunga. We do our best, but our resources are limited and our efforts alone are not enough to help the people”.
Professor Kapil Shrestha says: “I have heard many people say that the Christian and international organizations has been swift and honest in distributing aid, as opposed to the government. The government has a lot of relief materials, but most are still stuck in the airport customs or at the border. It is sad to see our leaders argue over where to send aid, while the population struggles to survive. “
In Rome to attend the General Assembly of Caritas Internationalis, Father Pius Perumana, executive director of Caritas Nepal, tries to explain the relationship between government and associations in an emergency to AsiaNews: “For years, Caritas has been collaborating with the government and there has never been any problems. “ “It is not accurate — he said — to say that the government has asked all those who help to leave. Many countries have sent troops and rescue teams even without the approval of the government of Nepal. “
The director of Caritas Nepal explains: “Every time there is a disaster, the Red Cross has command of all operations and we must follow its directives. All institutions of the country, scattered in the different districts, must work together centrally. “ “Often, however — continues Fr. Pius — foreign groups do not understand this complexity, they come with good intentions but do not know the language, the local situation or how the organization works. This creates confusion”.
“10 to 12 days after the earthquake — says the priest — the government had to make a decision, whether to continue the search or start rebuilding. It decided that the research phase for survivors was over and all the foreign teams that had come for that specific purpose had to stop”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistani Christian Erecting 140-Foot Cross in Nation’s Biggest City
A Pakistani businessman who is building a 14-story cross in the heart of Pakistan’s largest city claims he got the idea when God came to him in a dream.
Parvez Henry Gill, part of the small Christian minority in predominantly Muslim nation, is believes his 140-foot-tall cross will be a source of comfort and inspiration for the country’s followers of Christ, who often face persecution and violence.
“I said, ‘I am going to build a big cross, higher than any in the world, in a Muslim country,’“ Gill told the The Washington Post. “It will be a symbol of God, and everybody who sees this will be worry-free.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Deals Worth US$ 22 Billion Do Not End the China-India Rivalry
Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping sign 26 economic agreements during the Indian Prime Minister’s visit to Beijing. Analysts and experts downplay Chinese state media’s positive spin. The Himalayan region, the new Silk Road and the Indian Ocean are still the basis of structural “problems and mistrust between both sides”.
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) — China and India have made peace and relations between the two countries have entered a new era, this according to China’s state-run media, following Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to China where he met Chinese President Xi Jinping and his counterpart, Li Keqiang. However, analysts in both India and China (as well as Taiwan) have injected a note of caution. Despite megadeals, the two countries remain rivals, vying for influence in the region.
During the three-day visit (14-16 May), China and India signed 26 business deals worth more than US$22 billion in areas including renewable energy, ports, financing and industrial parks, an Indian embassy official said today.
As expected, Modi encouraged big Chinese companies to invest in India, particularly in manufacturing and infrastructure. “You are the ‘factory of the world’ whereas we are the ‘back office of the world’,” he said.
At a press conference, the Indian leader said that during his talks with China’s leaders the two nations should take a proactive approach to solving their festering border dispute in the Himalayas. The two countries went to war over the issue in 1962.
Modi appeared aware of the mistrust between the two sides when he told reporters in Beijing on Friday that during his talks with Premier Li Keqiang he had asked China to “reconsider its approach” on some of issues that were hampering ties.
Modi did not clearly identify what sort of approach he meant, but many Chinese analysts have speculated that India was wary of China’s attempts to increase its influence around the Indian Ocean and in Europe through its “New Silk Road” trade initiatives.
India remains suspicious of China because of its strong and long-standing ties with its arch-rival Pakistan, analysts said.
“New Delhi considers it a strategy to ‘encircle’ India or undermine India’s strategic superiority in the subcontinent,” said Chen Mumin, the director of the Centre for Strategic Studies in South Asia and the Middle East at National Chung Hsing University in Taiwan.
Yet, despite Indian misgivings, “China will never give up its interests in strengthening relations with other South Asian countries because China needs access to the Indian Ocean, which is important for maintaining energy security.”
For Chen, Modi’s trip boosted the two leaders’ popularity in China and India with its positive message about future ties between the two countries, but there could be no hiding the two nations’ rivalry in the region. “The problems and mistrust between both sides are structural,” Chen said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Europe: The Other End of China’s Silk Road
All of the attention around Xi Jinping’s recent European trip was focused around his visit to Moscow in time for the May Day military parade.
By focusing so singly on the Moscow stop, however, the importance of the route he took was missed.
Coming soon after the President’s visit to Pakistan in which he laid out the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), this trip affirms one of the key routes of the Silk Road Economic Belt — running through Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus to ultimately end in Europe.
This final link is the key which Europe needs to wake up to, to understand that this Chinese outward push is one that is both a reality and one that can advance European interests.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Millions of spiders rained from the sky in Australia’s Southern Tablelands, literally covering homes with webs as the arachnids invaded. The photo above shows a paddock strewn with webs in Albury, New South Wales.
“The whole place was covered in these little black spiderlings and when I looked up at the sun it was like this tunnel of webs going up for a couple of hundred metres into the sky,” said Goulburn resident Ian Watson.
Apparently, the spiders were migrating by “ballooning,” carried through the sky on parachutes of silk webbing.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
10 Chinese Citizens Charged in Ghana With Firearms Possession, Accused of Illegal Mining
ACCRA, Ghana — Authorities say 10 Chinese citizens suspected of illegal gold mining in Ghana are facing firearms charges in court.
Justice Francis Obiri on Monday granted the defendants $12,000 bail each and adjourned the firearms case until a hearing later this month in Accra, capital of this western African nation. Each of the defendants is accused of illegal firearms possession and they pleaded not guilty to the charges through an interpreter.
Authorities say they were tipped off to reports that the Chinese were illegally mining in the Ashanti region of Ghana. Police say a search of their premises prompted the seizure at least nine firearms along with ammunition.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
British ‘White Widow’ Rises in Al-Shabaab, Reportedly Had Role in 400 Murders
The British woman known as “the white widow” has risen through the ranks of the Somalia-based Islamic terrorist organization Al-Shabaab, and has had a hand in more than 400 murders, according to counter-terrorism officials in the African nation.
Samantha Lewthwaite, a 31-year-old Muslim convert and mother of four whose husband was one of the London 7/7 suicide bombers, has the confidence of Al-Shabaab leader Ahmad Umar and played a key role in last month’s slaughter of 148 people at a university in Kenya, according to Somali security chiefs.
“This lady sits at the right hand of the leader directing attacks,” a Somali security chief told The Mirror.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
White Widow Samantha Lewthwaite has masterminded the murder of 400 people after becoming a key member of terror group Al Shabaab, it was claimed last night.
The British jihadi is thought to have orchestrated a number of attacks including last month’s slaughter of 148 people at a university in northern Kenya.
Lewthwaite, the widow of London 7/7 bomber Jermaine Lindsay, is believed to have risen rapidly through the ranks and is now very close to its leader Ahmad Umar.
The London University graduate is now coordinating car bombs and suicide attacks in Somalia and Kenya as well as trying to recruit children as jihadis, according to an officer in the Somali security forces.
The anti-terror officer told the Daily Mirror last night that mother of four Lewthwaite is ‘an evil person but a very clever operator’ who has been quickly promoted after many of al Shabaab’s leaders have been killed in drone strikes.
The official also said the 31-year-old Briton was offering poverty-stricken families £300 to use their children and women as suicide bombers.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Isabel Allende Becomes Chile Socialist Leader
Daughter of slain president tops popularity ratings
(ANSA) — Santiago, May 18 — Isabel Allende, daughter of former president Salvador Allende, on Monday became the first women leader of the Chilean Socialist party.
The 70-year-old Senator beat party heavyweight Camilo Escalona in a primary to become the first female head in the party’s 82-year history.
The daughter of the president slain in a 1973 military coupe is Chile’s most popular president, polls show.
She is the second cousin of a bestselling writer also called Isabel Allende.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Asia Boat Migrants: UN Despair Over Lack of Rescues
The UN has condemned the refusal of South-East Asian countries to rescue thousands of migrants adrift at sea.
At least 700 Bangladeshis and Rohingya from Myanmar were rescued off Aceh last week by locals, bringing the numbers in camps there to at least 1,500.
UNHCR spokeswoman Vivian Tan said the lack of rescues over the weekend was a “bad sign”.
Aid agencies say a grave humanitarian crisis is in train as countries in the region refuse to accept the migrants.
People on the boats are believed to be severely malnourished. Survivors who have made it to shore say there have been deadly fights on board over food.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Central Europeans Oppose Planned EU Refugee Quotas
Poland on Friday became the latest European Union member to oppose the bloc’s plan for binding quotas on asylum seekers for its 28 member states.
Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz said Friday that while Warsaw opposed the fixed quota proposed by Brussels, it is open to taking in refugees and migrants on a voluntary basis.
“We’re not saying that we won’t welcome migrants, we’re saying that we want to make a credible offer and so like other European colleagues, I’m in favour voluntary decisions on this issue,” Kopacz said in Warsaw.
The Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia Lithuania and Slovakia also oppose the controversial fixed quotas proposed by the EU on Wednesday but all say they are open to taking in refugees on a voluntary basis.
The binding quotas proposed by Brussels would require member states to admit refugees as requested by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
The EU move comes amid an unprecedented wave of migrants fleeing conflict and poverty in North Africa and the Middle East.
As the largest country in the EU’s eastern region, Poland would be asked to receive 5.64 percent of all migrants entering the EU, while tiny Estonia would be asked to take in 1.76 percent.
By comparison EU heavyweight Germany would be obliged to take in 18.42 percent of refugees and migrants rescued while trying to cross the Mediterranean arriving in the EU.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU Asks Ankara to Strengthen Its Co-Operation
Concern for growing flow of migrants by sea
The EU is pressing on Ankara to “develop” the dialogue opened with Greek and Italian authorities and “fully co-operate at every level” in order to prevent the flow of illegal migrants by sea. The message was delivered during the 53rd meeting of the EU-Turkey association council in Brussels, on the sidelines of the foreign and defense council of the 28 EU members.
The EU “reaffirmed its commitment to reinforce co-operation with Turkey to prevent the flow of illegal migrants by sea” the document reads, adding that “the EU has expressed concern for the significant growth” of encroachments by sea “from EU neighbours”.
Brussels recognised that Turkey’s border-co-operation with Greece and Bulgaria has improved and expressed “appreciation” for the dialogue that has developed between Turkish authorities and Greek and Italian ones to confront illegal immigration by sea.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU to Back Unprecedented Naval Force to Fight People Smugglers
(BRUSSELS) — European Union ministers are set to approve plans Monday for an unprecedented naval force to fight people smugglers in the Mediterranean after a series of shipwrecks killed hundreds of migrants.
The ambitious operation starting in June will involve the deployment of warships and surveillance aircraft off the coast of Libya, the epicentre of the humanitarian disaster unfolding on Europe’s southern shores.
The EU plan also includes the possible destruction of smugglers’ boats before they reach European shores, although that requires a United Nations Security Council resolution backing military action.
Federica Mogherini, the EU diplomatic chief, said approval from the European foreign and defence ministers at a “very intense” meeting in Brussels on Monday would help push the UN into action.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU to Launch Unprecedented Military Mission in the Mediterranean
Thousands have died in the past 18 months trying to seek refuge on European shores by way of the treacherous Med crossing. The EU is set to approve plans for a sweeping naval mission to stop the human trafficking.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU to Increase Aid to African States to Curb Migrant Arrivals
The EU is set to boost aid to African states to help curb the number of irregular migrants arriving in Europe, reports The Telegraph. An EU commission spokesperson said the EU is “stepping up cooperation with the home countries and linking development aid with cooperation on taking their nationals back.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU to Open Migrant Centres in Niger
The EU is set to open several centres in Niger to help curb the flow of irregular migrants heading towards Europe, reports AFP. Citing an unnamed source close to the French interior ministry, the agency reports the centres will open in Agadez and then later in Arlit and Diffa.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU to Back ‘Boat-Destroyer’ Mission in Mediterranean
EU foreign and defence ministers are expected to approve a mission to destroy the boats used by people-smugglers operating in war-torn Libya.
At a meeting in Brussels, the ministers will also discuss the mission’s command-and-control structure and HQ.
It is part of the EU’s response to the vast numbers of illegal migrants from Africa and the Middle East crossing the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe.
More than 1,800 migrants have died in the Mediterranean in 2015.
That is a 20-fold increase on the same period in 2014.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France Opposes EU Migrant Quotas
French prime minister Manuel Valls has attacked EU plans to impose quotas on migrant relocation, the latest in a series of setbacks for the European Commission proposal.
“I am against the introduction of quotas for migrants. This never corresponded to the French position,” he said while visiting Menton in southern France on Saturday (16 May).
A town on the French-Italian border, Menton has, in recent times, seen some 200 migrants a day coming from Italy en route to Britain, Germany, or Scandinavia.
According to the commission proposal, EU countries should accept numbers of asylum seekers corresponding to their population, wealth, and unemployment rate, among other factors.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Jeb Bush Wants American Citizens to Show Respect for Illegal Aliens
Exchanges of letters between a U.S. Senate lawmaker and an official from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reveals that President Barack Obama’s executive ordered immigration policy was instrumental in protecting a criminal alien gang member. Sadly, that gang member allegedly murdered four Americans, including a former participant on the television series”America’s Next Top Model,” according to news reports on Wednesday.
In fact, spokespeople for President Obama admitted that an illegal aliens and known gang member, who was allowed to remain in the United States thanks to the recent executive actions, killed four people in a southern state including a woman pursuing a career as a fashion model.
The suspect in that quadruple-murder case, Mexican-national Emmanuel Jesus Rangel-Hernandez, received permission to remain in the U.S. after his request to stay in the U.S. as part of Obama’s controversial Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, according a letter sent to the Senate by DHS’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Leon Rodriguez.
“Lord knows we have enough killers, rapists, robbers and burglars who are citizens. Why are we so keen on importing more of them? This administration’s deceit knows no bounds. They lie to the American people and they have the most of the news media helping the Obama White House get over on citizens,” said former narcotics agent and security specialist Lester McIntyre. “This one illegal alien took the lives of four people. He took everything they had and everything they would ever have had,” he said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Mogherini Says Must be No Step Back on Migrant Quotas
BRUSSELS — The European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs said Monday that there must be no steps back on the EU’s new system of migrant quotes after the French government expressed reservations. The quotas were adopted by the European Commission as part of its Agenda on Migration in response to appeals from Italy for more help in managing the Mediterranean migrant crisis. “Sharing the responsibility of what we do with the people we save (at sea) is a integral part of the strategy (of the EU on migrants),” Mogherini said. “I expect the member States, those same member States that asked the EU to act speedily and effectively, allow Europe to be effective in every aspect of this initiative — in the naval operation, in the saving of lives at sea and in the management of the people we save”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spain Rejects EU Migrant Quota Plan
Spain rejected on Monday an EU quota system to share the migrant burden among member states, saying it had already done more than its fair share to help asylum seekers.
Under the EU’s quota plan, the 28 member states would be required to accept asylum seekers relative to size of the economy, population and unemployment, among other factors.
Britain has opposed the quota system from the start, saying that while it will help with the humanitarian rescue mission at sea, all migrants must be taken to the nearest country for processing.
Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia have all taken a similar hardline stand, and were joined over the weekend by France.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Croatia: Rainbow in Front of Bishops’ Conference
With message ‘love thy neighbor’
(ANSAmed) — ZAGREB, MAY 18 — A huge rainbows, symbol of the gay movement, was designed last night by an unidentified group of activists in front of the headquarters of the Croatian bishops’ conference (Hbk) in Zagreb on International Day Against Homophobia, celebrated yesterday.
The sidewalk in front of the imposing stairs and majestic offices of the Croatian bishops was painted with the rainbow’s six colors with beside it the message ‘love thy neighbor’, in protest against the position of the Catholic church on homosexuality and in particular that of the Croatian church, known for being very conservative.
In a short statement to the press signed ‘thy neighbor’, the gesture was explained as made by “unknown promoters of love, peace and tolerance”.
According to Croatian media, the bishops warned police while in the afternoon the municipality sent a group of cleaners to remove the rainbow, which was entirely designed on public property. After visiting the place, law enforcement officers stated that “there are no elements of crime and the content designed is in no way offensive”. In a recent analysis by the International Lesbian Gay Association (ILGA), the leading coalition of LGBT associations in Europe, Croatia is listed as the fifth country in the continent for the rights of homosexuals and transgender people, with an overall result even better than in Sweden, the Netherlands, France or Spain. At the same time, homophobia is still deeply embedded in society.
In 2013, a referendum promoted by associations close to the church and supported by the bishops, two-thirds of Croatians voted in favor of including in the Constitution the definition of marriage as exclusively a union between a man and a woman.
Last July, the center-left majority approved a law on civil unions guaranteeing to gay couples the same rights as married couples, with the exception of adoption.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The Catholic Church Has Gone Socialist
Since we published our article, “Catholic Church Captured by ‘Progressive Forces,’“ it is starting to dawn on many in and out of the media that Pope Francis has come down on the side of the “progressive,” and even Marxist, forces in the world today.
Writing at the Blaze.com and commenting on the pope’s friendly meeting with Cuban dictator Raul Castro, Catholic writer Stephen Herreid of the Intercollegiate Review called the pope’s dealings with Castro and other Marxists “a new Catholic scandal” as significant and terrifying as the presence of pedophiles in the church. He wonders how conservative Catholics can continue to pay respect to a pope “intent on making friends with the enemies of religious liberty.”
Francis had a one-hour meeting with Raul Castro on May 10. The day before, Castro had greeted Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Francis will visit Cuba in September prior to his tour of the United States.
The Associated Press reported that Castro commented, after meeting with the pope, that the pontiff “is a Jesuit, and I, in some way, am too.” Castro added, “I always studied at Jesuit schools.” He also promised, “When the pope goes to Cuba in September, I promise to go to all his Masses, and with satisfaction.”
The evidence is getting too big for the major media to ignore: the pope has made common cause with the forces of international Marxism, which are associated with atheism, the suppression of traditional Christianity and the persecution and murder of Christians.
[…]
Dr. Timothy Ball, author of The Deliberate Corruption of Climate Science, told me during a recent interview, “I think the Catholic Church is regretting making him the pope. They did it because the previous pope was starting to deal with the problems of pedophilia and corruption in the money in the church. So the powerful Cardinals pushed him [Benedict] aside. It wasn’t a health matter at all. He just realized he couldn’t beat them…He [Francis] is bringing in these socialist ideas. He’s already expressed some of them—about inequities of wealth, redistributing the wealth, which are themes you’ve heard from Obama.”
Benedict had also been a strong opponent of Liberation Theology.
As Herreid put it in his Blaze column, “In a matter of months, Pope Francis has announced a desire to ‘quickly’ beatify a deceased liberation theologist bishop, reconciled with a Sandinista activist priest who once called Ronald Reagan a ‘butcher’ and an ‘international outlaw,’ and even invited the founder of the liberation theology movement, Rev. Gustavo Gutierrez, to speak on the need for a ‘poor Church for the Poor’ at an official Vatican event this week.”
In fact, this is the latest example of Francis welcoming advocates of Liberation Theology—a doctrine manufactured by the old KGB to dupe Christians into supporting Marxism—directly into the Vatican.
[Comment: Liberation Theology = Marxism. Catholic church being moulded into the official church of the New World Socialist Order. Watch for the global warming and carbon foot print garbage coming out from various Catholic groups.]]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why Islam Doesn’t Need a Reformation
by Mehdi Hasan
Those who are calling for a ‘Muslim Martin Luther’ should be careful what they wish for
With apologies to Luther, if anyone wants to do the same to the religion of Islam today, it is Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who claims to rape and pillage in the name of a “purer form” of Islam — and who isn’t, incidentally, a fan of the Jews either. Those who cry so simplistically, and not a little inanely, for an Islamic reformation, should be careful what they wish for.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
It’s simply precious to watch dhimmified Western social justice warriors twist themselves in knots on the MSM about the current situation involving the Rohingya boat people. Somehow I doubt the Thai, Malay, Indonesian, or Singaporean governments will be affected by their shaming language.
Oh, they’ll be affected. Mostly, they’ll be irritated and angry. That won’t be an entirely good thing, even if they mostly take it out on the Rohingya. There’s always a bit of spillage in the response when you annoy people sufficiently.
“Conservative” Catholics (I prefer to just call ourselves plain ‘ol Catholics, in the sense that we attend Latin Mass, and adhere to all the doctrines of The Church) don’t necessarily pay respect to the Pope as a PERSON, but rather, as respect for the office, and because he is still the successor to St. Peter, even if he is a heretical apostate. Mr. Herried can’t be expected to know a lot about Catholic doctrine and theology, but rest assured that there are many of us who see what he is doing, who he is, and where the world is going. Pope Francis is not an intelligent man. And in order for The Church to become strong again, it must –once again– become persecuted and small. There are those who profess Catholicism, who do not understand much of what The Church truly teaches.
Version 1:
The official also said the 31-year-old Briton — a convert to Presbyterianism — was offering poverty-stricken families £300 to use their children and women as suicide bombers.
Version 2:
The official also said the 31-year-old Briton — a convert to Islam — was offering poverty-stricken families £300 to use their children and women as suicide bombers.
Version 1 — Absurd.
Version 2 — So?