Tommy Robinson traveled to Ireland today to meet with Peter O’Loughlin of Identity Ireland in Cork. At a press conference the two men announced that a PEGIDA Ireland chapter would be officially launched next weekend, when simultaneous PEGIDA demonstrations will be held all across Europe. Mr. Robinson, like so many Counterjihad activists from Sydney to Seattle (including at least two here at Schloss Bodissey), is of Irish stock.
In other news, Swedish vigilantes went on a rampage today against immigrant predators in Stockholm’s main railway station. Meanwhile, the National Front and other British patriotic groups were in violent confrontation with pro-immigrant leftists in Dover, where several swastikas were scrawled in blood on the sides of buses.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to AF, C. Cantoni, Dean, Dora, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, Nick, Seneca III, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
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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.
2012: Iceland Forgives All Debt. US Media Blackout…
If you Google “ICELAND FORGIVES ENTIRE POPULATION OF MORTGAGE DEBT” you will get ‘About 359,000 Results’. Not one of them is a Media Outlet in the US
Iceland moves to Debt Forgiveness
In the case of Iceland the situation was more difficult, due in part to the much bigger proportion of the population that was affected, and to the wide presence of foreign currency mortgages. The government and the newly constructed Icelandic banks developed a template to be used in case by case restructuring discussions between borrowers and lenders. The templates facilitated substantial debt write-downs designed to align secured debt with the supporting collateral (i.e bring the loan into line with the value of the house) and align debt service with the ability to repay. The IMF found that such case by case negotiations safeguard property rights and reduce moral hazard, but they take time. As of January of this year, only 35% of the case by case restructuring applications had been processed. To speed things up, Iceland has introduced a debt forgiveness plan which writes down deeply underwater mortgages to 110% of the households’ pledgeable assets. It noted that only when a comprehensive framework was put in place and a clear expiration date for relief measures announced that debt write-downs finally took off. As of January 2012, 15 to 20% of all Icelandic mortgages have been or are in the process of being written down.
In short it seems like mortgages are being pegged to their actual value not their pre-failure inflated value. In other words the banks take the hit for creating the sort of loose money that creates artificial value.
[Comment: Once again, Iceland show the world public the way forward. ]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
EU Austerity is Putting Brakes on Italy’s Renzi
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi insisted on Friday that the EU’s budget rules should be interpreted flexibly and that austerity should not be seen purely as an end in itself.
Speaking at a joint news conference in Berlin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Renzi said: “I am of the belief that austerity doesn’t work on its own and can actually lead to the collapse of governments.”
“We are not demanding a change in the rules for Italy. We are demanding that the rules be applied,” Renzi said.
“Flexibility was a promise” made by European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker, the Italian government chief said.
“And I don’t think he has changed his mind.”
Renzi argues that budgetary austerity in Europe is putting the brakes on economic growth in his country and has clashed with Juncker on the matter.
“I don’t know whether we share the same opinion on this,” Renzi continued, in comments directed at Merkel.
“But we say these things with a smile and we share the same ideals” such as fighting unemployment as a way of stemming a rise in populism.
Merkel, for her part, praised the economic reforms Renzi has implemented so far — such as those on the labour market — describing them as an “important contribution for Italy and for Europe.”
Regarding budgetary discipline, Merkel said that “there can always be different interpretations,” and said it was ultimately up to Brussels to decide whether Italy was adhering to its commitments laid down by EU treaties.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Helicopter Money Arrives: Switzerland to Hand Out $2500 Monthly to All Citizens
With Citi’s chief economist proclaiming “only helicopter money can save the world now,” and the Bank of England pre-empting paradropping money concerns, it appears that Australia’s largest investment bank’s forecast that money-drops were 12-18 months away was too conservative. While The Finns consider a “basic monthly income” for the entire population, Swiss residents are to vote on a countrywide referendum about a radical plan to pay every single adult a guaranteed income of around $2500 per month, with authorities insisting that people will still want to find a job.
The plan, as The Daily Mail reports, proposed by a group of intellectuals, could make the country the first in the world to pay all of its citizens a monthly basic income regardless if they work or not. But the initiative has not gained much traction among politicians from left and right despite the fact that a referendum on it was approved by the federal government for the ballot box on June 5.
Under the proposed initiative, each adult would receive $2,500 per months, and each child would also receive 625 francs ($750) a month.
The federal government estimates the cost of the proposal at 208 billion francs ($215 billion) a year.
Around 153 billion francs ($155 bn) would have to be levied from taxes, while 55 billion francs ($60 bn) would be transferred from social insurance and social assistance spending.
That is 30% of GDP!!!
The action committee pushing the initiative consists of artists, writers and intellectuals, including publicist Daniel Straub, former federal government spokesman Oswald Sigg and Zurich rapper Franziska Schläpfer (known as “Big Zis”), the SDA news agency reported. Personalities supporting the bid include writers Adolf Muschg and Ruth Schweikert, philosopher Hans Saner and communications expert Beatrice Tschanz. The group said a new survey showed that the majority of Swiss residents would continue working if the guaranteed income proposal was approved.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Disturbing Reasons Why the Bank of Japan Stunned Everyone With Negative Rates
It may be time to panic
But the punchline that should leave everyone speechless is that it wasn’t even the right intention. Instead, it was this:
People close to Kuroda say that Davos — where he mingled with central bankers such as ECB President Mario Draghi and leading company executives — likely prompted him to pull the trigger. “Davos is really important. Many central bank governors change their perception of things there,” said one central bank policymaker who has regular interaction with Kuroda.
In other words, it was peer pressure by other, just as desperate central bankers, that forced Kuroda to act!
Actually, it’s even worse than that, because that is just half of the story. Here is the other half, again thanks to Reuters:
“When stocks are falling this much, it’s hard to justify not acting,” said one of the individuals, who has occasional contact with Kuroda.
And there you have it: stocks are dropping, so central banks must intervene, just as they have done from day one.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
1 Dead, Multiple Injured in Denver Motorcycle Rally Shooting & Stabbing
At least one person was killed in a shooting and stabbing attack at a motorcycle rally in Denver, Colorado, with multiple victims hospitalized. Police say no one is yet in custody and the situation is being investigated.
The shooting broke out on Saturday afternoon at the Denver Coliseum, an indoor arena hosting the Colorado Motorcycle Expo.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Bernie Sanders: US Losing $100bln Annually to Tax-Dodging Corporations
Bernie Sanders said that the largest US corporations escape paying any tax revenues annually and need to come under a national plan to reclaim $100 billion a year in lost revenues.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The largest US corporations escape paying any tax revenues annually and need to come under a national plan to reclaim $100 billion a year in lost revenues, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said in a press release.
“Three major profitable corporations… pay nothing in federal income taxes,” Sanders was quoted as saying in the press release on Friday. “General Electric, Boeing and Verizon paid no federal income taxes during the combined 2008 through 2013 tax years.”
During that period, the three corporate giants racked up combined profits totalling more than $102 billion and received income tax rebates from the Internal Revenue Service totalling more than $4.1 billion, Sanders pointed out.
“In America today we are losing $100 billion in revenue every single year because large corporations are stashing their profits in the Cayman Islands and other offshore tax havens,” Sanders said.
Sanders pointed out that his tax plan would close loopholes that corporations have exploited, and use the revenue to create and maintain at least 13 million good-paying jobs by rebuilding crumbling US roads, bridges, water systems, railways and airports.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Facebook Aims to Block Private Gun Sales
Facebook on Friday set out to block people from using the leading social network and its Instagram photo-sharing service for private gun sales.
Although Facebook doesn’t participate in outright gun sales, it has been a forum for negotiations, and it intends to put an end to that.
The California-based social network on Friday updated its policy for managing regulated goods to prohibit people who aren’t gun dealers from using Facebook to offer guns for sale or negotiate private sales of firearms.
“Over the last two years, more and more people have been using Facebook to discover products and to buy and sell things to one another,” Facebook head of product policy Monika Bickert said in an email response to AFP…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Fox News Equals Democrats in Republican Drag
If ever time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin. —Samuel Adams
“Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.” —Thomas Jefferson
Corruption of the Republican Party
Do people now see how corrupt the Republican party has become? For seven years the Congress has done absolutely NOTHING to stop any of the unconstitutional acts by Obama. They actually have been totally complicit in his destructive agenda. The recent Omnibus bill that was passed with the help of Ryan comes to mind. (By the way, since he’s grown his beard and mustache, I’m wondering if he’s become a Muslim.) Remember too that McConnell is trying to fast track authorization to give Obama unlimited war powers. One could write a book just on the things the Republicans have done to help Obama get exactly what he wanted through all these years. I can’t name one thing they’ve stopped.
The party has run candidates for president who most Republicans consider moderates at best, including both Bush’s, McCain, Willard Romney, Bob Dole, Nixon, Gerry Ford, etc. Many of the electorate stay home rather than voting for the lesser of two evils, which is still evil.
And the public still didn’t seem to see what had become of the party in the last 50 to 60 years. Now however, it is so obvious, I don’t know how anyone can miss it.
The outright hatred of someone outside the beltway, outside the political establishment, outside the machine, has turned the establishment sharks on one who should be their own, but certainly is not. Trump is neither Democrat nor Republican, he is an American first! Leading the pack for the RNC is none other than Fox News and all their cohorts. Why? Because The Donald won’t play their game and they all know it and hate him because of it. The Donald got the better of, and foiled the plans of, Fox News and Roger Ailes.
Fox, Trump, and the Spin
While watching the drama unfold with CNN yesterday when Trump pulled out of the debate, IMMEDIATELY there was a Ted Cruz campaign guy on calling Trump “childish.” Other Cruz guys then began to use the same word — an indication of common talking points. The “spin” begins.
THEN — the spin became that this was all about Megyn Kelly. It wasn’t! Trump’s original statement, and his campaign manager’s statement, made clear that this was about Roger Ailes strange and bizarre attack of Trump. [Link]
Roger Ailes
Then others who were interviewed began to put forth the Megyn Kelly story as the reason why Trump pulled out. The Trump campaign people who they interviewed —accurately said it wasn’t because of Megyn, although Trump doesn’t like her. It was about Roger Ailes.
So Ailes is getting a FREE PASS by the controlled press right now, and they are buying into the official “spin” that the Cruz campaign put out immediately after the fiasco happened.
The real story got out at the very beginning and then there was a spin-filled cover-up. Now Cruz is spinning every possible lie about Trump that he can think of to help himself and destroy Mr. Trump. The electorate seems to be getting wise to these deceptions however.
Here is the video where Mr. Trump tells that it is Roger Ailes who has caused the problem:
The attack by Faux News is unprecedented, and CNN has even been shocked at Fox’s tactics. However, Mr. Trump skipping the final debate is not unprecedented. In 1980, Ronald Reagan skipped the last debate before the Iowa caucus.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A second massive sinkhole has opened up on the other side of a road along the coast of southern Oregon where another sinkhole appeared last month.
The ground became unstable after storms battered the local area and a section of Shopping Center Avenue began to slip away, transportation officials said Thursday.
The initial sinkhole happened in December in the parking lot of a local diner after torrential rain.
A landslide about 50ft from the sinkhole collapsed the entire road.
The slide started around noon after an overnight storm dumped nearly 1.5 inches of rain.
Oregon Department of Transportation spokesman, Jared Castle, said the widening sinkhole is threatening to undermine all four lanes of the highway, according to the Curry Coastal Pilot…
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
HBO host Bill Maher argued that it isn’t true that people wouldn’t be as afraid of Islam if they knew more about it, “Actually, it’s the reverse” and that he wished liberals would “have the same enthusiasm for intolerance elsewhere in the world as they do for Christians here at home, who really aren’t a problem, because they don’t get really get their way” on Friday’s “Real Time.”
Maher, after referencing the covering up of nude statues in Italy during a visit by Iran’s president said, “I think people are mixing up two things, tolerance and capitulation.” He added, “It’s one thing to be tolerant of another culture, but this is our culture. You know, Christianity did have a problem with t*tties like in 1300, but we got over it. So, we shouldn’t change our culture to a more backward culture, should we?”
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Original USS Enterprise Model Set to Boldly Go… on Display
Original model of starship ready for public viewing
Researchers at the Smithsonian Institute are preparing to show off every Trekkie’s dream: the original model of the USS Enterprise.
The model is the original version of the fabled Starfleet craft, last painted in 1991 for a taping of Star Trek The Next Generation The museum said it will be returning the ship back to it’s exterior paint job from the 1967 taping of The Trouble With Tribbles, although it got many new coats of paint over the course of 79 episode tapings of the beloved science fiction series.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Satanists to Deliver Prayer at Phoenix City Council Meeting
Arizona’s capital city Phoenix is known for being ‘hot as hell’ with temperatures reaching 122 degrees F (50 C), but some residents are hot under the collar because a Satanic Temple will deliver an invocation at a city council meeting next month.
The decision came under fire after the city said it cannot “dictate religious viewpoints”.
Michelle Shortt and Stu de Haan, from the Tucson branch of the Satanic Temple, will give the invocation.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
This Quote From Rick Snyder’s Emails Says Everything You Need to Know About Flint’s Water Crisis
Out of over 270 pages of communications released, one comment was stunning in its admission of how shabbily complaints over the water were treated by state workers.
According to the NY Times, Snyder was informed in one email that a state nurse told one young mother to not worry about the damage being done to her child when her son’s blood showed an elevated lead level.
“It is just a few IQ points. … It is not the end of the world,” the nurse reportedly told the worried mom.
According to whistle-blower Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, “If you were going to put something in a population to keep them down for generations to come — it would be lead.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Trumping Hydrocarbon Fuels and Consumers
The ethanol mandate has devolved into a black hole that sucks hard-earned cash from consumers’ wallets, while padding the pockets of special interests and their political patrons. Poor, minority, middle class and blue-collar families are especially hard hit.
Devoting 40% of America’s corn crop to ethanol production has significantly increased corn prices and thus the price of all foods that utilize the grain: beef, milk, pork, chicken, eggs, farm-raised fish, and countless products that include corn syrup. The corn converted into biofuel each year could feed more than 400,000,000 malnourished people in impoverished and war-torn countries.
Ethanol is corrosive and mixes easily with water, resulting in serious damage to gaskets and engines. Consumers have spent billions “degunking” and repairing cars, trucks, boats, snowmobiles, chain saws and other small engine equipment, to prevent (or in the aftermath of) fuel leaks, engine failures and even fires. Vehicle, outdoor equipment and marine engine manufacturers warn against using gasoline blends containing more than 10% ethanol.
The mandate raised fuel costs nationwide by an estimated $83 billion between 2007 and 2014. In New England it is expected to cost the economy $20 billion, reduce labor income by $7.3 billion, and eliminate more than 7,000 jobs annually between 2005 and 2024. It has cost Californians $13.1 billion in higher fuel costs since 2005, and could inflict $28.8 billion in additional costs there by 2025.
Corn ethanol’s ecological impacts have convinced the Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, Environmental Working Group (EWG) and other organizations to oppose further extensions of the mandate. More than 35,000,000 acres (an area larger than Iowa) are now devoted to growing corn for ethanol, and the EWG says the mandate encourages farmers to convert extensive wetlands and grasslands into cornfields.
Growing corn, turning it into ethanol and trucking it to refineries (since it attracts water, it cannot be carried by pipeline) also requires vast amounts of water, fertilizer, pesticides, diesel fuel and natural gas. Only a tiny fraction of that acreage, water and fuel is required to produce far more energy via fracking.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Gregory Alan Elliott Verdict is the Stalingrad of Free Speech
On the January 22, the era of social justice ascendancy on the web came to a battered, exhausted halt. Gregory Alan Elliott, a Toronto artist who was dragged through the Canadian criminal justice system for the “crime” of disagreeing with feminists on Twitter, was declared innocent.
His acquittal marked the climax of nearly two years of setbacks for social justice warriors on the web, whose ability to quash dissent and ruin their opponents once seemed unchallengeable. Twitter, once dominated by the activists of the regressive left, rang out in celebration at the victory for free speech.
Elliott’s trial stretched from the darkest days of SJW ascendancy on social media to the rise of the cultural libertarians. For feminists and the regressive left, it represented a major goal, which has for the moment been placed beyond their reach: the goal of redefining political disagreement as criminal harassment.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Anti-Islamic Group PEGIDA Ireland to be Launched at Dublin Rally
Launch on February 6th designed to coincide with anti-Islam protests across Europe
Anti-Islamisation group Pegida, which was founded in Germany, will formally announce an Irish branch at a protest rally in Dublin next weekend. It is among a series of Europe-wide demonstrations against the growth of Islam in Europe.
Peter O’Loughlin of Identity Ireland confirmed that Pegida Ireland would be unveiled at a rally on February 6th in Dublin. He said Ireland would become the 15th country to establish a branch of the organisation.
“Pegida [Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident, in German] is making international headlines,” Mr O’Loughlin said. “It is giving the people of Europe a chance to speak out and have a voice against the absolutely disastrous policies of the EU and of the German government and the various puppet governments around Europe.”
Mr O’Loughlin, who will be running for Identity Ireland in Cork North Central, was speaking at a press conference where he introduced Pegida UK co-ordinator and former English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson.
Mr Robinson said he was delighted to have an opportunity to warn people in Ireland about the dangers of radical Islam. He said Ireland should look to Britain to see the mistakes made by allowing in large numbers of Muslims who fail to integrate.
“We have polarised communities, we have segregated communities, we have Islamic ghettoes — we have an epidemic of jihad rape gangs targeting English girls . . . these are the realities which are on their way to Ireland.”
Mr Robinson, whose mother is from Dublin, said when he founded the English Defence League six years ago, British politicians said he was extremist; now they recognised the dangers posed by radical Islam.
“The majority of the world accepts this mindset — which we called Isis and which is a literal interpretation of Islam — is a danger to us all. You have a population of 4.5 million people, you cannot sustain open borders, you have to close your borders as does the rest of Europe.”
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
Combating Hate Speech in Europe
The fix is in for European style global socialism
Despite the snowy conditions in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum held a program on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27, 2016, on the topic of “Combating Hate in Europe.”…
What is then “hate speech” as determined by progressive scholars? There is a legal and a dictionary definition.
“In law, hate speech is any speech, gesture or conduct, writing, or display which is forbidden because it may incite violence or prejudicial action against or by a protected individual or group, or because it disparages or intimidates a protected individual or group.”
In the dictionary, it is “speech that attacks, threatens, or insults a person or group on the basis of national origin, ethnicity, color, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability.”
By this definition, most Democrats should be fined for “hate speech” and inciting riots and violence. But we do have freedom of speech, particularly unpleasant and offensive speech.
The audience expected the forum to address “the growing concern of most of Europe and many here in this country of the virulent spread of hatred meted out by the growing Muslim population in their host countries.” Instead, “the general position taken was that the rest of us aren’t tolerant enough of their customs and religious ideas.”
According to Chriss Rainey, “the discussion was presented in a panel of like-minded socialists who represented their socialist governments. I don’t think anyone has the answers yet for the Muslim infiltration of Europe and the western world, but to think we can do nothing but increase tolerance is irrational.”
Rainey continued, “Did it ever occur to anyone that the repeated mention of Republican candidates running for office, Trump in particular, was offensive and bordering on hate speech? Or is it only acceptable to speak your mind and express your sincere beliefs if you are Democrat or a socialist?”…
I was surprised that not once the real culprits of anti-Semitism and perpetrators of heinous crimes today were not mentioned. Yet every panelist and the moderator repeated ad nauseam the idea that somehow, conservatives and nationalists in Europe and around the globe who disagree with progressive goals and ideals are “far right loons” who deserve derision, contempt, and legal punishment of hate crimes.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Danish Police Accused of Manipulating Rape Statistics to Hide ‘Hundreds’ of Cases
Denmark’s Justice Ministry has found out that the real number of rape cases processed by police was at least three times higher than official statistics suggested, local media report. Police deny any cover-up, blaming the difference on statistical inaccuracies.
Police didn’t properly classify crimes involving rape up to 2014, with about 700 cases containing allegations of sexual abuse remaining unattributed to this category every year. The average number of rape cases annually registered by police was nearly half that figure at 395, according to the Justice Ministry’s investigation, Metroxpress reports.
The majority of unrecorded rape incidents ended up as cases with inconclusive evidence, as there were doubts whether rapes had been committed. This approach to statistics was dropped in November 2015, but still an unknown number of cases are not reflected in the data. The Justice Ministry says the real number of rape cases totals an average of 1,100 a year.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
European Satellite Project Over Budget, 13 Years Late
The French Court of Auditors has found that the much-vaunted European Galileo and EGNOS satellite navigation program is three times over-budget and 13 years late in delivery, after a series of cost overruns and strategy failures.
The Galileo and European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) program is the first Pan-European satellite navigation system, providing a highly accurate global positioning service under civilian control.
[…]
It is designed to boost the explosion in satellite driven products and services in the EU. Galileo will provide Europe with independence in satellite navigation but will also be inter-operable with GPS and GLONASS, the two other global satellite navigation systems…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
German Court Drops Provocative ‘Sharia Police’ Uniform Case
A German court has refused to press criminal charges against a squad of “Sharia Police,” who “patrolled” the streets of Wuppertal in self-styled “uniforms.” The group alarmed locals last year by preaching Salafist morals outside of casinos and bars.
A Wuppertal city district court rejected a case against the controversial self-declared ‘Sharia police,’ saying the orange safety vests worn by the group did not breach any laws. The court said that the bright neon vests that bore the inscription do not form any intimidating or threatening messages and furthermore could not be confused with a real police uniform.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Tries to Appease Poland on Second Baltic Pipeline
German vice chancellor Sigmar Gabriel on Friday sought to allay Poland’s concerns over plans to build a second pipeline to pump Russian gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea.
“We’re taking Poland’s concerns very seriously,” said Gabriel, who is also Germany’s economy minister, after meeting his Polish counterpart Mateusz Morawiecki in Warsaw.
ADVERTISING”We’ve told the Russian side that we won’t carry out the project without guarantees … that gas supplies are secured to eastern Europe,” he said…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Greece-Cyprus-Israel Pact Seen Creating Many Benefits
Greek diplomatic sources said on Friday that a cooperation agreement signed in Nicosia between the leaders of Greece, Cyprus and Israel could lead to significant political and economic developments.
The Nicosia Declaration followed Thursday’s trilateral summit between Greek Premier Alexis Tsipras, Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. While it covered a number of areas of potential cooperation between the three countries, which made it clear that Turkey and Egypt could join the group, Greek sources focused on the potential economic gains from the three signatories working together in the energy sector.
The pact seeks the relaunch of the East Med gas pipeline project, which aims to connect Israeli gas deposits with European networks via Cyprus and Greece. It also puts forward the possibility of LNG plants being built in Greece.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS have threatened an attack on Britain so horrific it will ‘turn children’s hair white’ as latest video warns of further outrages across the continent.
The terror group has warned the UK will suffer ‘the lion’s share’ of the slaughter it intends to wield in Europe, according to its Arabic language newspaper, al-Naba.
However, in a video released on Saturday, the millitants suggest it is Spain which will come under the strongest attack as the West is forced to ‘pay dearly’ for having crushed Muslim rule in Andalusia — more than 500 years ago.
The attack on Britain is fueled by the more recent decision to bomb ISIS strongholds in Syria, an article which eulogised evil London murderer Mohammed Emwazi said.
According to the Sunday Times, the attack will be so dreadful ‘it will turn the children’s hair to white’.
This is thought to refer to a doomsday prophesy in the Koran…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Italy’s Surgeons Warn Their Scalpels Are Dull
Cost-cutting compromises surgical tool quality
(ANSA) — Rome, January 25 — The search for ever cheaper national health supplies has compromised quality to the point that the scalpels are dull, the Association of Italian Surgeons (ACOI) said Monday.
“Scalpels in Italy are of such mediocre quality no longer cut,” ACOI said based on reports from thousands of surgeons throughout the country.
Duller surgical instruments mean the surgeon has to exercise more force, which means more trauma to the patient, higher risks of infection, and higher risks of cutting too much, said ACOI chief Diego Piazza. Privileging price over quality will compromise patient safety and quality of care, Piazza warned.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Wants to Pull Its Weight Renzi Tells Merkel
‘No longer Europe’s problem’
(ANSA) — Rome, January 29 — Premier Matteo Renzi said at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel after they met Friday that “thanks to the efforts of the Italian government, to European collaboration and to our German friends, I am here today with a list of reforms and results, not promises”. “Italy is no longer Europe’s problem and wants to pull its weight, as is right and as per the history of our country”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Capuozzo Informed Fico ‘Immediately’
Quarto mayor says M5S ‘threw baby out with bathwater’
(ANSA) — Naples, January 18 — Quarto Mayor Rosa Capuozzo from the 5-Star Movement (M5S) told a prosecutor Monday that she informed M5S bigwig Roberto Fico “immediately” of her November 24 interrogation about threats she allegedly received from fellow councillor Giovanni De Robbio, who was expelled from the M5S after allegations of Mafia links.
“No point keeping your hands clean if all you do is keep them in your pockets,” the embattled mayor of the town near Naples wrote on Facebook Monday.
“The M5S…threw the baby out with the bathwater,” she added.
Fico, a leading member of the anti-euro party that prides itself on being an outsider to what it says is the corrupt, conniving political system in Italy, said Thursday that the anti-establishment group is no longer present in Quarto, confirming that councillors backing Mayor Rosa Capuozzo were no longer considered part of it.
Capuozzo, elected as an M5S candidate, was expelled after ignoring calls from the movement for her to resign amid a probe into mafia infiltration of her administration.
“The M5S is no longer in Quarto to all intents and purposes,” Fico said when asked if the councillors have been expelled.
Capuozzo’s husband Ignazio Baiano is under investigation for alleged false declarations and alleged breach of construction regulations, ANSA sources said Thursday.
This may have been used in an attempt to blackmail Capuozzo by a former councillor at the centre of the mafia-infiltration allegations, Giovanni De Robbio, the sources said.
De Robbio, who is alleged linked to the local Camorra mafia, was expelled from the M5S before Capuozzo.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
‘Neutrality is Beautiful’: Majority of Finns Want to Stay Away From NATO
The Finnish government is assessing the effects of the country’s possible NATO membership, Yle broadcasting company reported, citing Foreign Ministry sources in Helsinki.
The work is being done in connection with the preparation of a report on Finnish foreign and security policy.
The Ministry has appointed a group of four experts to carry out the assessment, expected to be available in the spring of 2016.
Johan Bäckman, a leading Finnish rights activist and social scientist, said that despite the official viewpoint, ordinary Finns are not particularly happy about the prospect of joining NATO.
“Why did they set up this group in the first place? I think the government bent under the pressure of the Americans and their friends here in Finland. And still, even though Finland, like many other countries, is now cooperating with NATO, the whole idea is not very popular among our people,” Bäckman told Radio Sputnik.
He added that, according to the latest polls, a mere 27 percent of Finns favored NATO membership, while the rest said they did not like the idea.
Even some members of the team assessing the risks of the neutral Finland joining the North Atlantic Alliance, including René Nyberg, Finland’s onetime ambassador in Russia and Germany, have already said that Finland would be better off staying out of NATO.
Johan Bäckman said he was confident that Finland would not give up its neutral status.
“This country has a good and constructive policy of neutrality. I am sure that that it will never become a NATO member and I think that simply bringing this matter up is totally absurd,” he emphasized.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Norway Police to Go Back to Being Unarmed
Norwegian police officers will no longer carry their weapons, the Police Directorate announced on Thursday.
In a press release sent on Thursday, the Police Directorate said that the temporary order to bear weapons will not be renewed when it expires on February 3rd.
Norway’s police force, which consists of some 6,000 uniformed police officers, normally keep their weapons locked in their patrol vehicles. But in November 2014, police were given the the authority to carry their service weapons in their belts after the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) raised the threat level because of the risk of a terror attack.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sexwale Calls for Anti-Europe Campaign at FIFA
South African FIFA presidential contender Tokyo Sexwale on Friday called for a campaign to stop European rival Gianni Infantino getting the leadership of football’s scandal-tainted world body.
Without naming Infantino, the UEFA general secretary, Sexwale said the next FIFA leader must come from Africa or Asia and that he was ready to form an alliance to stop a European candidate.
“I am focused on making sure that the president of FIFA comes from either Africa or Asia, not Europe,” Sexwale told South Africa’s Metro radio.
With Sexwale, Infantino and two other candidates, Prince Ali bin al Hussein and Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al Khalifa, due in Qatar this weekend, Sexwale’s comments were a strong sign that the campaign is polarising ahead of the February 26 vote…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Stop Cutting Military Spending, NATO Chief Stoltenberg Tells Italy
Report shows 12.4 reduction last year
(ANSA) — Brussels, January 28 — NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday called on Italy to stop reducing military spending. “I want to see all the European allies stop cutting military spending and naturally this is valid for Italy too,” Stoltenberg said at the presentation of NATO’s 2015 report. The study showed that Italy’s miliary spending amounted to 0.95% of GDP in 2015, some distance from the NATO target of 2%. Furthermore, Italian military spending was reduced by 12.4% last year — the biggest cut among the 28 allies.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Blonde Teen Radicalised by ISIS Videos Jailed for Nine Years After Stabbing Mum to Death
A BLONDE teenage girl radicalised after endlessly watching gruesome ISIS beheading videos has been jailed for stabbing her mother to death.
Lisa Borch, aged 15 at the time of the murder, was sentenced to nine years behind bars after and she and her boyfriend Bakhtiar Mohammed Abdulla, 29, stabbed her mother Tina Römer Holtegaard at least 20 times.
The attack, at her family home in Kvissel, northern Denmark, in October 2014, came after Borch, now 16, had watched the killings of British hostages Alan Henning and David Haines online.
During the first trial in September, the court was told how Borch had become obsessed with radical Islam.
She fell in love with a Muslim man but that ended when he returned to Sweden to be with his wife and children.
The 16-year-old then began a relationship with Abdulla, who was born in Iraq, after meeting him at a refugee centre.
[What ‘race’ is Islam again?]
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Far-Right and Anti-Racism Protesters Clash in Dover
Three people were arrested amid violent scenes as groups demonstrating against immigration clashed with anti-racism protesters in Dover.
Smoke bombs were let off and bricks thrown as police turned out in force to oversee hundreds of far-right demonstrators marching through town.
They clashed with anti-fascist demonstrators, leaving five people with minor injuries.
Banners and placards carried by the right-wing marchers included those from the North West National Front, neo-Nazi organisation Combat 18 and the Scottish Defence League.
Counter-demonstrators included members of Kent Anti-Racism Network, anti-fascist group Antifa and people with Socialist Worker placards. They were addressed by Diane Abbott, shadow secretary of state for international development.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Islamist Fanatics Jailed for ‘Handing Out ISIS Leaflets’ In London’s Oxford Circus
Two street preachers who ran a street stall in support of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in London’s Oxford Circus have been jailed for a total of five years.
Ibrahim Anderson, 38, was jailed for three years and Shah Jahan Khan, 62, sentenced to two after setting up a stall outside Topshop’s flagship store while urging shoppers in central London to support IS in August 2014.
The Islamist fanatics, both from Luton, handed out leaflets in support of the jihadist group.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Three Somali Men Who Gang-Raped White 16-Year-Old Girl Are Jailed for 30 Years
Muhyadeen Osman, Bilal Ahmed and Mowled Yussuf, all 20, were found guilty at Manchester Crown Court of raping a 16-year-old girl at a hotel while they were celebrating Eid.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Vaccines Suspended at UK School After Up to 15 Students Collapse
At least one child sent to emergency care.
An investigation was launched into vaccines used at a UK school for boys after several students fell ill from receiving the jabs.
As many as 15 Year 10 students at the Northampton School for Boys collapsed onto the floor Tuesday following a series of vaccines which resulted in severe adverse side effects.
As one mother who preferred to remain anonymous described: “Several different vaccines were being administered, and around 10 to 15 pupils keeled over and paramedics were called.”
Children were also witnessed “on their backs on the floor with their legs up on chairs,” the mom said.
“The rest of the jabs were cancelled and a letter was sent home to the parents of pupils who had been given the jabs about what to do if they felt nauseous. Rumours say there may have been a duff batch of vaccines,” the woman said, according to the Daily Mail…
As reported by Infowars last April, a nationwide UK meningococcal vaccine program has been launched, specifically targeting infants, despite vaccine inserts warning that “Safety and effectiveness… have not been established in children younger than 10 years of age.”
Additionally, side effects up to and including death have been reported to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System regarding meningococcal vaccines produced for serotypes A, C, Y and W-135.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why Does Sweden Have More Boys Than Girls?
There is something odd going on with the ratio between boys and girls in Sweden. The latest estimates suggest there are 123 boys for every 100 girls among 16 and 17-year-olds. That’s an even greater imbalance than in the same age group in China.
The natural “sex ratio at birth” is 105 boys for every 100 girls, according to the World Health Organization — and official statistics show that in 2014, there were 108 boys for every 100 girls among Sweden’s 16 and 17-year-olds.
But the country now has 123 boys for every 100 girls in this age group, according to Valerie Hudson of Texas A&M University.
If this is correct, it will be quite something. China’s one child policy and a preference for sons led some couples to opt for sexually selective abortions, contributing to a sex ratio there of 117 boys for every 100 girls aged 16 and 17.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Libyan ISIS Launches Manhunt for Mystery Sniper Picking Off Terrorist Commanders
Libyan ISIS chiefs are fearful of being picked off by a renegade sniper, who is already behind three long-range kills of high-profile figures in the terrorist group, all in the new Libyan “mini-caliphate” in the city of Sirte.
The terrorists holed up in Colonel Gaddafi’s home town still don’t know if the sniper is one person, or several. The killings started on January 13, with the latest kill made 10 days after that. This now has Islamic State (IS, ISIS/formerly ISIL) fearing someone is on a mission to hunt them down.
And they appear to be showing it too. The terror group has been carrying out arrests and executions in the town, The Telegraph reports. Black-clad ‘religious police’ has also been carrying out public floggings to keep the population in a perpetual state of fear.
According to The Telegraph, reports indicate the marksman is locally-trained and probably became who he (or she) is today during the uprising against the late President Moammar Gaddafi.
Several things appear to worry IS. One is that public floggings and executions can’t take care of a long-range threat, such as a sniper. Secondly, this kind of thing could embolden the local population, which is opposite to the effect the terrorists are trying to achieve.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pinotti: “We Must Act in Libya Now, But With Our Allies”
Defence Minister discusses Rome’s position on the Libyan crisis: “Escalation is not an option, least of all on a unilateral basis: any efforts must be coordinated”
“We cannot afford to let spring come and go without intervening in Libya. In the last month we have been working more closely with the Americans, British and French. Escalation is not an option, least of all on a unilateral basis: we all agree that the lack of coordination that led to past failures must be avoided. We have however engaged in more organised information gathering and in drafting possible action plans based on foreseeable risks”.
Roberta Pinotti weighs her words carefully. It has been assumed too often in recent days that military intervention against Daesh positions in Libya is imminent, even without a formal request from Libyan authorities, due to the political gridlock over the formation of the government of national accord. The Defence Minister has just returned from the airport of Ciampino, after accompanying Iranian President Rouhani, at the end of his visit to Italy.
Can you confirm that the Libyan situation is the greatest cause of concern?
“We have been concerned for some months, although compared to before, and despite the difficulties, the political process has actually moved forward. Nevertheless, certain developments should clearly be monitored carefully: a series of defeats in Iraq may indeed push Daesh to open a new Libyan front, while there have been attempts, mainly symbolic, by jihadists to advance into new territories from the area around Sirte, where Daesh has so far been concentrated. We clearly don’t have much time”…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK-US “Anarchist” Elint Ops Against Israeli Drones and Fighter Jets Revealed by Snowden
Spy craft, especially Electronic Intelligence or ELINT, is one of the tools of the trade used to collect information on enemy activities. It is also used to monitor allies’ activities. Nothing new there. Thus the latest release by Snowden from his base of operations in exile in Moscow lit up the left media. They spotlighted the latest episode of both Britain’s GCHQ and the NSA. GCHQ and NSA were partners in a nearly two decade operations endeavoring to obtain real time video feed from Israel drones and aircraft in operations over Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and possibly Iran…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Austrian ISIS ‘Poster Girl’ Beaten to Death After Trying to Flee Extremist Group — Reports
A teenage girl who ran away from her home in Austria to join Islamic State in Syria has been beaten to death after trying to escape from the group, according to Austrian media. The girl traveled to the war-torn nation with her friend last year.
Austrian tabloid Kronen Zeitung reported that Samra Kesinovic, 17, was beaten to death by members of the violent extremist group as she tried to flee the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) stronghold of Raqqa.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
French Companies Jump to Sign Deals With Iran
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani and his French counterpart Francois Hollande hailed a “new relationship” between their countries on Thursday as the leader of the Islamic Republic visited Paris to seal a host of post-sanctions deals.
A commitment for Tehran to buy 118 Airbus aircraft was the most eye-catching of the deals that also included agreements for carmaker Peugeot to return to Iran and for Total to buy Iranian crude oil.
“A new era in our relationship starts today,” Hollande said at a press conference with Rouhani.
The Iranian president called earlier for both countries to take advantage of the “positive atmosphere” following the lifting of sanctions over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear programme.
“Let us forget the resentment,” Rouhani said. “We are ready to turn the page” and establish a “new relationship”, he said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq Inks $328 Mn Deal With GE to Boost Power Production
Iraq has signed a $328 million deal with US company General Electric that will boost power output during peak summer months, officials said Friday, although it falls far short of the country’s needs.
The deal will make only a small dent in the country’s major summer production shortfall, which leaves Iraqis with just a few hours of government-provided power a day while temperatures can hit 50 degrees Celsius (120 Fahrenheit).
Electricity ministry spokesman Musaab al-Mudarris told AFP that the deal, which involves maintenance and improvements on more than 10 power stations in multiple provinces, would add between 700 and 1,000 megawatts to production capacity.
The US embassy in aghdad said he deal was “valued at more than $328 million”, and that it “will sustain and increase Iraq?s power generation by at least 700 megawatts for the peak summer period”…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Space Agency Signs Accord With UAE Space Agency
UAE wants to send satellite to orbit Mars in 2021
(ANSA) — Beirut, January 25 — The Italian Space Agency (ASI) on Monday signed an agreement with the United Arab Emirates Space Agency, which focuses on cooperation in the fields of satellite telecommunications, radar observation of Earth and training of students, technicians and engineers, ASI President Roberto Battiston told ANSA.
Battiston led a delegation to Abu Dhabi, where the agreement was signed, including astronaut Maurizio Cheli and several representatives from aerospace and telecommunications companies.
The UAE Space Agency’s new program includes a project to become, in 2021, the first Arab nation to send a satellite to orbit Mars.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Jail Bird Set Free: Lebanon Returns Israeli ‘Spy Vulture’
The Lebanese government returned a vulture, which it mistakenly thought to be a Mossad spy, back to Israel, according to the radio station Reshet Bet.
Earlier this week, residents of the Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil caught a griffon vulture which had a GPS transmitter. People thought the bird of prey belonged to the Israeli Special Service and that it flew to Lebanon to gather intelligence. Bint Jbeil is about 4 km away from Israel’s border.
“Reports passed to us show the vulture tied with a rope by local people who write that they suspect Israeli espionage, apparently because of the transmitter attached to him,” Israel’s nature reserve authorities were quoted as saying, according to the Guardian.
However, when members of the Lebanese Secret Service inspected the bird, they found out that the GPS chip was not a spy tool, but simply a tracking device.
Israeli ornithologists were contacted who immediately identified the bird based on its description and pictures. Turns out, the bird of prey was brought to Israel from Spain last year to increase the population of griffon vultures in the country, the source said.
After Lebanese authorities learned that the vulture was not a ‘spy’ working for Israel, the bird was set free in the same area it was caught, CNN said.
A similar incident occurred in 2001, when Lebanese authorities caught an eagle, which had a metal ring with Hebrew writing on it attached to the bird’s leg. Needless to say, the eagle was accused of being an Israeli spy. Later investigators discovered that the metal ring on the eagle’s leg was attached by ornithologists to track the bird’s location.
Things have been tense between Israel and Lebanon. In the beginning of January, Israeli troops shelled border areas in southern Lebanon in response to an ambush against an Israeli military vehicle.
The UN resolution 1701 calls on Israel and Lebanon to maintain a ceasefire since the 2006 conflict between the two countries.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Insists on Kurds’ Participation in Geneva Peace Talks
Kurds have the right to take part in the talks on the Syrian settlement in Geneva, Russia’s envoy to the UN Office in Geneva Alexey Borodavkin said Saturday.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Friday, the highly-anticipated talks on Syrian reconciliation mediated by UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura began in the Swiss city.
The Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) has not been invited by the United Nations. The PYD accused Ankara of throwing its weight behind the UN decision.
“Syrian Kurds are citizens of #Syria. They have right to be involved in talks on future of their country,” Borodavkin said as quoted on Twitter of Russian Mission to UN in Geneva.
Kurds are one of the largest ethnic groups in Syria. Earlier this month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the intra-Syrian reconciliation talks would fail to reach a political settlement unless the Syrian Kurds were allowed to participate.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey Says Russia Violated Its Airspace Near Syria Border
Turkey has accused Russia of again violating its airspace and warned it would “face consequences” if such infringements continue.
The foreign ministry said a Russian jet flew into its airspace on the border with Syria on Friday. Moscow described the claim as “baseless propaganda”.
Tensions between the two countries have been high since November, when Turkey shot down a Russian jet.
Russia has been carrying out air strikes in Syria since September.
It has been targeting forces fighting the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, its ally.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
US Air Force Spending Over $271mln to Expand Balad Base in Iraq
The US Air Force has given Sallyport Global Holdings in Virginia a $271.8 million contract to run security and life support operations at Balad Air Base in Iraq.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The US Air Force has given Sallyport Global Holdings in Virginia a $271.8 million contract to run security and life support operations at Balad Air Base in Iraq over the next year, the Department of Defense announced.
“Sallyport Global Holdings Inc., Alexandria, Virginia, has been awarded a $271,813,941 modification… contract for base life support, base operations support, and security,” the announcement stated on Friday.
Work is expected to be completed by January 31, 2017, according to the Defense Department.
The Balad base was occupied by the US military during the 2003 Iraq war and was handed back to the Iraqi Air Force in December 2011.
During the Iraq War, Balad was the second largest US base in Iraq and today the Iraqi Air Force operates its US-supplied F-16 Fighting Falcons combat aircraft there.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
War on Daesh: Washington’s Allies Unwilling to Shoulder the Military Burden
It seems that Washington’s allies in the Middle East do not want to raise a finger to expel Daesh (Islamic State/ISIL) from Syria and Iraq: most of them still want America to do the bulk of the fighting, CIA veteran Paul R. Pillar notes, asking what constitutes the US leadership abroad.
American academic and 28-year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Paul R. Pillar asks whether Washington should shoulder the whole burden of the Middle Eastern anti-Daesh campaign, especially when it has less reason to feel threatened than its allies in the region and the Europeans.
Washington’s allies in Europe and the Middle East do not demonstrate much enthusiasm about providing more troops for the ongoing campaign aimed against Daesh.
“It is quite rational and unsurprising for other countries to behave as they have on this issue,” Pillar writes in his article for The National Interest.
He cites American journalist David Ignatius, who remarked brilliantly in his recent piece for The Washington Post: “Most players still want to hold America’s coat while the United States does the bulk of the fighting.”
But what are Washington’s Middle Eastern allies are so busy with?
As it turns out, each of them is solving its own problems. Riyadh is bogged down in Yemen; Ankara is waging war against the Kurds in southeast Turkey and Syria at the same time trying to gain control over the northern Syria region and oil-rich fields of the Iraqi Mosul. Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are fighting for control over Libyan oil fields. Israel is hunting Hezbollah in the suburbs of Damascus.
In light of this the question arises: what really constitutes US leadership?
“Too often what is labeled as leadership is really more like followership, in that it gets measured in terms of what other, coat-holding governments would like the United States to do,” Pillar notes.
To illustrate his statement the CIA veteran provided an example of leadership in corporations and other organizations.
“In those places, for the boss to do everything himself or herself is not seen as leadership but rather as a sign of inability to exercise leadership,” he underscores.
“I have personally reached out to the ministers of defense in over 40 countries around the world to ask them to contribute to enhancing the fight against ISIL [Daesh] — more special operations forces, more strike and reconnaissance aircraft, weapons and munitions, training assistance, as well as combat support and combat service support,” US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said last week as quoted by The New York Times.
As if he does not believe that Washington’s allies would contribute more to the campaign, Carter announced a week ago in Davos that there will be more American boots on the ground in Iraq and Syria.
“Maybe Secretary Carter is not demonstrating effective leadership in his failure to get other countries to contribute more in fighting ISIS [Daesh], or maybe the interests of those countries just make it difficult for even the most skillful leader to make much headway on that front,” Pillar emphasizes.
“The United States has less reason to feel threatened than do many other countries, including the coat-holders,” the CIA veteran adds.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
‘War and Peace’: BBC’s Sexy ‘Soap Opera’ Shocks Russians
With displays of cleavage, incest and torrid sex, the BBC’s new adaptation of “War and Peace” has startled Russians even if many liked its “clever” take on Leo Tolstoy’s epic novel.
The racy love scenes, notably, came as a shock in a country where television tends more towards the prudish.
A “classic with cleavage”, was how the Saint Petersburg-based news website Fontanka.ru dubbed Andrew Davies’ treatment of the 1869 masterpiece, starring Lily James and Paul Dano.
The dress of one actress was cut so low it looked like her breasts “would fall on the dinner plate”, it said…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
China Talks Tough After US Sail-by of Disputed South China Sea Island
The Chinese Foreign Ministry criticized the United States Saturday after an American warship sailed near a disputed island in the South China Sea, the Associated Press reported.
The destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur elicited a stern response from China as it passed within 12 nautical miles of Triton Island. China is one of three nations that claim the territory as their own.
U.S. officials said the ship was exercising its freedom to navigate through international waters
“This operation was about challenging excessive maritime claims that restrict the rights and freedoms of the United States and others, not about territorial claims to land features,” said Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Brazil’s Lula Summoned in Money-Laundering Case
Brazilian prosecutors summoned former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva Friday for questioning over allegations he laundered money and hid assets linked to a massive corruption scandal.
Lula, Brazil’s hugely popular president from 2003 to 2011, is accused of failing to declare a condominium in the resort of Guaruja that was allegedly given to him by construction company OAS, one of the firms caught up in a multibillion-dollar scandal at state oil giant Petrobras.
Sao Paulo state prosecutor Cassio Conserino summoned Lula and his wife, Marisa, for questioning on February 17.
Lula, an icon of the “pink tide” of leftist leaders who swept to power in Latin America at the turn of the millennium, denies the accusations…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
4 Violent Assaults Per Day in Dutch “Refugee Camps”
There were at least 1,300 violent assaults in invader centers in the Netherlands during 2015—working out at four per day—according to the Dutch Minister of Security and Justice Klaas Dijkhoff.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
4,500 Russian-Germans Demonstrate Against Migrant Crime in Baden-Württemberg
The Russian immigrant community in Germany may have more b*lls than the post-’45 sissyfied native population
Many assume that Turks make up the largest immigrant group [in Germany]. This impression is understandable because they tend to stand out and they usually voice themselves more loudly. The largest group migrating to Germany in the last few decades, however, is the repatriating Russian-Germans. Since the wall came down, about 3 million people have come to Germany from Eastern Europe, mostly from Russia — since 1950 the repatriate population totals to more than 4.5 million. Even when most of them have successfully integrated themselves into today’s German society and are no longer distinguishable, they hold onto many of the classic German virtues.
So it’s not surprising that, according to information given by the media, more than 4,500 Russian-Germans took to the streets in Baden-Württemberg on the weekend to demonstrate against violence committed by foreigners. The number is probably much higher.
There were over 20 demonstrations in the Southwest, according to Germany’s Federal Ministry of the Interior. In Villingen-Schwenningen alone (Schwarzwald-Baar-Kreis,) about 1,300 Russian-Germans demonstrated under the motto “Against violence and for more security in Germany.” People were holding banners painted with “I’m afraid for my grandchildren” and “respect for German culture.”
About 400 people gathered outside the town hall in Rastatt, as well as in Lahr (Ortenaukreis). Mainly repatriates gathered together in the town square, according to the police. The mayor had to face heated discussion and answer questions posed by 350 demonstrators on the topic of the refugees. Some of the protests reached all the way to the accommodations for asylum seekers. In Ellwangen (Ostalbkreis), the police had at first counted 150 people gathered at the marketplace. Police then recounted: “From there, a march began through Ellwangen, which finally ended up in front of the entrance gate of the official reception center. On the way through the city, more and more citizens joined the protest parade, so that at the end, 500 people were positioned in front of the former barracks of Ellwangen.”
Bavaria, Hamburg, and Berlin were also places of protest. According to media reports, 700 people demonstrated in front of the Chancellery. About 200 demonstrators gathered at the town square in Augsburg. They called out in favor of defending “German and Christian values.” Speeches were made partly in Russian and objected to violent fugitives. Between 40 and 400 Russian-Germans protested in Nuremberg, Erlangen, Ansbach and Neustadt an der Aisch.
The media’s dirty game
The media are trying to squelch the flames of protest by saying that the demonstrators only came because they were simply taken in by a false report of a Russian girl who was raped in Berlin. Those who’ve followed the protests closely can quickly tell that this case of rape, whether it be true or not, is simply the snowflake that started the avalanche. Thanks to incidents in Cologne and many other cities in Germany, many people have witnessed the violence of “rapefugees”.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Austria: Asylum Seeker Found Guilty of Rape Will Not be Deported
A 17-year-old asylum seeker who raped a 72-year-old pensioner has been jailed for 20 months.
Details of the case were revealed this week when the now 18-year-old from Afghanistan appeared in court.
At the same time, it was revealed that after serving his sentence he will not be deported as the sentence is not more than three years, according to a report in the Kurier newspaper.
The pensioner, whose daughter Sylvia was a helper working with refugees, had been walking her dog alongside the canal in Traiskirchen, where Austria’s largest refugee centre is located.
She was attacked last autumn, but police admitted it was not reported at the time to local media because of the sensitivity of the subject.
The 72-year-old woman, identified only as Christina F., said: “It was a really hot day and I decided to take my dog for a walk along the Schwechat River, and saw two young men swimming there.”
She said that one of the young men had reached out his hand to her, asking her to help him onto the bank, which she did. She said: “Suddenly, I felt a blow from behind.”
She was grabbed and then pushed to the ground, and the attacker put his hand over her mouth and used his other hand to tear off her clothing.
A friend of the old woman, Hans Vesely, 72, said: “The dog that she had with her was 13 years old and was sadly not up to protecting his mistress from the attack.”
The badly injured woman, who weighs just 48 kilos (7.5 stone) and had been unable to fight the men off, managed to get herself home where she locked the door. She was found later by a friend who saw her bruises from the beating, and she confessed what had happened.
“She is not the same woman anymore. She doesn’t trust being left on her own and does not leave home, and she’s become very weak since the incident,” Vesely said.
The attacker was only caught because he committed another crime after the rape, and was forced to give a DNA sample. The DNA sample provided matched the one found on his elderly victim, and he was arrested.
The teenager, identified only as Wahab M., initially denied the rape, claiming that he was drunk and could not remember what happened. In addition, his friend who was also arrested told police he had not seen anything.
Because at the time he was only 17 years old, Wahab M. was punished by the youth court where the maximum sentence is five years, but because he had no previous convictions and eventually admitted the rape in the face of the DNA evidence, it was reduced to 20 months. The shorter length of sentence means he will not face deportation.
Interior Ministry officials said that last year 3,278 asylum applicants were deported, but in almost every case it was because their application had been rejected. Of those deported, less than a handful of them were sent back because of a criminal conviction.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Confirmed: Daily Mail Article Blocked in Sweden Due to Migrant Murder Court Case
An article on website of the Daily Mail newspaper (Mail Online) is being blocked in Sweden after the news outlet cast doubts on the age of the alleged migrant attacker currently on trial in the country following the stabbing of a 22-year-old asylum centre worker…
The news article has now been blocked voluntarily by the Daily Mail following “legal advice”, Breitbart London can confirm.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch Gov’t Reluctant to Grant Asylum to Growing Number of Albanians
The government of the Netherlands said Friday that the number of asylum applications from Albanians had increased recently, but the Dutch government was reluctant to provide them with refuge as Albania was believed to be a “safe state.”
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Amsterdam also stressed that Albania was one of the countries on the list of safe countries sent by State Secretary Dijkhoff to the Dutch Lower House in 2015, and asylum seekers from the countries on this list could be rejected and returned quickly.
“The number of asylum seekers from Albania has increased noticeably in the past period. In total, more than 750 Albanians have submitted an application for asylum…in the last four months. The total influx of Albanians for the whole of 2015 amounted to more than one thousand. Not a single application was granted last year,” the government said in a statement on its website.
Under the Geneva Convention, people who are not under threat due to their race, religion, or nationality are not formally considered refugees.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
EU Chief: 60% of Invaders “Not Refugees”
The Netherlands’ European Commissioner—and far leftist Dutch Labor Party member—Frans Timmermans, has admitted that at least 60 percent of the nonwhite invaders who have come to Europe are not “war refugees” but actually just economic migrants.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
EU Voices Support for German Migrant Fuel Tax Idea
A German proposal for a continent-wide fuel tax to help finance the absorption of migrants has won backing from the European commissioner for the euro, news magazine Spiegel reported Saturday.
Germany’s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble had last week floated the idea of introducing a tax on petrol in Europe to help cover the costs of tackling the continent’s worst migration crisis since World War II.
“A fuel tax, at a national or European level, could be a possible source of financing, especially if you take into account petrol prices are at a historical low,” Valdis Dombrovskis told the magazine.
“I agree with Mr Schaeuble, we need fresh ideas in Europe to deal with the refugee crisis,” said Dombrovskis, who is also the European Commission’s vice president…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
European Commission Claims Cologne Attacks Unrelated to Refugee Crisis
The European Commission (EC) believes there was no link between sexual assaults in German’s Cologne and the ongoing refugee crisis, UK media reported Saturday.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Hundreds of criminal complaints were filed by women in Cologne and other cities across Germany accusing small groups of purportedly Arab and North African men of robbing, threatening or sexually assaulting them on New Year’s Eve.
Over a million migrants entered the European Union in 2015, according to international organizations’ estimates.
According to an internal record of the European Commission’s weekly cabinet meeting from January 13, obtained by The Telegraph, the Cologne attacks were “a matter of public order and were not related to the refugee crisis.”
Jean-Claude Juncker denied accusations by some EU leaders that the European Commission was unable to guarantee European integration and safety within the Schengen area, the record revealed.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Finland: Three Counter-Demonstrators Detained at Anti-Immigrant Rally
Three people were remanded into police custody on Saturday for ignoring police orders to leave the area during an anti-immigrant ‘Close the Borders’ protest march in Helsinki. The arrests took place after the counter-demonstrators returned to heckle the procession.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Tightens Asylum Rules to Limit Refugee Influx
Germany moved to tighten its asylum laws to slow a record migrant influx as Chancellor Angela Merkel sought to bridge deep European rifts over the crisis in talks with Italy’s Matteo Renzi Friday.
Late Thursday, Merkel’s coalition government, after months of wrangling, hammered out a deal to limit numbers by blocking some migrant family reunifications and declaring three North African nations “safe countries of origin.”
The agreement means citizens of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia will have little chance of gaining political asylum, echoing steps Germany took for several Balkans countries last year.
Germany will also block family reunifications for two years for rejected asylum seekers who can’t be deported because they face the threat of torture or the death penalty in their own country…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
German Police ‘Should Shoot Migrants’, Populist Politician Says
German police should “if necessary” shoot at migrants seeking to enter the country illegally, the leader of a right-wing populist party has said.
Frauke Petry, head of the eurosceptic Alternativ fuer Deutschland (AfD) party, told a regional newspaper: “I don’t want this either. But the use of armed force is there as a last resort.”
Her comments were condemned by leftwing parties and by the German police union.
More than 1.1 million migrants arrived in Germany last year.
Also on Saturday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said most migrants from Syria and Iraq would go home once the wars in their countries had ended.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish police were slated last week for burying reports of Afghan asylum seekers allegedly molesting and raping young girls. The string of attacks, which included reports of 36 assaults and two rapes, are said to have taken place at the We Are Sthlm music festival for teenagers in 2014 and 2015.
Officers claimed they failed to report the crimes over fears far-Right parties would use the cases to attack migrants.
Stockholm’s main public swimming centre will now be patrolled by uniformed police after at least four under-age girls were reportedly sexually assaulted by young male asylum seekers earlier this month.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Mediterranean Deaths Soar as People-Smugglers Get Crueller, IOM Says
More people died crossing the eastern Mediterranean in January than in the first eight months of last year, the International Organization for Migration said on Friday, blaming increased ruthlessness by people-traffickers.
As of Jan. 28, 218 had died in the Aegean Sea — a tally not reached on the Greek route until mid-September in 2015. Another 26 died in the central Mediterranean trying to reach Italy.
Smugglers were using smaller, less seaworthy boats, and packing them with even more people than before, the IOM said.
IOM spokesman Joel Millman said the more reckless methods might be due to “panic in the market that this is not going to last much longer” as traffickers fear European governments may find ways to stem the unprecedented flow of migrants and refugees.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Merkel Says Turkey Deal Urgent, Renzi Promises Italy Will ‘Do Its Bit’
Chancellor says important contribution to EU
(ANSA) — Rome, January 29 — German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday praised the reforms passed by Italian Premier Matteo Renzi on Friday. “Premier Renzi has embarked on a very ambitious reform agenda and the Jobs Act (labour reform) that move in the right direction,” Merkel said after meeting Renzi for talks in Berlin.
“The success of these reforms will be an important contribution for Europe and Italy”.
Merkel also said at a joint press conference with Renzi after their bilateral meeting in Berlin Friday that the two leaders discussed the refugee crisis “and the accord on Turkey, which must urgently be enacted”.
Renzi responded that Italy “is willing to do its part” on the migrant emergency. “We have no problem, either with Turkey or Germany,” he said. “We have always been available on Italy’s (part of the) financing (of the Turkey refugee fund).
We’re waiting for European institutions to give us some answers on some (of our) questions….on how this contribution is to be intended and conceived”.
Merkel said that Italy is a key ally in dealing with the refugee emergency. Italy initially bore the greater burden of the flow of asylum seekers from war zones in Africa and the Middle East, she said. “Italy was the country that was most affected,” she said. “Things only began to change in April and May (2015), and we were the first to fight for equal redistribution (of asylum seekers). Italy is a very strong ally with regards to the refugee policy, and (Italy’s) orientation is fundamental”.
Renzi also said that Italy only wanted the EU rules to be respected when asked about his demands for flexibility in the application of budget regulations. “We ask for the EU rules that exist on flexibility to be applied,” Renzi said. “We are not asking for new rules”
Renzi addd that “thanks to the efforts of the Italian government, to European collaboration and to our German friends, I am here today with a list of reforms and results, not promises”. “Italy is no longer Europe’s problem and wants to pull its weight, as is right and as per the history of our country”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Merkel’s Open-Door Policy is ‘No Longer Convincing’
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is being left alone even if she is refusing to believe it, columnist Theo Sommer wrote for German newspaper Die Zeit.
Even members of her CDU party — let alone her colleagues from her coalition partner SPD — are turning away from her and criticizing her policy, the journalist wrote.
Only about one third of German residents are currently supporting Merkel’s policy of open doors. The feeling of hospitality towards refugees is being replaced by fear and anxiety, as many believe that the state might be too weak to tackle the current migration crisis.
In Sommer’s opinion, Angela Merkel’s slogan “We can do this!” is no longer convincing, especially taking into account the difficulties which have arisen from the ongoing influx of refugees.
Merkel is still relying on the concept of a united Europe and seeking to achieve three objectives: distribute refugees among all 28 EU member states, strengthen protection of the external borders of the Union and eliminate the causes of the refugee inflow.
However, it is increasingly becoming clear that other European states are unwilling to do their part to resolve the crisis, with almost all EU states opposing fair distribution of refugee quotas. Merkel pins her hopes on Turkey, which is expected to better protect maritime borders and place migrants in its territory.
However, the EU possesses only 81 million of the three billion euros promised to Ankara, with EU countries being expected to share the burden.
At the same time, there are no real efforts to eliminate the causes of the migration crisis. The long awaited peace talks to resolve the situation in Syria and Iraq have not yet taken place because of the strained relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
According to Sommer, the refugee issue will be a real test for Merkel. She may face the most difficult choice of her Chancellorship: to abandon her point of view or “say goodbye” to her career, the author argued.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Migrant Crisis in Sweden: Who is to Blame?
Sweden’s opposition center-right Moderate Party wants Prime Minister Stefan Löfven to take responsibility for the government’s failure to tackle last year’s migrant crisis, the Stockholm-based newspaper Dagens Nyheter wrote on Friday.
A formal request submitted to parliament by Jessica Polfjärd, who leads the Moderates’ faction in the Riksdag, holds the government responsible for failure to respond to alarm signals from authorities overwhelmed by last year’s refugee crisis who warned that the situation was spinning dangerously out of control.
“Because the government has the ultimate responsibility for emergency management, we feel that there are issues we need to get to the bottom of so we can tell the Swedish people why there have been delays. Despite having received information on the emergency situation, the government has chosen not to act at once,” Polfjärd said.
She also said that the government had taken up to three months to respond to concrete information from various authorities that they were becoming overwhelmed.
Jessica Polfjärd laid part of the blame on Interior Minister Anders Ygeman and Foreign Minister Margot Wallström, but most of it on on Prime Minister Stefan Löfven.
“We felt that no one stepped forward and took responsibility,” Jessica Polfjärd told DN newspaper. “The person ultimately responsible is the Prime Minister.”
According to a recent study ordered by Dagens Nyheter the country’s Migration Department repeatedly refused to set up a special body to tackle the crisis However, despite the obvious fact that the problem has got out of hand, the Department still lacks adequate facilities and trained personnel to deal with the problem.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Migrants’ Hooliganism in Popular Austrian Resort Raises Security Concerns
The beautiful and romantic Austrian resort of Bad Ischl is a popular place among tourists to spend their winter and summer vacations. The fashionable resort, however, became subject to media attention due to recent sexual harassment cases involving refugees.
A local bar in Bad Ischl named “Charly’s” was the first to attract media attention after it had banned asylum seekers from entry amid increased sexual harassment against female guests.
According to the bar owner Karin Siebrecht-Janisch, migrants bothered not only her female visitors, but also harassed her staff.
There are about 14 thousand inhabitants currently living in Bad Ischl, with 120 refugees also residing in the area. In general, local residents have nothing against refugees but complicated situations like in Charly’s started to raise security concerns among the local population.
The owner of a guest house, Edith B., told Sputnik that such incidents involving migrants might be connected with their traditions or culture, in which they have a rather “dismissive attitude toward women”. Another local entrepreneur, Alois B., believes that the open-door policy of Angela Merkel resulted in a situation in which the country accepts not only those who really need help, assuming that stricter border controls could help to resolve the situation.
According to a member of the City Council of Social Affairs and Integration, Ines Schiller, many young refugees are unhappy over the long processing procedures of asylum applications.
“Generally, people of their age are working or studying full-time, but here they are unable to do that,” Schiller told Sputnik. “Processing terms can be different. We have had cases where they got appointment after three weeks. But, there have also been cases when they waited up to a year until the processing started.”
The mayor of Bad Ischl, Hannes Heide, is informed about the negative sentiment and security concerns prevailing in the town, but calls on the residents to avoid dramatizing the situation.
“Of course, residents are discussing the problems caused by the influx of refugees. There are fears and concerns. And certain sentiments fall on a fertile ground,” the official said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Muslims in UK Top 3 Million for First Time … With Over 50% Born Outside Britain
Number in Country Doubles in a Decade as Immigration and Birth Rates Soar
England is home to more than three million Muslims for the first time ever, new figures show.
The number in the country has doubled in just over a decade as a result of soaring immigration and high birth rates.
In some parts of London, close to half the population are now Muslims, according to detailed analysis by the Office for National Statistics obtained by The Mail on Sunday. On current trends they will be the majority in those areas within a decade.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Now EU Leaders Say Cologne Sex Attacks Had Nothing to Do With Migrant Crisis
EUROPEAN Union bureaucrats have claimed the wave of migrant sex attacks in Cologne on New Year’s Eve had nothing to do with the refugee crisis.
Startling internal documents reveal that the European Commission (EC) believes the sickening attacks were a “matter of public order”.
They also show the controversial EC hopes to be the “voice of reason” and dispel links between the growing migration crisis and the horrific sex attacks.
They fear the shocking wave of crimes committed by sex attack gangs in Cologne could undermine the “credibility” of the European project.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Administration is Starting in L.A. To Help Immigrants Become Citizens
Obama administration officials met in Los Angeles on Friday with Mayor Eric Garcetti, local nonprofits and business owners to discuss ways to encourage immigrants to become U.S. citizens.
“To launch forward we must return to our core values as Americans and even in these tough times strive to embrace our role as a nation of immigrants, a nation of dreamers, a nation of hope,” Garcetti said on Twitter about the meeting, which was closed to the public.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Photo: American Tech Workers Defiant as GOP Lawmakers Push to Expand Foreign Labor Programs
In 2014, the Northeast Utilities Company in Connecticut — now known as Eversource Energy — allegedly laid off around 200 of its American tech workers and replaced them with low-wage foreigners admitted on H-1B guest worker visas.
Now a photo has emerged depicted the workers’ final, silent patriotic protest — silent because the workers reportedly were forced to sign non-disparagement agreements to shield their employer.
The image depicts the display of American flags around cubicles of the company’s IT department — circulated by trade magazine ComputerWorld — before the Americans were replaced with foreign labor.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Police Attack Patriots in Stockholm
Swedish police attacked a large group of young Swedish patriots handing out anti-invasion leaflets in central Stockholm on Friday evening, resulting in a fracas in which one policeman was hit in the face and three patriots were arrested.
The incident—incorrectly reported by the pro-invasion and far left Aftonbladet newspaper as “black clad thugs attacking foreigners”—started when at least 200 young Swedish patriots converged on the city center to hand out leaflets titled “It is now enough!”
The leaflets warned of the criminal dangers posed by the “North African street children” who have swarmed into the city under the guise of claiming to be “asylum seekers.”
The Swedish police have themselves issued such warnings, as the problem of the North African criminal invasion has spread to many major cities in Europe since German Chancellor Angela Merkel invited the Third World to invade Europe last year.
Alarmed that the patriots had dared to turn out in such large numbers, the Stockholm police immediately dispatched riot police to “contain” the situation.
Although the patriots were breaking no laws, the police then started attacking them with batons, and one of the beaten and arrested patriots struck back, hitting a policeman in the face. Three other patriots were also arrested for “disturbing the peace.”
The Aftonbladet newspaper, seeking to sensationalize the incident and drum up sympathy for the nonwhite invaders, then produced an invader “witness” who claimed that he, and other nonwhites, had been “beaten by black clad masked thugs.”
Although there was absolutely no evidence for this claim, the Aftonbladet report was immediately widely repeated by the many other controlled media outlets.
Only the Expressen newspaper, to its credit, refused to carry the claims that the patriots had attacked “foreigners on the street” and in its coverage confirmed that the only incident had been the police fracas with the patriots.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A mob of black-clad masked men went on a rampage in and around Stockholm’s main train station last night beating up refugees and anyone who did not look like they were ethnically Swedish.
Before the attack, the group of 200 people handed out xenophobic leaflets with the message ‘Enough now’.
Swedish media reported that the thugs, allegedly linked to Sweden’s football hooligan scene, were targeting unaccompanied minors with a ‘foreign’ background.
The mob, wearing all-black balaclavas and armbands, ‘gathered with the purpose of attacking refugee children’ Stockholm police spokesman Towe Hagg said.
‘Police are now looking into the leaflets that were handed out by masked people before the attack’.
Authorities confirmed that at least 40-50 people went on a rampage at 9pm on Friday night attacking migrants.
Witnesses told Aftonbladet newspaper that they saw a gang of black-clad thugs attacking refugees at the station.
‘I saw maybe three people who were beaten. That was no football brawl or something similar. They targeted migrants. I was quite scared and ran away,’ a witness said.
The leaflet handed out before the attack refers to the alleged murder of Alexandra Mehzer, a 22-year-old aid worker knifed to death at the child centre where she worked in Molndal, Sweden.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Masked Marchers Beat Immigrants in Stockholm
A gang of up to a hundred black-clad masked men marched in central Stockholm on Friday evening, singling out and beating up immigrants, and handing out leaflets threatening further violent attacks against unaccompanied refugee youth.
The march, the most extreme reaction seen so far to the murder on Monday of social worker Alexandra Mezher, has been linked to football gangs and far-right groups.
It was followed on Saturday morning by a demonstration at the nearby Norrmalms Torg organised by the anti-immigration Sweden Democrat party, which called for the government to resign over its handling of the refugee crisis.
According to Aftonbladet newspaper, men were distributing leaflets on Friday evening with the slogan “It’s enough now!” which threatened to give “the North African street children who are roaming around” the “punishment they deserve.”
“They were scattering leaflets which had the intention to incite people to carry out crimes,” Stockholm police confirmed on its website.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Police Alerted to Thousands of Refugee-Related Crimes
Swedish police forces are stretched thin as they struggle to tackle thousands of refugee-related incidents, Swedish police chief Dan Eliasson told local media on Friday.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Swedish media reported recently that a special code, R291, has been assigned to incidents involving asylum seekers, irrespective of whether they are victims or perpetrators.
Police have been flooded with thousands of refugee-linked cases since last October, from fighting at refugee shelters to fires, bomb alerts and suicides, Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) said.
“Unrest in asylum accommodation is something that requires more and more of us,” Eliasson said, adding they have requested more money from the government.
In 2015, Sweden received over 160,000 asylum applications, the highest per capita index in Europe, according to the local migration authority.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish police have dealt with 5,000 incidents involving migrants since October as they revealed they are concerned the problems are getting worse.
Officers in the country have been called out to nearly 600 assaults in the last three months as well as four rapes, two bomb threats and 450 fights.
Migrants and asylum seekers have also been involved in 194 violent threats, 58 fires and nine robberies, according to data obtained by SvD.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey Wants Additional $2bln From EU for Migrant Crisis Management
Ankara wants additional 2 billion euros ($2.16 billion at current exchange rates) from the European Union to tackle the migrant crisis, which will almost double the initially agreed sum, media reported on Saturday.
Cooperation of European leaders and Ankara to resolve the refugee crisis has been exposed to new challenges, as Turkey seems to have no limits, demanding more and more money from EU countries, German newspaper Welt wrote.
The Turkish government recently demanded from the EU additional financial assistance to resolve migration crisis, despite the fact that Brussels was ready to provide Ankara with the sum that had been agreed before, the article said.
“Ankara wants to get five billion dollars, but we are ready to provide only the promised three billion,” the newspaper quoted a senior EU diplomat as saying. Moreover, the Turkish Government must understand that Europe may agree on the gradual payment of the promised amount only if it will be able to carefully control the flow of funds received by Ankara, he added.
According to the newspaper, the EU seeks to invest the money into specific projects such as the construction of new schools and other educational facilities. Brussels wants to strictly control the payments to prevent the situation when the billions will disappear to unknown sources, with only a tiny part of money being spent for the needs of refugees.
On November 29, the European Union and Turkey approved a joint plan to counter the influx of migrants into the bloc, under which EU member states will give some 3 billion euros to Ankara and fast track the negotiations for its accession to the 28-nation bloc.
The European Commission approved the creation of a special 3-billion-euro fund for refugees in Turkey, 500 million of which will be allocated by the EC itself, while the remaining 2.5 billion euros will be paid by the EU countries.
Europe is currently struggling to cope with a massive refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of people leaving their crisis-torn countries of origin in North Africa and the Middle East for stable and wealthy EU member states.
According to the latest Frontex data, about 1.2 million refugees entered the European Union workers over the first 10 months of 2015. The European Commission stated that the current immigration crisis is the biggest since the Second World War.
Turkey is a key transit route for refugees. According to the UN refugee agency more than 2.5 million Syrian refugees are temporarily living in Turkey, many of whom seek to travel further to Europe.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Neo-Nazi gangs have clashed with anti-fascist protesters at an anti-immigration rally in Dover which saw bricks and smoke bombs being thrown and a swastika daubed onto a coach in blood.
Flag-waving demonstrators from the National Front, neo-Nazi organisation Combat 18, the Scottish Defence league and the far-right South East Alliance marched through the town to protest against the arrival of immigrants.
They clashed with anti-racism activists, who had organised a counter-demonstration and the peaceful rally quickly descended into chaos with scuffles in the streets.
Police in riot gear and with dogs struggled to keep the activists apart as the protests turned violent and left the seaside town resembling a ‘war zone’…
| — Hat tip: Seneca III | [Return to headlines] |
Admitting That White Privilege Helps You is Really Just Congratulating Yourself
Yancy argues that many white people are hiding; hiding from their privilege, hiding from their complicity. And he’s right. What he seems to fail to consider is that by placing a premium on the disavowal of white privilege — and treating it as its own end — he’s making it easier for the heirs of white privilege to hide in plain sight.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Amid Condemnations and Hypocrisy, Indonesian Muslims Discuss Homosexuality
Censorious statements by the Higher Education minister against LGBT groups have led Islamist groups to radicalise their positions, whilst eliciting some attempt to defend LGBT rights. For Jakarta governor, “No one should prevent others from having different sexual orientations”. Legislation varies from province to province.
Jakarta (AsiaNews) — Homosexuality, LGBT rights and the place of gay people in Indonesian society, especially with respect to education, are becoming highly topical issues. This follows the recent refusal by the Minister of Research, Technology and Higher Education, Muhammad Nasir, to allow the Support Group and Resources Centre (SGRC) from opening an office at the University of Indonesia because LGBT people, in his view, “do not correspond to Indonesian behavioural morality” or the country’s culture.
Following the minister’s censorious statements, others have come out with even stronger condemnation. If Higher Education Minister Nasir had at least some respect for LGBT people as citizens, former Defence Minister Mohammad Mahfud questioned the absolute value of human right, saying that LGBT people violate (Islamic) religious values as expressed in the 1945 constitution.
In responding to critics on Twitter, Mr Mahfud said, “LGBT are dangerous and disgusting, but for now there is no need to call the police to lock them up.”
“Has there ever been a religious doctrine that has accepted them?” he asked. He is not alone in this. The Indonesian Muslim Student Union (KAMMI) also spoke out against LGBT groups on university campuses.
Generally, LGBT people are viewed with suspicion in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Islamic nation with 250 million people (87 per cent Muslim). For many, they are a “social disease”.
Local sources note that if a person openly admits to his or her homosexuality, they expose themselves to possible intimidation by fellow citizens, family included.
In the recent public debate, some people have come to the defence of LGBT civil rights. In Denpasar, the capital of Bali province, volunteers with KISARA (acronym for “We take care of youth”) have come out in favour of an open debate on homosexuality. LGBT people, they say, “are part of a plural society that should afford them respect.”
Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, a Christian, has tried to tone down the controversy. “Who hasn’t done something wrong in his life?” he said. “No one should prevent others from having different sexual orientations.”
In fact, the authorities in the capital are more concerned about sexually transmitted diseases between homosexuals than their orientation. “We are more interested in discussing measures of prevention rather than putting a ‘bad person” label on homosexuals.”
Although unequivocally condemned in the QurÊ1/4Än, homosexuality is not treated the same in every Muslim country.
In some (like Saudi Arabia and Iran), homosexual relations are officially punished with the death penalty; in others (like Bahrain and Qatar), conviction can lead to imprisonment or corporal punishment. In places like Egypt, the practice is not banned as such, but gays can be convicted for offending public morality.
At the same, homosexuality can be found throughout Arab and Islamic history, between older and younger men. In some cases, Islam does allow platonic love with the young, provided there is no physical relationship.
There is also an element of hypocrisy behind the holier than thou attitude. In December 2014, Islamic State militants threw a man accused of sodomy from a roof. It was later discovered that the victim was the lover of a top caliphate official.
In countries like Egypt and Lebanon, homosexual relations are frequent and tolerated by Muslims as long as they stay in the closet.
In Indonesia, provinces can regulate on their own issues like homosexuality. In Aceh, the only Indonesian province that enforces Sharia, practicing homosexuals can be caned up to 100 times.
Elsewhere in the country, same sex relations are not illegal since the country’s civil code is based on legal practices introduced at the time of the Dutch East Indies.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Mass Rally Against Gay Civil Unions in Italy Capital
Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to protest in Rome’s Circus Maximus arena Saturday against a civil unions bill for same-sex couples, a hot-potato issue for Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s government.
“As many people as possible must take part, remember this is the only weapon we have!” organiser Massimo Gandolfini said ahead of the “Family Day” rally, which begins in the capital’s ancient Roman chariot racing stadium at 1100 GMT.
Gandolfini said he expected to fill the arena, which can take 350,000 people without counting the surrounding streets, while authorities in Rome said they were preparing for up to 500,000 people…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Texas Supreme Court Sides With HS Cheerleaders in Religious Freedom Case
Attorney says 8-0 victory protects free speech and religious liberty rights of all students
An attorney representing high school cheerleaders from Kountze, Texas at the center of a religious liberty case told KVUE’s sister station 12News Friday morning that the Texas Supreme Court has ruled in their favor.
According to court documents, the case started back in 2012 when the Kountze Independent School District prohibited the cheerleaders from displaying banners containing religious signs or messages at school-sponsored events.
Attorney David Starnes said the Texas Supreme Court considered the cheerleader’s argument so straight forward that it did not require oral arguments. Starnes said the 8-0 victory protects free speech and religious liberty rights of all students.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
I hope . . . I pray that all native Europeans (Slavs, German, Czechs, Irish, English, Scots, French, . . . etc) will unite against the common invaders.
All of these problems stem from that cursed EU. The purpose was to avoid internal European wars. Now EU is paving the road to wars.
Doomsday is looming on Europe but I’ll cling to:
And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
Amen. Man cannot live on bread and oil alone.
I don’t think the purpose was to avoid internecine warfare at all. There wasn’t enough materiel to mount an inner attack. I agree with Bat Ye’or: it was all about getting the oil and regulating the oil. IOW, Eurabia. Which is what Europe has come to be: a swarm of MENA and East Africa, come to take over. They will destroy the people without harming the infrastructure, though none have the skills to maintain the infrastructure so they will have some use for the indigenous Europeans. Like the invasion of prosperous Egypt and North Africa all over again.
The invaders excel at building deserts.
Wherever it is found, Islam creates a moral, spiritual, artistics, and physical desert and calls it, “peace.”
Native Europeans need to start a fire, and make it rise.
“Neo-Nazi gangs have clashed with anti-fascist protesters at an anti-immigration rally in Dover which saw bricks and smoke bombs being thrown and a swastika daubed onto a coach in blood.”
This is an unwelcome development. The Neo-Nazi crowd can damage the reputation of the counter-islamisation movements like PEGIDA, EDL.
The Left will quickly use this incident to claim opposition to uncontrolled migration is being led by Nazi groups. But what is truly ironic, the muslim migrants the Nazi’s claim to oppose often share a love for Hitler and a hatred of Jews. This aspect alone makes them suspect. The Neo-Nazis are not above co-operating with Jihadists where there interests coincide. They should never be trusted or welcomed into the counter-islamisation camp.
Who defined the ‘Neo-Nazis’ Neo Nazis?
A close inspection of UK neo-nazi groups reveal that they are basically advocating socialism. They may, or may not be supported by the elites financially, but they certainly march to a prescribed tune.
The ‘middle’ Right was not present at this one, but as far as the media is concerned the ‘middle’ right does not exist and so cannot be reported upon. Most real Brits know this and just await the opportunity to act in a way that cannot be ‘twisted’ by a corrupt media.
I wonder how many of the neo-Nazis in such groups are real true believers and how many are government operatives? Anti-semitism is alive and well in Europe, but it has long since moved on from the Nazi trope into things like the BDS folks…however, the government workers need highly visible signage for disruption so what better than nazi symbols? The whole ‘nazi’ thing smells so 20th century and so uncreative <- govt at work.
Baron: I think it important to published a detailed account of what actually happened at the Stockholm train station. This could be an important event.
“They will destroy the people without harming the infrastructure, though none have the skills to maintain the infrastructure so they will have some use for the indigenous Europeans.”
Dymphna, this sounds as if you think it is an inevitability. Do you? (I speak like that as well when trying to convince someone.)