Unprecedented numbers of “refugees” are still arriving in Europe. In a period of five days, a record 48,000 new arrivals landed in Greece. And 12,000 immigrants entered Slovenia in just one day, exceeding the rate of influx in Hungary even at the height of its own crisis. Meanwhile, of the 160,000 refugees slated for mandatory relocation among EU countries, fewer than 1,000 have actually been placed.
In other news, the kinetic activists of Boko Haram have taken over the town of Kerawa on the Nigerian-Cameroonian border.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Caroline Glick, Diana West, Insubria, JD, Nick, 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.
China Cuts Interest Rates by 0.25 Percentage Points
China’s central bank on Friday cut its benchmark interest rates and the amount of cash banks must keep on hand, the latest stimulus aimed at boosting the world’s second-largest economy.
The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) announced on its website that it was reducing lending and deposit interest rates by 0.25 percentage points each and its reserve requirement ratio by 0.50 percentage points.
The move comes just before the opening of a top level meeting of the ruling Communist Party, known as the Fifth Plenum, which will focus on finalising the 13th Five Year Plan for the economy, beginning next year…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
ECB Survey Revises Downward Eurozone Inflation Forecasts
0.1% this year, 1% next year, 1.5% in 2017
(ANSA) — Rome, October 23 — The European Central Bank (ECB) on Friday revised downwards eurozone inflation estimates through 2017.
Its quarterly Survey of Professional Forecasters put 2015 eurozone inflation at 0.1% (down from 0.2%), while prices are expected to rise 1% instead of 1.3% next year and by 1.5% rather than 1.6% in 2017.
Eurozone GDP is expected to expand by 1.5% this year (against 1.4% forecast in July) and by 1.7% in 2016 (down from 1.8%).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Iceland Has Now Sent 26 Corrupt Bankers to Prison
In a story not reported on at all by any Western mainstream media source, Iceland just sentenced another five high level bankers to prison for directly contributing to the collapse of the country’s economy in 2008.
This brings the total to 26 bankers now behind bars in Iceland, with most being CEOs of large financial institutions, rather than low level traders.
Most of those jailed will serve terms of two to five years, according to a report by Iceland Magazine, which notes that three executives at Landsbankinn and two at Kaupþing, along with one prominent investor, have been prosecuted.
Their crimes include market manipulation, embezzlement, and breach of fiduciary duties. Their market manipulation destroyed the country’s economy and to this day Iceland is still having to repay the global loan sharks at the IMF, as well as governments of other countries, which kept the nation operating.
The article explains that the prosecutions have been possible because rather than protect and reward the very institutions responsible for the collapse, and the gangsters that run them, the Icelandic government let them fail, and then created a financial supervisory authority to strictly oversee the banks.
Iceland’s President, Olafur Ragnar Grimmson noted:
“Why are the banks considered to be the holy churches of the modern economy? Why are private banks not like airlines and telecommunication companies and allowed to go bankrupt if they have been run in an irresponsible way? The theory that you have to bail out banks is a theory that you allow bankers enjoy for their own profit, their success, and then let ordinary people bear their failure through taxes and austerity. ?People in enlightened democracies are not going to accept that in the long run.”
[Comment: Iceland shows the way. There is a reason this is receiving no bankster controlled media coverage in the rest of the world.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Spread Drops Below 100 Points
First time under threshold since March
(ANSA) — Rome, October 22 — The spread between Italy’s 10-year BTP State bond and the German equivalent dropped to 99.9 basis points on Thursday. It is the first time that the spread, a key measure of investor confidence and of Italy’s borrowing costs, has gone below the 100-point threshold since March. Italy has returned to positive growth this year after years of recession and the country has also benefited from the European Central Bank’s quantitative easing programme Italy risked a Greek-style financial meltdown at the peak of the eurozone debt crisis in 2011 when the spread went over 500 points with yields above 7%.
Quantitative easing is working to boost credit although risks on inflation and growth remain, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said Thursday. He said the ECB would re-assess QE in the light of the latest growth and inflation forecasts in December. With QE, the ECB is buying financial assets from commercial banks and other financial institutions, thus raising the prices of those financial assets and lowering their yield, while simultaneously increasing the money supply.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Malaysia Forecasts Slower Growth, Announces Stimulus Moves
Malaysia’s government on Friday forecast slower growth in 2016 and announced measures to spur demand in an economy bedevilled by slumping oil prices and corruption allegations aimed at the prime minister.
Prime Minister Najib Razak offered increased handouts to the poor, tax breaks, stepped-up investment, and accelerated public infrastructure projects to help stimulate the economy and ease living costs.
Hitting back at critics of his leadership, Najib declared that Malaysia was “not a failed state or bankrupt nation”, as he presented the country?s 2016 budget in parliament on Friday…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Caroline Glick: Ted Cruz — A Fresh Approach to American Foreign Policy and to US-Israel Relations
US Senator Ted Cruz, the conservative Republican firebrand from Texas, is running for president. Up until a few weeks ago, his candidacy was met with indifference as the media and political operatives all dismissed its viability. But that is beginning to change. The voices arguing that Cruz, the favorite of Tea Party fiscal conservatives and Evangelical Christians may have what it takes to win the Republican nomination have multiplied.
Since arriving in Washington four years ago, Cruz has arguably been Israel’s most avid defender in the Senate. During Operation Protective Edge in July 2014, Cruz used his authority as a member of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee to force the Obama administration to end the Federal Aviation Commission’s ban on US flights to Ben-Gurion Airport. Cruz announced at the time that he would put a hold on all State Department appointments until the administration justified the flight ban.
Rather than defend its position, the administration restored flights to Israel after 36 hours.
Last summer Cruz led the national opposition to US President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran. He brought thousands of activists to the Capitol to participate in a rally he organized calling for Congress to vote down the deal. Rather than use the rally as a means to promote himself, Cruz invited Republican front-runner real estate developer Donald Trump to join him at the rally. Trump’s participation ensured that the event received wide coverage from the national media.
I interviewed Cruz by telephone from the campaign trail earlier this week about his views on the purpose of American foreign policy, US-Israel relations, the Iran nuclear deal and the Palestinian conflict with Israel.
The transcript of our conversation follows.
Sen. Cruz, you have managed to anger the two foreign policy wings of your party — the neoconservatives and the isolationists — with your foreign policy positions. How would you describe the rationale behind your foreign policy positions?…
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
Former IRS Official Will Not Face Charges for Targeting Political Groups
The Justice Department notified members of Congress on Friday that it is closing its two-year investigation into whether the IRS improperly targeted tea party and other conservative groups.
There will be no charges against former IRS official Lois Lerner or anyone else at the agency, the Justice Department said in a letter.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Fourth Amendment Sneak Hit: Secret Service Grabs Tracking Power
In between the brouhaha of Joe Biden’s stand-down from the presidency and Hillary Clinton’s staged stand-up to Benghazi-tied accusations by Congress, comes this, courtesy of the federal government: The Fourth Amendment, the one guaranteeing protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, is no longer in effect…
In other words, the Secret Service mission — which is not only to protect the president, but also other high-ranking political officials deemed at-risk — is way more important than the preserving the integrity of our nation’s guiding legal document. They have to watch out for people who are way more important than the average American. And therefore, they get to circumvent laws that were put in place long ago, by Founding Fathers who wanted to prevent — get this — the very federal government from having the ability to intrude on citizens’ right to be secure in their persons and possessions, absent a judge-sanctioned warrant.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Gerson Ignores Violent History of Islam’s Spread
As pleased as this St. Louisan is for another, Michael Gerson, who has achieved success as a presidential speech writer and a recognized national columnist, I am somewhat confused and perturbed by his column “Christians can’t ignore the sufferings of Muslims” (Oct. 21).
First, it appears to be an assumption rather than fact that Christians ignore such sufferings. We have no idea what either individuals or groups are doing for refugees.
Secondly, we can’t even assume what American Christians are doing for Middle East Christians — among the most persecuted and threatened — many enslaved, killed, beheaded and crucified while others forced to flee.
As to his statement, “Christians must overcome their discomfort with Islam, and their belief that conflict among Muslims is none of their concern”: Any discomfort with Islam is based on history and fact. I suggest he ignores the violent history of Islam’s spread and the oppression of Christians and Jews in particular in any Islamic-ruled society or nation. Perhaps most evident, he appears to ignore the current persecution and brutality experienced by Christians across Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia by Muslims.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Hillary: I Didn’t Blame Benghazi on the YouTube Video
Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s testimony yesterday before the congressional committee formed to investigate the deadly Benghazi debacle that she allowed to happen and then tried to cover up can be summed up in two words: she lied.
Boiled down: Despite mountains of email evidence to the contrary, Clinton denied that she previously blamed the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack that took four American lives on an at-the-time unwatched anti-Islam YouTube video. She denied that left-wing slime merchant and Clinton groupie Sidney Blumenthal was her advisor. She even denied having a computer on her desk at the State Department. (The Washington Post has what appears to be a largely accurate complete transcriptof the hearing.)
Hillary wants Americans to believe that her official government emails, sometimes containing top-secret classified information, that she sent around the globe through the insecure, hacker-friendly private email server created to facilitate anticipatory bribes for the would-be U.S. president funneled through the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation, don’t say what your lying eyes tell you they say… It’s still a complete and utter mystery to Clinton why American facilities were targeted in Benghazi, Libya. Really. She said that.
“None of us can speak to the individual motivations of those terrorists who overran our compound and who attacked our CIA annex,” she told the Benghazi Select Committee on Thursday. “There were probably a number of different motivations.” So it’s a little bit of this, and a little bit of that.
None of this comes as a surprise to Clinton watchers.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Hillary Clinton Defends Islam in Benghazi Hearing Opening Statement
WASHINGTON — Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton defended the Muslim religion in her opening remarks at the House Benghazi Committee hearing Thursday.
Clinton pointedly cited the existence of some signs at a rally in Libya after the Benghazi attack that read “Thugs don’t represent Islam” and “This is not the behavior of our Islam or our prophet.”
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Christine M. Flowers, Daily News Columnist
I CAN PINPOINT the precise moment when I realized that Hillary Clinton was as toxic as one of those old Superfund waste sites and needed to be eliminated from the political landscape so she’d stop leaching poison into the groundwater: about three-quarters of the way through the Democratic debate.
Anderson Cooper (or one of the other indistinguishable CNN moderators) asked her which enemy she was proudest of making. I envisioned Monica Lewinsky, Kathleen Willey, Paula Jones and Gennifer Flowers jumping up and down in their own private living rooms saying, “Pick me, pick me!” But Hillary knows better than to acknowledge that the only woman her husband didn’t have sex with was her (Chelsea being the Arkansas version of the virgin birth).
No, the current Democratic front-runner with the newly ironed-out forehead threw in a couple of expected and innocuous things like Islamic terrorists, but then lobbed fire at her real target: Republicans.
That’s right, folks, the woman who wants to be president of all Americans made sure to let us know that she considers members of the other main political party in this two party system “enemies.” And it’s fairly clear from her past pronouncements that it’s not just registered Republicans who make her stomach turn and her trigger finger itchy. Hillary hates all conservatives, charter members of the vast right-wing conspiracy that forced her husband to be serviced in the Oval Office and then lie about it.
Hillary’s supporters dismiss the whole “Bill Had Sex and Hillary Looked the Other Way” argument as ancient history, and it kind of is. In fact, Bill has rebranded himself as a lovable elder statesman who can reach across the aisle (which he does quite well since he has a lot of experience reaching for things).
But Hillary is an angry woman, scarred by past criticism and with a taste for vengeance that makes Michael Corleone look like Pope Francis.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
In Hunt for US Terror Recruits, FBI Agents Set Traps
In April, John Booker was arrested for allegedly planning to carry out a suicide bombing at a military base in Kansas on behalf of the Islamic State group.
It turns out that undercover FBI operatives had been manipulating the 20-year-old for six months — helping him make a “martyrdom” video, providing him with a list of bomb-making materials and even building an explosive device for him, albeit an inert one.
Critics say the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s growing army of undercover agents tasked with hunting down terror recruits on US soil sometimes unduly pressures young, impressionable people to plan and move forward with acts they may otherwise not have conceived on their own.
The FBI “may have created terrorists out of law-abiding citizens,” Human Rights Watch has alleged.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS in America: FBI Investigating 900 Possible Islamic State Operatives in the United States
James Comey, the director of the federal law enforcement agency, revealed that investigations into suspected Islamic State supporters or operatives are ongoing around the United States.
During a speech to intelligence officials, FBI Director Comey said that the number of concerns about ISIS operatives and Islamic State supporters are “slowly climbing,” MSN reports. Comey added that ISIS has attempted to expand its reach into the U.S. and is using social media to attract “disaffected” young people.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Jim Jordan Nails Hillary on Her YouTube Video Lie
Hat tip to Allahpundit at Hot Air on this one. I’ll sum it up before you watch it, but you need to watch it. The very night of the attack, Hillary e-mailed Chelsea and expressed that what happened in Benghazi was clearly the work of an Al Qaeda-like group. The next day, she said the same thing to the prime minister of Egypt.
But for several days after she did that, she was publicly claming that this was nothing more than a protest inspired by a YouTube video about Mohammed. She knew that wasn’t true. She had said so in private conversations. But in public, she lied. Of course. Because she’s Hillary Clinton. That’s what she does.
youtu.be/bOjX-o9axmw
How classic a Hillary answer is it to claim that all the answers are in her book, but to never really address the evidence Jordan presents? It’s fine to say there was a lot of conflicting information, but if that’s the case then don’t go out in public blaming a YouTube video. Wait until you know what’s happening. Also, she very dishonestly conflates her need to talk about the video with her blatant statements blaming the video for the attack at the time.
This too: “If you would look at my statement as opposed to what I said to the Egyptian prime minister . . . “ Do you realize the implications of this answer? The whole point of this investigation is that uncovered evidence doesn’t support the idea that Hillary has consistently told the truth, and the e-mail to the Egyptian prime minister is Exhibit A. How does Hillary respond to that? Look at my statement, not that e-mail I sent!
Great. A statement crafted to put her in the best possible light, three years after the fact in the midst of her own presidential campaign, is the only thing the committee should consider. What she said at the time is irrelevant.
Rob also caught her earlier trying to essentially blame Christopher Stevens for his own death by reminding everyone that he “volunteered” for the assignments, as if that obviates any responsibility of the U.S. government to provide for his security during the assignment.
My God this woman is horrible.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Like With the Jews Last Century, Silence on the Genocide of Christians
by Sol W. Sanders
One of the many mysteries of the current political and media scene is the neglect which accompanies a growing worldwide Christian martyrdom, but particularly in the Middle East.
Ancient Christian enclaves, some of them going back to its earliest origins in its birthplace which have survived centuries of vicissitudes, are being exiled — or worse destroyed. It is hard to reckon whether the personal suffering or the damage to world culture is the more devastating.
Although some prominent voices have been raised in protest, the rapid fire events in the region and a plethora of crises around the world have not spotlighted what may be the worst persecution of Christians in centuries.
The Obama Administration, while making conventional obeisance to the issue, has not made publicity nor opposition to Christian martyrdom, an important policy issue. The President’s statements on the issue, some observers believe, are muffled by fear of counterattacks from Moslem moderates as well as Islamic terrorists alluding to “Crusaders” and the traditional struggle between Islam and Christianity.
Pope Francis last year told a delegation of Jews headed by World Jewish Council President Ronald Lauder “that he believes we are in World War III but unlike the first two world wars, instead of happening all at once, this war is coming in stages.”
Lauder said the Pope meant that “first Jews suffered savage attacks that were met with the world’s silence and now it is Christians who are being annihilated and the world is silent.”
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
NBC’s ‘The Blacklist’ Refuses to Condemn Islam, So They Basically Condemn All Religion
NBC’s The Blacklist let fly with a full anti-religion broadside on Thursday night. Except, true to liberal form they declined to call out the specific religion in question by name, which should tell you all you need to know about which religion they were talking about.
In an episode titled “The Djinn,” Raymond Reddington (James Spader) helps FBI agent Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone) track down a Blacklister known as “The Djinn,” who is helping people with revenge fantasies fulfill their evil desires and exact their revenge on the people who hurt them and their families… The lamest part of the whole thing being that Reddington’s character is supposed to be this guy that “keeps it real,” and is always brutally honest. Except when it comes to Islam, his guts appear to have been “reassigned.”
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Park Ranger Caught on Camera Pointing Pistol at Couple Leaving Park Past Closing Time
Chesapeake, Va. — A Chesapeake park ranger was caught on camera pointing his pistol at a couple. It was a confrontation that started because the couple left a city park after closing time.
“I was hoping he wasn’t going to shoot at us,” says Dylan Newton, who recorded a 7-minute video of the ranger. “With all the things going on in the media with cops using excessive force and all these videos coming out like that’s the only thing running through my head like I’m going to be one of these people.”
Newton says it all happened Sunday night at the city’s Northwest River Park off Indian Creek Road.
Newton says he and his girlfriend had gone on a hike and were driving out a few minutes past the park’s 6:15 p.m. closing time when the ranger stopped them.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
People Don’t Actually Want Equality
Bernie Sanders talks about economic inequality all the time, and it’s a message that resonates. You don’t need to be a socialist to worry about the divide between rich and poor in America. Many Americans across the political spectrum claim to be deeply troubled by economic inequality, and many say they support changes that would yield a more equal distribution of income and wealth.
But in his just-published book, On Inequality, the philosopher Henry Frankfurt argues that economic equality has no intrinsic value. This is a moral claim, but it’s also a psychological one: Frankfurt suggests that if people take the time to reflect, they’ll realize that inequality isn’t really what’s bothering them.
People might be troubled by what they see as unjust causes of economic inequality, a perfectly reasonable concern given how much your income and wealth are determined by accidents of birth, including how much money your parents had, your sex, and the color of your skin. We are troubled as well by potential consequences of economic inequality. We may think it corrodes democracy, or increases crime, or diminishes overall happiness. Most of all, people worry about poverty—not that some have less, but rather “that those with less have too little.”
Frankfurt argues, though, that we aren’t really bothered by inequality for its own sake. He points out that few worry about inequalities between the very rich and the very well off, even though these might be greater, both absolutely and proportionately, than inequalities between the moderately well-off and the poor. A world in which everyone suffered from horrible poverty would be a perfectly equal one, he says, but few would prefer that to the world in which we now live. Therefore, “equality” can’t be what we really value.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Silicon Valley Experts: Use Pop Ups to “Shame” People Who Make Offensive Posts
Two Silicon Valley experts interviewed for a Wired Magazine piece about online harassment suggested that pop-ups could be used to “shame” people who make racist Internet posts or use offensive words.
In the context of a discussion about the need to create new “antiabuse tools,” developer Adria Richards endorsed the implementation of warnings that appear on people’s computer screens before they are able to post ‘offensive’ content.
“There could be little pop-up warnings: “Hey, a lot of people have reported they don’t like receiving this word. Do you still want to post this?” said Richards…
As we reported earlier this month, Twitter is now allowing users to report other account holders for “engaging in abusive or harassing behavior,” one example of which includes “disagreement with my opinion.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Obama Machine Takes Over Canada
In typically biased fashion, Time magazine has greeted the defeat of Canada’s conservatives with the headline, “Why Justin Trudeau’s Election Is Good News for the Fight Against Climate Change.” But the story has a valid point which bears on the question of why Obama campaign operatives were deployed to subvert the conservative government of Stephen Harper. Obama expects new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to help promote a climate change treaty to overthrow global capitalism that is expected to come out of a United Nations conference in Paris in December.
Canada has become a satellite of Obama, writes Judi McLeod of Canada Free Press.
But another inevitable outcome of the liberal victory may be more Islamic terrorism in North America. The new Canadian prime minister has extended open arms to Muslims in Canada and more immigration from the Middle East while declaring the need to withdraw from the fight against Islamic terrorism.
A pro-abortion Catholic, Trudeau wants to legalize marijuana and establish more injection sites for heroin users around the country.
If you hadn’t heard about Obama’s campaign to destroy Canada’s conservative government, you missed our story from last week, “Obama Plans Takedown of Another U.S. Ally.”
The destruction of Harper wasn’t as bloody as the Obama/Hillary Clinton effort to overthrow Moammar Gadhafi in Libya, which resulted in the Benghazi murders of four Americans. Nevertheless, the overthrow of the Harper government had the fingerprints of Obama all over it.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Crude Methods: ISIL Militants Scam British Pensioners to Fund Terrorism
Jihadi scammers are targeting elderly people in the UK to extort cash to fund terrorism. Reports in the British media suggest gangs are cold-calling pensioners and posing as bank staff to convince them to part with their account details.
Once hooked, the thieves send people posing as couriers to collect their bank cards — and all the details needed to steal money. A report by the Financial Action Task Force says the money is then sent back to Iraq and Syria to help pay for people to travel to the Middle East.
In March this year, Scotland Yard confirmed that officers were investigating a large-scale fraud linked to UK extremists traveling to Syria, following reports one pensioner was cheated of $230,000. A report in The Times says that the London based fraud networks operated in Devon, Cornwall, Dorset, Kent, Bedfordshire and London.
“UK-based extremists have adopted the organized crime group tactic of targeting vulnerable individuals with phone calls purporting to be either police or bank officials.
“A courier from the criminal network is then dispatched to the victims’ home address and picks up the cash.”
The report adds that, “the method as to how the victims are selected is unclear but it may be as simple as online telephone directories filtered to regions for a retirement age demographic.”
But the scams on British pensions amount to a fraction of what the Islamic State is currently raking in from selling crude oil from the oilfield the group has taken over in Iraq and Syria.
Crude oil sales are the extremists’ largest single source of income — that keeps on flowing in. The revenue made by selling oil is sustaining the terrorist organization existence and resilience to US led airstrikes.
According to the Associated Press, Islamic State is selling the crude oil to people smugglers at the knock-down price of US$10 a barrel — compared to US$50. Four Iraqi intelligence officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the AP that the smugglers then sell the oil onto middlemen in Turkey.
Islamic State is believed to be the richest terror organization in history. It’s reported that ISIL are extracting 30,000 barrels per day from Syria and 10,000 — 20,000 barrels a day in Iraq.
And just one phone-call to a UK pensioner can net the militants US$115,000.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Danish Citizens Returning From Syria, Iraq Pose Threat to Security
At least half of those who left Denmark to fight in Syria and Iraq have returned back, and at least 27 died in combat, according to Center for Terror Analysis (CTA).
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Over 100 Danish citizens went to Syria and Iraq to fight alongside extremist groups, and those who have returned may carry out attacks in Denmark, the Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) said on Friday.
According to The Local news portal, citing PET, at least 125 people left to join extremist groups since 2012, but the agency’s Center for Terror Analysis (CTA) warned that the actual number could be higher.
At least half of those who left the country to fight in Syria and Iraq have returned back to Denmark, and at least 27 died in combat, according to CTA.
“The conflict in Syria/Iraq continues to attract people from Denmark but the number is falling. On the other hand, those who have travelled to war zones are remaining there for longer periods, are younger and are overwhelmingly joining the Islamic State,” Soren Jensen, the head of CTA, said as quoted by The Local, adding that the conflict in those countries “represents the most significant factor in the threat situation in Denmark.”
Jensen stated that those who return could pose a terror threat to national security.
The New York-based Soufan Group and the London-based International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence estimate that there may be as many as 5,000 Europeans fighting alongside extremist groups in Iraq and Syria.
The Islamic State militant group, operating in both of those countries, is known to recruit young people over social media.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Ex Head of Sicily Juvenile Centre Arrested
Alfonsa Micciché suspected of graft
(ANSA) — Caltanissetta, October 22 — The former head of a juvenile detention centre in the Sicilian city of Caltanissetta was arrested Thursday on suspicion of favouring ‘friendly’ associations in juvenile care contracts in exchange for jobs for her family.
Alfonsa Micciché is currently head of the Beccaria borstal in Milan.
The alleged graft took place between 2013 and 2015, police said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Fukushima ‘Neither Treated Nor Visited’ Francis
Staffer at Carolina Neuroscience Institute in Reuters interview
(see related)(ANSA) — Rome, October 21 — Dr. Takanori Fukushima has “neither treated nor visited” Pope Francis, a staffer at the Carolina Neuroscience Institute, which the Japanese neurosurgeon directs, told Reuters news agency on Wednesday. Lori Radcliffe was quoted as saying reports Dr.
Fukushima treated the pope for a brain tumour are “absolutely false”. Dr. Fukushima did meet the pontiff and shook his hand during a general visit to the Vatican this year, she added.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: 35 Arrested Over Alleged Absenteeism at Sanremo City Hall
Suspects face charges of fraud, forgery and embezzlement
(ANSA) — Genoa, October 22 — Finance police arrested 35 people on Thursday in relation to a long-running probe into alleged absenteeism at Sanremo city hall. The suspects face various charges including fraud against the state, embezzlement and forgery of legal documents. They have all been placed under house arrest.
Police also made seizures at the city hall in connection with the investigation, which concern the use by employees and officials of their attendance badge-cards.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Bar Vandalised in ‘No-TAV’ Attack
Used by workers on high-speed rail line
(ANSA) — Turin, October 22 — A bar serving workers on the construction site of the controversial high-speed rail (TAV) link between Turin and Lyon was vandalised Wednesday night.
“Judas, you’re selling the valley for 30 coffees,” was spray-painted across the front of the bar, whose owner Lucrezia Bono retorted Thursday: “We serve coffee to everyone, this way all they’re doing is damaging a family of the valley”.
The incident took place in the town of Chiomonte in the Val di Susa, a pre-Alpine valley which critics of the new line say is being spoiled by the project.
Bono, 24, the bar owner, is also a Chiomonte town councillor.
The TAV project has been plagued with sabotage and violent protests by so-called No-TAV campaigners.
Writer Erri De Luca on Monday was cleared of instigating sabotage by saying bolt-cutters should be used against the project. Similar slogans were daubed Thursday on the walls of several homes of TAV workers.
They included “Here live the devastators of the valley” and “the valley has been sold for 30 pieces of silver”.
DIGOS security police are investigating.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: ANM Says More More Attention on Wiretaps Than Mafia
Sabelli says situation less inflamed, more complex now
(ANSA) — Bari, October 23 — Rodolfo Sabelli, the head of the national association of magistrates (ANM), complained Friday more attention was devoted to investigators use of wiretaps than on the problem of defeating the mafia. “The wiretaps issue has become so central that it gets more attention that the structural problems and endemic criminal phenomena,” Sabelli said.
Sabelli also complained Friday that tensions with the nation’s political class were delegitimizing the judiciary. Magistrates union ANM has clashed with Premier Matteo Renzi’s executive over its justice reforms and in the past there were high-voltage rows with three-time premier Silvio Berlusconi, who repeated blamed political-motivated left wing elements in the judiciary for being behind criminal cases against him. “The dynamics are less inflamed but more complex,” Sabelli said, complaining of an “conscious strategy of delegitimization” depicting the ANM was “corporation aiming to defend its privileges”.
Rodolfo Sabelli criticised government efforts to bolster the fight against rampant corruption as “timid”.
Sabelli said the “timid” legislative interventions on graft were “inconsistent” with the decision to increase the punishments for some common crimes. He said this smacked of being a form of “yielding to superficial appetites for justice”. He described a government bill extending the statute of limitations on some felonies, including corruption ones, was “disappointing”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Marino Says May Run in PD Rome Mayor Primaries
First citizen quit this month after expenses scandal
(ANSA) — Rome, October 23 — Outgoing Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino has said that he may run in primaries for his centre-left Democratic Party (PD) to select its candidate to be the capital’s next first citizen. Marino quit earlier this month following an expenses scandal after losing the support of the PD, which is also Premier Matteo Renzi’s party. “If the PD holds primaries to select the Rome mayor candidate, it’s possible that I’ll run,” Marino said in an interview published in Friday’s edition of La Repubblica. The expenses scandal was only the latest in a series of furores to hit Marino’s administration.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Messing With Texas: Norwegians Equate Name of Lone Star State With Crazy
A study by the Norwegian Language Council has found that Norwegians have been using the word ‘Texas’ to mean crazy for decades.
Texans were chagrined to discover that in Norwegian slang, the phrase ‘totally Texas’ is used to mean something completely bonkers or crazy.
On Tuesday, the US magazine Texas Monthly broke some distressing news to its readers: “Y’all, Norwegians Use the Word ‘Texas’ as Slang to Mean ‘Crazy.’“
The article cited several examples of the peculiar association in the Norwegian media, such as Norwegian soccer manager Henning Berg describing the atmosphere of a match as “totally Texas,” and a fisherman telling local news that his rare swordfish catch was also “totally Texas.”
Norway’s press responded by confirming that Texas became part of Norwegian slang several decades ago. Daniel Gusfre Ims, head language advisor at the Norwegian Language Council, told NRK that its documented use stretches as back as far as the 1950’s, citing a book from 1957 which used the word ‘Texas’ to describe commotion, noise and wild conditions.
“Would he make it even more Texas in the village,” wrote author Vegard Vigerust.
Ims explained that the word probably entered Norwegian popular culture through Western movies and books about cowboys, and that it is most commonly used in the expression ‘helt Texas,’ meaning ‘totally Texas.’
“It has to do with a perception of the Wild West, and the expansion of the United States [population’s] westward [expansion] during the 1880s.”
Ims was also asked by NRK whether he knew of any other similar examples of slang based on place names.
“The closest I can find is ‘Hawaii,’ for example in ‘Hawaii football. This is also used for uncontrolled conditions, but not as wild as those in helt Texas,” the linguist explained.
Popular expressions regarding the Lone Star State are quite different in the US, where it is associated with big stuff (‘Everything’s bigger in Texas’) and a no-nonsense, straight-shooting approach (‘Don’t mess with Texas’).
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Portugal: Passos Named Premier, But Future Uncertain
Ps-radical left no credible alternative for head of state
MADRID — Portugal’s center-right Premier Pedro Passos Coelho remains in power for now. After four years of harsh austerity policies, he won political elections on October 4 but lost the absolute majority in Parliament.
Head of State Anibal Cavaco Silva, the former leader of the Psd of Passos, announced last night in a televised message to the nation that he chose to confirm the outgoing prime minister in his position, in the belief that a proposal of Socialist leader Antonio Costa to form an alternative majority with two radical left parties was not credible.
Cavaco’s decision is in line with Portuguese tradition. Ever since the end of Salazar’s regime, the leader of the party that comes first in national elections, with or without an absolute majority, is always charged with forming the new government and govern the country. Today, however, the situation could be different, leading Portugal to a phase of strong political uncertainty.
In Lisbon’s new unicameral Parliament, which is constituted today, Passos’ coalition has 107 out of 230 seats against the 86 held by Ps, 19 by the post-Trotskyist Bloco de Esquerda, 16 by the Communist-Greens from Cdu and one by the environmentalist Pan party. In spite of historical divergences between Communists and Socialists since the Carnation Revolution and the radically different economic stances — the Ps is in favor of moderate austerity, Cdu wants to exit the Eurozone and renegotiate debt with the ECB — Costa has negotiated with the radical left an alternative government pact. But Cavaco has not considered the left’s project trustworthy, mainly over fears it would send creditors and foreign investors in a panic as the country is recovering from the economic crisis. Passos will present to Parliament at the beginning of November the government and its program. No vote is scheduled, except in the presence of a motion of no confidence. If it will be presented and voted by the Ps, Be and Cdu the government will fall. Cavaco will then have to choose whether to charge Costa with forming a cabinet or call new elections. Portuguese voters would however be able to cast their ballots only in the spring, after an electoral hiatus imposed by a presidential vote scheduled in January.
Meanwhile, the key 2016 budget which Portugal has not prepared yet, and thus has not transmitted to Brussels, could remain suspended. In order to survive, Passos will thus need a ‘gesture’ of the Ps, which, as in the case of other minority governments, should restrain from voting a motion of no confidence and let the government’s financial program pass with, however, the likely perspective of early elections mid-2016.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Poste Italiane Price 6.75 Euros, IPO to Generate 3.4 Bn
Padoan says ENAV, FS next in line for privatization
(ANSA) — Rome, October 23 — The Treasury said at a press conference on Friday that the price for shares in Italian postal company Poste italiane in its upcoming IPO will be 6.75 euros.
The price is in the middle of the range of between 6.00 euros and 7.50 euros given previously. Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said that the stock market flotation will generate almost 3.4 billion euros for the Treasury. He said that this money will be used to cut Italy’s massive public debt of over two trillion euros.
Padoan added that air-traffic services provider ENAV and railway company Ferrovie dello Stato (FS) will be the next in line for privatization. “Privatizations remain a important part of the government’s efforts and they will continue in the coming months with the involvement of ENAV and FS,” he said.
As well as running Italy’s postal service, Poste Italiane also has a thriving banking and financial services arm.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spain’s Podemos Runs Out of Steam Ahead of Election
Two months before general elections, Spain’s new anti-austerity party Podemos appears to be running out of steam, hit by political setbacks and a slump in opinion polls.
Pablo Iglesias, the pony-tailed academic who leads the party, appeared tired and hesitant on Sunday during a televised debate with Albert Rivera who heads the new centre-right Ciudadanos, adding to the sense that Podemos has lost momentum.
Set up in January 2014 by a group of political science professors who emerged from the “Indignados” movement against economic inequality and corruption, the party surprised pollsters and analysts by winning five seats in the European Parliament elections a few months later…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK Police Raid Tiananmen Survivor’s Home Over Xi Protest
British police arrested a survivor of the Tiananmen Square crackdown and raided his home after he stepped out in front of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s motorcade, police and campaigners said Friday.
Shao Jiang could be seen being dragged away by several police officers after he breached a security barrier and stood alone in front of the cars on Wednesday in footage aired on Channel 4 television.
London police said Jiang, an academic and blogger for human rights group Amnesty International, was initially arrested for entering a secure area and then also on suspicion of “conspiracy to commit threatening behaviour”.
Two Tibetan woman were also arrested on suspicion of conspiring with Jiang. The homes of all three were searched and they were bailed on Thursday after being detained overnight as the investigation continues…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Child Rapist Jailed for Life After He is Caught on CCTV Snatching 6-Year-Old on the Street
A RAPIST who snatched a six-year-old girl off the streets just DAYS after completing a year-long sexual offenders’ rehabilitation programme has been jailed for life.
Imran Khan, 34, was on licence for attacking a 12-year-old girl when he pounced on his next victim in broad daylight after “doing laps”, “hoping for the opportunity to arise”.
After seeing the youngster riding around on her bike, he bundled her into the boot of his car where he kept her for more than half an hour before sexually assaulting her.
Khan then dumped her in a wheelie bin before she later freed herself and was found wandering alone in distress on the afternoon of March 26.
He was today jailed for life at Burnley Crown Court in Lancashire.
Judge Simon Newell told him: “It was planned and predatory and was for the satisfaction of your own perverted sexual desires.
“You have now in the last seven years on two occasions taken a girl from the streets of East Lancashire for your own sexual desire.
“One was 12 and one was six. One was raped and one was released. Both were traumatised.
“These sorts of crimes cause concern for those involved in this case but for the wider community.”
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Man Jailed After Horrific ‘Sustained Sexual Assault’ on a Horse While High on Drugs
A man has been sentenced to 14 months in prison after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting a horse.
Alan Blackman admitted trespass with intent to commit a sexual offence and attempt of sexual penetration by a person with a living animal earlier this year… Blackman’s wife Sarah, 25, attended the hearing, but made no comment as she left. In an interview last month, she said: “I am pretty disgusted at what he did. But I still love him — I can’t turn that off overnight. “We have been estranged since he was charged, but I can’t say what will happen in the long term. He is still the father of my children.”
Detective Sergeant Alison Clabon said: “This was a shocking attack, which was not only distressing for the horse, but for the owners too.”
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Sheffield Terror Suspect Described as ‘Smashing’ Dad
Neighbours of a terror suspect arrested in Sheffield have described him as ‘smashing’ and from a ‘nice, lovely family’.
The 40-year-old was arrested in a dawn raid at a property in Heeley Green at 6am on Wednesday.
He remained in custody yesterday on suspicion of preparing to commit an act of terrorism — understood to be a plot to join the terror group in war-torn Syria.
Specialist counter terrorism officers arrested a 36-year-old man in Shiregreen, Sheffield and a 55-year-old woman and 44-year-old man from Batley, West Yorkshire, in coordinated raids.
The others have since been bailed.
The Heeley Green suspect’s neighbours said he was a plumber, who lives with his wife and four young children.
Ernest Balderson, from the same street, described him as a ‘smashing neighbour’ from a ‘nice, lovely family’.
He said he believed the terror suspect was originally from Syria.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Will Tony Blair Ever Face Justice? Demands Frederick Forsyth
THREE times in my life a British prime minister, once departed from office, has seen his reputation trashed by post-departure revelations.
In 1956 Anthony Eden committed our Armed Forces to invade the Suez Canal zone of Egypt. It was a disaster. The resistance on the ground was pathetic and our paras stormed to victory from Suez town to Port Said. Then the political skies fell in. US president Dwight Eisenhower, unconsulted and outraged, threatened to use the power of the dollar to break the pound sterling. We withdrew and handed the canal back to Gamal Abdel Nasser who had nationalised it as a native Egyptian asset.
Then the revelations came. The invasion had stemmed from a secret British-French-Israeli pact worked out behind closed doors in Paris. Eden resigned in disgrace. It was whispered in the corridors that Eden had been so ill he was possibly mentally unbalanced. Macmillan took over and even mention of Suez became taboo as Eden sailed off on extended “holiday”.
In 1976 Harold Wilson suddenly and unexpectedly resigned after winning his fourth election in 1974, leaving amiable but hapless Jim Callaghan to take over.
What “Sunny Jim” was actually bequeathed, it soon became clear, was an economic basket case. Wilson, then Heath, then Wilson again had run our country into the ground. We were the sick man of Europe. It took 10 years of struggle under Margaret Thatcher even to begin to recover.
But surely there can never have been a discreditation to match that which has overtaken Tony Blair as revelation follows revelation that this seeming charmer who won three consecutive elections just lied and lied and lied. I suppose we are accustomed to mendacious politicians by now but the price of these lies is usually huge losses of money due to incompetence.
The revelations, long suspected, never quite proved, that Blair sent 179 fine young people to die in Iraq on the basis of a tissue of lies, including untruths told to Parliament at the Despatch Box, are of a different order.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
‘Abduct Women’ And ‘Destroy Churches’, This is Islam: Iraqi Cleric
Ahmad al-Baghdadi, Iraqi ayatollah, has said that Islam and the rest of the world can never peacefully coexist.
As reported in frontpagemag.com, during a recent televised interview, Ahmad al-Baghdadi, first debated defensive jihad saying that all capable Muslims are obligated to fight for the liberation of occupied territory i.e. Israel.
Also the author of numerous Islamic books, he said, “If they are people of the book (Jews and Christians) we demand of them the jizya and if they refuse, then we fight them. That is if he is Christian. He has three choices: either convert to Islam, or, if he refuses and wishes to remain Christian, then pay the jizya.”
Jizya is a religiously required per capita tax levied by a Muslim state on non-Muslim subjects permanently residing in Muslim lands under Islamic law.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
‘Convert or Die’: In a Caliphate-Ridden Iraq, Christians Face Ultimate Choice
By Elisa Cipollone
In Iraq today, Assyrian Christians have two blunt options — convert or die.
With the radical Islamic State’s proud announcement that “the caliphate is here” (that note is painted on the walls of their cities), the next step in their plan is to systematically eradicate Christians from the area.
The news coming out of the war-torn nations of the Middle East just gets worse.
Perhaps the most disturbing, according to a report from the United Kingdom-based charity Aid to the Church in Need, is that Christianity in Iraq could die out in five years — in 2020.
During the reign of Saddam Hussein, there were 1.4 million Christians living in Iraq. Today, 260,000 remain — although perhaps not for long.
Western nations have been asking the question for months now: What, if anything, should they do?
In a statement last week, British Prime Minister David Cameron addressed the brutality against Christians in Iraq.
“Every day in countries across the world, Christians are systematically discriminated against, exploited and even driven from their homes because of their faith,” he said. “Now is not the time for silence. We must stand together and fight for a world where no one is persecuted because of what they believe.”
President Obama has made no such statement about the ongoing Christian genocide.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Pledge Second Holocaust: Horrifying Jihadis’ Threat as Fears for Jewish People Rises
ISLAMIC State (ISIS) have pledged a SECOND HOLOCAUST as they vow to kill Jewish people across the world.
Sick militants have released a horrifying video warning that “there will not be a single Jew left in Jerusalem and throughout the country”. Dressed in army fatigues and wearing a balaclava, a terror fighter horrifyingly said ISIS would “move to eradicate the disease… worldwide”.
He adds: “Soon there will not be one Jew left in Jerusalem.”
The sickening footage comes after this month’s wave of Palestinian attacks against Israeli Jews and deadly clashes with Israeli security forces.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
More Dangerous Than ISIS: The New Top Secret Terror Group Targeting Brits
The Khorasan group — a secret cell comprised of around two dozen elite militants — plan to take down the West, using lone wolf attacks.
The terror group is so small locals in north-east Syria, where Khorasan are based, have called them “the strangers with horses”.
And officials from al-Nusra — the Syrian branch of al-Qaida — deny Khorasan even exists, despite supplying all its personnel, training camps and weapons.
But one US official has said the group is close to executing “major attacks against western attacks and potentially US homeland” and had plotted to blow up commercial aircraft.
Not interested in wading into Syria’s bloody civil war, Khorasan leaders take on Western recruits who crucially hold European or US passports.
The group’s aim is train these jihadis and return them back on long-haul flights to cause death and destruction on our streets.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Putin’s Mission to Destroy ISIS Rages on: Russia Obliterates 70 Targets in Just 24 Hours
RUSSIA has obliterated more than 70 Islamic State (ISIS) targets in the past 24 hours alone as it continues its blitzing crusade against the evil terror group, a defence ministry spokesman announced today.
Over the past day Russian planes are said to have conducted 53 bombing runs against ISIS, hitting a total of 72 targets — mostly weapons and ammunition depots.
Russia has so fair claimed to have wiped out hundreds of ISIS jihadis in just two weeks of starting their bombing campaign against the terror group.
But the US has accused Russia of only looking to prop up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime by bombing Syria — rather than tackling ISIS.
The Prime Minister of Russia rubbished such claims and retaliated by branding the US “short-sighted and weak” — just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin blasted America’s “unconstructive” stance toward beating the terror group.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Putin Slams US Over Syria as He Claims They Aren’t Interested in Destroying Evil ISIS
Russian president Vladimir Putin has blasted the US by claiming they are more concerned with overthrowing Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad than tackling the evil Islamic State.
Putin’s comments come less than two weeks after he mocked the West for not getting “results”— after Russia claimed it has hit 55 more ISIS targets in Syria.
Speaking in Sochi, the Moscow leader claimed that the Pentagon’s “goal is to get rid of Assad”.
He went on: “Our goal is to defeat terrorism, fight terror, help President Assad defeat terror, thus creating conditions for the start, and, I hope, successful conclusion of the political settlement process.
“I believe this is the only right way.”
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Putin Just Warned Global War is Increasingly More Likely: Here’s Why
Vladimir Putin is basking in Russia’s triumphant return to the world stage.
What began with a land grab in Crimea and escalated with support for the separatists at Donetsk, culminated in Moscow’s dramatic entry into Syria’s protracted civil war.
To be sure, the deplorable (not to mention comically absurd) strategy adopted by the US and its regional allies in Syria set Putin up for success. The situation was highly exploitable by anyone that’s strategically minded and thanks to the convoluted set of alliances Washington has built with groups that later turned out to be extremists, Moscow gets to achieve its regional ambitions while simultaneously fighting terrorism. Meanwhile, Washington, Riyadh, Ankara, and Doha are left to look on helplessly as their Sunni extremist proxy armies are devastated by the Russian air force. The Kremlin knows there’s little chance that the West and its allies will step in to directly support the rebels — the optics around that would quickly turn into a PR nightmare.
All of this has provided the perfect backdrop for Putin to begin what’s amounted to a lecture tour on how to conduct foreign policy.
Soundbites have ranged from very serious commentary on why the West should not employ extremists to bring about regime change to comical jabs at the US and its allies who the Russian President last week accused of having “oatmeal brains” when it comes to Mid-East policy.
Speaking today at the International Valdai Discussion Club’s 12th annual meeting in Sochi, Putin delivered a sweeping critique of military strategy and foreign policy touching on everything from the erroneous labeling of some extremists as “moderates” to the futility of nuclear war.
“Why play with words dividing terrorists into moderate and not moderate. What’s the difference?,” Putin asked, adding that “success in fighting terrorists cannot be reached if using some of them as a battering ram to overthrow disliked regimes [because] it’s just an illusion that they can be dealt with [later], removed from power and somehow negotiated with.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Rossiya Segodnya to Appeal Latvian Agency Refusal in Court
Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency’s Director General Dmitry Kiselev called Latvia’s refusal to register the agency’s office in the country “blatant censorship.”
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency will challenge in court Latvia’s refusal to register the agency’s office in the country, the agency’s Director General Dmitry Kiselev said Friday.
In late August, Latvia refused an application to register a representative office of Rossiya Segodnya in the Baltic state. Later, Chief Notary of Latvia’s Register of Enterprises Guna Paidere decided to uphold the decision, saying it was motivated by the fact that the media outlet’s editorial line does not comply with the Constitution of Latvia and the official position of the government.
“We will challenge in court the decision to refuse registration of our bureau in Latvia. The motivation of the Latvian side is absurd. Essentially, we are forbidden to publish information that does not fit with the official position of the Latvian government. What is that if not blatant censorship?” Kiselev said.
Earlier on Friday, Editor-in-Chief of Rossiya Segodnya Margarita Simonyan said that Latvia needs to generate more employment, but potential jobs are being “successfully displaced” by phobias in relation to Russia.
Since 2014, Russia’s relations with the West have deteriorated over Crimea’s joining Russia and the Ukraine crisis. The United States and the European Union member states, including Latvia, have blamed Russia for interfering in Ukraine’s internal affairs, while Moscow has repeatedly denied the accusations.
Amid conflicting stances on the Ukrainian crisis, a number of media outlets have adopted a one-sided approach to covering the events. The Baltic states have taken harsh stances toward Russian media operations.
Last month, the Estonian border agency denied entry to Rossiya Segodnya’s Multimedia Programs Director Marina Perekrуstova. Earlier this year, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite announced amendments to the country’s media law to counter what it deemed as Russian propaganda.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
India: Intellectuals March Through Delhi Against Climate of Hindutva Intolerance
About 40 intellectuals have returned prestigious literary awards following colleague’s murder for his ideas on worship of Hindu deities and a Muslim “guilty” of eating cow meat. The protesters staged a peaceful protest. The goal is to draw attention to the increasing attacks against those who criticize the radical policies of the Hindu fundamentalists.
Delhi (AsiaNews / Agencies) — This morning about 100 intellectuals, including some of the 40 writers who in recent weeks have returned the prestigious Sahitya Akademi award, marched through the streets of the Indian capital to protest against the growing climate of intolerance against those who dissent from the political fundamentalist Hindutva.
Many of them wore a gag on their mouth and wore black bracelets (see photo). Sharmila Tagore, a famous actress, agrees with the writers gesture and said: “It is a difficult time for India. We see a conflict between modernity and the serious threat of a regression that threatens freedom of expression. “
After the initiative of the writer Nayantara Sahgal, grandson of the first Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, and his colleague Ashok Vajpeyi, a famous poet in India, it has now risen to about 40 the number of intellectuals who have returned their lifetime achievement awards.
This morning protesters also took to the streets and marched to the building of the Sahitya, institute requesting a resolution that appropriate actions are taken to safeguard the freedom of expression of intellectuals and their right to dissent be approved.
The protesting intellectuals are challenging the climate of intolerance that has resulted in the killing of secular writer MM Kalburgi, murdered in late August for his ideas on the worship of Hindu deities and sacred rituals. They also denounce the numerous incidents of violence against religious minorities in the country, such as the case of the Muslim man lynched in Dadri (Uttar Pradesh) because he was suspected of having eaten cow meat.
The protesters also condemned the attitude of the president of the literary institute, Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari, who was described their decision to return the award as “illogical”. Instead, they argued that the peaceful protest today aims to “express [their] anger against the government, which allows these anti-social acts of violence, “ and also “draw attention to assaults on intellectuals”.
In recent weeks in fact, some of these have been subjected to ink attacks because they have criticized the growing racial hatred fueled by radical Hindus that is spreading in the country against which the government of Prime Minister Modi is failing to take a position.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Mohon Kumar Mondal: Bangladesh Arrests Secular Activist After He Criticises Islam Online
Human rights and freedom of speech campaigners have called for the release of a Bangladeshi activist arrested for criticising Islam. Mohon Kumar Mondal questioned the rationality of a devil-dispelling ritual at the annual Hajj pilgrimage, in which 2,110 are believed to have been killed in a stampede in September.
On 26 September, police arrested Mondal, who is also director of environmental NGO LEDARS and president of the local branch of the ruling Awami political party, in Sathkhira, south west Bangladesh. The arrest came two days after a stampede near the holy city of Mecca, in an area where pilgrims gather for a ceremony in which stones are cast at the devil.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Survivor of Alleged Elite Paedophile Ring Including Former Prime Minister Speaks Out
A woman claiming to be the victim of a “VIP paedophile ring”, which involved three former prime ministers, has alleged she was prostituted to “paedophile parties” at Parliament House in Canberra.
Speaking to media in Sydney, Fiona Barnett detailed her alleged abuse by the alleged elite paedophile ring 40 years ago.
The 45-year-old said she was abused by the ring, which included high-ranking politicians, police and members of the judiciary, at the age of five and claimed there were thousands of other victims.
“My experiences were horrific beyond words,” she said. “But the way I’ve been treated for reporting the crimes I witnessed and experienced has been far worse than my original abuse experiences.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Boko Haram Seizes Town on Cameroon-Nigeria Border: Security Sources
Boko Haram Islamists on Friday seized control of a town in the far north of Cameroon which lies on the border with Nigeria, security and regional sources said.
“They now control Kerawa,” a security source told AFP on condition of anonymity, referring to the Nigerian Islamist group.
The information was confirmed by another source close to the regional authorities, who said an unspecified number of civilians had been killed in the assault…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Tanzania: Radicals Threaten to Eradicate Christianity
Three churches in northwest Tanzania were set ablaze on September 22nd by militants, causing everything inside them to burn. Fortunately, no one was injured. “What is worrying us is that the burning of the three churches happened within a span of two hours,” states Pastor Vedasto Athanas of Living Water International Church. “What is even more worrying is that we have been receiving threats from Muslim extremists that they want churches reduced in this area.”
These attacks have come at a time when the church in Tanzania is experiencing extreme growth. The resulting destruction leaves about 850 Christians without their places of worship. “We have lost everything in our churches—the buildings, the chairs and musical instruments,” the pastor added. “Our members have nowhere to worship. We do request prayers at this difficult moment.”
This is not the first time that Tanzanian Christian churches have been burned by extremists. In January, a church building in the Muheza district was also set on fire. Additionally, a woman in this district who converted to Christianity after marrying her Christian husband was beaten and burned by her Muslim parents late last year.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Austria Calls for ‘Fortress Europe’ As Strained EU States Tighten Borders
It seems the strain of the refugee crisis is starting to show on a number of EU countries, with Austrian officials calling for the construction of a “fortress Europe” around the bloc’s external borders to stem the flow of refugees into the region.
Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner made the comments following a visit to Spielfeld in Austria’s Styria region, which has seen the arrival of thousands of migrants, who are placing enormous pressure on local services.
Yesterday police were forced to remove barricades at a refugee camp in the town, which has a population of only 1,000, to allow for more people to stay in an expanded area.
The situation in Austria has also been experienced by Slovenia, where more than 12,000 new arrivals have entered the country over a 24-hour period, surpassing the numbers passing into Hungary at the height of the crisis in September.
Slovenian officials have called on the EU for support as it struggles to control the influx of people who entered the country following Croatia’s decision to open their borders at the end of last week.
The increasing strain placed on countries within the so-called Balkan route has led Austria’s Johanna Mikl-Leitner to call for the EU to control its external borders if a solution to the current situation isn’t agreed upon soon.
Germany Tightening Borders
As local authorities continue to struggle with the mass influx of people, Austria’s police chief Josef Klamminger told broadcaster ORF that the reason for the backlog of refugees and migrants in Austria and Slovenia is due to German efforts to secure its own borders.
“Germany’s restrictions are now affecting Austria and the entire Balkan route, and we are left in a kind of sandwich position.”
Germany’s efforts to stem the flow of refugees and migrants into the country comes as new asylum laws are reportedly set to be introduced one week earlier than originally planned.
Under the new laws, to be implemented on Sunday, authorities will be given power to speed up the process of sending back migrants whose asylum applications have been rejected.
Other measures include tightening the regulations in regards to asylum eligibility and cutting the costs of service delivered to those who have not been granted asylum.
It’s thought that the German government is under pressure to clamp down on the number of refugees in the country, with many local authorities struggling to accommodate the unprecedented influx of people, estimated to reach up to 1.5 million this year.
Recent Events Shows Refugee Backlash
The actions of certain countries tightening their borders in recent times resembles somewhat of a backlash against earlier calls for refugees to be allowed to freely enter EU states and claim asylum.
Commentators have noted that after a period of goodwill, many states are becoming fed up with the lack of action across the bloc and are starting to buckle under the pressure placed on local authorities, witnessed through Germany and Austria’s tightening of borders.
In order to try and address the situation along the so-called Balkan route, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has called an extraordinary meeting with leaders from Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia to discuss what can be done to stem refugee flows.
There is also heavy criticism of the EU as a whole for failing to come up with a universal immigration policy or course of action over refugees, with wide differences in opinion between various EU countries.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Berlusconi Says Will Go to League Rally
‘I’ve been invited’ to Bologna says FI chief
(ANSA) — Madrid, October 22 — Ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi on Thursday said he would attend an anti-government rally by the anti-immigrant and anti-euro Northern League in Bologna on November 8. “I’ve been invited and I think I’ll go,” he said outside the European People’s Party congress in Madrid.
Berlusconi’s centre-right opposition Forza Italia (FI) party, erstwhile government partners of the League, is holding a rally in Florence the same day. FI are in talks to see if they can run together at future elections, as in the past.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Child Refugee Brides as Young as 12 Ordered to Stay With Men They Were Forced to Marry
Child brides as young as 12 have been ordered to stay with the men they were forced to marry after European officials agreed to recognise the partnerships.
It comes amid fears of a paedophilia epidemic inside European refugee camps after a pregnant 14-year-old girl went missing from a Dutch centre.
Fatema Alkasem disappeared along with her 24-year-old husband in August and police are concerned the Syrian girl needs medical care.
The Netherlands is facing an issue of providing asylum to young girls who are married in their homeland but are below the Dutch age of consent.
Dutch asylum centres are reportedly housing 20 child brides aged between 13 and 15, while three a week on average are arriving to the country.
But some have slammed the recognition by Dutch authorities, claiming it condones paedophilia because the age of sexual consent in the Netherlands is 16.
Outraged Dutch Labour MP Attje Kuiken said: “A 12-year-old girl with a 40-year-old man — that is not a marriage, that is abuse.”
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
EU Scheme for 160,000 Refugees Finds Places for Less Than a Thousand
European countries will face legal action unless they take their share of refugees, Jean-Claude Juncker’s office has warned, as new figures show less than a thousand places have been offered for a flagship migrant scheme.
A month after EU leaders voted to relocate 160,000 people around the blocto relieve pressure on Greece and Italy, just 86 refugees have so far been move in three airlifts.
Places for another 854 people have been volunteered from nine countries.
Belgium has pledged 30 spots, Finland 200, France 40, Germany 10, Lithuania 4, Luxembourg 90, Portugal 130, Spain 50, and Sweden 300.
It means the scheme has hit just 0.5 per cent of its target, and without a radical increase in pace it risks being a humiliating failure for Mr Juncker, who with Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande drove the scheme through in the face of resistance from eastern European governments.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Asylum Seekers Make Demands
by Soeren Kern
Asylum seekers are increasingly using tactics such as hunger strikes, lawsuits and threats of violence in efforts to force German authorities to comply with an ever-growing list of demands.
Many migrants, unhappy with living conditions in German refugee shelters, are demanding that they immediately be given their own homes or apartments. Others are angry that German bureaucrats are taking too long to process their asylum applications. Still others are upset over delays in obtaining social welfare payments.
Although most asylum seekers in Germany have a roof over their head, and receive three hot meals a day, as well as free clothing and healthcare, many are demanding: more money, more comfortable beds, more hot water, more ethnic food, more recreational facilities, more privacy — and, of course, their own homes.
Germany will receive as many as 1.5 million asylum seekers in 2015, including 920,000 in the last quarter of 2015 alone, according togovernment estimates. This figure is nearly double the previous estimate, from August, which was 800,000 for all of 2015. By comparison, Germany received 202,000 asylum seekers in all of 2014.
With refugee shelters across the country already filled to capacity, and more than 10,000 new migrants entering Germany every day, Germany is straining to care for all the newcomers, many of whom are proving to be ungrateful and impatient guests.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Horror as Christian Migrant ‘Brutally Beaten With Baton in Refugee Camp’
A migrant was allegedly beaten inside a refugee camp in a brutal attack — for converting to Christianity. The 24-year-old was beaten with a baton by an Afghan man, who declared his conversion was a “sin”, according to police. The alleged attack left the Iranian victim with “serious injuries”, police said.
He is believed to told some Afghan migrants that he had embraced Christianity.
He was reportedly left unconscious as a result of the alleged beating, in which 15 to 20 people were forced to intervene and pull the attacker away.
Officials in Hamburg-Eidelstedt, Germany have launched a probe into the incident.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Toughens up Asylum Rules as Migrants Stream in (2)
Berlin (AFP) — German will toughen up its asylum rules on Saturday, a week ahead of schedule, as it faces an unprecedented number of migrants arriving from Syria and elsewhere.
The new bill, adopted by parliament at exceptional speed, had been expected to take effect on November 1.
But it was published in the country’s legal gazette on Friday, which means it will become operational on Saturday.
Peter Altmaier, the minister coordinating the government’s asylum policy, told ARD television that the move was “a signal” to would-be asylum seekers.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Toughens up Asylum Rules as Migrants Stream in (1)
German will toughen up its asylum rules on Saturday, a week ahead of schedule, as it faces an unprecedented number of migrants arriving from Syria and elsewhere.
The new bill, adopted by parliament at exceptional speed, had been expected to take effect on November 1.
But it was published in the country’s legal gazette on Friday, which means it will become operational on Saturday.
Peter Altmaier, the minister coordinating the government’s asylum policy, told ARD television that the move was “a signal” to would-be asylum seekers…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Heading for Britain: ISIS Sends Assassins Into UN Refugee Camps to Murder Christians.
ISLAMIC STATE (ISIS) assassins are infiltrating refugee camps and MURDERING Christians in their beds, it was claimed today.
The fanatical jihadis are sending teams of trained killers into camps disguised as refugees to kidnap and kill vulnerable Christians.
But refugees are terrified to report many of the killings in case they are targeted next, according to aid workers.
The horrifying tactic emerged after one terrorist got cold feet and renounced jihad after witnessing Christians helping out other refugees within the camp.
He then revealed that he had been sent with an Islamist hit squad to eliminate Christians as part of the hate group’s ideological drive to wipe the religion off the map.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic Radicals Recruiting at Norway’s Asylum Centers
The Norwegian Police Security Service (PST), a domestic intelligence agency, warns that Islamists are recruiting recently arrived illegal migrants at refugee centers.
“We have seen signs that extreme Islamists have approached the reception centers and asylum seekers. They have been there to get contacts. Aside from that, it’s difficult to say what their specific purpose is,” Jørn Presterudstuen of the PST told local media in Norway.
“We are of course worried about recruitment into radical circles: of course we are worried about every single person that may be recruited by extreme Islamists and their cause.”
The manager of a refugee center in Oslo cited one example where “an Islamist who has been in Norway for some years” tried to recruit Muslims.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Islamists ‘Recruiting’ At Norway Asylum Centres
Radical Muslims have been trying to recruit at reception centres for recently arrived refugees, Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) warns.
“We have seen signs that extreme Islamists have approached the reception centres and asylum seekers. They have been there to get contacts. Aside from that, it’s difficult to say what their specific purpose is,” Jørn Presterudstuen from PST told Norwegian news agency NTB.
“We are of course worried about recruitment into radical circles: of course we are worried about every single person that may be recruited by extreme Islamists and their cause.”
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Migrant Crisis: Hungarian PM Viktor Orban Says Refugees Look Like ‘Army’ of Young Men
Hungary’s outspoken, right-wing prime minster has described refugees fleeing Asia, Africa and the Middle East for a safe haven in Europe as an “army” of young men.
Within the EU, Hungary has taken a hardline response to the massive influx of migrants into Europe. Orban’s government has faced criticism from human rights groups following a heavy-handed police response to the refugees and the implication of emergency laws to close the country’s eastern border and empower the police and military to process migrants.
Hungary, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Romania opposed the implementation of refugee quotas to resettle 160,000 refugees across the European Union, to alleviate pressure on frontline nations, such as Italy and Greece.
Speaking at meeting in Madrid, Orban said: “What we have been facing is not a refugee crisis. This is a migratory movement composed of economic migrants, refugees and also foreign fighters. This is an uncontrolled and unregulated process.
“The right to human dignity and security are basic rights. But neither the German nor the Hungarian way of life is a basic right of all people on the Earth,” he added, according to AFP.
“Does it comply with the freedom of information and speech that media usually show women and children while 70% of the migrants are young men and they look like an army?” he asked.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Migrant Arrivals in Greece Hit Record 48,000 in Five Days, Says IOM
Greece has seen a record 48,000 migrants and refugees land on its shores in the space of just five days, the International Organization for Migration said on Friday.
“Despite deteriorating weather conditions, approximately 48,000 refugees and migrants crossed from Turkey to the Greek islands, or about 9,600 migrants and refugees in each of the past five days,” the IOM said in a statement, referring to the period between October 17 and 21.
The number of arrivals peaked on Tuesday when nearly 11,000 people had landed on the Greek islands, the organisation said…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
by Guy Millière
The flow of illegal migrants does not stop. They land on the Greek islands along the Turkish coast. They still try to get into Hungary, despite a razor wire fence and mobilized army. Their destination is Germany or Scandinavia, sometimes France or the UK. Some of them still arrive from Libya. Since the beginning of January, more than 620,000 have arrived by sea alone. There will undoubtedly be many more: a leaked secret document estimates that by the end of December, there might be 1.5 million.
Journalists in Western Europe continue to depict them as “refugees” fleeing war in Syria. The description is false. According to statisticsreleased by the European Union, only twenty-five percent of them come from Syria; the true number is probably lower. The Syrian government sells passports and birth certificates at affordable prices. The vast majority of migrants come from other countries: Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Eritrea, Somalia, and Nigeria.
Many do not seem to have left in a hurry. Many bring new high-end smartphones and large sums of cash, ten or twenty thousand euros, sometimes more. Many have no passports, no ID, and refuse to give fingerprints.
Whenever people flee to survive, the men come with whole families: women, children, elders. Here, instead, more than 75% of those who arrive are men under 50; few are women, children or elders.
As Christians are now the main targets of Islamists (the Jews fled or were forced out decades ago), the people escaping the war in Syria should be largely composed of Christians. But Christians are a small minority among those who arrive, and they often hide that they are Christians.
Those who enter Europe are almost all Muslims, and behave as some Muslims often do in the Muslim world: they harass Christians and attack women. In reception centers, harassing Christians and attacking women are workaday incidents. European women and girls who live near reception centers are advised to take care and cover up. Rapes, assaults, stabbings and other crimes are on the rise.
Western European political leaders could tell the truth and act accordingly. They do not.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Admin Urges Schools to ‘Publicly Demonstrate Support’ For Illegals
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Obama administration is now using the nation’s public schools to enroll as many illegal immigrants as possible in the president’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals amnesty program.
The U.S. Department of Education issued the document “Resource Guide: Supporting Undocumented Youth” to public schools this week in “hopes that educators, schools, and campuses will, as they see fit, draw upon the tips and examples in this Guide to better support undocumented youth and, ultimately, move us closer to the promise of college and career readiness for all.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden Needs to Borrow More, Cut Costs to Meet Refugee Numbers: Finance Minister
Sweden will need to borrow more money and cut costs across the board to meet the expense of record numbers of asylum seekers arriving in the country, Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson said on Thursday.
“It is going to take longer for us to get back to balanced public finances,” Andersson told reporters. “It also going to mean that we are going to need to borrow money.”
Earlier in the day, the Migration Agency said it expected up to 190,000 asylum seekers to arrive in Sweden this year.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden to Tighten Immigration Laws Amid Record Refugee Inflow
Sweden’s ruling Social Democrat-Green coalition and the four parties in the centre-right Alliance opposition agreed to introduce a new category of temporary residence permits for some of the refugees arriving in the country, according to media reports.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Swedish government and four opposition parties reached a deal on Friday to tighten rules on immigration, a day after the state authorities more than doubled their migrant inflow forecast for 2015, The Local news portal reported.
Sweden’s ruling Social Democrat-Green coalition and the four parties in the centre-right Alliance opposition agreed to introduce a new category of temporary residence permits for some of the refugees arriving in the country, the media outlet reported. Families with children and unaccompanied minors arriving to the country are not included in the proposal.
“We have got further than many thought we would. Perhaps even a bit further than we ourselves thought,” Justice and Migration Minister Morgan Johansson of the Social Democrats said, as cited by the news portal.
Parliament also agreed to make it mandatory for all local authorities to take in some of the refugees and to raise the number of migrants Sweden accepts under the EU quota system to 5,000 from the current 1,900, the media outlet reported.
On Thursday, the Swedish Migration Board said the country expects an inflow of 140,000 to 190,000 asylum seekers this year, while in July the agency forecast a total of 74,000 refugees in 2015.
So far in 2015, about 100,000 refugees from war-torn countries in the Middle East and North Africa have arrived in the country amid the major migrant crisis unraveling in Europe.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
by Diana West
Robert Strauss sent in the AFP story headlined, “Merkel says migrant influx a fallout from globalisation,” adding: “If Mark can sound like Walter, Angela can sound like Angela.”
He’s right. That is, just as Mark Dayton, the governor of Minnesota, and Walter Luebcke, a German regional council president, speak as if from the same talking points when lecturing their constituents (if you don’t like the massive waves of Third World immmigration waving over your state/region, leave), there are echoes to be heard in what longtime Communist revolutionary Angela Davis and long ago Communist nomenklatura member Angela Merkel are saying about same.
Davis calls the so-called refugee struggle “the movement that’s challenging the effects of global capitalism.”
AFP reports Merkel sees it as “part of the fallout from globalisation, which, she noted, had served Germany well in terms of exports and jobs.”
Are there differences in the views of the two Angelas? Davis, 71, depicts the “movement” more overtly as a weapon of destruction of “global capitalism.” Merkel, 61, seems to see the influx as a kind of payback for the “fallout” therefrom, “globalisation [having] served Germany well.”
The notion that the West is finally getting what’s coming to it is common to both.
Merkel put it this way to a German metalworkers’ union: “Your experience of globalisation has, until now, basically been: our economy goes into other countries, builds factories, sells products and the results are positive for German employment and business. And now we’re witnessing an inverse movement: globalisation is coming to us.”
No mention of her own encouragment and support for this “inverse movement.” She frames it as inevitable…
| — Hat tip: Diana West | [Return to headlines] |
Unlimited Compassion for Refugees Not Sustainable
As Europe, America, Australia and Canada struggle with the onslaught of endless refugees streaming across their borders, their leaders speak to “compassion” as if it represented the “Holy Grail of Immigration.” However, none of them deals with the harsher reality of the refugee line growing into the millions, in fact tens of millions in the coming decade…
If Western countries save refugees, in the end, they destroy their own countries. It’s a matter of mathematical fact and “carrying capacity” that cannot be compromised. Mother Nature won’t allow such blind stupidities.
In this exclusive interview, Canadian immigration expert Tim Murray speaks above the leaders of Western countries with facts, not emotions. Because, in the end, emotions might make you feel good, but facts will kill you.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Warning Over British Jobs as Calais Migrants Drive Family Businesses to Bankruptcy
THOUSANDS of British jobs are at risk because of the increasingly violent methods used by migrants at Calais, Britain’s top transport boss warned today.
Family-run haulage companies across the country are facing collapse because they cannot shoulder the huge costs caused by rampaging migrants wrecking their lorries.
The Road Haulage Association (RHA) said truckers are being “very badly let down” by Government inaction and warned the ongoing crisis could have a catastrophic effect on the economy.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
We Need to Stop Believing the Myth That Our Economy Needs Migrants
by Leo McKinstry
IMAGINE how Britain would be if the great immigration betrayal of the past two decades had never occurred.
Without the colossal influx of foreigners, now running at more than 630,000 new arrivals a year, our country would be a very different place. Living standards would be higher, unemployment lower.
There would be far less pressure on the NHS, the education system, the transport network and the supply of housing. In a far more cohesive society we would largely be free of domestic terrorism, Islamic radicalisation, predatory sex gangs, sharia law and the burka.
The Union Jack would be seen as a source of pride rather than a cause for offence. We would not have to endure an endless media debate about “British values” because the overwhelming majority of the population would be British, with an instinctive understanding of our heritage, culture and language. But today we live in the midst of a social revolution for which none of us ever voted. Our sense of solidarity has been eroded and our national identity undermined.
Understandably, as the demographic transformation accelerates, many Britons now feel like aliens in their own land. That is certainly the experience of residents in Longford near Heathrow, whose historic village has been swamped by large numbers of asylum seekers from Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
Disillusioned villagers speak of gangs hanging around, damaging local trade and urinating in public. “To have so many in such a small village is overwhelming,” said a Longford pensioner. By far the most offensive feature of the Longford saga was the revelation that seven of the migrants were ferried from the village to new homes in Manchester in a luxurious stretch limousine, at an unbelievable cost of £3,000 to the British taxpayer.
Most people never get the chance to ride in such an expensive vehicle yet here were seven migrants, who have never contributed a penny to the public purse, being ferried across the country like royalty to their new accommodation, again provided by the British public. There could be no more graphic symbol of the utter madness of immigration policy, where all common sense has been catastrophically abandoned.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
A worrisome darkness is settling in over North America and the best place you can be is home before dark.
In a now upside-down world, it’s reached the point where in essence radical Islam and Marxist governments want the same thing for society: the conversion of all Christian souls over to Islam and Marxism. For Islam to advance its Caliphate, for Marxism to make the end justify its means, it’s your very immortal soul that they need.
This two-headed enemy wants you in despair and feeling woefully alone. Politicians of the day like Barack Obama and now Canada’s Justin Trudeau work to make Conservatives and Christians a hated-by-progressives minority to be hounded out of existence.
But there are millions of us and they have an impossibly long way to go to get what they want.
For all of those living in the present willing to take stock, their blueprint is visible, particularly in North America. The devil, prominent in the details as usual, is all show, ever on garish display in the perverse pop culture. He goes to great lengths to show you what’s before you, but never, ever what’s above you.
Killer animals on the rampage are tracked down through their spoor, Satan by the hoof prints he’s leaving all over North America.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia: Aceh Sharia Targets Gays: 100 Lashes for Having Sex With Same Gender
The punishment must take place in public to humiliate the offender. Aceh the only province to outlaw gay relations. Islamic leader: “The law safeguards the dignity of the person.” Human rights activists call for the abolition a “cruel and inhuman” law.
Banda Aceh (AsiaNews / Agencies) — A law that legislates punishment of 100 lashes for gay sexual relations comes into force in Aceh today. According to the “moderate” form of sharia that exists in the semi-autonomous region, “any sexually stimulating bodily contact “ between people of the same sex is now illegal. The law was passed in 2014 amid protests from human rights groups, but it took a year to implement.
Under the norm the beatings must be inflicted with wood rattan [a local palm ed], in public, and must be aimed more at humiliation than to cause pain. Corporal punishment can, however, be replaced by a payment in gold or a prison term.
Homosexual relations are not illegal in the other provinces of Indonesia, which follows a Civil Code inherited from its Dutch settlers. Syahrizal Abbas, Islamic leader of Aceh, says that “the law is aimed at the preservation of human dignity. It is to protect Muslims from committing immoral acts”. The measure also makes adultery punishable with 100 lashes and those who are accused without evidence with 80 lashes.
Aceh province began introducing Islamic law (shari’a) in 2005, following a peace agreement between Jakarta and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in 2001. This form of public punishment is already the norm for gamblers, drinkers of alcohol and those who have relationships with women outside marriage.
Several human rights activists are calling for the abolition of the law. Ismail Hasani, a member of the group “Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace”, defines the measure as “cruel, inhuman and against the constitution.” The government should not interfere in private lives of its citizens but ensure individual rights, such as freedom “.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Wales: Students Try to Stop a Germaine Greer Lecture — Because They Claim She is ‘Transphobic’
A petition has been launched to stop a Germaine Greer lecture entitled ‘Women & Power: The Lessons of the 20th century’ on November 18 at Cardiff University.
Outraged students at the University of Cardiff are trying to ban Germaine Greer from giving a lecture because they claim she “discriminates against the transgender community.”
The 76-year-old author of The Female Eunuch is scheduled to give a lecture entitled “Women & Power: The Lessons of the 20th century” on November 18.
A petition calling for the lecture to be cancelled has reached just over 100 of 200 signatures with many students and residents of Cardiff writing to the university to express their “disgust” at her upcoming talk.
Payton Quinn, a stand-up comic who refuses to be describes as a ‘him’ or a ‘her’ and describes themself as gender fluid, said: “I’ve signed the petition because, while I acknowledge that Germaine Greer has been a great advocate for women’s rights in the past and that she has helped feminism progress, she has always expressed extremely transphobic attitudes.
“For example, when she was a fellow at Cambridge, she opposed the admittance of a transgender colleague to her women’s college because they had originally been born a man, which is just unacceptable.”…Payton continued: “Only recently, Greer said that she doesn’t believe transphobia even exists, and I find it incredibly shocking that the University of Cardiff would allow her to host a lecture even though it is ranked highest on the Stonewall Gay Degree table for the second year running.
“Don’t they have any respect?”
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Also in the news just now:
Arson attack sparks severe blaze at Rowley Regis church.
http://www.expressandstar.com/news/emergency-services/2015/10/23/severe-blaze-rips-through-rowley-regis-church/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowley_Regis
Isn’t the world a lovely place?
There will be an increase in local attacks on both sides. Citizens feel outrage, not only at their government’s inability to protect them, not only their government’s contempt for local cultural values, but their government’s active policy of bringing in those whose religion mandates genocide or conversion.
I cannot recall any other event in history in which a people has been invaded by the planning of its own government where the weapon is an alien population – except in the confiscation of German property and the expulsion of Germans from Eastern Europe after WW2. But in that case, Poles and Czechs weren’t alien to their own lands. In Poland, those living in the Ukraine area were told to catch a train to West Poland and choose any German home that was empty. Sometimes the coffee was still warm on the breakfast table before the Germans had been turfed out. Germans had lived in those lands (Prussia) for 500 years!
I forgot to mention that even today in Poland, no German is allowed to own land, as far as I am aware.
No problem. Who needs to be bought or blackmailed. It’s all about short term cash now. Mad as hatters.
Near to where I go with my family in Western Poland for summer vacations, not far from Poznan, there are quite a few large new houses which, I was told, are owned by Germans.
Although there are some restrictions on (agricultural?) land being sold, in bulk, to foreign citizens, there are many British and Irish citizens who own residential properties in Poland. I’ve not heard of any specific ban on Germans buying up properties and, if there was, I would have thought that Brussels would have had something to say about it, a long time ago!
I believe it was one of the issues brought up before Poland was allowed to join the EU, as well as the possibility of Germans reclaiming their former properties, which Poland completely rejected. Sadly the Prussian Germans were badly treated, not only by the Poles and Czechs and Slovaks, but also by the Jews. It is understandable but some, no doubt, were innocent and hated Hitler.
The only reason I discovered these little known facts was through my own genealogical research as one of my ancestors was Silesian and migrated to Australia in the 1860s, but there has been the utmost difficulty in tracing the family history. The Poles have wiped out 500 years of Prussian rule as though it never existed.
Do you think the Polish areas now in the Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania (eg major cities like Lvov and Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, which before the war was 90% Polish) got treated any different? I’ve not heard of any Poles being entitled to any of their former properties in these areas, either. Neither have I heard of any compensation being given for many of the areas destroyed by the German forces, such as the majority of Warsaw which was razed to the ground (note – not bombed by aircraft or artillery, but systematically razed using flamethrowers) in 1944.
Yes the Germans may have been treated harshly, but many had the “misfortune” to end up in the Capitalist West after leaving – while the Poles only had the option to be under another round of terror and executions, at the hands of the Stalinist security services.
Not the government’s “inability” but downright unwillingness to defend because we are the inconvenient enemy. I can only imagine the eventual outcome.
I agree with you entirely about the Poles’ suffering. I suppose that war brings with it atrocities on all sides! I am myself a great admirer of Polish culture,
“A pro-abortion Catholic, Trudeau”
The above phrase is an oxymoron, in case anyone is not familiar with Catholic doctrine. Mr. Trudeau is not a Catholic, he is a fallen-away former Catholic.
Let me now return to the news, after reading this shocker. . .
His mother was a celebrity nut-case!
‘The myth that our economy needs migrants.’ If this was the 19th century and there was a dire need for factory fodder, then the argument would hold water. But with robots increasingly taking over routine jobs for which little education or language skills are necessary, the argument that we need more unskilled, semi-literate, half-educated migrants is utterly ridiculous.
As it is the Welfare State entitlement programs have strangled economic growth and the global financial empire, harvesting its profits by growing our debt, has finished the economy off completely. The LAST thing we need is more people on State welfare! Unless, of course, the motive is to reduce everyone to the level of a Third World dweller and enforce equality on us – except for the elites who continue to move rapidly in the opposite direction.
The global financial empire needs docile, beaten and cowed wage serfs, and that’s the plan they are implementing.
100% correct!
German-Turkish literary bad boy Akif Pirinçci is in trouble again. After making a stupid, vague but undeniably offensive remark targeting *German politicians* at a Pegida rally (“The concentration camps are unfortunately out of action/ Aber die KZs sind ja leider derzeit außer Betrieb”), the German establishment has come up with an even stupider and considerably more frightening response. Major publishers including Amazon are ‘disappearing’ his latest not very PC book from the shelves and websites. One store has invited the public a book-destruction session. Nope, not a burning, but a shredding. They don’t learn, the Germans, do they? Source in German:
https://jungefreiheit.de/kultur/2015/buchhaendler-boykottieren-neuen-pirincci/