Canadian Prime Minister Justin “Baby Doc” Trudeau said that Donald Trump’s statements about Islam were “ignorant and irresponsible”. Meanwhile, Matteo Salvini, the leader of the Northern League in Italy, described Mr. Trump as “heroic”.
In migration news, an Afghan “refugee” was stabbed to death by a fellow asylum seeker at a shelter in southwestern Germany.
In other news, after seven years the Federal Reserve has finally raised interest rates from 0.25% to 0.50%.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, 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.
Banks Should Not be Forced to Buy ‘Stock’ In the Federal Reserve
A week ago President Barack Obama signed a new highway funding bill that will effectively tax banks and raid the Federal Reserve to pay for new highway spending. That whole ordeal exposed the convenient fiction that the Federal Reserve needs capital. The truth is, however that the Fed doesn’t need capital since it can just create money to pay anything it owes.
Now, several lawmakers on the House Financial Services Committee are trying to do the right thing. Reps. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., and Steve Stivers, R-Ohio, with the support of Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, want to give banks back most of the so-called stock they had to purchase when they joined the Fed.
When joining the Fed, banks are required to buy stock in the Federal Reserve System equal to 6 percent of their capital, with 3 percent held at the banks’ regional Fed (It’s been a requirement since 1913). Because this amount can no longer be used for any other purpose, the Fed pays the banks a 6 percent annual dividend.
Shareholders in a public company can trade or sell their stock, but that’s not the case here. So the amount is really more like a contribution.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Padoan Says Boschi Will Emerge Unscathed From Banks Case
Minister says cabinet colleague has nothing to hide
(ANSA) — Rome, December 15 — Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said Tuesday that he was confident Reform Minister Maria Elena Boschi will emerge unscathed after opposition parties said that they will present non-confidence motions in her over the government’s controversial rescue of four small banks. Boschi’s father was vice president of one of the lenders, Banca Etruria.
“She will come out of this great,” Padoan told the Radio Anch’io station. “She has nothing to hide”.
Padoan also gave a vote of confidence to the Bank of Italy and stock-market watchdog Consob. The two bodies have been accused by some of failing in their oversight duties in the four banks that have been saved by a government-led plan using cash provided by healthy banks. “The institutions are solid and strong,” Padoan told the Radio Anch’io station. “I have total faith in the Bank of Italy and Consob. The oversight activities are not in question”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Draghi Says Reform Must Accompany ECB Measures
ECB chief praises Italy’s insolvency reform
(ANSA) — Rome, December 14 — European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi on Monday praised Italy’s overhaul of its insolvency regulations, because central bank stimulus measures must go hand in hand with structural reforms if the economy is to start moving forward in earnest. “The recent reform of the law that disciplines the state of insolvency should be evaluated positively,” Draghi said. The comments come amid a furore over four small troubled Italian banks that have been saved courtesy of a government decree, although bondholders in the lenders, including many small investors, have lost their money. Draghi also said that unhealthy firms should be not able to do business. “The slow pace of the reabsorption of deteriorated loans prevents the necessary restructuring of the business sector, with companies reducing their debts and investing while others exit the market,” Draghi said. The European central banker added that as much as the ECB is trying to drive the eurozone economy out of the doldrums, much also depends on each country undertaking structural reforms.
“Above and beyond current demand, investments depend largely on business confidence in the future — on how favorable the conditions might be at the micro level, and on growth at the macro level,” Draghi said. He added that for example, cutting back on “administrative and bureaucratic burdens” would also reduce start-up costs and therefore increase the return on investments.
“Reforms improve demand expectations and encourage businesses to invest today,” the European central banker said. “At the end of the day, investments are a bet on the future”.
Draghi said in early December that his massive bond-buying or quantitative easing (QE) program will continue through March 2017 or until eurozone inflation edges up to the 2% area.
The bond-buying program — which is designed to push interest rates down while boosting credit — was launched January 22 and involves 60 billion euros in monthly bond purchases from across the eurozone. It was originally slated to end in September 2016.
Draghi said the QE program will be extended through March 2017 “or as long as necessary”, that it would include purchases of regional and local government paper as well as national government bonds, and that the ECB will reinvest the proceeds.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Padoan Calls for More Optimism, While Warning of Century of Stagnation
Minister says companies should consider investing abroad
(ANSA) — Rome, December 16 — Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan told a meeting of Italian businesses on Wednesday that they had to be “more optimistic and aggressive” while also warning that decades of stagnation was not impossible.
“It is necessary to raise the dimensions of our companies and consider investing outside (Italy), not just inside,” Padoan said during a conference of CSC, the research unit of of industrial employers’ confederation Confindustria.
“The recovery exists, but it’s weak,” he continued. “We are coming off the back of the financial crisis and recession. I’m among those who believe the hypothesis of a century of stagnation is not so far-fetched”. He added that to stop this being the case “we have to support investment”. The minister said the government was doing its bit by moving faster on public investments.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Confindustria Lowers 2015 GDP Estimate to 0.8%
Halving tax evasion could add 3.5% to GDP, say employers
(ANSA) — Rome, December 16 — Industrial employers group Confindustria on Wednesday lowered its Italian GDP growth estimate for 2015 to 0.8% from its previous 1% projection in September. The group also lowered its 2016 estimate to 1.4% from 1.5% and estimated growth of 1.3% in 2017. Confindustria added that if tax evasion in Italy were cut in half and the proceeds returned to taxpayers through lowered taxes and recovered resources, the country’s GDP would see an additional 3.1% in growth and more than 335,000 additional jobs.
It said tax evasion in Italy amounted to 122.2 billion euros in 2015, 7.5% of the country’s GDP.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
US Fed Raises Interest Rates by 0.25%
The US Federal Reserve has raised interest rates by 0.25 percentage points — its first increase since 2006.
The move takes the range of rates banks offer to lend to each other overnight — the Federal Funds rate — to between 0.25% and 0.5%.
The move is likely to cause ripples around the world, and could increase pressure on the UK to raise rates.
It could also mean higher borrowing costs for developing economies, many of which are already seeing slow growth.
Rates in the US have been at near-zero since 2008.
It puts US policy at odds with that in Europe, where even easier borrowing terms are being implemented.
The European Central Bank earlier this month cut overnight deposit rates from minus 0.2% to minus 0.3% and extended a €60bn stimulus programme.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Alert: Congress May Vote Today to Destroy States’ Rights to Protect Our Food Supply
All Americans — conservatives and liberals — want their families to have access to safe food. Polls by ABC news, Associated Press and other major organizations show that Americans overwhelmingly want genetically modified foods (“GMOs”) labeled … and don’t believe that GMOs are safe.
A poll by Pew Research Center finds that two-thirds of Americans think that scientists don’t fully understand GMOs, and therefore cannot guarantee people are safe if they eat genetically modified food
Indeed, most independent scientists — ones not making money from the GMO food manufacturers — say that GMO foods are very concerning.
For example a recent study commissioned by Norwegian officials and conducted by a scientific authority on the safety of biotechnologies concludes GMO crops lack scientific data to prove their safety. And see this.
And a poll shows that 68% of American and Canadian doctors think that GMOs should be labeled.
No wonder Vermont, Connecticut and Maine have voted to require GMO food labels in their states.
So how does our bought-and-paid-for Congress react? By banning GMOs until further studies are conducted? By demanding labeling of GMOs so consumers can decide?
Of course not!
Congress may vote today on a bill today forbidding states from requiring GMO food labeling, or from banning GMOs within their states.
Just like with the TPP, Congress couldn’t care less about what the American people want … or what’s good for the country.
Conservatives support states rights. Liberals support federal action to protect our health. And all Americans support our right to make informed purchasing decisions.
But Congress only answer to its owners.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Chattanooga Shooting a ‘Terror Attack, ‘ FBI Director James Comey Says
The semantic dance of whether or not to call the July mass shooting in Chattanooga a “terrorist” attack appears to be winding down.
FBI Director James Comey twice called the deadly Chattanooga shooting that killed four Marines and one sailor a “terror attack” during a press conference with NYPD commissioner Bill Bratton on Wednesday. Bratton and Comey spoke after addressing the NYPD Shield Conference in New York City.
“We’ve investigated Chattanooga as a terror attack from the beginning,” Comey said. “The Chattanooga killer was inspired by a foreign terror organization. It’s hard to entangle which particular source…there are lots of competing poisons out there.”
That response came as Comey was asked to clarify an earlier statement in which he linked the root cause of the July 16 rampage by Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Kuwait, to the recent Islamic terrorist attack in San Bernardino.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
College Suspends Student for Six Months for Saying Black Women Are ‘Not Hot’
Saying that black women are “not hot” got a Colorado College student suspended for six months — appealed down from 21. The sanction against Thaddeus Pryor was not the only action the school took against offensive comments posted Nov. 9 on the anonymous social-media app Yik Yak: His friend Lou Henriques was expelled.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Feds Ignored Islamic Terror Threat Before San Bernardino to Focus on ‘Right-Wing Radicals’
Numerous DHS, FBI reports downplayed or completely omitted Muslim jihadists.
The federal government deliberately downplayed the threat posed by Islamic terrorism immediately before the recent spate of Islamist terror attacks, ignoring Muslim extremists in favor of hyping the threat posed by radical right-wingers.
In the years leading up to the Boston bombings, the Garland shooting, the Chattanooga attack and the San Bernardino massacre, the FBI, Homeland Security and the Obama White House emphasized the narrative that white supremacists and anti-government Americans were of more concern than Muslim jihadists.
A policy that prohibited Homeland Security officials from checking the social media accounts of foreign visa applicants, while concurrently keeping tags on the social media profiles of American citizens, directly contributed to San Bernardino terrorists Tashfeen Malik and Syed Farook going undetected.
As Chuck Ross writes, “Malik, a Pakistani citizen, reportedly posted pro-jihad messages on her Facebook account while living overseas. But the posts were not discovered even though Malik underwent three separate screening procedures before being granted her green card.”
This failure to check Malik’s social media accounts was justified on the premise that it could be “viewed negatively” from a privacy and civil liberties perspective. However, a DHS directive published in 2011 encouraged agents to “compile reports” on the social media accounts of American citizens which contained discussion of “policy directives, debates and implementations related to DHS.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Flint, Michigan: State of Emergency Declared Over High Levels of Lead in Children’s Blood
For months, worried parents in Flint, Mich., arrived at their pediatricians’ offices in droves. Holding a toddler by the hand or an infant in their arms, they all have the same question: Are their children being poisoned?…
The Hurley Medical Center, in Flint, released a study in September that confirmed what many Flint parents had feared for over a year: The proportion of infants and children with above-average levels of lead in their blood has nearly doubled since the city switched from the Detroit water system to using the Flint River as its water source, in 2014.
The crisis reached a nadir Monday night, when Flint Mayor Karen Weaver declared a state of emergency.
“The City of Flint has experienced a Manmade disaster,” Weaver said in a declaratory statement.
The mayor — elected after her predecessor, Dayne Walling, experienced fallout from his administration’s handling of the water problems — said in the statement that she was seeking support from the federal government to deal with the “irreversible” effects of lead exposure on the city’s children. Weaver thinks that these health consequences will lead to a greater need for special education and mental health services, as well as developments in the juvenile justice system.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Liberal Hispanic Activists Assail Rubio, Cruz as ‘Traitors’ To Their Culture
Liberal Hispanic groups have launched a campaign designed to turn Latino voters against the two Cuban American Republicans who have risen to the top tier of the GOP presidential field — assailing Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz as traitors to their own culture.
Radio and online ads, social media posts and public discussions with Hispanic leaders in swing states are accusing Cruz and Rubio, senators from Texas and Florida, respectively, of fighting against immigration reforms, a minimum wage increase and other changes that millions of Latinos support. Many of the ads equate the two candidates to GOP front-runner Donald Trump, whose sharp rhetoric on immigration has until now drawn most of the attention of Hispanic activists.
Dolores Huerta, an influential labor leader and civil rights activist, called Cruz and Rubio “sellouts” and “traitors” at the gathering and said the Hispanic candidates “are turning their backs on the Latino community.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Prayer Room at Catholic High School in Michigan Sparks Debate
Some parents outside Detroit were questioning a Catholic high school’s decision to allow a special room for Muslim students to pray, Fox 2 reported Wednesday.
Brother Rice High School, an all-boys school in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, reportedly granted a request from Muslim students to use the religious reflection room throughout the day. Roughly a dozen of the school’s 800-plus students are Muslim, according to WXYZ.
One unnamed parent told the news station the room was “unconscionable,” arguing that her son’s paid Catholic education would be “undermined.” Fox 2 reported receiving similar criticism.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
A National Guard soldier who conspired with is cousin to join ISIS and massacre up to 150 people at his military base is facing up to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to providing support to a terrorist organisation.
Hasan Edmonds, 23, of Aurora, Illinois, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to provide material support to ISIS and one count of attempting to provide material support to the same organisation.
His cousin Jonas Edmonds, 30, also admitted the conspiracy charge as well as one count of making a false statement to authorities regarding international terrorism. He is facing a maximum jail term of 23 years when he reappears in court for sentence next year.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Last Friday, in the aftermath of the most recent mass shooting in San Bernardino and the latest attempt by Obama to impose further gun control measures, ostensibly by executive order, we pointed out the one thing, or rather person, who even the NYT begrudgingly admitted in an article on “What Drives Gun Sales” has been the primary driver of gun sales in the US: US president Barack Obama.
The irony in all this, of course, was that just last Friday the stock price of Smith & Wesson hit an all time high on expectations gun sales are about to hit even greater all time highs in the coming weeks.
Alas, as it turns out, Obama is not a fan of efficient market irony and instead of letting the chips on gun control fall where they may especially if it means record stock prices for the shareholders of SWHC and RGR, the president — in pulling a page straight out of the “US Government vs Exxon” in which the company will soon be prosecuted over its Global Warming denials as reported previously — has decided to take his vendetta with US gun makers to the next level and as the NYT reported overnight, “the New York City public advocate on Monday asked federal regulators to investigate whether the gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson had made adequate disclosures in its financial statements.”
One would think that being in compliance with all existing SEC regulatory requirements would be sufficient, but when one is on Obama’s black list there are additional requirements for “adequate disclosure” one must follow, especially the ones that one does not know about because they appear only after the fact.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
US Forces to be Deployed ‘Pretty Hard’ In Foreseeable Future
US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford said that demands on US military personnel will continue into the foreseeable future, given threat levels and the size of the armed forces.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Demands on US military personnel will continue into the foreseeable future, given threat levels and the size of the armed forces, US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford said at a Monday national defense conference in Washington, DC.
“We have been running pretty hard for a long period of time… and I think that is about a fair assumption, we are going to be running pretty hard for some time to come,” Dunford said of the demands on US military personnel.
US forces are currently being deployed for an equal amount of time as they are at home, Dunford said. Given the demands on the military as well as the size of the forces, Dunford stated he “can’t see a time in the near future where that dynamic is going to change.”
The United States has waged a War on Terror since 2001, with major military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and current operations against the Islamic State throughout the Middle East and North Africa.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Conservatives killed the GOP establishment in 1964. The Vietnam War and George McGovern killed the Democratic establishment in 1972.
What is left are elites, collectives of officeholders past and present, donors, lobbyists, think-tankers angling for jobs, party hacks and talking heads.
What the Republican collectivity has to realize is that it is they and the policies they produced that are the reason Trump, Carson and Cruz currently hold an overwhelming majority of Republican votes.
It was the elites of both parties who failed to secure our borders and brokered the trade deals that have de-industrialized America and eviscerated our middle class.
It was the elites of both parties who got us into these idiotic wars that have blown up the Middle East, cost us trillions of dollars, thousands of dead, and tens of thousands of wounded among our best and bravest.
That Republican elites would sit around a dinner table on Capitol Hill and discuss how to frustrate the rising rebellion against what they have done to America, and decide among themselves who shall lead us, is astonishing.
To borrow from the Gipper, they are not the solution to our problems. They are the problem.
[Comment: To put Comrade Hiliary in, Elites would not hesitate to destroy the GOP.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Will Sugar Soon be Genetically Modified to ‘Help Fight Skin Cancer?’
L-fucose, a rare sugar found in seaweed, mushrooms, seeds, and other foods, may help treat skin cancer, experts have revealed.
The sugar was linked to certain cancers and inflammation in previous studies, but a new study suggests that by tinkering with L-fucose metabolism, the substance could stave off the spread of melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer…
The researchers were able to increase fucosylation in lab mice by adding L-sucose to the rodents’ drinking water or by altering their genes. The growth and metastases of tumors slowed in both experiments.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Canada PM Trudeau Calls Trump’s Rhetoric Ignorant
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday U.S. presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s rhetoric on Muslims is ignorant and irresponsible.
Trudeau said painting the Islamic State Group with a broad brush that extends to all Muslims “is not just ignorant, it’s irresponsible.”
Trump has called for a temporary ban of Muslims from entering the U.S. in the wake of attacks in Paris and California.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Austria: 2 Men Arrested, Suspected of Terrorism
Possible connection to Paris attacks
(ANSA) — VIENNA (AP) — Austrian authorities are investigating two men arrested several days ago for possible links to last month’s attacks in Paris that killed 130 people, officials said Wednesday.
State Prosecutor Robert Holzleitner said the two — arrested during the weekend in a migrants’ shelter in Salzburg — are suspected of “participation in a terrorist organization,” with investigations focused on their possible connection to the Nov. 13 attacks. Holzleitner said the suspects arrived in Europe from the Middle East but refused to give further details, saying that would jeopardize the investigation.
The daily Kronen Zeitung said the suspects are French citizens with Pakistani and Algerian roots who were believed to have crossed into Europe with some of those who carried out the Paris attacks. The newspaper said the two entered Austria in October using fake Syrian passports and were waiting for orders to carry out attacks.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Back From the ‘Caliphate’: Returnee Says is Recruiting for Terror Attacks in Germany
Islamist extremist Harry S. wasn’t in Syria for long. But during his stay there, he claims, Islamic State leaders repeatedly tried to recruit him to commit terror attacks in Germany. Security officials believe he could be telling the truth.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Bolzano Italy’s Most Expensive City to Live In
Bologna the cheapest
(ANSA) — Rome, December 14 — The annual cost of living in the northern city of Bolzano rose by 229 euros in November, making it Italy’s most expensive city to live in, a National Consumer Union (UNC) survey showed Monday.
The cost of living fell by 273 euros in Bologna, the cheapest city on the peninsula.
The cost of living rose on average by 93 euros a year for a couple with one child, by 101 euros for a couple with two children, by 85 euros for a couple aged 35 to 64 without children, by 51 euros for a pensioner aged at least 65 and by 55 euros for a single person under 35, the UNC survey said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Bulgaria: Corruption: Border With Turkey, 33 Officers Arrested
Bribes paid to evade vehicle inspections
(ANSA) — SOFIA — Bulgaria’s State Agency for National Security (Dans) has conducted a maxi operation at Kapitan Andreevo crossing, on the border with Turkey and 33 Bulgarian customs officers have been arrested, including the ‘boss’ of the night shift. Interrogations of corrupt customs officers were carried out today. These officers asked car and truck drivers to pay an “inspection fee” known as “No worry, go ahead”, to let them cross the border without checking their vehicles.
The car drivers were forced to pay between 5 and 20 euros, whereas the truck drivers were asked to pay up to 300 euros. The Dans has monitored the criminal group for six months, recording facts and circumstances, in order to carry out the arrests. While searching the homes of those who have been arrested, hundreds of thousands of euros have been seized.
Following the raid, the border crossing remained closed for several hours. The row of trucks waiting at the border was more than 12km long in both directions (Bulgaria — Turkey — Bulgaria).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Burger King ‘To Corner France’s Halal Market’
US fast food giant Burger King, which has taken over the chain Quick in France, is to leave around 40 stores under the original name, which will be turned into “100 percent halal” fast food outlets, according to reports on Tuesday.
Burger King is reportedly going to keep around 40 stores under the name Quick — around ten percent of the total in France — and switch their meat so it is entirely halal, the paper reported.
This means all bacon and pork-based meals will be scrapped from the menu and all the beef and chicken used will be certified halal.
The move is understood to be part of Burger King’s continued attempt to take on McDonald’s — the behemoth of the French fast food world with around 1,300 stores.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Commission Seeks Mandatory ID Checks on All EU Nationals
Biometric data of all EU nationals will be cross-checked with police and security databases upon entering or exiting the EU in a wider effort to crack down on people who travel to Syria and fight alongside jihadists.
The European Commission issued the proposal on Wednesday (15 December) as part of a larger package on borders as the EU attempts to guarantee the future of the passport-free Schengen zone.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Donald Trump is a Hero’: Italy’s Far-Right Leader
The leader of Italy’s far-right Northern League party, Matteo Salvini, hailed US presidential hopeful Donald Trump as ‘heroic’ while speaking at the annual Northern League party in Lombardy, north Italy.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU Threatens to Impose Visas on US Citizens
US citizens may require visas to enter the EU should the United States move ahead with plans to scrap visa-free travel for select EU nationals.
Twenty-eight member state ambassadors to the US made the threat on Monday (14 December) in an op-ed in The Hill after the US House of Representatives voted in support of the Visa Waiver Program Improvement Act of 2015.
The US bill would ban certain EU nationals from entering the US without a visa if they had visited Iraq, Iran, Syria or Sudan after March 2011.
All four are seen as terrorist hotspots which attract “foreign fighters” — radicalised Muslims from Europe.
The US proposal follows the 13 November attacks in Paris by French and Belgian nationals. The terrorists, acting on behalf of Islamic State, killed 130 people and injured scores of others.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Finland: Researchers Cite Islamophobia and World Politics as Radicalisation Factors
Academics at Tampere and Helsinki universities say that Islamophobia and global politics are prime factors in the radicalisation of people who have left Finland to fight in Iraq and Syria. Their interim report on polarisation and radicalisation in Finland was published on Tuesday.
An atmosphere perceived as hostile to Muslims and strong opinions about world politics are the main reasons Finnish fighters have left to join conflicts in Iraq and Syria, according to new research from Helsinki and Tampere universities.
Researchers Karin Creutz, Marko Juntunen and Juha Saarinen interviewed some 20 people with links to people who had left to fight—but not the fighters themselves. They also collected material from Twitter and Facebook.
They found that marginalisation and hostility towards Muslims were the main factors in radicalisation in Finland.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: Bataclan ‘Listed as Terror Target Five Years Ago’
The Paris concert hall where 90 people were killed in the November 13th attacks was singled out as a terror target five years ago, according to reports on Wednesday.
Talk of a possible suicide bombing at the Bataclan concert hall in Paris cropped up at least five years ago, Le Canard Enchaîné newspaper reported.
In early 2009, when Islamist terrorists bombed a bar in Egypt’s Cairo that was full of French students, killing one and injuring dozens.
A French woman who was arrested in connection with the attack reportedly told authorities that her friend was planning to “blow up the Bataclan”.
The woman had noted in her diary that the Bataclan’s “boss is a Jew who is financing the Israeli army”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germans Fear for Europe, Economy, And the Future
An annual survey showed on Wednesday that the German public are increasingly afraid of the future, prompting some to warn of a return to “German Angst” — the country’s pre-2000s tendency to jump at shadows.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: ISIS-Inspired Suspects on Trial for Berlin Embassy Plot
Two men who German authorities say were inspired by ISIS went on trial Tuesday for allegedly plotting to blow up Israel’s embassy in Berlin.
The 21-year-old suspects, one a stateless Palestinian and the other a German citizen of Palestinian origin, sought to detonate “the explosives for an attack on Israel’s embassy or other Israeli institutions,” according to prosecutors. Islamic State videos were allegedly found on the mobile telephone of one.
A spokesman for Berlin’s state prosecutor told FoxNews.com on Wednesday the men were charged with “preparing a massive violent attack with explosives.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Half of Britons Want to Leave the EU: Poll
Half of British voters favour leaving the European Union, a new poll showed Monday, days before Prime Minister David Cameron travels to Brussels for talks aimed at keeping Britain within the bloc.
The ICM poll for the Vote Leave campaign found that 50 percent of voters would choose so-called “Brexit” if undecided voters were excluded from the tally, Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper reported.
The percentage of voters who want to leave the EU had long trailed the number who want to remain according to ICM polls, but the poll’s findings also echo a November 24 survey by ORB International that showed 52 percent of Britons want to quit the 28-member bloc.
Cameron heads to Brussels on Thursday hoping to breathe new life into Britain’s bid to recast its ties with the EU, ahead of a British referendum on membership due by the end of 2017.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary to Issue Yuan Bonds With Chinese Blessing
Hungary said on Wednesday it will issue bonds denominated in yuan, a first for any central or eastern European country.
Hungary hopes the move, based on a memorandum of understanding signed in Beijing by Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Bank of China president Tian Guoli, will help raise money from investors in Asia, especially China.
The Hungarian economy ministry said that the “major milestone” will also lay the foundation for firms and banks in Hungary and eastern Europe to issue bonds in the Chinese currency.
China, the world’s second largest economy, is pushing to give the yuan, also known as the renminbi, the status of a world currency. Last month the Bank of China opened an office in Budapest…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Irish Paedophile Joseph McColgan Goes Into Hiding After Being Tracked Down in Devon
[Warning: Disturbing Content.]
Joseph McColgan (right), 71, from Sligo, Ireland, went into hiding in Brampton (left), a small village in county Devon, after being released early from a 238-year jail sentence for peadophilia.
One of Ireland’s most notorious paedophiles who raped children and tortured them with cattle prods has gone into hiding in the UK after he was spotted Christmas shopping living in a quiet Devon village.
‘Highly dangerous’ Joseph McColgan, 71, was jailed for a record 238 years in 1995 for horrific sex abuse against children.
He was freed in 2004 after serving just nine years and moved to secret new addresses in the UK where he was spotted in various locations across Devon and Cornwall.
It has now emerged he has spent the last three years in picturesque Bampton where he posed as a friendly Irish pensioner and lived close to a school.
Unsuspecting locals said they had no idea of his true identity until a shop-assistant recognised him from a photo she had seen in the press as he tried to buy presents…
McColgan was originally jailed for raping and abusing children for two decades in his native county Sligo.
He repeatedly raped and battered them with his blackthorn stick until they bled.
His daughter Sophia McColgan bravely waived her right to anonymity and published a book about the horrific abuse she suffered at his hands from the age of six until 21…
Authorities say he has now been taken away from his latest Devon hideaway and moved to a new location for his ‘own safety.’
It is also understood that McColgan was confronted by an angry parent and threats were made against him by others if he didn’t leave the village.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Men Shout ‘God is Great’ And Grab Soldiers’ Guns
Two men were arrested on Tuesday after attempting to disarm soldiers outside a cathedral in Rome.
The men, from Tunisia and Palestine and homeless in Rome, allegedly tried to snatch the soldiers’ machine guns outside Santa Maria Maggiore cathedral, while shouting “Allah (God) is great”, Il Messaggero reported.
The soldiers were among the hundreds deployed to patrol the capital in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks in November.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Rome’s Israelite Hospital Risks Closure Says Commissioner
Bureaucracy delaying reopening after fraud probe
(ANSA) — Rome, December 15 — The Israelite Hospital of Rome risks closure due to excessive Italian bureaucracy, its commissioner Alfonso Celotto told ANSA on Tuesday.
The hospital’s former administration were caught up in an investigation into major fraud of Italy’s national health system, which led to several arrests of senior officials and medical personnel in October.
Celotto said the hospital was facing bureaucratic delays to reopening after the Lazio region asked for an additional commissioner to be installed. The candidate chosen for this post is a magistrate and needs approval from judicial authorities.
“Bureaucracy is killing the Israelite Hospital of Rome and it risks not being able to take up its operations again and having to lay off 700 employees if a solution is not found before Christmas,” Celotto said.
The hospital has been closed for almost two months and is losing thousands of euros a day, he said.
It is the only hospital in Rome that has a synagogue and offers kosher food, he said. It has historic ties to Rome’s Jewish community but serves people of all faiths and ethnicities.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: CGIL Proposes New Workers’ Statute
Via citizens initiative bill
(ANSA) — Rome, December 14 — Italy’s biggest and most left-wing trade union federation, CGIL, said Monday it would propose a new Workers’ Statute introducing universal labor rights.
The proposal for a Charter for Universal Labor Rights is set out in a citizens’ initiative bill to be put to union members for approval early next year. The bill aims to “broaden, expand and integrate” Italy’s existing Workers’ Statute of 1970, key parts of which have been watered down by the government’s recent Jobs Act labour market reform.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Two Ex Banca Etruria Managers in Conflict of Interest Probe
Last chairman Lorenzo Rosi and ex board member Luciano Nataloni
(ANSA) — Arezzo, December 15 — Two former Etruria Bank managers have been placed under investigation on suspicion of conflict of interest, prosecutors said Tuesday.
The suspects are the bank’s last chairman, Lorenzo Rosi, and the former board member Luciano Nataloni, ex deputy chairman of Banca Del Vecchio. They are being probed in the third strand of an investigation that has also concerned allegations of false invoicing and obstruction of oversight. Rosi and Nataloni were named in an official report drawn up by Bank of Italy inspectors following checks. The inspectors alleged a conflict of interest for Rosi in relation to the cooperative ‘La Castelnuovese’ that he chaired. Nine separate allegations of conflict of interest were moved against Nataloni. Banca Etruria is currently under the spotlight as one of four failed banks recently rescued by the government. Last week pensioner Luigi D’Angelo, 68, hanged himself after losing his life savings in now worthless Banca Etruria bonds.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Loyal to NATO Renzi Tells House
Relations with U.S. ‘stronger than ever’
(ANSA) — Rome, December 16 — Premier Matteo Renzi told the Lower House Wednesday that Italy’s long-standing loyalty to NATO does not impede an ability to engage in dialogue with others outside the pact.
The center-left premier added Italy’s relationship with the United States “has never been stronger than in the past two years”. Renzi came to power in 2013.
“Our tradition, history, faith and loyalty is towards the Atlantic Pact and this is not in contrast with our capacity for dialogue, for listening and for being balanced,” he told MPs ahead of the next summit of European leaders on December 17 and 18.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: At Least 75% of Doctors on Strike Say Unions
Some 40,000 surgeries postponed
(ANSA) — Rome, December 16 — At least 75% of Italy’s doctors, pediatricians and public sector vets are taking part in Wednesday’s physicians strike, unions said.
Alessandro Gargallo, the head of anesthetists union AROI, said that 40,000 surgeries have been postponed nationwide due to the action. “We managed to guarantee cover for emergencies without any problems,” Gargallo added during a demonstration at Rome’s San Camillo hospital.
ANAAO hospital doctors union chief Domenico Iscaro said the rank and file are “deeply disappointed” by the government’s budget bill because far from guaranteeing 6,000 additional jobs, it fails to put a number on the new hires and it also fails to provide financial coverage for them. “The resources are supposed to come from regional savings but we have no idea how any such savings can be made, given that the national health service is being financed with just one billion euros instead of five billion as laid out in the health pact (with the government)”.
Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin on Wednesday said that the resources for hiring are there.
“We worked on an estimate of 329 million euros for 6,000 hires, half doctors and half nurses,” she said.
“The numbers could change based on regional requirements, which will be submitted in February — but the resources for hiring are there, because the national health fund is 1.3 billion euros higher than it was last year”.
The government’s reforms will generate savings that can be reinvested in the health care system, Lorenzin said.
But there must be a will to apply the reforms, she said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Squinzi Says Worst Competitor is Tax Evader
Confindustria says tax evasion blocks country’s development
(ANSA) — Rome, December 16 — Giorgio Squinzi, president of industrial employers group Confindustria, on Wednesday said the worst business competitor is one who doesn’t pay taxes or tries to avoid paying taxes. “Confindustria and its associates are always ready to pay taxes, to contribute to the economic, civil and social growth of the country,” Squinzi said at the closure of the conference of the group’s research centre, which said tax evasion holds back the country’s economic development. It said evasion in Italy amounted to 122.2 billion euros in 2015, 7.5% of the country’s GDP.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Joining the ‘Gold Rush’ With Italy’s Tuscan Truffle Hunters
I’m in the Tuscan town of San Miniato for the November “gold rush,” when the Italian white truffle comes into season. This rare white fungus is as fabled as Moby Dick, and just as elusive.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Military Action Not Best Way to Stop Terror Says Boldrini
House Speaker calls for European basic minimum income
(ANSA) — Rome, December 16 — Lower House Speaker Laura Boldrini on Wednesday said that the military intervention is not the best way to fight terrorism.
“Once you bomb a target, who intervenes on the ground? Which forces? No one can give an answer. Bombing becomes an exercise in responding to public opinion rather than for getting results,” she said.
Boldrini also told reporters that was in favour of an new European wide benefits system to ensure a universal basic minimum income.
She said such a measure “would change the perception towards Europe”. “In the debate on the eurozone, one could even think of imposing social measures, and among these are the European basic income or an EU tax to allocate to needy citizens,” Boldrini added.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Poland 7.2 Billion Exports to Italy, 4 Companies Awarded
Oknoplast, Pesa Bydgoszcz, PolskiKoks, Pini
(by Cristiana Missori) (ANSA) — ROME — The Polish economy grows by an average of 3.5% a year and its global exports grow, too (about half of its GDP). In particular, exports to Italy are growing: in 2014, exports more than doubled, reaching a turnover of about 7.2 billion. The Polish Embassy in Rome awarded the four best companies in the country: in the construction industry, electromechanical products, raw materials and food products. The Prize “Centaur” is a sort of “Academy Award” for the best exporting companies (to Italy). The first one is Oknoplast — a leading European manufacturer of PVC doors and windows — which has been active in the Italian market for 9 years (exports last year, 35 million euros). Pesa Bydgoszcz, Poland’s largest train-manufacturing company, won the award for its electromechanical products. As a provider of raw materials, the company PolskiKoks SA has been awarded for reaching a sales volume of about 4 million tons of coke and about 16 million tons of coal per year (28,000 jobs). In the food sector, the award was won by Pini Poland Sp. Z o. o., which is among the top three producers of sausages and smoked meats in the EU (exports to Italy, about 61.5 million).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Prominent Italian Communist Cossutta Dies at 89
Cossutta joined PCI in 1943, took pro-Soviet Union stance
(ANSA) — Rome, December 15 — Armando Cossutta, a leading figure of the former Italian Communist Party (PCI), died in Rome on Monday at the age of 89.
Cossutta joined the PCI in 1943 and was active in the Italian Resistance Movement during World War Two. In the post-war period, he became one of the PCI’s most prominent figures, and represented the most pro-Soviet Union part of the party.
“With the passing of Armando Cossutta we have lost one of the most significant personalities in the history of the PCI,” said former premier and PCI member Massimo D’Alema.
Cossutta helped found the present-day Communist Refoundation Party PRC in 1991, after opposing the dissolution of the PCI. He then left the PRC due to disagreements and formed the Party of Italian Communists.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Secular Swedes Cheer First Saint in 600 Years
A Swedish nun who rescued several Jews in Rome during World War Two is set to become the Nordic country’s second saint — more than six centuries after her predecessor Saint Bridget.
Representatives of Pope Francis announced plans on Wednesday to canonize Elisabeth Hesselblad, whose portrait already hangs in St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. She will be following in the footsteps of Saint Bridget (Birgitta), who was canonized in 1391.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Switzerland: Winterthur Mosque Boss Fights Off Criticism
Keeping tabs on worshippers who may be problematic is not part of a mosque leader’s job, according to the president of the Swiss mosque that once hosted at least three jihadists.
Atef Sahnoun, president of the An’Nur mosque in Winterthur, appeared on Swiss public television, SRF, on Monday night. During the live half-hour interview, show host Roger Schawinski quizzed Sahnoun about the controversy surrounding his mosque, citing, for example, the need to find out how those three youths had been radicalised, and by whom.
“Yes, but that’s not my job,” replied Sahnoun, despite Schawinski’s insistence that the head of the mosque should know what is going on.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK Voters Will Not Automatically be Told if an MP is Arrested
A committee of MPs claims that the current practice of parliament automatically announcing an arrest is ‘incompatible with the right to privacy’ after a review was order by Commons Speaker John Bercow.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘Arrogance’ of Doctors Still Using Banned Liverpool Care Pathway
Concerns over the abolished Liverpool Care Pathway has prompted NICE to issue new guidelines reminding hospital staff not to make ‘snap decisions’ on patients near death.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Police Accused a Young Girl Lying When She Reported Sexual Abuse
The 12-year-old was living in a social services run children’s home in the Rotherham area when she told a member of staff about abuse by older Asian men and police were alerted.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Rotherham Grooming Victim Was Abused Daily and Used to Settle Debts, Jury Told
Prosecution catalogues alleged abuse of 12 girls in grooming ring led by seven people in first trial since Jay report into child sexual exploitation
A teenage girl abused by the Rotherham grooming ring was forced into daily sexual relations with men for years and used as a commodity to settle her abuser’s debts, a court has heard.
The girl, who was in and out of care from the age of 12, was allegedly taken around the country and made to perform sexual acts up to three times a day on different men, becoming pregnant twice, once when she was only 14.
The catalogue of alleged abuse, which spanned more than a decade from 1990 to 2003, was said to have been masterminded by Basharat’s brother, Arshid Hussain, 40, who is facing 29 counts relating to nine girls. The court heard that he passed the lead victim to his brother and friends and arranged her abuse in flats, garages and houses in the Rotherham area and in London.
The violence against her allegedly became regular and no one in the victim’s care home expressed concern when she returned bloodied or shaken from encounters, the jury was told. On one occasion, it is alleged she was bundled into the boot of a car and taken to a house in Tottenham, north London, where she was abused by five men, all in their 20s.
“Afterwards she was driven back to Rotherham and ‘Mad Ash’ (Arshid Hussein) told her he loved her,” said Colborne. She tried to say no to the abuse, but eventually knew that to resist was to invite more violence and “protracted” attacks, the court heard.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Vatican Must ‘Deliver Real Results, ‘ Moneyval Says
‘Technical deficiencies addressed,’ anti-laundering agency adds
(ANSA) — Strasbourg, December 15 — The Vatican has brought most of its laws into line with international standards on money laundering and financial transparency but the new rules need to be applied, Moneyval, the Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering agency, said in a report published Tuesday.
“The Holy See has addressed most of the technical deficiencies in its legislation and regulations,” Moneyval said.
However the anti-money laundering system now needs to “deliver some real results” in terms of trials, convictions and confiscations. This is the second report issued by Moneyval on progress made by the Vatican in cleaning up its finances since the agency issued a series of recommendations in 2012.
Pope Francis has made reforming the financial administration of the Holy See a central part of his papal agenda and pressure has risen to pursue the task following the Vatileaks 2 leaked documents scandal and the related publication of two controversial books documenting alleged Vatican waste and mismanagement and lavish spending by clergymen.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Young White Men Are the Most Derided Group in Britain, Study Finds
YouGov data from 48 separate surveys has shown that young white men are seen as the worst ethnic, gender or age group almost across the board.
Young, white men are the most derided group in Britain, according to a YouGov study. People were asked for their views on different groups of differing ages, genders and ethnicities.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Soros Aided CIA Operations in Balkans and Moldova Region
by Wayne Madsen
The same CIA-Soros cooperation can be seen today in the promotion of radical Wahhabist Islam.
A former Central Intelligence Agency clandestine service officer revealed to WMR that the CIA worked closely with George Soros-financed non-governmental organizations in the former Yugoslavia to ensure the power of Serbians was limited and the influence of Muslims, some with ties to global jihadism and organized crime, was advanced.
The CIA cooperated with Soros operatives in Banja Luka, the capital of the Srpska Republic, now a constituent part of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The admission that the CIA worked together with Soros is noteworthy since previous reports of Soros-CIA cooperation have all been dismissed as baseless “conspiracy theories.”
According to our source, the CIA-Soros operations in Banja Luka were primarily aimed at marginalizing the influence of the pro-nationalist Serbian media and promoting “liberal” Serbian media operations opposed to uniting Bosnian Serbs with their kin in the Republic of Serbia, then a constituent part of Yugoslavia.
The chief target of the CIA-Soros media operations were “hardline areas” of Bosnia-Herzegovina, meaning Serbian nationalist strongholds.
Chief Bosnian Serb media targets were “Srpski Glas” magazine and Banja Luka SRT (Bosnian Serb TV).
Much of the Soros funding for the CIA media influence campaign was routed through Bosnian Serb banks acquired by Soros.
These included Pionir of Banja Luka, Nest-Bank of Laktasi, Prior-Bank of Brcko, Jozo-Comerce of Cacak, and the Resavsa Bank of Despotovac, all in the Bosnian Serb Republic.
Soros and the CIA also set about to rebuild mosques in Banja Luka and its surroundings destroyed in the civil war…
The encouragement by the CIA and Soros also led to the radicalization of Muslim population sectors of Bosnia-Herzegovina, the neighboring Muslim majority Serbian region of Sandjak, remaining Muslim pockets in the Republic Srpska, and Albanian regions of Macedonia and Montenegro.
The same CIA-Soros cooperation can be seen today in the promotion of radical Wahhabist Islam in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Turkey, Libya, and other countries.
The roots of this unholy alliance of the CIA, Soros, and Wahhabists has its roots in the media and propaganda operations in the former Yugoslavia and the Bill Clinton administration.
The Soros-CIA operation in Bosnia and Banja Luka eventually brought to Bosnian Serbian audiences TV Pink, which introduced the Serbian version of the U.S. reality “junk TV” show, “Big Brother.”
Other TV Pink offerings, in keeping with Soros’s and the CIA’s promotion of destabilizing non-traditional life styles, presented homosexuality and bisexuality in a positive light.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
British Point to Saudis as Islamic State Posts Are Discovered on Government IP Addresses
British government has long track record supporting and sheltering terrorists.
Hackers have traced Islamic States social media posts back to the British government.
The posts are from internet addresses linked to the Department of Work and Pensions. The British, however, have an explanation for this: the government says it sold a large number of internet addresses to Saudi Arabia.
“Westminster said it could not control the use of these addresses, which originally belonged to the Department of Work and Pensions, amid fears they may have allowed ISIS extremists to connect to the internet and spread their message of hate,” the Mirror reports today.
“The government owns millions of unused IP addresses which we are selling to get a good return for hardworking taxpayers,” said a Cabinet Office spokesperson.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Did Saudi Arabia Just Clear the Way for an Invasion of Syria and Iraq?
And now, a further turn for the absurd…
While it’s still far from common knowledge among the Western public that Washington’s closest allies in the Mid-East are funding, arming, and otherwise enabling the Sunni extremists (including ISIS) battling for control of Syria and working to destabilize Iraq, the massacre that unfolded earlier this month in San Bernardino has managed to focus some much needed attention on the role Saudi Arabia plays in promoting extremism.
As we noted in the immediate aftermath of the California mass shooting, the fact that Tashfeen Malik spent 25 years in Saudi Arabia living with a father who, according to family members who spoke to Reuters, adopted an increasingly hardline ideology as time went on, underscores the fact that the puritanical, ultra orthodox belief system promoted by the Saudis is poisonous. That’s not a critique of Islam. It’s a critique of Wahhabism and the effect it has on the minds of those who are inculcated by Saudi culture.
Here’s an excerpt from “Saudi Arabia Is Underwriting Terrorism. Let’s Start Making It Pay,” by Charles Kenny:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Eight PKK Militants Killed in Southeast Turkey
Eight members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) have been killed in fighting with security forces in the southeastern town of Cizre, as the army launched major operations backed by curfews against urban-based PKK militants.
Open-ended curfews have been declared in both Cizre and Silvan, the latest in a succession of such measures across southeastern Turkey.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy to Send 450 Troops to Protect Iraq Dam
Italy is to send 450 troops to defend Iraq’s strategic Mosul dam, near the city occupied by Islamic State group fighters, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi announced.
Mosul, Iraq’s second city, has been occupied by IS jihadists since June 2014. Kurdish forces, backed by US air strikes, retook the dam from IS in August 2014.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Govt Defends Move to Deploy Troops to Mosul Dam
Soldiers to protect dam near ISIS stronghold, Trevi to fix it
(ANSA) — Rome, December 16 — Premier Matteo Renzi on Wednesday defended his government’s decision to deploy 450 military personnel to defend Iraq’s damaged Mosul dam while an Italian company shores it up.
“On the military level we’re doing the things that are really useful, and rebuilding the Mosul dam is key — we can do it because we’re among the best in the world,” he told privately held RTL radio earlier today.
Italy’s Trevi SpA, which among other things specializes in foundations for dams and bridges, said Wednesday it is in the final phases of negotiation with the Iraqi government for an 18-month contract for “emergency work” on the dam, to begin immediately.
This will be followed up with a “permanent solution to consolidate the dam,” Trevi said in a statement.
The earthen embankment dam was built in 1984 on top of gypsum, a soft mineral which dissolves in water. Continuous maintenance is required to grout it and keep it from falling apart.
Renzi announced the move Tuesday on RAI public broadcaster’s Porta a Porta talk show. The Mosul dam lies near territory held by the Islamic State (ISIS) extremist insurgency, he said. “It is seriously damaged and if it collapses Baghdad would be destroyed,” the premier explained.
American military will also be deployed to protect the dam, Renzi said.
US President Barack Obama on Monday called on the international community to do more to fight ISIS, citing Italy as being among the countries that are already stepping up to the job.
Also on Wednesday, Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti said the troops will not go to Mosul in a combat capacity.
“We are not going to fight, but to intervene to preserve a dam — a piece of infrastructure that is essential to the future of Iraq and one that if abandoned, runs the risk of causing an environmental disaster, “ she told RAI’s Agora talk show.
“Our troops are going to protect the work of the Italian company that will carry out the intervention on the dam”.
Located on the Tigris River upstream of the city of Mosul, the dam built in 1984 by a German-Italian consortium under late dictator Saddam Hussein is ranked the fourth largest in the Middle East. ISIS held the dam for several weeks in summer 2014, until Kurdish Pershmerga fighters and the Iraqi army recaptured it with assistance from US air strikes. “The problem with the Mosul dam is that it was built on rocks containing plastery material which dissolves in the presence of water,” said Carlo Crippa, Trevi’s area manager for Iraq.
“If cracks open up it worsens the condition of the foundation rocks. It’s necessary to intervene by drilling holes and pouring in cement mixtures.
“It was neglected recently and now an emergency intervention is needed”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Qatar Hunters Abducted in Iraq Desert by Gunmen
Gunmen have kidnapped at least 27 Qatari hunters — including members of the ruling family — in a desert area of Iraq near the Saudi border, say police and the local governor.
The attackers were driving dozens of four-wheel drive vehicles when they swept into the hunters’ camp at dawn on Wednesday, officials said.
The remote area where the incident took place is highly tribal in nature and a Shia region, reports the BBC’s Jim Muir in Beirut.
The Shia political parties which dominate the Iraqi government are highly critical of Qatar’s role in supporting Sunni rebels in Syria — so this is bound to be a serious diplomatic incident, he says.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Proves Turkey is Smuggling ISIS Oil Across Border
American media twists the narrative once again
Russian Federation has unveiled what it describes as proof that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his family have benefited from the illegal smuggling of oil from Isis-held territory.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi-Led Sectarian Alliance to Target Minorities as Terrorists — NGO
Organisation for Democracy and Freedom in Syria director said that Saudi Arabia’s 34-nation anti-terror coalition is a sectarian formation that will likely target Islamic minorities.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik), Leandra Bernstein — Saudi Arabia’s 34-nation anti-terror coalition is a sectarian formation that will likely target Islamic minorities, Organisation for Democracy and Freedom in Syria director Ribal al-Assad told Sputnik.
“In a way, they are looking to create a sectarian alliance to fight whoever they perceive today as a threat,” Assad said on Tuesday of the Saudi-led anti-terror alliance.
On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia announced the creation of the alliance that includes participation from Turkey, Qatar, Pakistan, Libya, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and a number of other nations.
According to Saudi authorities, the alliance intends to “counteract terrorism, which became a threat to the interests of the Islamic nation.”
Assad, a London-based human rights director and cousin of Syrian President Bashar Assad, explained that the Saudi-led coalition will be used “to go after groups which they [coalition members] deem their enemies.”
The targeting of minorities will be presented under the guise of countering Islamic extremism, he warned, adding, “This is actually very dangerous.”
“Tomorrow they will tell you any minority groups, they are our enemies, they are the terrorist groups. The Shia in this country are terrorist groups, or the Druze, or the Alawites, they are the terrorist groups,” Assad argued.
The Saudi coalition is made of largely Sunni Muslim nations and excludes participation from Iran, Shia-led Iraq and Israel. The United States and a number of other Western countries have expressed support for the coalition.
On Tuesday, the US Department of Defense stated it believes the Saudi-led coalition will contribute more substantially to the campaign against Daesh, which is also known as Daesh.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Man’s Family Calls for Divorce After Wife Kisses Camel
The family of a man in Saudi Arabia is demanding he divorce his wife after she was caught kissing a camel, Gulf News reports.
The man’s mother has accused her daughter-in-law of violating religious and social conventions, prompting a mass family dispute.
The woman has defended the intimate exchange, insisting the kiss was innocent and claiming her mother-in-law is using it as an excuse to separate the couple because she has yet to give her grandchildren.
Meanwhile, the man has refused his mother’s wishes and believes his wife did nothing wrong, Gulf News adds.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Small Army of ISIS Tax Collectors Keeping Cash Flowing Into Terrorists’ Hands
A robust taxation system across Islamic State territory is ensuring that oil isn’t the only source of money flowing into terrorists’ coffers, an investigation reveals.
Even if coalition airstrikes succeed in bringing down ISIS’ production of oil — which nets the terror group an estimated $450 million in revenues each year — a small army of tax collectors is raking in nearly as much, the Financial Times reports.
“They leave no source of money untouched — this is their lifeblood,” Omar, a Syrian rebel commander who ran military operations with ISIS for a year before fleeing to Turkey, told the newspaper.
Western intelligence officials, former ISIS fighters and Syrians and Iraqis within ISIS-held territory say the group’s zakat tax, which is a form of almsgiving in Islam, is keeping its economy churning.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Horrifying Truth Americans Are Not Being Told — Islamic Cannibalism, Kuru and the End Days
On December 15, 2015 a four minute clip that originated on The Savage Nation on December 11, 2015, where Michael Savage plays two short sound bites of testimony goven before Congress on Wednesday December 9, 2015. The testimony was given by Chairman of the Yazidi Human Rights Organization, Mirza Ismail, at a hearing on assisting victims of ISIS.
“According to many escaped women and girls whom I talked to in Northern Iraq, the abducted Yezidis, mostly women and children, number over 7,000. Some of those women and girls have had to watch 7-, 8-, and 9-year-old children bleed to death before their eyes, after being raped by ISIS militia multiple times a day,” said Ismail.
“I met mothers, whose children were torn from them by ISIS. These same mothers came to plead for the return of their children, only to be informed, that they, the mothers, had been fed the flesh of their own children by ISIS. Children murdered, then fed to their own mothers. “
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
The Unexpected Explanation How “That Ford Truck” Ended Up in ISIS Hands
Here is what happened:
On October 23, 2013, Mark Oberholtzer entered into a transaction with Charlie Thomas Ford, in which he traded-in his old 2005 Ford F-250 pickup truck for a newer 2012 Ford F-250 pickup truck. Promptly thereafter, the vehicle was listed as a dealer vehicle sold at a Texas auto auction on November 11, 2013 Less than a month later, on December 18, 2013 the vehicle was exported from Houston, Texas and imported to Mersin, Turkey. Less than a year later it was in the documented possession of the Islamic State. So once again the “missing link” supplying ISIS emerges as none other than Turkey.
For those to whom the Turkey-ISIS connection comes as a surprise, we urge you to reread:
Meet The Man Who Funds ISIS: Bilal Erdogan, The Son Of Turkey’s President ISIS Oil Trade Full Frontal: “Raqqa’s Rockefellers”, Bilal Erdogan, KRG Crude, And The Israel Connection Russia Presents Detailed Evidence Of ISIS-Turkey Oil Trade And while NATO-member Turkey supplying ISIS with funding, supplies, weapons or equipment is hardly groundbreaking news, the Ford “clue” poses new and important questions, such as:
who is the Turkish party that ordered and paid for the Ford truck’s transfer to Turkey, and subsequently received compensation from the Islamic State in the subsequent resale? which is the US party which transacts with Turkish counterparts, who ultimately ship US products to Islamic State fighters? is the US party aware that its Turkish counterparty has dealings with ISIS what is the role of the US government in all of this, because it would be surprising that an administration that has sworn it would crack down on all outside assistance to the Islamic State would be unaware that “made in the USA” trucks ended up in the Islamic State by way of its faitful NATO ally, Turkey. how many other such vehicles sold in the US and exported to Turkey, have made their way to the Islamic State We are confident that it will be relatively easy for any aspiring reporter to track down the US-based exporter of the Ford truck (and thus recipient of Turkish funds), just as it will be facile to uncover who was the Turkish buyer who signed the receipt invoice in Mersin, Turkey. What may be more difficult to uncover is whether the governments of the US and Turkey, respectively, were or are appraised about transactions such as this one, and if not, then why not?
We hope to be able to answer as many of the above as possible in the very near future.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey to Set Up Qatar Military Base to Face ‘Common Enemies’
Turkey will establish a military base in Qatar as part of a defence agreement aimed at helping them confront “common enemies,” Turkey’s ambassador to Qatar said on Dec. 16.
Establishment of the base, part of an agreement signed in 2014 and ratified by Turkey’s parliament in June, intensifies the partnership with Qatar at a time of rising instability and a perceived waning of U.S. interest in the region.
The two countries, both economic heavyweights, have provided support for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, backed rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and raised the alarm about creeping Iranian influence in the region.
Both have condemned Russia’s intervention on the side of Assad’s forces fighting in Syria.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey Detains 27 Russian Commercial Ships in Retaliation
As Russia has detained eight commercial ships flying Turkish flags in the Black Sea since the jet crisis erupted between the two countries, Turkey has detained a total of 27 Russian ships in a retaliatory move, as reported by daily Habertürk on Dec. 16.
The diplomatic crisis between Russia and Turkey has continued to result in economic ramifications since Nov. 24 when the Russian jet was downed by Turkey. One of these areas is marine trade, according to sources close to the matter.
Sources told daily Habertürk that Russia detained a total of five commercial ships with Turkish flags “in line with the Black Sea Memorandum” in the week following the jet incident.
“The number of detained Turkish ships has reached eight as of Dec. 15,” sources claimed.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Yazidi Slave Child Forced to Join ISIS Ahmed Aslef Reveals How He Lived
Ahmed Aslef was just ten years old when jihadi gunmen stormed the Iraqi village of Kocho, lined them up beside a ditch and massacred around 800 men, women and children last year.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Iranian Fruits to Replace Turkish Imports in Russian Market?
With the standing Russian ban on food and other imports from Turkey showing no signs of being lifted any time soon, Iranian producers are ready to move in and fill the void.
In an interview with Sputnik Persian, Hedayat Asghari, the executive director of the Iranian Trade Association, outlined the prospects of replacing Turkish fruit, meat and fish with Iranian produce in the Russian market.
Hedayat Asghari said that an ITA delegation had already clinched a preliminary agreement with a Moscow-based wholesale company on the supply of Iranian fruits and vegetables to the Russian capital.
“We have bought 60,000 tons of apples, kiwis, cucumbers and other produce, as well as about 10 million cans of fruit syrup, which are ready to ship to Russia as soon as we get a go-ahead from our Russian partners,” he said.
The Iranian Trade Association is also ready to supply fish, eggs and meat to the Russian market to fully satisfy the Russian consumers’ demand for such produce.
“High import tariffs are a big problem though as we will have to pay as much money in customs duties as we pay for a given amount of, say, apples, which we buy from our farmers… This is a major hurdle hampering our mutually beneficial cooperation,” Hedayat Asghari emphasized.
“We hope that the Russian side will eventually come across and allow us to pay less… We would also like to have more favorable working conditions for our trade representative offices in Russia. This includes adequate transport logistics, so that we can bring our produce to the Russian regions, and also high-tech storage spaces for our produce,” Hedayat Asghari said in conclusion.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Russia, China Develop High-Precision Navigation System Draft for SCO, BRICS
Russian and Chinese experts have developed a draft project to create a global international navigation system based on China’s BeiDou and Russia’s GLONASS satellite navigation for the member states of BRICS group and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Russian Space Systems company said in a statement on Tuesday.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Monday, Russia’s GLONASS Union said Russia and China would also finalize a deal this month to establish two joint ventures to develop, manufacture and sell new satellite navigation devices that would receive signals from three major navigation systems, BeiDou, GLONASS and US Global Positioning System (GPS).
“The project was approved at the second meeting of the Chinese-Russian committee for important projects in the sphere of strategic cooperation on the satellite navigation,” the statement reads.
The Chinese-Russian project is based on advanced Precise Point Positioning technologies, according to the statement.
The implementation of the project will extend the use of global and regional navigation satellite systems in Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa and Pakistan as well as in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.
On May 8, China and Russia signed the BeiDou-GLONASS system compatibility and interoperability cooperation agreement, marking a new stage of navigation cooperation between the two countries.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Sparking Tension: Baltic Electricity Plan Turns Tables on Russia
When Lithuania inaugurates two electrical links to the West on Monday, it will launch a process that will reduce its reliance on Russian electricity, and one day could make Russia dependent on the Baltic grids.
With Russia accustomed to wielding energy supplies as a political weapon, the possibility that its westernmost outpost of Kaliningrad could become reliant on the West to keep the lights on has Moscow seething, straining already tense ties over Ukraine.
“The first electrons have already passed” through the EU-backed power cables from Sweden and Poland, said Energy Minister Rokas Masiulis after the links were tested…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine to Buy Gas From Poland
Ukraine and Poland agreed to build a gas interconnector that would allow Ukraine to buy up to 8 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Poland, Ukrainian prime minister Arseniy Yatseniuk said Tuesday after a meeting with Polish president Andrzej Duda.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
India Supreme Court Cracks Down on Delhi Vehicle Pollution
India’s Supreme Court has announced a slew of measures to curb record air pollution levels in the capital, Delhi.
It has ordered a temporary ban on the sale of large diesel vehicles and stopped trucks more than 10 years old from entering the city.
Delhi is experiencing hazardous levels of pollution due to diesel emissions, construction dirt and the burning of crop stubble in farms around the city.
Air pollution causes more than 600,000 premature deaths in India each year.
India has 13 of the world’s 20 most polluted cities, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported last year.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Arms Sales Increase in Asia, Decrease in the United States and Europe
Data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) show that the US still dominates the sector with 54 per cent; however, US companies’ arms sales decreased. Emerging manufacturers come from Asia, with Russia, India, Turkey and South Korea in the lead. In Europe, sales increased only for German and Swiss companies.
Stockholm (AsiaNews) — For the fourth consecutive year, arms sales have experienced a global decline, albeit by only 1.5 per cent. New figures published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) show lower arms sales for companies based in North America and Western Europe. In the latter, only German and Swiss companies have shown overall growth by 9 and 11 per cent respectively. Russia also gained ground with 11 Russian companies now among the top 100 in the world. Sales are up in Asia. Countries like Turkey, India and South Korea have invested heavily in the sector, increasing their sales (11 per cent for the latter).
Here is SIPRI’s full statement, released yesterday.
Sales of arms and military services by the largest arms-producing companies—the SIPRI Top 100—totalled $401 billion in 2014 according to new international arms industry data launched today by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
For the fourth consecutive year, sales of arms and military services by the SIPRI Top 100—the largest arms-producing companies by arms sales—have decreased. However, with a reduction of 1.5 per cent in real terms between 2013 and 2014, the global decline in SIPRI Top 100 total arms sales remains moderate. Falls in 2014 are due to lower arms sales for companies based in North America and Western Europe, as Top 100 companies located in other regions of the world have collectively increased their arms sales.
US and Western European arms sales declining
Companies based in the United States continue to dominate the Top 100, with a 54.4 per cent share of the total. US companies’ arms sales decreased by 4.1 per cent between 2013 and 2014, which is similar to the rate of decline seen in 2012—13. One company bucking the downward trend is Lockheed Martin, which has occupied the first position in the Top 100 since 2009. Its arms sales grew by 3.9 per cent in 2014 to $37.5 billion. Lockheed Martin’s lead over the second ranked company Boeing, which had total arms sales of $28.3 billion, increased by $4.4 billion in 2014.
‘With the acquisition of helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. in 2015, the gap between Lockheed Martin and other companies ranked in the Top 10 will widen even further next year,’ says Aude Fleurant, Director of SIPRI’s Arms and Military Expenditure Programme.
Western European companies’ arms sales decreased by 7.4 per cent in 2014. Only German (+9.4 per cent) and Swiss (+11.2 per cent) companies show overall growth in their arms sales in real terms. The rise in German arms sales was due to a significant growth in turnover for German shipbuilder ThyssenKrupp (+29.5 per cent), while Switzerland’s Pilatus Aircraft benefited from growing demand for its trainer aircraft, boosting Swiss sales. The companies representing the seven remaining Western European countries in the Top 100 all show an overall decline in their sales.
Growth of Russian arms industry’s sales continues
Despite difficult national economic conditions, the Russian arms industry’s sales continued to rise in 2014. The number of Russian companies ranked in the Top 100 went up from 9 to 11, amounting to a share of 10.2 per cent of total Top 100 arms sales in 2014. The two completely new entrants are High Precision Systems (39th) and RTI (91st), while the newly established United Instrument Manufacturing Corporation (UIMC) has entered the list in 24th position, replacing Sozvezdie, which merged with a number of other companies to form UIMC. The Russian company showing the most significant growth in arms sales is Uralvagonzavod, with an increase of 72.5 per cent in its arms sales. Almaz-Antey, with a near 23 per cent increase in arms sales, is now in 11th position.
‘Russian companies are riding the wave of increasing national military spending and exports. There are now 11 Russian companies in the Top 100 and their combined revenue growth over 2013—14 was 48.4 per cent,’ says SIPRI Senior Researcher Siemon Wezeman.
In contrast, arms sales of Ukrainian companies have substantially declined. UkrOboronProm has fallen from 58th position in 2013 to 90th in 2014, with a drop in sales of 50.2 per cent. Motor Sich, the other Ukrainian company that was ranked in the 2013 Top 100, has left the list altogether. ‘The noticeable decline in sales for Ukrainian companies was largely due to disruption caused by the conflict in eastern Ukraine, the loss of the Russian market, and the fall in the value of the local currency,’ says Siemon Wezeman.
Emerging producers continue to strengthen their presence in the Top 100
In 2013, SIPRI introduced an ‘emerging producers’ category to better track the evolution of companies based in countries that have stated goals of military industrialization. For 2014, this category covers Brazil, India, South Korea and Turkey. The combined arms sales of companies located in these countries represents 3.7 per cent of SIPRI Top 100 total arms sales. Their revenues rose by 5.1 per cent between 2013 and 2014.
There are two Turkish arms-producing companies ranked in the Top 100: ASELSAN, which increased its sales by 5.6 per cent in 2014, but has moved down in the ranking from 66th to 73rd; and Turkish Aerospace Industry (TAI), which has entered the Top 100 at rank 89, with a growth in arms sales of 15.1 per cent. ‘Turkey is seeking more self-sufficiency for its arms supplies and this, coupled with an aggressive export drive, has contributed to the rapid growth in revenue for ASELSAN and TAI,’ says Pieter Wezeman, a Senior Researcher at SIPRI.
South Korean companies have also raised their profile in the Top 100 in 2014. ‘Fifteen companies from Asia (not including China) have made it into the Top 100,’ according to Siemon Wezeman. ‘Many of them showed quite stable levels of sales but South Korean companies increased their total sales in 2014 by 10.5 per cent compared to 2013.’ The latest South Korean entrant to the Top 100 is Hyundai Rotem, a military vehicle manufacturer.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
China Internet: Xi Jinping Calls for ‘Cyber Sovereignty’
China’s President Xi Jinping has called on countries to respect one another’s “cyber sovereignty” and different internet governance models.
Mr Xi said countries had the right to choose how to develop and regulate their internet.
He was speaking at the Beijing-sponsored World Internet Conference held in Zhejiang province.
China has been criticised for its strict internet regulations where it blocks major sites and censors posts.
The BBC’s John Sudworth, who is at the conference, says the keynote speech by President Xi is a clear sign that internet security and control have been elevated to national priorities.
His message is that China, with 650 million internet users, should have a say in drawing up the global rules and that they should include the right to decide what to censor and block, our correspondent adds.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
China Joins European Development Bank
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said Monday it had accepted China as a member, handing the world’s second biggest economy investment routes into Europe, Africa and Middle East.
“China’s membership of the EBRD will open up significant further opportunities for sustainable investment by Chinese groups in the regions where the EBRD works,” bank president Suma Chakrabarti said in a statement.
Founded in 1991 to aid central and east European states emerging from Soviet rule to make the transition toward market economies, the bank now oversees development projects in 36 countries, including Ukraine, Egypt and Mongolia.
Some of the countries where the London-based EBRD operates include what China calls the “Silk Road economic belt” where Beijing is developing trade and investment links…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
China’s Smog Drives Some to Buy Canadian Air in a Can
It’s come to this. Beijing’s air pollution has gotten so bad—hitting red alert for the first time ever last week, prompting school and factory closures and restricting traffic for days, reports Weather.com—that some residents are not only staying indoors and wearing masks, they’re buying fresh air in canisters from Canada.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Japan Top Court Upholds Law on Married Couples’ Surnames
The Japanese Supreme Court has upheld a law that married couples must have the same surname, in a blow to women’s rights activists.
Campaigners have said the law was discriminatory as most couples end up using the husband’s surname.
However, the court said the law did not violate the constitution, public broadcaster NHK reported.
It did, however, deem a separate law that stops women remarrying within six months of a divorce unconstitutional.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
NATO Weapons Helped Make Boko Haram World’s Deadliest Terror Group
The Nigerian Boko Haram terrorist group was responsible for 6,644 deaths in 2014, compared to 6,073 attributed to ISIS, making it the deadliest terrorist group in the world last year. And, in what has become a disturbingly familiar pattern in the rise of terrorist organizations, Boko Haram’s growing strength is a direct consequence of NATO’s war on Libya.
This information about the relative deadliness of Boko Haram and ISIS was part of a report recently released by Global Terrorism Index, a project of the Sydney, Australia-based Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP). The results were cited in an article by freelance writer Dan Glazebrook originally published by RT on November 27 and reprinted with permission the next day by the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.
In his article, Glazebrook observed that when Boko Haram began its terrorist operations in 2009 (the group was founded in 2002) it had very little in the way of sophisticated arms. Glazebrook quoted from a 2014 article by Peter Weber in The Week that traced the improvement in Boko Haram’s weaponry, which had “shifted from relatively cheap AK-47s in the early days of its post-2009 embrace of violence to desert-ready combat vehicles and anti-aircraft/ anti-tank guns.”
As for how Boko Haram’s weapons cache had increased so dramatically, Glazebrook wrote:
This dramatic turnaround in the group’s access to materiel was the direct result of NATO’s war on Libya. A UN report published in early 2012 warned that “large quantities of weapons and ammunition from Libyan stockpiles were smuggled into the Sahel region,” including “rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns with anti-aircraft visors, automatic rifles, ammunition, grenades, explosives (Semtex), and light anti-aircraft artillery (light caliber bi-tubes) mounted on vehicles,” and probably also more advanced weapons such as surface-to-air missiles and MANPADS (man-portable air-defense systems).
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Opinion: Zuma Will ‘Reduce South Africa to the Status of a Banana Republic’
Calls for embattled South African President Jacob Zuma to step down have intensified after he sacked Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene. Veteran journalist Subry Govender tells DW why he thinks Zuma must go.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
South Africans March Against Jacob Zuma
Thousands of protestors are marching across South Africa to demand President Jacob Zuma is sacked.
The latest protests are a reaction to him sacking two finance ministers last week, further damaging confidence in the economy.
This comes on top of claims of widespread corruption, recent student protests and a succession battle in the governing African National Congress.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Argentina to Relax Foreign Exchange Controls
Argentina has announced a relaxation of currency controls, the government has said, which experts say is likely to weaken the peso.
President Mauricio Macri hopes the move will boost exports and spark economic growth.
Farmers in the country have been waiting for the currency to fall before selling stockpiles of soybeans.
The official exchange rate of 10 pesos to the dollar is not matched by a much stronger the black market rate.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Castaway Who Survived 15 Months at Sea Sued for $1M for Eating Crewmate
A castaway who survived 15 months at sea is being sued for $1 million by the family of his dead friend after claims he stayed alive by eating him.
Salvador Alvarenga, 36, washed ashore in January last year on the Pacific’s Marshall Islands after spending 438 days adrift.
He had drifted 6,700 miles from the coast of Mexico, where the boat he and crewmate Ezequiel Cordoba, 22, were sailing in was crippled by a storm.
Alvarenga, of El Salvador, later told how stayed alive by drinking urine and turtle blood and eating fish and birds he caught by hand.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Afghan Stabbed to Death in Refugee Shelter in Germany
A refugee from Afghanistan has been killed by another asylum seeker in a shelter in southwestern Germany. The victim was attacked after an argument erupted for unknown reasons, a public prosecutor said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Austria Isn’t What We Expected’: Refugees Returning to War-Torn Homes
“Dogs are treated better than refugees in Austria,” say asylum seekers from war-torn countries, commenting on European hospitality.
Citing a perceived lack of security, the fear of deportation, abuse, and homesickness, refugees who fled from Afghanistan, Iraq and Kosovo are reluctant to stay in Austria.
Some months have passed since Austrian citizens marched in a pro-refugee rally, welcoming asylum seekers fleeing conflict and poverty in their home countries. Now the same refugees complain of a lack of food and clothes, and that the expected shorter asylum process from Austrian authorities has not taken place as promised.
Data provided by the Austrian Interior Ministry show that since January over 1,100 Kosovans have returned home of their own volition as hopes that they would obtain refugee status in Austria were dashed.
Unlike Kosovans, refugees from Afghanistan and Iraq have better chances to receive asylum. Some 530 Iraqi and 120 Afghani migrants have been documented as having left Austria. “This trend has become more noticeable since mid-September,” Interior Ministry spokesman Karl-Heinz Grundböck said.
According to the Caritas charity, 257 displaced persons from Iraq, 35 from Afghanistan and 53 Iranians returned to their countries of origin from September 1st through December 14 in 2015 compared to 2 Iraqis, 9 Afghans and 1 Iranian last year.
“Many are afraid of being deported and the humiliation of that,” Caritas spokesman Martin Gantner said. He added that others are returning because they miss their families, and some had different expectations of what Austria and Europe would be like. “There are so many uncertainties for them here in Austria, many refugees are traumatized and need a sense of security,” he said.
Three 20-year-old computer engineers from Iraq living in a refugee house in Vienna gave an interview to the local Kurier newspaper regarding their plan to return home on Wednesday following a 90-day “detention” in Austria.
Explaining his reasoning for the return, Muqdad, one of the men, said, “we wanted peace, freedom and a future.”
“We’ve just been humiliated here,” said Omer. “It was a mistake to come. People look at us here as if we were terrorists, and all we want is peace. Dogs are treated better than refugees in Austria — at least they have something good to eat, and are even given something to wear.”
The refugees’ decision has been financially supported by the EU and the Austrian Interior Ministry. The Iraqi and Afghan embassies in Austria’s capital confirmed that they have launched a return procedure to issue travel documents for migrants who failed to find asylum in Austria.
Günter Ecker, the head of Vienna’s human rights association (VMÖ), believes the trend will continue. “Many Iraqis say that they expected better social care here, and many also had a misleading idea of how long the asylum process might take. They didn’t realize that they might have to wait a year or more until their families could join them here.”
Despite repeated statements by Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann of his country’s “humanitarian imperative” to accept refugees ejected from Hungary, Vienna has demonstrated a less than welcoming policy toward asylum seekers. The number of refugees leaving Austria within the last month has skyrocketed dramatically.
“Asylum is something time-limited,” the Austrian newspaper Der Standard quoted Faymann as saying.
Last month, the Austrian chancellor, who had previously promised not to construct new border fences, announced a new 2.3 mile fence to be built at an Austrian- Slovenian border.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Austria: Salzburg Arrests ‘Linked to Paris Attacks’
Two people believed to be linked to the terror cell which carried out the Paris attacks have been arrested at a refugee centre in the Austrian city of Salzburg.
The Kronen Zeitung newspaper reported that the pair are French citizens posing as refugees, who travelled with some of the Paris attackers through Greece and the Balkans in early October, using fake Syrian passports.
In a related story, two asylum seekers suspected of being members of the Isis terror group were taken into custody in Salzburg just a few weeks ago.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Broken Dreams: Why Are Iraqi Refugees Massively Fleeing Sweden?
The number of refugees in Sweden who have withdrawn their asylum applications and fled the country has increased dramatically in recent months, Iraqi Ambassador to Sweden Baker Fattah Hussein told Sputnik.
According to the diplomat, about 15-20 refugees a day come to the embassy with a request to give them temporary documents, so that they could leave the country.
In November 2015, the number of such cases increased by four times compared with November 2014.
Hussein argued that many refugees are leaving Sweden because their expectations of the life there had not been met.
“Because of their large numbers, they do not get enough care: especially those who travelled a very dangerous way to Sweden,” the diplomat said in an interview with Sputnik. “In addition, the waiting time to receive an accommodation has also increased. Earlier refugees in Sweden were allocated much faster.”
The diplomat stated that the inflow of refugees significantly decreased in comparison to 2014, when Sweden had to deal with tens of thousands of refugees a week. According to the latest data, about 6,000 refugees now arrive in Sweden weekly.
According to Hussein, there mainly two reasons for this trend. “First, these are measures of Turkey. Second, some EU countries have built fences to prevent migration across their borders,” he said.
Many of the disillusioned turn out to be citizens of Iraq. According to Iraqi refugee Arshad Emad Rasol Abdulkarim, his compatriots were given false information about the life in Europe. They are told that they can easily get a residence permit in Sweden and take their families with them, he said in an interview with Svenska Dagbladet.
According to Abdulkarim, many Iraqis have no reason to flee their country. But the promise of a safe haven urged them to leave their homeland in search of a better life.
“In Iraq, everyone is talking about Sweden. They talk about it even in the news. Here you can get a permanent residence permit, good housing, job and take your family with you [they say],” Arshad Emad told the newspaper.
However, so far he has neither a place to leave, nor a proper job to make both ends meet, he added. In a few months he spent in Sweden, the authorities seriously have changed the migration policy. Now he has no chance to bring his family here and is thinking of returning home.
The representative of Refugees Welcome Stockholm, Tina Morad, also confirmed that in recent weeks, more and more refugees want to return to their home countries amid unfulfilled expectations.
The latest estimates reveal that 3,300 people have already withdrawn their applications for asylum in Sweden.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
EC Proposes New European Document for Migrant Repatriations
40% of expulsion orders fell thru due to lack of valid document
(see related)(ANSA) — Brussels, December 15 — The European Commission on Tuesday proposed introducing a new European travel document to facilitate repatriation of illegal migrants. The new document will have a uniform European format and will be valid for one trip only. Some half million expulsion orders are issued every year in Europe, but just 40% were carried out in 2014 due to lack of valid documents for those to be repatriated.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
EU Weighs Taking Refugees Directly From Turkey
The EU is considering taking refugees directly from Turkey, on condition that Ankara delivers on promises and significantly slows the flow of people seeking international protection in Europe.
The EU Commission, along with its plans to set up a border and coast guard agency, unveiled a recommendation on Tuesday (15 December) which calls on member states to take in people displaced by the Syrian war, not just Syrian nationals, directly from Turkish camps.
The commission is urging member states to volunteer to take part in the scheme on condition that the flow of people into Europe via Turkey is successfully reduced.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Exclusive: Thousands of Calais Migrants to Take Over Idyllic English Tourist Hamlet
AN IDYLLIC English tourist hamlet is set to be over-run by thousands of male migrants from Calais after the Government announced plans for an asylum seeker centre.
Shockingly the men — largely from war-torn and morally corrupt nations in east Africa and some parts of the Middle East — will OUTNUMBER the horrified villagers.
The 150 residents of Earnley, near the popular Witterings beaches in West Sussex, have overwhelmingly voted against the Home Office plans for Earnley Concourse, a former educational holiday home for foreign students, to be turned into a temporary home for men fleeing their war-torn homelands in the Middle East and Africa.
As many as 200 men, aged between 18 and 39, will be housed in the centre — which currently only has room for 101 students — for between three and 19-days at a time.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Free Healthcare for Refugees and Uninsured Greeks
Draft legislation submitted to Parliament by the government allows refugees and uninsured Greeks to receive free healthcare and medicines but the details of how this will happen have to be set out by a ministerial decision in the future.
The provision is included in a bill that SYRIZA claims contains elements of its “parallel program” and which is due to be voted on in the next few days. It grants free healthcare to Greeks without the necessary social security credits, foreigners living in Greece legally, refugees, asylum seekers, minors and pregnant women.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Iceland: Ikea Gift Vouchers for Syrian Refugees in January
IKEA in Iceland are donating gift vouchers of 100 thousand Icelandic kronas to each and every one of the 55 Syrian refugees coming to Iceland in January. “They’re ordinary people with their own tastes and when they get settled in they can choose what they want to,” says managing director Þórarinn Ævarsson.
The gift from IKEA amounts to 5.5 million Icelandic kronas. Ævarsson does not know of any other IKEA stores internationally doing the same thing but believes it’s not unlikely as the gesture is in accordance with the company policy.
The 55 Syrian refugees are the first group of refugees to arrive from Syria in the midst of the refugee crisis.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Ready to Open More Hotspots Says Alfano
‘Our laws already contemplate use of force in fingerprinting’
(ANSA) — Rome, December 15 — Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said Tuesday Italy is ready to open more migrant identification hotspots as requested by the EU. “(We want to) remove the pretext for those who using (the lack of) hotspots to not relocate or repatriate (asylum seekers),” Alfano said. As well, he said Italian law already allows for use of force in fingerprinting newcomers should they resist attempts at identification. The EU yesterday criticized Italy for not doing more to identify migrants who wash up on its shores.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Fighting Terror Not the Same as Fighting Immigration Says Renzi
Premier wins parliament’s approval
(ANSA) — Rome, December 16 — Premier Matteo Renzi obtained a green light from both houses of parliament Wednesday on Italy’s position on terrorism and immigration ahead of a summit of European leaders December 17 and 18.
There can be no liberty without security, but at the same time, fighting terror is not tantamount to shutting the door on asylum seekers, he told lawmakers.
“There can be no possibility of freedom if citizens don’t feel safe,” he said.
“The notion that fighting terror is the same as fighting immigration must be rejected and I will say so tomorrow if you authorize me to do so”. “Superficiality and vague speculation are always wrong, and most especially in foreign policy,” he said.
There is no point in fighting terror by shutting down the Schengen Area. “We must make an effort to avoid a superficial reading of the situation,” he told lawmakers. “I’ve heard some say let’s shut Schengen down. To do what — keep them (terrorists) inside? The Paris attackers also had European passports,” Renzi said. “Facing the issues means offering an alternative to the nihilism driving young people to blow themselves up in front of a theater or a bar”. The center-left premier called for policies to “promote cultural education and a sense of beauty” as a way to combat nihilism.
Meanwhile Libya is the keystone to Italy’s Mediterranean policy, the premier said.
“Even though there are no immediate threats it is essential that Libya be considered the keystone of our Mediterranean policy,” he said.
“If there is a country in which Italy can play a significantly committed role, it can only be Libya”.
The center-left premier ended by saying Europe must come up with a proper unified strategy if it wants to stay relevant on the world stage. “Security, diplomacy, military action — but if Europe wants to become a great beacon on global issues, it must indicate a strategy,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Budget Committee OKs Lampedusa Tax Exemption Extension
Island bears brunt of asylum seeker reception
(ANSA) — Rome, December 16 — The Lower House budget committee on Wednesday approved a government amendment to its budget bill, extending to December 2016 a tax exemption for the Sicilian island of Lampedusa. The outlying island lies closer to Tunisia than Sicily, and bears the brunt of the rescue and reception of asylum seekers crossing the Mediterranean in a bid to flee war and persecution in Africa and the Middle East.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: MigrArti to Honor Migrants’ Culture Contributions
Culture Minister Franceschini lauds the ‘new Italians’
(ANSA) — Rome, December 16 — Italy’s Cultural Ministry is bringing cultural works by migrants to the forefront in a new project called MigrArti.
The initiative will invest 800,000 euros in acceptance and integration of the many “new Italians who live, work and study in our country”, according to Culture Minister Dario Franceschini.
“There’s nothing worse than not opening to diversity,” Franceschini said.
MigrArti — which follows on the heels of the ministry’s recent campaign to mark the 60-year anniversary of when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama — aims to help and promote the cinema, music, theatre and art enriched by the many different cultures that have come to Italy through migrants.
“It’s just a first step. We’re making up for a government delay,” Franceschini said of the programme, which has already involved art high schools and technical institutes in a national contest to design a logo for the initiative, with a 4,000-euro prize.
The idea is to permanently focus the government’s attention and support for the many different cultures that have been arriving in Italy for decades, with particular attention on second generations, who Franceschini said form “the authentic bridge between their parents and the future that awaits them in this country”.
This “first step” is itself in steps, with two 400,000-euro tenders — one for cinema and one for live theatre — that will finance film, theatre, dance and musical projects “centered on themes of integration and the promotion of initiatives dedicated to cultural plurality”.
“I’m convinced that it’s the right path and our intention is to move ahead, but we’re charting new territory, which is why we’re going step by step,” Franceschini said.
“It’s the culture ministry’s duty to deal not only with what we know but also what we don’t know”.
The project will be led by film and theatre directors Nicola Borrelli and Ninni Cutaia as well as the city of Rome culture councillor Paolo Masini.
One of the project’s challenges comes from the fact that there isn’t currently a comprehensive list of all of the country’s foreign cultural associations or organisations.
To help correct that, the ministry is also sponsoring an online census form in which those organisations can register, an option that Masini added is “absolutely voluntary”.
The project’s two tenders are currently detailed on the ministry’s website with all the information necessary for participation.
“What must be clear is that they have to be projects that the city needs,” Masini said.
Applications must be submitted by January 31, 2016, and the list of winners will be made public by February 2016.
“I’m certain that it will do us very well to see a Syrian film or listen to a Nigerian concert — knowledge of diversity is the best method for a civil and safe integration,” Franceschini said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Renzi Says EC Migrants Procedure ‘Astonishing’
Premier says Italy respecting commitments, EU not
(ANSA) — Rome, December 16 — Premier Matteo Renzi on Wednesday blasted the European Commission’s decision to open an infringement procedure against Italy for failing to respect EU rules on collecting the finger prints of asylum seekers as “astonishing”. He said that Italy was doing its bit to tackle the migrant crisis, including via the set-up of EU-mandated hotspots to register asylum seekers. But he also suggested the EU was not keeping its commitments, including the pledge to ensure thousands of refugees in Italy are relocated in other parts of the union. “Yesterday we opened the first (hotspot) centre and tomorrow a second will be opened in Trapani,” Renzi said.
“We are ready to intervene and respect our commitments.
“We ask if Europe is capable of respecting its. For the moment, we are moving forward only with what Italy has done”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Juncker Stakes Leadership on Schengen, New EU Border Controls
European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday staked his leadership on preserving the EU’s passport-free Schengen zone, saying member states had to adopt controversial plans for a new border control force.
Juncker told the European Parliament in the eastern French city of Strasbourg that it was no “time for business as usual” as asylum seekers, mostly Syrians fleeing war, have flooded across the European Union’s external border.
“We Europeans no longer have many borders. We have one and we have a shared responsibility to protect it,” Juncker said.
“European border and coast guard is not the answer to a new need. European border and coast guard is there to repair a weakness of our Schengen system. We are completing what should have been done from the start,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Malmö Students Help Refugees at Christmas
Malmö University students are putting refugees in focus this holiday season, part of a wider student-led effort to encourage the university and city to open their arms to Malmö’s growing refugee population.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Merkel Buys Time With Party Compromise on Refugees
German Chancellor Angela Merkel won a respite on the refugee question with a strong show of unity at a party congress but must deliver results ahead of key elections next year, analysts said.
Merkel turned in a decisive performance at the Christian Democrats’ gathering in the southwestern city of Karlsruhe on Monday, uniting delegates behind a centrist line of humanitarian commitment coupled with a promise to reduce refugee numbers.
Commentators said that predictions of Merkel’s political demise after 10 years in office, rampant just weeks ago, would now go quiet, at least for a time.
“There was a lot of criticism in the run-up to the event but with a clever, feisty appearance, Merkel managed to suddenly make this criticism look quite petty,” news website Spiegel Online said…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Migrant Arrivals in Greece Halved in November
The number of migrants arriving in Greece went down by more than half in November, to 108,000, Frontex said Tuesday. “The worsening weather conditions … are likely the main reason,” the EU border agency noted. “Another factor may be the more restrictive border control policy recently implemented.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Just 35% of Long-Term Refugees Have a Full Time Job: Report
Just 35% of the refugees who came to the Netherlands between 1995 and 1999 have a job of more than 30 hours a week, the NRC said on Wednesday. The newspaper bases its claim on a report by three government institutes entitled ‘no time to waste’ which highlights ways in which the authorities can make sure refugees integrate more swiftly into Dutch society.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Paris Attacks: Austria Arrests Two Suspects at Refugee Camp
Police in Austria have arrested two people suspected of having links to the Paris attacks at a transit camp for refugees in Salzburg, prosecutors say.
Robert Holzleitner, from the state prosecutor’s office, said the pair had travelled from the Middle East.
They were arrested on suspicion of belonging to a terrorist organisation.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Refugees: ‘Austria Isn’t What We Expected’
An increasing number of asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Iraq and Kosovo are returning to their countries, saying that they had expected better care and a shorter asylum process in Austria.
“We’ve just been humiliated here,” said Omer. “It was a mistake to come. People look at us here as if we were terrorists, and all we want is peace. Dogs are treated better than refugees in Austria — at least they have something good to eat, and are even given something to wear.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Salzburg Arrests ‘Linked to Paris Attacks’
Two people believed to be associates of the terror cell who carried out the Paris attacks have been arrested at a refugee centre in the Austrian city of Salzburg.
The Kronen Zeitung newspaper reported that the pair are French citizens posing as refugees, who travelled with some of the Paris attackers through Greece and the Balkans in early October, using fake Syrian passports.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Scottish Island Prepares for Syrian Refugees
The Scottish town Rothesay on the Isle of Bute may not be a premier holiday destination but that won’t bother its new, and unusual, arrivals — around 60 Syrian refugees.
“I’m excited. I’ve already started to learn a few words of Arabic,” Alison Clark, who works as a development officer at a local church, told DW. A former English teacher, Clark hopes to be able to offer English language support to the refugees once they have settled in.
The refugees — around 60 in total — are coming from camps in Lebanon, with a second batch due to arrive early in the New Year. All are being housed by the local council in and around Rothesay, which is the main settlement on Bute. The council estimates that there are around 40 empty properties on the island.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Madrid Church Recreates Nativity Scene With Drowned Refugee Child
A Madrid Church has chosen to highlight the plight of Syrian refugees this Christmas by recreating the nativity scene using the image of drowned three-year-old Aylan Kurdi.
In early September the young boy washed up on a Turkish beach as his family fled Syria and attempted to reach Europe.
The photograph of the child lying facedown in the sand was published worldwide and served to symbolize the desperate plight of refugees flooding into Europe.
The image was seen by an estimated 20 million people across the world within just 12 hours, and galvanized European governments, including Spain, into taking action.
Now the image has been incorporated within a polemic adaptation of the traditional ‘Belén’ in an attempt to raise awareness of the plight of refugees this Christmas.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Malala Yousafzai: ‘I’m a Feminist and a Muslim’
Malala Yousafzai, the youngest ever winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and campaigner for girls’ education, says she considers herself to be a feminist — as well as a proud Brummie
Following Donald Trump’s comments about ending Muslim emigration to the US, and asked how she responded to the “wild things being said about Islam and Muslims”, she said: “I can just highlight one thing. The more you speak about Islam and against all Muslims, the more terrorists we create.
“So it’s important that whatever politicians say, whatever the media say, they should be really, really careful about it. If your intention is to stop terrorism, do not try to blame the whole population of Muslims for it because it cannot stop terrorism. It will radicalise more terrorists.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Water Cannons, Helicopters: German Police Develop Plan to Limit Immigration
The German federal police have developed a three-step emergency plan closing the Austrian border to limit the number of migrants arriving on German soil, local media reported Tuesday.
BERLIN (Sputnik) — The Die Welt daily learned, following the two-day ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Social Democratic Party (SPD) session in German parliament, that Federal Police President Dieter Romann had presented relevant details to the CDU and SPD factions in the Bundestag in recent weeks.
The first stage of the plan, in effect after political leadership decides to reject refugees at the Austrian border, shutters over 60 large border crossings. Police would be permitted to use water cannons in case of emergency.
The second line of officers would be involved in detaining migrants who manage to cross the border illegally. The third line is tasked with transporting the migrants back to the border via helicopter, according to the publication.
The contingency plan is implemented from three to seven days.
Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere estimated nearly a million migrants have received or applied for refugee status in Germany so far this year. European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Gunther Oettinger said Germany would be unable to take in another 1.1 million registered refugees next year.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Living in Canada, I beg to differ. (Boy, do I!)
Donald Trump not only understands the situation; he knows what to do, and Justin Trudeau is the ignorant and irresponsible one–as we expected.
“Baby Doc”, good one, Baron.
All along though, I’ve had the feeling the ‘Trumpster’ will not make it, in which case I hope it will be Cruz.
As an American, I appreciate your kind wishes for your southern neighbors!
– I feel scared to live here now
Sweden 2015
“Mr. and Mrs. Swede have every reason to be worried, with the influx of 190,000 unskilled and unemployed migrants expected this year — equivalent to 2% of Sweden’s current population. The number is as if 6.4 million penniless migrants who did not speak English arrived in U.S. in one year”
Police not a priority in Sweden
“What are the people who cannot afford private security to do? They will be unprotected.”
This site is being constantly re-dirercted to an advertisement and then to nothing
I have the same problem. It happens occasionally, you might have been hacked, Baron.
Let me clarify that, you have been hacked. It just happened to me again. You need to find and remove the malicious code before it gets worse!
Hacking is a possibility, but it almost certainly is not at the level of our site, for technical reasons that I won’t go into here.
It’s more likely that your browser has caught a malware virus. Dymphna had one of those a while back, and it did similar things to her.
My guess as to why Canada elected Mr. Trudeau: He’s young (for a politician) and good-looking (for a politician). Sort of a substitute for ‘The Bachelor’.
Canadian women were just sick of ugly old guys.
I know, I know, this sounds primitive and stupid, but bear with me.
Not sure how much has changed (likely not much) in this regard, but in 1970’s and ’80’s Austria, middle-aged-and-beyond women were a HUGE and powerful voting block, and they trended to go for the guy whom they had known the longest and/or who looked best in a suit to them. Party, ideology, issues all completely irrelevant.
The abortion factories are out of business. FGM and all the other niceties of Musislamic Koranry will go from the current creep to a real galloping sleeve rot.
History repeats itself in Canada.
Back in 1968 women went absolutely nuts for Pierre Trudeau and the media played it up to the hilt dubbing it “Trudeaumania”. This is what the Canadian media meant with the 2015 election when they declared that “…Canada is back”. Only 35% of the popular vote went to Pierre’s spawn but all that matters to the corrupt press (especially state funded CBC) is that the public remains brain dead to reason. The “East” – Toronto ,Quebec and the Atlantic provinces are particularly guilty of this. Alberta, Saskatchewan,rural BC and Manitoba have a bit more sense but must suffer the consequences of having ‘Baby Doc’ as their PM . There’s now a growing movement among the voters in the Western Provinces to separate from Canada. Maybe nothing will come of it but the resentment is strong.
Swedes could eventually choose Turkey or Iran as honest brokers in a deal to divide the country down the middle. A Swedish smorgasbord of national suicide rich final solutions on offer. That would be a “good” ending compared to the demise the Koran has in the mind of the Muslims now bring force fed down dhimmi tubes.
Trudeau Sr was a [redacted] sock puppet, so no surprise that Trudeau Jr goes along with their current schemes and plans as these connections tend to be generational, the Bush’s [sic]have been connected to them for 100 years starting with Samuel Bush, Princess Chelsea Clinton recently joining for example.