Two “Americans” — two “Virginians”, actually — have been charged with terror offenses for planning a trip to Syria where one of them wanted to fight for the Islamic State. Meanwhile, a former Dutch soldier may face a murder charge for traveling to Syria and joining the coalition against the Islamic State. He reportedly killed an ISIS fighter, which violates Dutch law.
In other news, Germany is planning to build repatriation centers where Algerian and Moroccan asylum seekers will be housed until they are deported. Since Algeria and Morocco are not war zones, their citizens are unlikely to be granted asylum in Germany.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to AF, C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Green Infidel, 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.
93% of US Counties Still Haven’t Recovered From the Recession
Those of you who watched the State of the Union address last night know that President Obama spent some time, as usual, crowing about his economic record. To my surprise, he mentioned the “Great Recession” only once, but he spent plenty of time talking about how the economy has grown during his term is office. As you might expect, these words need to be taken with a grain of salt. A recent study from the National Association of Counties (NACO) provides more evidence to support our suspicions. According to their study, across all of the United States’ 3069 counties that have their own county government, only 214, or 7%, of them have recovered to pre-Recession levels on all four of their indicators, jobs, unemployment rate, GDP recovery, and home prices. That means 2882 of the counties NACO considered have yet to do so. From their report:
By 2015, 214 county economies recovered to their pre-recession levels on all four indicators analyzed, almost three times more than by 2014. Most of these county economies are in Texas, Nebraska and Kansas. For the first time, 17 of the 126 large county economies — in counties with more than 500,000 residents — are part of this group. The majority are in California and Texas.
Overall, the county economies recovered on all four indicators by 2015 still represent only 7 percent of all county economies. In contrast, almost 16 percent of county economies had not recovered on any indicator by 2015, mostly in the South and Midwest. States such as Florida, Georgia, Illinois and Mississippi have more than a third of their county economies still reeling from the latest downturn across all economic indicators.
The report has this section under the cheery sounding subheading “Economic Recovery is Spreading Out”, but it’s really hard to see this in too positive a light. For those interested, here is the relevant map:
As you can see, the darkest blue indicates counties that have totally recovered on all four of their indicators. Most of the country’s counties, though, are still stuck on the lower end of the spectrum. As you can see, the colors for 0-2 recovered indicators far out number the fully and mostly recovered counties.
It does qualify as progress, I suppose, from last year when, as the Wall Street Journal noted, the organization’s study found only 65 of the nation’s counties had recovered on all four points. The Journal has done the hard work of crunching the numbers on NACO’s study. Here is what they have note:
Last year, 72 of the recovered counties were in Texas, the most of any state. Nebraska followed with 22. Minnesota, Kentucky, North Dakota, Montana and Kansas each had at least 10 fully recovered counties.
Meanwhile, in 27 states, not a single county had fully recovered.
Some of the nation’s largest counties finally recovered from the recession in 2015, including the counties containing Denver, San Francisco, San Jose, Dallas and Columbus, Ohio. In 2014, no county with more than 500,000 residents had fully recovered. Last year, 17 of 126 had.
That’s progress from nothing, but it’s still pathetic that only just over 13% of our nation’s largest counties with county governments have fully recovered from the Great Recession. These are our nation’s population centers, and this study makes it plain that they are still suffering. The counties containing cities like Detroit, Miami, Cleveland, Jacksonville, Tucson, and Las Vegas, along with many other populous counties like Orange County, California, are still stuck on the orange end of the spectrum. This also applies to many other major cities that fall short of 500,000, like St. Louis and New Orleans. Other large cities, notably Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Diego, are in counties that have only halfway recovered from the recession, by the NACO’s four indicators.
It’s interesting to note here that most of the fully recovered counties are, as the Journal notes, in energy-rich areas of the country. Even with the recent downturn in oil prices, counties in the oil-rich states of North Dakota*, Texas, and Nebraska, among others, continue to dominate the map, but it’s also important to note that many of these counties in the Great Plains States are not very large in population either, so the large mass of blues in the center of the country is somewhat deceiving in that respect.
That so few counties have recovered from the recession is something that Barack Obama absolutely should have mentioned in his State of the Union addressed. Instead, he provided an overview of what he considers his “accomplishments”, and he neglected to seriously talk about our country’s still prevalent economic problems as well. It might be unrealistic to expect all of the nation’s counties to be fully recovered by this point, but under any President with a competent economic policy, we would be looking at much better numbers. We can also be sure that this map will not get much better if our country continues to elect Democrats to the Presidency, so if you need even more reasons to get out and vote Republican this November, the NACO has just given you 2882 of them.
*=I am fortunate enough to live in one of the better off counties according to this study. Grand Forks County, North Dakota, has recovered on all indicators (or in the case on GDP, it never had a recession) except for jobs, but even so, the number of open jobs here, and across the state, is still ridiculously huge.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The lonely poverty of America’s white working class
For the last several months, social scientists have been debating the striking findings of a study by the economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton. Between 1998 and 2013, Case and Deaton argue, white Americans across multiple age groups experienced large spikes in suicide and fatalities related to alcohol and drug abuse—spikes that were so large that, for whites aged 45 to 54, they overwhelmed the dependable modern trend of steadily improving life expectancy. While critics have challenged the magnitude and timing of the rise in middle-age deaths (particularly for men), they and the study’s authors alike seem to agree on some basic points: Problems of mental health and addiction have taken a terrible toll on whites in America—though seemingly not in other wealthy nations—and the least educated among them have fared the worst.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Changes in Pipeline for Cooperative Banks
Reform imminent for cooperative banks, with at least 100 out of 363 on a shaky financial footing. Without short-term intervention at least 15-17 are at risk over the next 18 months
Governments in the south of the eurozone have asked to pool debts in order to share risks and put themselves in a position to fend off new crises, wherever they may occur. Germany disagrees, fearing that its budget will be plagued by the problems of other nations, and demands stringent checks on the decisions taken by Portugal or Greece before accepting. Exactly the same thing is happening, with all due proportion, in the world of Italy’s 363 cooperative banks (BCCs)…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy GDP to Expand by 1.5% in 2016: Central Bank
The Bank of Italy Friday forecast the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) will expand by 1.5 percent in 2016 and 2017, in line with government estimates, after rising 0.8 percent in 2015.
“The recovery continues gradually. Export growth is gradually being substituted by domestic demand,” the Bank said.
The construction sector in particular, which was hit hard by the country’s deep three-year recession, shows encouraging signs. The GDP contracted by 0.4 percent and 1.9 percent in 2014 and 2013 as Italy struggled to recover…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy’s South Worst Hit by Low Inflation Rates, Says ISTAT
Low inflation due to depreciating oil prices
(ANSA) — Rome, January 15 — The South of Italy has been the worst hit of all Italian regions by weak inflation in 2015, national statistics bureau Istat said Friday.
Four out of seven regions in the Mezzogiorno experienced inflation levels lower than the national average.
Among these, Calabria experienced the lowest level, registering -0.1%, compared to +0.6% in 2014.
Depreciating oil prices is among the factors hampering inflation, according to consumer rights group Codacons.
President Carlo Rienzi said: “The sharp depreciation of oil — prices have fallen by more than 30% in a year — has had a devastating effect on inflation, bringing the average rate to 0.1% in 2015.” However, he predicted inflation would rise in 2016 to “acceptable levels”.
Meanwhile, prices of food products and alcoholic drinks rose 14 times more than the average rate of inflation, according to agricultural lobby group Coldiretti, which analysed the Istat data.
However, the group said that food businesses had not seen the benefits of the increase in prices and were often paid a sum below the cost of production.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Elderly, Big Losers to Get Preference in Bank Arbitration
Panels will be tasked to judge if bond sales were transparent
(ANSA) — Rome, January 15 — The elderly and those who have lost the most will get preference in upcoming arbitration, free of cost, for investors left with worthless bonds after the rescue of four small lenders, Banca Etruria, Banca Marche, CariFe and CariChieti, according to a draft decree seen by ANSA Friday. Twelve ‘colleges’ of five members each will be set up and will make their recommendations to the National Anti-Corruption Authority (ANAC) led by Raffaele Cantone. Arbitration will take a maximum of 120 days and will be decided by a majority vote.
The ‘arbiters’ will be tasked with deciding whether bank officials who sold investors subordinated bonds — a relatively risky investment instrument — did so according to the rules of transparency and correct practice.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Recovery Proceeding But Risks From Abroad Says Bank of Italy
Confirms October growth forecasts
(ANSA) — Rome, January 15 — The recovery in Italy and the eurozone is gradually proceeding but there remain “significant risks, among which there are major ones linked to the international situation, which have returned to the fore in the last few weeks”, the Bank of Italy said Friday.
The central bank’s economic bulletin highlighted “the possibility of a slowdown in emerging economies that could prove to be more marked and lasting than thus far hypothesised and have strong repercussions on financial and currency markets”.
But the Bank of Italy said 2016 budget measures were driving investments and it confirmed its October forecasts of GDP growth of 1.5% this year and next.
The 2016 budget’s stimulus measures should boost investments starting in the first quarter, the Bank of Italy said. The central bank said investment in construction would help the accumulation of capital. It said the assessments of households and business about the economy “remain favourable”.
GDP will rise 1.5% in both 2016 and 2017 after last year’s gain of 0.8%, the Bank of Italy said, confirming October forecasts. “The recovery is proceeding gradually,” it said. The fourth quarter of last year likely saw the same 0.2% increase as the third, it said in its economic bulletin, adding that the European Central Bank was also helping the economic recovery.
The bank also said credit conditions were improving and employment was being boosted by the Job Act labour reform and tax breaks for new hires.
It said firms were expressing “cautious optimism” about hiring.
Consumer spending was set to rise after the abolition of the TASI property tax, the central bank added.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The Deflation Monster Has Arrived
As we’ve been warning for quite a while (too long for my taste): the world’s grand experiment with debt has come to an end. And it’s now unraveling.
Just in the two weeks since the start of 2016, the US equity markets are down almost 10%. Their worst start to the year in history. Many other markets across the world are suffering worse.
If you watched stock prices today, you likely had flashbacks to the financial crisis of 2008. At one point the Dow was down over 500 points, the S&P cracked below key support at 1,900, and the price of oil dropped below $30/barrel. Scared investors are wondering: What the heck is happening? Many are also fearfully asking: Are we re-entering another crisis?
Sadly, we think so. While there may be a market rescue that provide some relief in the near term, looking at the next few years, we will experience this as a time of unprecedented financial market turmoil, political upheaval and social unrest. The losses will be staggering. Markets are going to crash, wealth will be transferred from the unwary to the well-connected, and life for most people will get harder as measured against the recent past.
It’s nothing personal; it’s just math. This is simply the way things go when a prolonged series of very bad decisions have been made. Not by you or me, mind you. Most of the bad decisions that will haunt our future were made by the Federal Reserve in its ridiculous attempts to sustain the unsustainable…
So the Fed’s pattern here was: fixing a small problem with a bad decision, which lead to an even larger problem addressed by an even worse decision, resulting in an even larger set of problems that are now in the process of deflating/bursting. Three sets of increasingly bad decisions in a row.
The amplitude and frequency of the bubbles and crashes are both increasing. As is the size and scope of the destruction.
[Comment: All by planned decisions — Fed’s moves were not “bad decisions”, but “good decisions” (Good for the banksters and elitist central planners but bad for the people). Creating the base for global communist dictatorship. Western nations need to be brought down economically for this to happen. This is the real purpose of the Federal Reserve — which is not Federal and has no reserve.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Activists protesting federal land mismanagement and the imprisonment of Dwight and Steven Hammond recently occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters building in Oregon. Some facts, context and perspective may help people understand what’s really going on here.
At its core, this is about the often callous, iron-fisted hand of the federal government being slammed down on American citizens. Examples abound—from the IRS targeting 200 conservative groups, to the seizure of cars and bank accounts of innocent business owners, to heavily armed Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) agents bursting into Gibson Guitar facilities over phony exotic wood violations, to EPA destroying tens of thousands of coal industry jobs to “prevent climate chaos.” Making these outrages even more intolerable, those responsible are almost never held accountable, much less liable for damages.
Problems like these can become exponentially worse for people in one of the twelve western states where the federal government controls 30% (Montana), 49% (Oregon) or even 85% (Nevada and Alaska) of all the land. These government lands total 640 million acres: 28% of the entire 2.27-billion-acre United States.
Though they are often, incorrectly called “public” lands, the “public” has no fundamental right to enter them or utilize their water and other resources. They are federal government reservations, administered and controlled by agencies that increasingly want economic, motorized and many other activities prohibited and eliminated—under laws interpreted, implemented and imposed by officials in the FWS, Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Park Service and other federal agencies.
[…]
The Hammonds got in trouble because they started a “backfire,” to burn combustible material, create a “fire break” and protect their home and ranch from a raging fire. They accidentally burned 139 acres of federal land before they put the fire out. Now they are serving five years in prison, even though Senior Federal Judge Michael Hogan felt a year or less was fair and just under the circumstances.
They could have been charged under a 1948 law that provides for fines or jail terms up to five years for setting a fire on government lands without permission. But they were not. Instead, the Obama Justice Department charged them under the 1996 Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act—as though what they did, in an honest attempt to protect their property, was an act of deliberate terrorism. That law requires a minimum five-year sentence. Judge Hogan’s lighter sentence was thus overruled.
Why would the DOJ do that? Probably because the feds never forget or forgive. Some years earlier, the Hammonds had removed a barrier the BLM had installed to block access to water they thought was legally theirs. Turns out it was. But they had failed to fully adjudicate their rights to the water—an oversight that they then fixed, thus safeguarding their rights. The Hammonds were also the only ranchers who refused to go along with a BLM “cow-free wilderness” plan. The feds were determined to get even.
Why would the Hammonds just give up and go back to prison? Because the DOJ wouldn’t budge, and they could not afford the huge expense of continuing to battle a vindictive federal behemoth. So now a middle-aged mom and elderly grandmother must run their 6,000-acre ranch, pay $200,000 more in fines, and hope they can avoid bankruptcy, which would result in BLM getting the Hammond ranch.
It is absurd, outrageous and infuriating. The Obama DOJ refuses to call Fort Hood, Boston, San Bernardino and other massacres terrorism—but it labels a backfire “terrorism.” But it gets worse.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
New Intel, Amd Processors to Require Windows 10
Microsoft has detailed its support plans for new and upcoming processor generations. The general gist: all upcoming processor generations from Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm will require Windows 10. Windows 8.x and Windows 7 will not be supported on these new platforms.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Reflections on “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi”
“With all due respect, the fact is, we had four dead Americans. Was it because of a protest or because of guys out for a walk one night who decide to kill some Americans, what difference at this point does it make? —Secretary of State Hillary Clinton 1/23/13
To give credit where it’s due, Hillary Clinton performed some pretty smooth verbal razzle-dazzle in the quote above. She implied that the cause behind the attacks in Benghazi was limited to “a protest” or “guys out for a walk.” That particular type of faulty reasoning is sometimes called the “False Choice” fallacy
A “False Choice” tries to trick the listener or reader into believing that their choices are limited to either this, or that, when in fact both choices may be true, or false. I am convinced that neither one of the false choices Ms. Clinton gave were the real reason(s) behind the attacks in Benghazi.
I recently watched the movie “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi” and it made me want to punch a wall, kick the cat, and cry in frustration. The government’s and media’s lies and cover-up continue unabated.
The ones who fought in Benghazi, who were actually there, say that they were given orders to stand down and not rescue their fellow Americans—they were ordered not to aid their fellow Americans. Orders which, to their everlasting credit, they disobeyed.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
US Man Arrested for Seeking to Join IS in Syria
A US man was arrested for attempting to fly to Syria to join the Islamic State jihadist group, while an accomplice was arrested for supporting his plan, the Department of Justice said Saturday.
Joseph Hassan Farrokh, 28, and Mahmoud Amin Mohamed Elhassan, 25, both of Woodbridge, in the state of Virginia, were charged “for criminal activity relating to Farrokh’s attempt to travel to Syria” to join IS, the DoJ said.
FBI agents arrested Farrokh Friday at a local airport as he sought to board a flight to Chicago, “where he intended to board a flight to Amman, Jordan, with an ultimate destination of Syria,” the statement read.
Elhassan was arrested Friday in Woodbridge after he returned from driving Farrokh to catch the flight…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Bitter Fruit: German Farmers’ Incomes Almost Halved Due to Russian Embargo
In an exclusive interview with Sputnik, Lambert Hurink, chief executive of the German Association of Emsland’s people said that the incomes of German farmers have significantly decreased due to the impact of the Russian food embargo.
German farmers have seen their financial situation deteriorating sharply as a result of steeply falling market prices and the Russian food embargo, and have repeatedly been calling for an end to the sanctions against Moscow, German Economic News (DWN) reported earlier.
“The main reason [for the deteriorating situation] is that we currently have few opportunities to export dairy products to Russia,” Hurink commented on the issue in an interview with Sputnik.
According to Hurink, Emsland, a region in Lower Saxony that mainly produces dairy and meat products, has been particularly hard hit by the sanctions.
“For a farmer who we say has 1,000 pigs it means that he indeed can sell them, but for 30 — 40 euros less than before. For 1,000 pigs this is up to 40,000 euros. However, the expenses, such as fodder costs, remain the same. So the costs may ultimately turn out to be higher than the revenue,” he argued.
According to Hurink, German farmers have managed to get into the Asian market, but still have a lot of remaining pork and dairy products. Most of them hope that the anti-Russian sanctions will eventually be lifted and the prices will once again increase to their normal levels, enabling German farmers to live on this income.
According to figures of the German Farmers’ Association (DBV), in 2015 German dairy farmers earned only half of what they did in 2014, while meat, grain and vegetable producers suffered income cuts of about 25 percent.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Civil Servants in Italy Average 50 Years Old
Effect of hiring freezes, says general accounting office
(ANSA) — Rome, January 15 — The median age of civil servants in Italy reached 49.2 years in 2014, an almost six-year increase since 2001 when the median age was 43.5, said the state’s general accounting office (RGS) on Friday in its annual report.
The report said the reason for the increase in median age is due to hiring freezes and a hold on retirement, whose continuation is expected to bring the median age above 50 possibly as early as 2016.
In the first nine months of 2015, employment in public offices shrunk by 0.67%, which the report said by the end of 2015 would probably surpass 2014 and 2013 figures, when employment decreased by 0.44% and 0.2%, respectively.
The total public administration cost for civil servants and contracted workers — 159 billion euros in 2014 — was 0.5% higher than in 2013, due to the introduction of some factors that were previously excluded from the calculation, the report said.
If those factors, which totaled 2.45 billion euros, hadn’t been included, the total spending most likely would have followed the downward trend that began in 2010.
Spending increased above all for schools, up 1.1%, due to an increase in personnel.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch Man Suspected of Killing Daesh Fighter Could Face Murder Charge
A former Dutch soldier who reportedly traveled to Syria to fight ISIS alongside Kurdish forces may face a murder charge back home in the Netherlands.
The unidentified soldier was arrested Wednesday in the eastern Dutch city of Arnhem before appearing before Rotterdam Court on Friday. He was provisionally released.
“When you see what they’ve done… by killing a member of [Daesh] I have probably saved dozens of lives,” the soldier told a local newspaper from his northern Dutch village.
According to a statement released by the prosecutor’s office, “Dutch law — apart from in exceptional circumstances like self-defense — does not give citizens the right to use force and particularly not deadly force.
“Killing an [Isis] fighter therefore could mean being prosecuted for murder.”
The statement also described the 47-year-old man as “a former soldier whose case was extensively reported on last year in the media and on Facebook due to his involvement in the fight against the Islamic State.”
Dutch media reports that he fled to Syria in 2015 to support the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, and refers to him as Jitse Akse.
The prosecutor’s office distinguished between lone fighters traveling to Syria to battle soldiers of the Islamic State, and Dutch army personnel who are training Iraqi forces and engaging in coalition bombings against ISIS.
“The [Dutch] deployment and training takes place at the request of the Iraqi government and forms the legal basis for its presence there,” the statement reads. “It also applies to the deployment of Dutch F-16 fighters above Iraq.”
The Netherlands joined coalition forces in Iraq in 2014. Later this month, its government is expected to decide whether to extend operations into Syria.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Senegalese ‘Admits Killing American Woman’ In Florence
Migrant says did not intend to kill, no ‘erotic game’
(ANSA) — Rome, January 14 — Police said Thursday that they have detained a man suspected of murdering Ashley Olsen, a 35-year-old American woman, in Florence last week. The detained man is Diaw Cheik Tidiane, a 27-year-old undocumented Senegalese migrant known to the police for drugs-related issues. He has admitted being responsible for her death, but said he did not intend to kill her, sources said.
Prosecutors said the man was held on the basis of DNA evidence taken at the crime scene.
“There is very serious evidence of his guilt,” Florence Prosecutor Giuseppe Creazzo told a news conference Thursday. The man was detained overnight and interrogated until 04:00 Italian time.
Tidiane said he had sexual relations with Olsen after meeting her in a club and going to her home, according to the sources. He said they subsequently argued and she banged her head after he pushed her, the sources said. He said that the bruising on her neck, which led coroners to conclude she had been strangled, resulted from his efforts to lift her up, according to the sources.
Olsen, originally from Florida, was living in Florence where her father, an architect, works at an art school.
She was found dead at her rented apartment on Saturday. An autopsy found that she had been strangled with a cord or rope.
The detained man was identified with the help of footage from surveillance cameras that showed him going from a club to Olsen’s home with her early last Friday.
Creazzo said Olsen had two fractures to her skull, which suggested the murder was carried out in two stages, first with an attack with a blunt instrument or by hitting her head against something and then via strangulation.
Prosecutors said that there is no evidence to suggest that an erotic game gone wrong was a factor in the murder. “There is no trace of an erotic game,” Creazzo said, adding that he believed the pair had “consensual sex”.
He stressed, however, that he believed both the suspect and the victim may have been under the influence of alcohol or drugs. “It’s possible that both parties may not have been lucid,” said Creazzo. “We are waiting for the results of the toxicological tests (but) we have reason to believe that they took substances that did not leave them lucid, certainly alcohol, maybe something else”. He added that there was nothing to suggest the pair knew each other previously.
According to sources, Tidiane, a PR for a club, said the row broke out when Olsen tried to send him away soon after they had sex because she feared her boyfriend would arrive.
“I’m not a dog,” he said, according to sources.
Creazzo added that, after Olsen was killed, Tidiane fled with her mobile phone and put his SIM card into it. A lawyer representing Olsen’s father said her funeral will take place on Friday at Florence’s Santo Spirito Basilica.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy ‘Same Rights’ In EU Says Padoan
‘We want to reinforce EU’ says econ min
(ANSA) — Brussels, January 15 — Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said Friday that the relationship between the EU and Italy is a “relationship between the government of one of the main countries in the EU that is addressing the (European) Commission in an open and frank way, bearing in mind that we want to reinforce the EU but at the same time that we have rights on a par with those of others and we mean to make ourselves heard”. He spoke after EC President Jean-Claude Juncker’s unusually frank criticism of Premier Matteo Renzi’s recent stances allegedly against the EC.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Juncker Blasts Renzi for Attacks on Commission
‘We won’t be intimidated’ Renzi blasts back
(ANSA) — Rome, January 15 — European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Friday hit back at growing criticism of the EU executive from Italian Premier Matteo Renzi in an unusual frontal attack of a member State’s head of government. “I think that the Italian prime minister, whom I love very much, is wrong to offend the Commission at every opportunity, I don’t see why he does it,” Juncker said. “In truth, Italy should not criticise it too much. We have introduced (greater budget) flexibility against the will of member States who some say dominate Europe”.
Juncker also accused Rome of blocking the plan to give Turkey three billion euros in exchange for cooperation on the refugee crisis.
Renzi responded to Juncker’s criticism by rapping back: “We won’t be intimidated”. Speaking to TG5, he said “Italy deserves respect”. Renzi stressed that the EC, in his view, had only conceded flexibility on budget spending “after a lot of insistence on Italy’s part”.
Renzi has frequently criticised the European Union, saying it is too focused on budget austerity and dominated by bureaucrats and does not give enough importance to promoting growth and employment.
Furthermore, Rome reacted angrily when the Commission opened infringement proceedings last year against Italy for failing to respect the rules on taking the finger prints of asylum seekers.
The Italian government responded by saying EU should thank it for the thousands of migrants it saves at sea and complained of slow progress on a deal to relocate refugees to other European countries.
The was also tension when the Commission denied it had stopped the Italian government softening its rescue of four small Italian banks last year to lessen the effects on bondholders in this lenders.
Juncker admitted that relations between the EC and Italy were not going well at the moment. “I’ll probably go to Italy at the end of February because the atmosphere between Italy and the Commission is not the best,” Juncker said. “Renzi always complains that I have not been to Italy since I became president”.
Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said Italy’s criticism of the European Commission was meant as constructive and not offensive. “There is no intent to offend on the part of the Italian government, but a constructive attitude,” Padoan said.
“(The relationship between the EU and Italy is a) relationship between the government of one of the main countries in the EU that is addressing the (European) Commission in an open and frank way, bearing in mind that we want to reinforce the EU but at the same time that we have rights on a par with those of others and we mean to make ourselves heard”. Padoan also denied the charge that Italy was preventing the EU giving the three billion euros to Turkey. “Italy gives full backing to the support of Turkey to manage the migrant flows,” Padoan said. “Italy is not blocking anything. But we believe it is necessary to clarify whether there is still space in the European budget to ensure that the three billion euros is fully covered without using contributions from the (member) States”.
Earlier Juncker blasted Rome’s stance on this issue. “I struggle to understand Italy’s amazing reservation about the three billion euros to Turkey because the money is not going to Turkey but is for Syrian refugees in Turkey,” Juncker said. “These three billion are a question of credibility for the EU” Federica Mogherini, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, said Friday that creating division within the block was senseless, when asked to comment on Juncker’s comments.
“It’s stupid to create divisions within Europe,” said Mogherini, who served as Italian foreign minister under Renzi before being nominated to her current post. “The Europeans need to be united when faced with the many crises that exist,” she told reporters during a visit to the Community of Sant’Egidio in Rome. “Italy needs Europe like Europe needs Italy”.
Mogherini stressed that both Italy and the European Commission had wanted to introduce greater scope for flexibility in the EU’s budget rules after Juncker argued that he had passed the changes, not Renzi. “There are lots of things that Italy and Europe have done together in the first year of the Juncker Commission,” Mogherini said. “(These go) from the introduction of the rules on flexibility, which Italy very much wanted and which the European Commission very much wanted and which benefit everyone, to the great challenges at the European level on the management of immigration”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: FCA Outpaces European Market With 13.6% Rise in 2015 Sales
December auto sales up 15.9% over 2014
(ANSA) — Turin, January 15 — The European auto market closed 2015 with over 14 million new vehicle registrations, a 9.4% increase over 2014 figures, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) said on Friday.
In December 2015, over 1.1 million cars were delivered, a 15.9% increase on December 2014.
Sales of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) vehicles rose 13.6% in 2015 in Europe on 2014 figures, with a total of 872,500 vehicles sold last year for a market share that grew to 6.1%, ACEA said. In December of last year 65,168 FCA vehicles were registered, representing a jump of 16.4% on December 2014.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Juncker Plan: 500 Million Euros for SMEs in Germany
From the support of the European Fund for Strategic Investments
(ANSA) — BRUSSELS, JANUARY 15 — The European Investment Fund (EIF) and the German promotional bankKfW Bankengruppe have signed an agreement to increase lending to innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as well as small Mid-Caps, benefiting from the support of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the heart of the Investment Plan for Europe or ‘Juncker Plan’. The new agreement allows KfW via on-lending banks to provide innovative companies in Germany with access to a total of 500 million euros of financing over the next 2 years.
“Germany is one of the leading EU Member States for innovation and I am pleased that it is dedicating more resources to financing innovative companies” said the European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, Carlos Moedas. “The InnovFin SME Guarantee deal signed with KfW Bankengruppe will open up new ways of funding innovative companies to enable them to grow and create jobs” added Moedas.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
London Has Already Exceeded Its Pollution Limits for 2016
This first month of the year, London needed only seven days to breach pollution limits set by the EU for all of 2016. Between January 1 and the end of last week, levels of NO2 (nitrogen-dioxide gas, a pollutant linked to 5,900 London deathsin 2010) had already exceeded the limit of 200 milligrams per-cubic-meter more than 18 times on southwest London’s Putney High Street, as much as EU regulations will allow for an entire 12 months. Damning a whole city for a single site’s breach might seem extreme, but the pollution spike was most likely repeated elsewhere, too.
Oxford Street, London’s main shopping street, is notorious for having the highest recorded levels of NO2 anywhere in the world. (It has probably already exceeded its annual limit as well—in 2015, this took just four days—but measuring equipment has malfunctioned, so this year it’s at least been spared a headline.) In fact, 181-square-miles of Greater London currently exceed yearly NO2 limits, according to a new report, leaving London at an NO2 pollution level similar to that of Beijing or Shanghai.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Malta: ‘Patriots’ Hand Out Pork Sandwiches Ahead of Anti-Islam Protest
The self-styled organisation of Maltese patriots (Ghaqda Patrijotti Maltin) is handing out pork sandwiches for free ahead of a protest in Msida against a group of Muslims who have recently started praying in the village square.
Patriots’ leader Alex Pisani told the crowd of some 200 protestors that their decision to hand out the sandwiches was “an act of solidarity” with children of a St Paul’s Bay primary school who he said are forbidden from eating pork at school due to its high population of Muslim students.
“We have one religion in Malta, which is Roman Catholicism, and we don’t want Muslims praying in public,” Pisani said, urging people present to sign a petition against forced integration and to refrain from passing racist comments to the press.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Mogherini Says Italy and EU Both Wanted Flexibility
Juncker said he, not Renzi, changed rules.
(ANSA) — Rome, January 15 — Federica Mogherini, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, said Friday that both Italy and the European Commission had wanted to introduce greater scope for flexibility in the EU’s budget rules. She was speaking after European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker argued that he had passed the flexibility changes, not Italian Premier Matteo Renzi, during a stinging attack on Friday. “There are lots of things that Italy and Europe have done together in the first year of the Juncker Commission,” Mogherini said. “(These go) from the introduction of the rules on flexibility, which Italy very much wanted and which the European Commission very much wanted and which benefit everyone, to the great challenges at the European level on the management of immigration”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
New Poll Shows Widening Support for UK to Leave EU
A new opinion poll published Sunday showed the number of Britons wanting to leave the European Union rising in the wake of the Paris terror attacks and Cologne assaults.
The poll put the EU exit camp in the lead by 53 percent to 47 ahead of a referendum promised by the end of 2017, but which could take place as early as June.
The Survation poll for the centre-right, eurosceptic, Mail on Sunday newspaper excludes undecided voters.
If they are included, 42 percent are in favour of leaving, 38 for remaining with 20 percent yet to make up their mind…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Poland ‘Should Not Try Merkel’s Patience’
In recent years, Poland was an ally of Germany, having established close ties, but the recent spat between Warsaw and Berlin could deal a serious blow to cooperation between the countries.
Recently, a war of words broke out between Warsaw and Brussels over the Polish government’s new laws on media and constitutional court. It was an unprecedented move — Poland was suspected of breaching European democratic values, an article on Politico read.
Head of the European Parliament Martin Schulz compared the new Polish government’s latest moves to a “coup.” Polish Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz said his country would not “take lessons in freedom and democracy” from Germany. The German government restrained from finger-wagging at the Poles. Now Berlin worries that the dispute will end with a disruption in its ties with Poland, according to the article.
A breakdown in relations would imperil decades of painstaking reconciliation. Moreover, losing Poland would mean that Berlin now has practically no allies in the EU. Currently, it is a time when the EU must confront a daunting array of challenges that its own leaders warn could trigger a collapse. At the same time, German Chancellor Angela Merkel needs strong allies who could help her reform the EU, solve the migrant crisis and settle a lot of other issues, the article read.
“Berlin is running out of coalition partners,” Josef Janning, head of the Berlin office of the European Council on Foreign Relations was quoted as saying by Politico. “Everyone is rather weak or self-centered at this point.”
Until recently, Germany and Poland had good relations but it has all changed after the nationalist Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s Law and Justice party came to power.
According to the article, despite the sharp tone coming from Warsaw it would not instantly cut off ties with Berlin, first of all due to economic and security reasons.
The Poles should not go too far trying Germany’s patience. This could damage Poland’s reputation, an unnamed German diplomat told Financial Times.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Poland Will Not Bow to EU on Reforms: Right-Wing Leader
The head of Poland’s ruling right-wing party insisted Sunday it would not bow to EU pressure after Brussels launched an unprecedented probe into judicial reforms that have stoked concerns about the state of democracy in the country.
The comments by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of the eurosceptic Law and Justice party (PiS), came on the eve of a visit to Brussels by President Andrzej Duda where the dispute is likely to be discussed.
“We should not concern ourselves with this, we must continue on our path and not give in to any (EU) pressure,” Kaczynski said in an interview with conservative newspaper Rzeczpospolita…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Tony Blair today called for a European army capable of taking on the international terrorist threat independent of the Nato alliance.
The former prime minister said such a force would not replace Nato but be a vital security organisation which would act independently.
Mr Blair risked provoking protest with a call for greater European integration in a host of areas — including the power grid and universities.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
UK: David Cameron: More Muslim Women Should ‘Learn English’ To Help Tackle Extremism
The Prime Minister is expected to call on more Muslim mothers to learn English and help to prevent their sons from turning to extremism
More Muslim women should “learn English “ in the hope that they will turn into more powerful moderating forces, David Cameron will say tomorrow.
The Prime Minister is expected to call on more Muslim mothers to learn this country’s language to enable them to play a bigger role in society and help to prevent their sons from turning to extremism.
Mr Cameron has privately suggested that one of the main reasons young men are vulnerable to radicalisation is the “traditional submissiveness of Muslim women”, which prevents them from speaking out against the influence of the radical Imams.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Warwickshire Church Shocked After Porn Movie is Filmed in Its Graveyard
Paul Tullet, vicar at Water Orton Parish Church in North Warwickshire, said no permission had been sought by website PornXN to record on a hardcore fetish video on their premises.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
“After Me, The Jihad,” Gaddafi Tried to Warn the West, But Nobody Listened
Before the French Revolution and its Reign of Terror, Louis XV predicted, “After me, the Deluge.” Before being overthrown, Libya’s secular dictator tried to warn the West of a new Reign of Terror, essentially foretelling, “After me, the Jihad.”
This was disclosed with the recent release of phone conversations from early 2011 between Muammar Gaddafi and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The West was then gearing up to use unrest in Libya as a pretext for military intervention and regime change. Gaddafi desperately tried to convey through Blair the folly of such a war, pleading that he was trying to defend Libya from Al Qaeda, which had set up base in the country. He said:
“They have managed to get arms and terrify people. people can’t leave their homes… It’s a jihad situation. They have arms and are terrorising people in the street.”
Gaddafi’s warning went unheeded, and NATO, led by the U.S. and France, launched an air war that toppled Libya’s government. Later that year, Gaddafi (himself a brutal oppressor, like all heads of state) was forced out of a drainage pipe, and then beaten, sodomized, and shot in the street by a mob. His corpse was then draped over the hood of a car.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who had done more than any single person to advance the Libya War, was informed of Gaddafi’s death while on camera. Fancying herself a modern Caesar, she chortled, “We came, we saw, he died!”
Since then, Gaddafi has been proven tragically right. As Libya descended into civil war and failed-state chaos, jihadi groups connected to Al Qaeda conquered much of the country. Libya underwent the same American “liberation” that had already befallen Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia — and would soon be visited on Syria and Yemen.
Shortly after Gaddafi’s overthrow, some of the now-rampant jihadis helped the CIA run guns from Benghazi to fellow jihadis in Syria.
Benghazi had been a rebel stronghold. The Obama administration claimed a Gaddafi-perpetrated “genocide” was imminent in that city, using that claim as the chief justification for the war. There was zero indication of such an impending atrocity. But there was ample evidence of an Al Qaeda presence in Benghazi, as Gaddafi tried to tell Blair, saying that members had “…managed to set up local stations and in Benghazi have spread the thoughts and ideas of al Qaeda.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Al-Qaeda Video Vows to Make Italy Pay for ‘Occupying Libya’
Mauritania’s Al-Akhbar receives copy
– ROME — A video message released Thursday by one of the leaders of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the North African branch of the terrorist organization, warns that Italy will regret its actions in Libya.
It said that Libya had “sold itself to foreigners” through the recent national unity agreement in Shkirat, Morocco.
The news was reported by the Mauritanian news agency Al-Akhbar, which claimed to have received a copy of the message.
The leader, Abu Obeida Yusuf Al-Annabi, called the agreement a conspiracy and warned that “to the new invaders, grandchildren of Graziani (a fascist-era military officer and key figure in Italy’s African campaigns in the 1920s and ‘30s, known for his brutal repression of the local populations, Ed.), we will bite your hands and make you regret having entered the land of Omar Al-Mukhtar (hero of the Libyan resistance, Ed.).
You will be humiliated.” “We are not a population that gives up. You will have to step over our dead bodies. We will win or die,” states the video, entitled ‘Roman Italy Has Occupied Libya’.
Reference is made to an “Italian general commanding in Tripoli now”, possibly in reference to General Paolo Serra, senior military advisor to UN Special Envoy to Libya Martin Kobler. Annabi is held to be one of AQIM’s most influential leaders.
The authenticity of the video message could not be verified independently.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Congressional Republicans Slam Obama Administration for Lifting Sanctions on Iran
Congressional Republicans were quick to slam the Obama administration Saturday for lifting sanctions on Iran, with House Speaker Paul Ryan pledging to do “everything possible” to prevent the longtime U.S. foe from obtaining nuclear weapons.
The announcement means Iran will be able to sell its oil again on world markets and its banks will be able to connect to the global system. A senior administration official said Saturday that under the international agreement, financial institutions will be able to transfer funds to Iran, giving it the ability to access $50 billion.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Gulf Shares in Free Fall After Oil Rout, Iran Deal
Share prices in the energy-rich Gulf states nosedived Sunday following the sharp decline in oil prices and the expected rise in Iranian crude exports after the lifting of sanctions.
The plunge in the first day of trading in the Muslim week also follows heavy losses in global bourses on Friday, when Gulf exchanges were closed for the weekend.
The price of oil, which contributes more than 80 percent to Gulf states’ revenues, shed more than 20 percent this year to drop below $30 a barrel. This follows a plunge of 65 percent in the past two years…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
In Saudi Aramco IPO Talk, Some See Age of Oil Coming to End
For all the talk of Saudi Arabia’s oil company becoming the first trillion-dollar business if it goes public, some see the chatter as a sign of oil’s weakness. The Saudis, they say, are starting to hedge their bet on fossil fuels.
While the Saudi Arabian Oil Co. sits on a preposterously large reserve of 260 billion barrels of oil, the kingdom’s discussion of a share sale amid a global collapse in crude prices suggests another motive to those who preach about the financial risks of climate change: The Saudis may want to capitalize on an asset that’s only going to lose value if the world gets serious about global warming.
“Why would you IPO your only valuable asset when oil is at its lowest point since 2003?” said Andrew Logan of Ceres, the Boston-based coalition of investors and environmentalists. “The most obvious way to read it is they are starting to see the writing on the wall — that the age of oil is coming to an end and they are looking to cash out while they can.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
IS Abducts More Than 400 Civilians in East Syria: Monitor
The Islamic State group abducted at least 400 civilians including women and children after capturing new territory in an assault on Syria’s eastern city of Deir Ezzor, a monitor said Sunday.
“After their attack on Deir Ezzor (on Saturday), IS abducted at least 400 civilians from the residents of the Al-Baghaliyeh suburb it captured and adjacent areas in the northwest of the city,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
ADVERTISING”Those abducted, all of whom are Sunnis, include women, children and family members of pro-regime fighters,” Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS have murdered a man by throwing him off the top of a high roof in Iraq after he was accused of being homosexual.
Photographs have emerged from the scene of the horrific act which the jihadi group claim took place in al-Furat province.
ISIS claimed the victim was arrested and subjected to a mock trial at an Islamic court before his execution.
[‘An unspeakable act has been conducted in their [Muslims] name. Yet while this has provoked feelings of frustration and anger — it flies in the face of the peace and love that Islam teaches.’ Nick Clegg, 24th May 2013.]
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Scores of Civilians Killed in IS Group ‘Massacre’ In Syria
An Islamic State group attack Saturday in the eastern Syrian city of Deir Ezzor killed at least 85 civilians and 50 regime forces, a monitor said, with state media denouncing a “massacre”.
Syria’s state news agency SANA, quoting residents, said “around 300 civilians” were killed in the onslaught.
If confirmed it would be one of the highest tolls for a single day in Syria’s nearly five-year war…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
US to Pay Iran $1.7 Bn in Debt and Interest: Kerry
The United States is to repay Iran a $400 million debt and $1.3 billion in interest dating to the Islamic revolution, Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
GE Sells Appliance Business to China’s Haier for $5.4 Bn
US industrial giant General Electric will sell its appliances business to China’s Haier Group for $5.4 billion, it said Friday, in one of the largest Chinese acquisitions of an American firm yet.
The transaction epitomises the changing nature of the global economy, with a 100-year-old US company selling what was once one of its core units to a Chinese upstart that emerged from a refrigerator factory that was nearly bankrupt 30 years ago.
Haier is seeking to establish itself as a global brand, while China is looking to re-balance its economy more towards consumption and away from the infrastructure and investment-driven model of the past…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
French, Canadians Among Foreigners Killed in Burkina Faso Hotel Attack
At least 29 people, including several foreigners, were killed in an Al-Qaeda attack on a top hotel in Burkina Faso, an unprecedented strike in the capital illustrating the expanding reach of regional jihadists.
The hours-long drama saw Burkinabe troops, backed by French special forces, battle militants — including two women fighters — who stormed the four-star Splendid Hotel, which is popular with foreigners and United Nations staff, and took more than a hundred people hostage.
Burkina Faso declared three days of national mourning following the attack, which mirrored another Al-Qaeda attack on a luxury hotel in neighbouring Mali where 20 people were killed, mostly foreigners…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Kenya in ‘Search and Rescue’ As Shebab Claims 100 Soldiers Killed
Kenya said a search and rescue operation was underway in Somalia on Sunday as Al-Qaeda-linked militants claimed to have killed over 100 Kenyan soldiers in Friday’s attack on an African Union base.
The base in southwest Somalia was attacked by Shebab fighters early on Friday morning, in the latest incident of an AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) base being overrun by the militants.
“We embarked on a search, rescue and recovery operation as a priority,” military chief Samson Mwathethe told reporters on Sunday morning in the capital Nairobi. “Our troops are engaging the terrorists.”…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The parents of 15 year old Lithuanian boy Arminas Pileckas have blasted Sweden and the Swedish media for cowardice in the face of the migrant threat, and for covering up the murder of their son.
Arminas Pileckas, a native of northern European state Lithuania was living in Sweden with his parents when he was brutally murdered on Monday by an “Arab” — reportedly Syrian — migrant classmate.
It is reported that Arminas intervened to protect a female school-mate from being sexually assaulted in December, only to have the Syrian he defended her from stab him in the back and through the heart on the first day of the next term.
While the killing of a European on his first day back at school by a migrant pupil has received minimal press coverage in Sweden, it has been practically ignored across the rest of Europe, a state of affairs his father has called a ‘cover-up’.
In an angry interview with his native Lithuanian press, Arminas’ father said he hadn’t even been approached for interviews by the Swedish press after the death of his son, while the same Swedish media rushed to interview the father of the killer. He said in Lithuania the migrant problem was frankly and openly discussed, while in Sweden “everything is being kept hidden”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Calais Chief Says British Hard-Left Activists Causing Migrant Chaos Should be ‘Kicked Out’
HARD-LEFT British activists who stir up trouble in Calais’ migrant camps should be kicked out of France, the port city’s deputy mayor has said.
Philippe Mignonet called on UK officials to help clamp down on liberal activists using migrants for “political reasons”.
He said: “The English government, who know who these activists are, should treat them as hooligans and not allow them to leave the country.
“They are acting as humanitarians undercover but they are using the migrants for political reasons. They are there to manipulate the migrants.
“Most are from the extreme left. Whatever we do they are activists, they are anarchists, all they do is create a mess.”
It comes after a British charity worker suggested truck drivers who are victims of attacks at the hands of Britain-bound refugees should simply change jobs.
Clare Moseley, who also claimed the plight of truckers who are attacked by refugees is “not the end of the world”, has since been forced to apologise.
The woman, head of the Care4Calais group, invoked the wrath of haulage chiefs — who called her claims “absolutely outrageous”.
Other activists working in Calais include the radical group ‘No Borders’, who organised several protests which turned violent at St Pancras International railway station.
The group is believed to have advised migrants how to gain access to the UK, along with how to pass British citizenship exams in a bid to claim asylum.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Czech Leader Says Muslim Integration ‘Practically Impossible’ In Europe
Czech President Milos Zeman, known for his fiery anti-migrant rhetoric, said on Sunday it was “practically impossible” to integrate the Muslim community into European society.
“The experience of Western European countries which have ghettos and excluded localities shows that the integration of the Muslim community is practically impossible,” Zeman said in a televised interview.
“Let them have their culture in their countries and not take it to Europe, otherwise it will end up like Cologne,” he added, referring to the mass New Year’s Eve assaults on women in Germany and elsewhere.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Plans Centres for Algerians and Moroccans
The proposals came after a sharp rise in new arrivals from the two countries and public outrage over a rash of attacks on women on New Year’s Eve in the western city of Cologne blamed on North African and Arab migrants.
Welt am Sonntag newspaper reported that Chancellor Angela Merkel and Bavarian state leader Horst Seehofer had agreed that Algerian and Moroccan asylum seekers should no longer be put in shelters throughout the country.
Instead, they would be housed in existing expulsion facilities in Bavaria until their claims have been heard, similar to the practice currently used for applicants from Balkan countries who are unlikely to be granted asylum.
Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel noted Sunday that this option could be applied more widely.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Plans Repatriation Centres for Algerians, Moroccans
Germany is planning measures to expedite the deportation of rejected asylum seekers from Algeria and Morocco including placing them in special expulsion centres, officials said Sunday.
The proposals came after a sharp rise in new arrivals from the two countries and public outrage over a rash of attacks on women on New Year’s Eve in the western city of Cologne blamed on North African and Arab migrants.
Welt am Sonntag newspaper reported that Chancellor Angela Merkel and Bavarian state leader Horst Seehofer had agreed that Algerian and Moroccan asylum seekers should no longer be put in shelters throughout the country.
Instead, they would be housed in existing expulsion facilities in Bavaria until their claims have been heard, similar to the practice currently used for applicants from Balkan countries who are unlikely to be granted asylum…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
‘Islam is Incompatible With Western Life’ Czech Leader Warns of More Cologne-Style Attacks
ISLAM is fundamentally incompatible with Western values, a senior European leader claimed, as he predicted more Cologne-style refugee sex attacks in cities across the continent.
Czech Republic president Milos Zeman said that it is “impossible” to integrate Muslims from the Middle East into European societies because their core values are too dissimilar to those of Western populations.
In an outspoken interview the veteran left-winger blamed the New Year’s Eve rapes in Cologne on “Muslim culture” and said people who want to live according to Islamic law should not move to Europe to settle.
His controversial remarks come amid growing fury in neighbouring Germany over a string of refugee sex attacks, with a poll today revealing nearly half of Germans now openly fear newly arrived migrants.
Speaking on local TV the 71-year-old president said immigration from countries with “similar cultures”, including Ukraine and Vietnam, had benefitted Czech society.
But he claimed recently arrived refugees from the Middle East have brought “ghettos and excluded localities” to Europe, referring to reports of radicalised Muslim neighbourhoods in cities including London and Paris.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Stands Against €3-Billion EU-Turkey Migrant Deal
Italy is blocking an EU plan to provide Turkey with €3 billion in aid in exchange for Ankara’s efforts to stem the migrant influx from the Middle East to Europe.
The news marks a further escalation in Italy’s disapproval of Brussels’ policy toward a key European problem. In December, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi lambasted German Chancellor Angela Merkel at an EU summit over EU policies on migration, energy and banking.
“There is only one member state that still has objections against the funding for Turkey. We do not understand why Italy is blocking it,” a European diplomatic source told Reuters.
On November 29, at a EU summit, country members agreed a draft plan to provide Turkey with €3 billion to meet refugees’ humanitarian needs.
According to it, one third of the sum should come from the EU budget and the remaining €2 billion should arrive from EU states.
Talks are now underway on how national funding should be treated under EU deficit rules.
“The EU is now seen as backtracking. We need to solve this urgently so we can credibly negotiate with Ankara to stem the flow,” the source said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The president of the Czech Republic has claimed it is ‘practically impossible’ for Muslims to integrate into modern Europe.
Speaking on local TV, President Milos Zeman also blamed the New Years Eve sex attacks in Cologne, Germany, on ‘Muslim culture’.
Zeman is known for his fiery anti-migrant comments and has previously accused refugees ‘with iPhones’ of exploiting their children to get asylum in the EU.
‘The experience of Western European countries which have ghettos and excluded localities shows that the integration of the Muslim community is practically impossible,’ Zeman said in a televised interview Sunday.
‘Let them have their culture in their countries and not take it to Europe, otherwise it will end up like Cologne,’ he added, referring to the mass New Year’s Eve assaults on women in Germany and elsewhere…
| — Hat tip: Green Infidel | [Return to headlines] |
“Migrants attack each other and are even violent toward aid workers trying to deliver food and supplies”
Two Dutch film makers have been attacked in the infamous Calais Jungle camp by migrants wielding pepper spray and a knife. Members of the Calais Migrant Solidarity group have urged them to remove the clip from the Internet, stating menacingly: “You are not doing yourself a favour by putting it online as I think this is not what you came for to Calais…”
Ms. Engels released the clip, taken while filming her new documentary, “Calais: Welcome to the Jungle,” via her YouTube account.
The clip, which only lasts 41 seconds, clearly shows her colleague and photographer Teun Voeten being attacked and thrown into a tent while three men pin him down. The perpetrators then proceed to run off down the makeshift streets of the migrant settlement.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Migrant Sex Attacks: More Revelations of Assaults Linked to Refugees in Germany Emerge
Horrific details of another bout of sex attacks allegedly carried out by recently arrived refugees provoked more fury across the country tonight as calls to clamp down on mass migration continued to grow.
Police reports from the city of Dortmund released today claimed that a recently arrived refugee told one young woman that German girls are “just there for sex” after he approached her in the street and offered her money to sleep with him.
They also described a shocking incident in which three migrant men seemingly tried to impose Sharia Law on the streets of Germany, attempting to stone two women in public.
The disturbing reports are just the latest in an avalanche of revelations about refugee sex crimes to emerge since the sickening attacks in Cologne, when 1,000 migrant men went on the rampage raping and robbing women out celebrating New Year’s Eve…
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
No More Refugees? Austria Calls for Germany to End Its ‘Culture of Welcome’
Austrian authorities are at a loss because Germany is now sending refugees back across the border without warning, German newspaper Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten (DWN) reported.
Austrian authorities have started to discover tighter border controls recently introduced by Germany. About 200 migrants a day are sent back by Germany across the border, an Austrian police spokesman said.
The migrants undergo a process of registration, but then are largely left to themselves.
“What else should we do? We have no legal or moral basis to detain them,” an Austrian official said and added: “It would be only fair if Germany would say that it puts an end to its culture of welcome.”
Austria has been long supportive of the policy of open borders of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. After Denmark and Sweden have closed their borders, Austria remains the only country in the EU, which still follows Merkel’s guidelines.
However, as Germany increasingly has started to return migrants back, Austrian authorities have had difficulties to cope with the additional migrant inflow. In December alone Germany sent back 1564 refugees, according to the Austrian police.
“Germany rejects about 10 percent of 2,000 to 3,000 refugees entering the country daily,” said the police spokesman. Among them are migrants who have no valid travel documents and those who want to apply for asylum in other countries, such as Sweden or Denmark.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Padoan Says 3 Bn for Turkey Must Come From EU Budget
Minister responds after Juncker blasts Italy’s stance
(ANSA) — Brussels, January 15 — Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan on Friday denied the European Commission allegations that Italy was blocking the approval of three billion euros in financing to Turkey in exchange for cooperation on the refugee crisis. “Italy gives full backing to the support of Turkey to manage the migrant flows,” Padoan said. “Italy is not blocking anything. But we believe it is necessary to clarify whether there is still space in the European budget to ensure that the three billion euros is fully covered without using contributions from the (member) States.” Earlier on Friday European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker blasted Rome’s stance on this issue. “I struggle to understand Italy’s amazing reservation about the three billion euros to Turkey because the money is not going to Turkey but is for Syrian refugees in Turkey,” Juncker said.
“These three billion are a question of credibility for the EU”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The Map That Will Change the Way You See the World
How do you view your country relative to others? Chances are if it’s based on most world maps, your view is distorted.
As the world turns its gaze to the rich and pretty people in Davos this coming week, The World Economic Forum unleashed the following cartogram, created by Reddit user TeaDranks, that could change your entire perception of the world. Cartograms scale a region’s geographic space according to a particular attribute and in this case each square now represents 500,000 people.
(click image for massive legible version)
We all know that India and China have large populations, but this map emphasises their size on a global scale. Compared to conventional world maps, the two Asian powerhouses dominate. Along with several East Asian neighbours — Bangladesh, Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia — their contribution to the global population is clear.
The size of Nigeria and Brazil compared to the rest of Africa and Latin America is equally apparent.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sounds like many of Germany and Sweden’s neighbors have had enough of their insanity. The time is nigh for a blockade of Germany and Sweden. We can buy Jap cars from now on.
Reconceptualizing-Sexual-Harassment-in-Egypt.pdf
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Document preview. Kohl: A Journal for Body and Gender Research Vol. 1, No. 1 (Summer 2015)
Reconceptualizing Sexual Harassment in Egypt:
A Longitudinal Assessment of el-Taharrush el-Ginsy in Arabic Online Forums and Anti-Sexual Harassment Activism Angie Abdelmonem Abstract: This paper examines shifting conceptualizations of sexual harassment, or el-taḥarrush el-ginsy, in Egypt. Through longitudinal data from online Arabic discussion boards and blog sites, as well as insights from interviews and participant observation of anti-sexual harassment organizations, it explores the range of meanings evident in the use of the term taḥarrush. A comparative approach was employed to assess changes in Egyptian discourses with those taking place across the region. Online data was collected using the search terms “taḥarrush ginsy” and “taḥarrush.” Google served as the primary search engine to locate discussion and blog pos.
Thank you. The B said he thought the term originated in the massive open abuse of women in Tahrir Square. Will show him this.
Hurry onn download before it is deleted.
“This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedia’s deletion policy.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taharrush_gamea