Gates of Vienna News Feed 6/29/2016

The Japanese Supreme Court has upheld the government’s policy of maintaining a blanket surveillance of the Muslim community. The ruling was handed down in response to a lawsuit by Muslims who claimed the surveillance was discriminatory and unconstitutional.

In other news, in the wake of recent shootings of police in the suburbs of Paris, French beach police are going to arm themselves this summer. In addition to self-protection, the armed police will be better able to deal with potential terror attacks on beach resorts.

To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.

Thanks to AF, Dean, Fjordman, JD, Srdja Trifkovic, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

USA
» Charges: Itasca County Homicide Victim Was Beheaded, Stabbed
» Democrat Professors Outnumber Republicans by 12:1 Ratio at UNC
» Hackers Targeted House Democrats Hours After Gun Control Sit-in
» House Benghazi Report Confirms ‘Spontaneous Video Protest’ Story Was Deliberate Political Disinformation
» Millions Off the Books: The FBI’s Hidden Surveillance Budget
» Minority Babies Outnumber Whites Among US Infants
» Nigel Farage: Clinton Acts Like She Has ‘Divine Right’ To Presidency
» Obama Administration Refuses to Tell Congress Why it Purged References to “Islamic Terrorism” From Public Documents
» Schweizer: American Soil is Owned by Putin’s Government Because of Hillary’s Uranium Deal
» Study: Blacks, Whites Split Over Racial Progress Under Obama
» Top Telecom Engineer: DHS Threatens Internet Shutdown
» Trump: The Era of Economic Surrender is Over!
» US Border Authority Seeks Travellers’ Social Media Details
 
Europe and the EU
» Backlash Against the EU Spreads as Political Parties Across the Continent Call for 34 Separate Referendums
» Brexit: Spain and France Oppose Scotland EU Talks
» Brexit: EU Says No Compromise on Freedom of Movement
» Brexit Vote Irreversible, Say EU Leaders
» CFR Member Calls on Elites to “Rise Up Against Ignorant Masses”
» Clueless Leftist Idiots Protest Against Democracy in Trafalgar Square
» Court: Norway Islamist Can be Extradited to Italy
» EU Aims to Sidestep Parliaments on CETA
» Exit Clause Created Specifically for Brits Over ‘EU Prison’ Fears — French Ex-President
» France ‘Probes New Death Threats’ Against Charlie Hebdo
» French Beach Police to be Armed This Summer
» Juncker Dismisses Calls to Quit Over Brexit
» Marine Le Pen: Brexit ‘Most Important Moment Since Berlin Wall’
» Spain ‘Extremely’ Opposed to Scottish-EU Talks
» Swedish Police to Hand Out Anti-Groping Armbands
» The Renaissance: The ‘Rebirth’ of Science & Culture
» Why Large, Local Legislatures Are Better Than the EU Parliament
 
Middle East
» Jihad’s Beltway Allies
 
South Asia
» Stressed Indus River Threatens Pakistan’s Water Supplies
 
Far East
» China’s New Internet Chief Set to Maintain Tight Grip on Web
» Japan’s Top Court Has Approved Blanket Surveillance of the Country’s Muslims
 
Latin America
» Mexico President Urges North American Integration After Brexit
 
Immigration
» EU ‘Wildfire’: Austria Warns Europe of Impending Breakup After ‘Dramatic’ Migrant Mistakes
» Frontex Chief: 300,000 More Migrants Headed From Africa to Europe
» Kurz: EU Migration Policy a “Dramatic Failure”
» ‘Merkel’s Open Door Policy Caused Britain to Leave EU’: German Leader is Blamed for Brexit Over Her Failure to Deal With Migrant Crisis and Open Arms Immigration Policy
 
Culture Wars
» Prof: Promoting ‘Anti-Abortion’ Views is a Microaggression
 
General
» Right-Wing Populism is Prevailing in Left-Wing Strongholds Around the World
» Saturn Moon Enceladus’ Plumes May Resemble Earth’s ‘Lost City’
 

Charges: Itasca County Homicide Victim Was Beheaded, Stabbed

A 20-year-old Hibbing man was beaten, stabbed and beheaded by an acquaintance — apparently in retribution for an alleged sexual assault — according to charges filed Wednesday.

The body of David Alexander Haiman was recovered from a wooded area in the Itasca County community of Ball Club, northwest of Grand Rapids, on Sunday.

Witnesses allegedly told authorities that 35-year-old Joseph Christen Thoresen struck Haiman with a baseball bat, stabbed him in the lungs with a machete and beheaded him after learning that Haiman allegedly raped his girlfriend.

Authorities also said that the men had smoked methamphetamine a short time before the killing.

Thoresen, of rural Deer River, was arraigned Wednesday morning in State District Court in Grand Rapids on an intentional second-degree murder charge.

Judge Korey Wahwassuck set his bail at $1 million with conditions or $2 million without…

           — Hat tip: Dean [Return to headlines]
 

Democrat Professors Outnumber Republicans by 12:1 Ratio at UNC

A university in North Carolina has a professor ratio of approximately 12 registered Democrats to every one registered Republican, an analysis conducted by The College Fix has found.

The student reported website also found that there were 16 of the 34 departments at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill where there were no existing Republican professors, on an analysis of the states online public voter database.

According to the analysis, 615 out of of 1,355 UNC Chapel Hill professors are registered as Democrats, whilst just 50 of them are Republicans, and two are registered with the Libertarian Party.

The remaining staff include 299 professors who are not affiliated to a political party, 291 professors whose information is not available, and 98 professors affiliations whose affiliations are indeterminable.

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

Hackers Targeted House Democrats Hours After Gun Control Sit-in

Representatives’ websites remain down following attack

The websites of several House Democrats remain down Tuesday following attacks by hackers that began shortly after last week’s gun control sit-in.

DCS, the company contracted to manage the websites, told POLITICO’s Eric Geller that more than a dozen Democrats were targeted last Thursday just two hours after the gun control sit-in.

“The sites were hacked,” Scott Ferson, the president of the public affairs group representing DCS, told POLITICO — claiming “no information was compromised.”

A “site under maintenance” notice can be found on the websites of “Reps. Earl Blumenauer, John Carney, Rosa DeLauro, Lloyd Doggett, Tammy Duckworth, Donna Edwards, Sam Farr, Tulsi Gabbard, Alan Grayson, Marcy Kaptur, William Keating, John Larson, Jim McDermott, Richard Neal, Ed Perlmutter, Jackie Speier and Filemon Vela.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

House Benghazi Report Confirms ‘Spontaneous Video Protest’ Story Was Deliberate Political Disinformation

The House Benghazi report makes it completely clear that no one peddling the “spontaneous video protest” theory of the attack ever believed it, not for a single hour.

It was a piece of deliberate disinformation concocted in Washington for political purposes, as critics of President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have long maintained.

As Catherine Herridge of Fox News reports, the video story was “crafted in Washington by Obama administration appointees and reflected neither eyewitness nor real-time reports from the Americans under siege.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Millions Off the Books: The FBI’s Hidden Surveillance Budget

The bureau has asked for an additional $100 million for its cyber and tech divisions for 2017

When Deputy FBI Assistant Director James Burrell told a workshop roundtable about the Operational Technology Division’s (OTD) budget, he didn’t give precise figures. Instead, he said the Bureau has “hundreds of millions of dollars” to spend on law enforcement and national security.

The workshop was on “Encryption and Mechanisms for Authorized Government Access to Plaintext,” and was sponsored by The National Academies of Science, Technology, and Medicine. The program sought to determine whether it is possible to maintain digital security while giving the federal government access to secure devices.

It has been reported that the OTD, which handles the FBI’s surveillance technology, had a budget of $600 to $800 million last year, but Bureau officials haven’t given an exact number.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Minority Babies Outnumber Whites Among US Infants

White babies are now outnumbered by minority babies, according to new population estimates from the Census Bureau. In 2015, racial and ethnic minorities made up 50.2 percent of babies under a year old. That year, there were 1,995,102 minority babies born, just slightly more than the 1,982,936 white babies born.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Nigel Farage: Clinton Acts Like She Has ‘Divine Right’ To Presidency

United Kingdom Independence Party Leader Nigel Farage has a message for Donald Trump: The United Kingdom’s problems are factors worse than those in the United States. But if his comments Tuesday are any indication, he is not too fond of Hillary Clinton.

“Donald Trump dares to talk about things other people want to brush under the carpet. What Mr. Trump is doing in America is very different than what I’m trying to do in the United Kingdom. My problem in politics is far greater than Donald Trump’s. We literally have lost our sovereignty, lost our borders, lost our ability,” Farage told CNN’s Richard Quest on Tuesday in an interview from Brussels, Belgium.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Obama Administration Refuses to Tell Congress Why it Purged References to “Islamic Terrorism” From Public Documents

Senior Obama administration officials refused to appear before Congress on Tuesday to explain the recent decision to purge all references to “Islamic terrorism” and radicalism from public documents, according to disclosures made Tuesday on Capitol Hill.

Top officials from the Justice Department and FBI declined to appear on Capitol Hill to answer questions from lawmakers about domestic terror attacks and an administration policy of scrubbing references to Islamic terrorism and similar terms from government materials, lawmakers said.

The policy has thwarted attempts by federal authorities to stop an increasing series of terror attacks from taking place on United States soil, according to Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas), chair of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on oversight.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Schweizer: American Soil is Owned by Putin’s Government Because of Hillary’s Uranium Deal

Discussing the Clinton Foundation receiving $145 million from the shareholders of Uranium One, he continued, “Look there are couple of things that are extremely troubling about the deal we touched on. number one is the amount of money $145 million. We are not talking about a super PAC giving a million dollars to support a candidate. We are not talking about campaign donations. We are talking about $145 million which by the way is 75 percent or more of the annual budget of the Clinton Foundation itself so it’s a huge sum of money. Second of all we are talking about a fundamental issue of national security which is uranium — it’s not like oil and gas that you can find all sorts of places. They are precious few places you can mine for uranium, in the United States is one of those areas. And number three we are talking about the Russian government. A lot of people don’t realize it now, in parts of the Midwest American soil is owned by Vladimir Putin’s government because this deal went through. And in addition to the $145 million Bill Clinton got half a billion dollars, $500,000 for a 20-minute speech from a Russian investment bank tied to the Kremlin, two months before the State Department signed off on this deal. It just stinks to high heaven and I think it requires a major investigation by the federal government.”

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

Study: Blacks, Whites Split Over Racial Progress Under Obama

A majority of Americans credit President Barack Obama for trying to improve race relations, but a quarter of Americans say he has made them worse, according to a new study released Monday by the Pew Research Center.

The report found a large divide between blacks and whites regarding Obama’s efforts to improve race relations, as 51 percent of blacks said Obama made progress compared to 28 percent of whites. Further, 34 percent of blacks said Obama tried, but failed, to make progress and 5 percent said he made race relations worse.

For white respondents, 32 percent said Obama has made race relations worse whereas 24 percent said Obama has tried, but failed, to make progress. The report found 63 percent of white Republicans said Obama has worsened race relations.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Top Telecom Engineer: DHS Threatens Internet Shutdown

Find out how an internet shutdown could unfold and who would be responsible

Anthony and James Knox, Master Telecom Engineer, discuss the threat of the internet shutdown by DHS and the methods by which the key networks would be used to make it happen.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Trump: The Era of Economic Surrender is Over!

Republican blasts Hillary Clinton for dismantling America

In a rousing speech aimed directly at the globalists and their anti-human agenda, Trump calls for Americans to stand up and take back their country from the ravages of decades of economic warfare.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

US Border Authority Seeks Travellers’ Social Media Details

Travellers seeking visa waiver entry to the US may soon be asked to list their social media profiles — if a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposal is enacted.

An update to application forms would ask users to identify what social networks they use and their “social media identifier” such as a username.

However, revealing this information would be “optional”.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Backlash Against the EU Spreads as Political Parties Across the Continent Call for 34 Separate Referendums

The ECFR report said the fear of Turkey joining the EU and the rise of Islamophobia were among the reasons why support for anti-immigrant and anti-EU parties was on the rise across the continent.

The British vote to leave the European Union could trigger a tidal wave of referendums, with up to 34 plebiscites on matters ranging from membership itself to keeping the euro and stopping the influx of refugees.

A study by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), suggests far-right parties were looking to surf the wave of europhobia created by the Brexit vote.

The ECFR report said the fear of Turkey joining the EU and the rise of Islamophobia were among the reasons why support for anti-immigrant and anti-EU parties was on the rise across the continent.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Brexit: Spain and France Oppose Scotland EU Talks

The French president and Spanish prime minister have both said they are opposed to the EU negotiating potential membership for Scotland.

Spanish premier Mariano Rajoy said he “believes everyone is extremely against it” and that “if the UK leaves, Scotland leaves”.

President Francois Hollande of France insisted the EU would make no advance deal with Scotland.

Nicola Sturgeon said Mr Rajoy’s comments were not surprising.

The Scottish first minister has been in Brussels for a series of talks with senior EU officials, after pledging to protect Scotland’s interests in Europe following last week’s Brexit vote.

Spain was a vocal opponent of Scottish independence ahead of the 2014 referendum, largely because of the situation in Catalonia where there is a strong independence movement.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Brexit: EU Says No Compromise on Freedom of Movement

European Union leaders have warned that the UK must honour the principle of free movement of people if it wants to retain access to the single market after it leaves the bloc.

European Council President Donald Tusk said the UK could not pick and choose.

The French and German leaders also made clear that the freedom of movement of EU citizens was non-negotiable.

Immigration to the UK, particularly from poorer EU countries, was a key issue in the referendum campaign.

Some campaigners for Leave sent a clear message that the vote was about controlling immigration levels.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Brexit Vote Irreversible, Say EU Leaders

Five days after the UK voted to leave the EU, the bloc’s leaders decided at a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday (28 June) to wait before starting the legal process for Brexit, but they insisted there was no alternative to Brexit.

There was no “clamour” to trigger Article 50, British prime minister David Cameron said, referring to the EU treaty clause that organises a country’s exit.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

CFR Member Calls on Elites to “Rise Up Against Ignorant Masses”

Wealthy heir to Bloomingdale’s chain sneers at populist voters who cherish “values and tradition”

In a column for Foreign Policy Magazine, Council on Foreign Relations member James Traub argues that the elite need to “rise up” against the “mindlessly angry” ignorant masses in order to prevent globalization from being derailed by the populist revolt that led to Brexit and the rise of Donald Trump.

Concerned that, “Today’s citizen revolt — in the United States, Britain, and Europe — may upend politics as nothing else has in my lifetime,” Traub notes that Brexit was an “utter repudiation of…bankers and economists” and an example of how “extremism has gone mainstream”.

Citing the potential for Trump to split the Republican Party even if he loses and the increasing unpopularity of France’s socialist government, Traub argues that establishment political parties in major western countries must “combine forces to keep out the nationalists”…

Republican base as “know nothing” voters and sneers at voters in Poland for being concerned about “values and tradition,” while stressing that the push for further globalization will pit “poor and non-white and marginal citizens” against “working-class and middle-class whites,” whom he describes as angry “fist-shakers”.

Traub admits that his outlook is “elitist” but that, “It is necessary to say that people are deluded and that the task of leadership is to un-delude them.”

Reaction to the article was piercingly vitriolic, with one respondent commenting, “If you’ve ever wondered what the conversations between aristocrats were like as the peasants were storming the Bastille, I suspect some of them were a lot like this Foreign Policy article.”

The piece is yet another stunning example of how disconnected elites are to the people whom they insult and wish to rule over.

[Comment: Wow. Right in your face now, and proud of it…globalists are not hiding behind the scenes anymore…]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Clueless Leftist Idiots Protest Against Democracy in Trafalgar Square

Authoritarian trendies demand popular vote be overturned

Clueless anti-Brexit leftist idiots descended on Trafalgar Square in London this evening to protest against the democratic will of the British people.

The rally was initially cancelled due to fears of overcrowding after 50,000 “signed up” (in other words virtue signaled about it on Facebook to impress their friends with no intention of bothering to show up), but pictures show a paltry amount of people numbering in just the hundreds actually turned up at the rally.

Many of these people undoubtedly signed a petition for a ‘second referendum’ that was later ridiculed after it emerged hundreds of thousands of signatures came from 4chan trolls and people in foreign countries, including North Korea.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Court: Norway Islamist Can be Extradited to Italy

The Oslo District Court on Wednesday sided with the Norwegian Police Security Service and ruled that infamous Norway-based fundamentalist preacher Najmuddin Ahmad Faraj, better known as Mullah Krekar, can be extradited to Italy to face terror charges.

Krekar recently sued Norway after being acquitted on charges that he made death threats during a television interview last year. In an interview with broadcaster NRK, he said among other things that “whoever insults our religion must know that one of us will die.”

Those comments came in the same interview in which he praised the Charlie Hebdo terror attacks in Paris and were made just one month after he finished a two year and ten month prison sentence for his 2012 conviction on charges that he threatened Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg.

The 59-year-old Krekar, a former guerilla leader from northern Iraq, has been in the Norwegian court system 60 times since relocating to the country.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

EU Aims to Sidestep Parliaments on CETA

The EU Commission is reportedly planning to push through a free trade agreement between Canada and the EU, known as CETA, without giving the bloc’s national parliaments a say in it.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Exit Clause Created Specifically for Brits Over ‘EU Prison’ Fears — French Ex-President

Brexit inspired Euroskeptic politicians and activists to ponder similar initiatives

The much-discussed mechanism for leaving the EU — Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty — was specifically written for Britain over its fears it would become a ‘prisoner’ in the bloc, says the French ex-president who was behind the idea.

“When I was preparing the European Constitution I wrote the text of an article which has since been taken up in the Lisbon Treaty as Article 50,” said Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, a centrist politician who served as president of the French Republic from 1974 until 1981, in comments to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

It was first of all addressing “Anglo-Saxon fears that the European Union was a kind of prison” for them, and “once you are inside it, you can’t get out,” D’Estaing said.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

France ‘Probes New Death Threats’ Against Charlie Hebdo

According to reports in France an investigation has been launched after a series of death threats were sent to Charlie Hebdo magazine, which was hit by an Islamist terrorist attack last year.

A source close to the investigation told Le Parisien newspaper that a first threat was posted on Charlie Hebdo’s Facebook page and then later removed. It remains unclear who removed them.

The threat reportedly suggested that several members of the editorial team would be physically targeted in an attack.

A similar and separate message was sent to the editor of the publication within the space of a few days, the source added.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

French Beach Police to be Armed This Summer

One hundred armed police officers out of the 300 currently on duty to protect France’s beaches will be armed this summer in order to respond to potential terrorist attacks and to defend themselves.

The decision to arm the police follows the shooting of two police officers in suburb of Paris earlier this month.

“We have to give those police that are protecting our beaches some way of defending themselves given that they are clearly identified is police by badges on their tee-shirts,” a police spokesman said.

The measure is also designed to counter attacks on beach resorts like the one on the attack on the resort of Sousse in Tunisia last year when 38 tourists were killed.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Juncker Dismisses Calls to Quit Over Brexit

EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker has dismissed calls for his resignation over Brexit, saying: “Frankly, I don’t care.” He said he did not get involved in the referendum campaign at the UK’s request. EU Council chief Donald Tusk said he did not understand how Juncker could be blamed. In April, Juncker was accused of interference when he urged Dutch voters to approve an EU-Ukraine treaty in a referendum.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Marine Le Pen: Brexit ‘Most Important Moment Since Berlin Wall’

French far-right leader says every EU country should have a referendum on membership.

The French far-right received a huge boost from the Brexit vote, National Front leader Marine Le Pen said Tuesday, calling the referendum result “the most important moment since the fall of the Berlin Wall.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Spain ‘Extremely’ Opposed to Scottish-EU Talks

Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy said only the UK, and not Scotland, had competence to negotiate with the EU. “I am extremely against it, the treaties are extremely against it and I believe everyone is extremely against it. If the United Kingdom leaves … Scotland leaves,” Rajoy said. Spain fears Scotland’s bid to stay in the EU, which could entail declaring independence, could inspire Spanish regions to follow suit.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Swedish Police to Hand Out Anti-Groping Armbands

Swedish police have launched a campaign aimed at curbing sexual harassment among young people.

A debate about sexual molestation flared in Sweden earlier this year after it emerged that groups of boys had groped girls at the We Are Sthlm youth festival for two years running.

“We’re hoping mainly that this will get boys to think twice. A lot of them don’t seem to realize that this is a crime,” national police chief Dan Eliasson told news agency TT.

Swedish police were heavily criticized for not releasing details on the total 36 reports of sexual assault and two rape allegations filed after the festivals in 2014 and 2015.

Many of the alleged perpetrators were young Afghan refugees, newspaper Dagens Nyheter reported when it broke the story in January, as police fielded accusations of burying the reports to avoid stoking anti-immigrant sentiment.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The Renaissance: The ‘Rebirth’ of Science & Culture

The Renaissance typically refers to a period in European history approximately between 1400 and 1600. Many historians assert that it started earlier or ended later, depending on the country. It bridged the periods of the Middle Ages and modern history, and, depending on the country, overlaps with the Early Modern, Elizabethan and Restoration periods. The Renaissance is most closely associated with Italy, where it began in the 14thcentury, though countries such as Germany, England and France went through many of the same cultural changes and phenomena.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Why Large, Local Legislatures Are Better Than the EU Parliament

National legislature can’t veto or modify EU laws once passed by undemocratic EU

One of the biggest weaknesses in the EU’s argument against secession from the EU is the fact that the EU is so very undemocratic.

Whatever one thinks of democracy, the fact remains that Europeans tend to favor it, so the EU’s significant deficit on democratic representation in EU institutions has been a big problem in selling the EU to the masses. The EU recognized this in the Brexit debate, which is why EU supporters have focused almost entirely on economic claims.

There is some democracy in the EU, as in the European Parliament, although EU legislation originates with the un-elected bureaucracy where most of the expertise and power resides. The European Parliament is not as powerless as some critics of the EU have suggested, although it clearly works at a disadvantage when compared with the the European Commission, which is unelected.

[Comment: EU structure uses just enough props to maintain the “illusion” of democracy. Hijra and rapefugees woke people up to the tyranny of the EU.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Jihad’s Beltway Allies

by Srdja Trifkovic

In the final weeks of spring the Islamic State finally seemed to be in serious trouble. Its capital of Raqqa came under simultaneous pressure from forces supported by the Syrian government advancing from Palmyra in the southwest, and from the U.S.-supported (mainly Kurdish) Syrian Democratic Forces to the north. The scene was set for a 1945-style “race to Berlin.”

Then, on June 17, came the “leak” of an internal memo by 51 middle- and low-level State Department officials criticizing the Obama administration’s policy in Syria and advocating U.S. military attacks on the government of Bashar al-Assad, to “undergird and drive a more focused and hard-nosed U.S.-led diplomatic process.” The memo—filed in the “dissent channel” set up in the Vietnam era as a way for employees to register their protest without fear of reprisal—did not offer a scenario for a post-Bashar Syria. It simply asserted that “the moral rationale” for ending the death and suffering is “evident and unquestionable.” The memo advocated “a credible threat of military action to keep Assad in line” (as his downfall was being arranged) and to bolster the fight against the Islamic State by helping the “moderate Sunni” forces.

Reportedly, many of the “dissidents” are Hillary Clinton’s liberal-interventionist appointees from her tenure at the State Department. In view of her vocal support for “robust” U.S. action is Syria, their memo appears to be a preemptive bid to curry favor in advance of her anticipated victory in November. The document reflects all the flaws, inconsistencies, and outright idiocies of Mrs. Clinton’s Middle East policies, past and present.

Since the drafting of the Cessation of Hostilities agreement—signed by the United States and Russia last February—over 800,000 Syrians have been receiving aid that was previously denied them. Any U.S. attack on Assad’s forces would sever this lifeline, escalate the war, and dramatically increase death and suffering. It would be a boon not only to the Islamic State but to jihadists of all hues and to their abettors in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf. Worse still, it would risk an unpredictably hazardous escalation with the Russians—who have major military assets in Syria—with no commensurate strategic benefit to Americans. It would prompt Tehran to terminate its tentative anti-IS cooperation with the United States in Iraq. It would destroy American credibility with the Kurds, without compensating for the loss of their hitherto effective boots on the ground by the addition of imaginary Sunni Arab “moderates.” Perhaps the authors of the memo imagine they will convert non-ISIS jihadists and Salafi fanatics (such as Ahrar al-Sham and Jaish al-Islam, who are firmly allied with Al Qaeda’s Jabhat al-Nusra) into “moderates.” But there was no mention of any of them and their routine cease-fire violations in the memo.

           — Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic [Return to headlines]
 

Stressed Indus River Threatens Pakistan’s Water Supplies

The Indus River, which supports the lives of 300 million people, is supplying Pakistan with less water than it did 50 years ago, particularly in the spring and summer, researchers have found. The news comes as demand for water is projected to rise sharply.

The Indus flows through India, Afghanistan and China before reaching Pakistan, which it crosses from north to south. For decades, population growth and agriculture have stressed the river, which, for 10 months of the year, dries up before it reaches the sea. Because demand is set to rise by 30% by 2025, “water shortage will be the single most destabilizing factor, not only for Pakistan but the entire region”, says Arif Anwar, principal researcher at the International Water Management Institute in Lahore.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

China’s New Internet Chief Set to Maintain Tight Grip on Web

China’s most senior internet regulator has stepped down, his replacement set to maintain course. Lu Wei headed the party’s attempts to decide what ordinary Chinese can and cannot read during his three-year tenure.

Chinese authorities censor online content they deem politically sensitive and also block various Western media websites and social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Google.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Japan’s Top Court Has Approved Blanket Surveillance of the Country’s Muslims

Japan’s Supreme Court has upheld the government’s blanket surveillance of the country’s Muslim community.

The court struck down the second appeal by Japanese Muslim plaintiffs against what they perceive as an unconstitutional invasion of their privacy and freedom of religion.

A 2010 leak of 114 police files revealed nationwide surveillance of Japanese Muslims. The files revealed that Muslim places of worship, halal restaurants and Islam-related organisations across the capital, Tokyo, were being monitored.

A group of 17 Japanese Muslims, mostly from Middle Eastern and North African countries, decided to sue the Japanese government for infringing on their constitutional rights.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Mexico President Urges North American Integration After Brexit

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Monday called for greater integration with Canada and the United States in the wake of Britain’s vote to split with the European Union.

Nieto, who spoke during a stopover in Quebec City, is scheduled to attend a North American leaders summit in Ottawa on Wednesday with his US and Canadian counterparts.

The three countries are economic partners in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and work closely on security matters.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

EU ‘Wildfire’: Austria Warns Europe of Impending Breakup After ‘Dramatic’ Migrant Mistakes

EUROPE’S failure to address fears over the migrant crisis were the driving force behind Britain’s Brexit — and the damage may not be over yet, an Austrian minister has claimed.

Austria’s Foreign Affairs and Integration chief Sebastian Kurz has joined a growing list of foreign officials urging Union bosses to act or face the fall of the entire Union.

Mr Kurz believes the EU’s inability to correctly handle the migrant crisis which saw borders opening and closing at an alarming rate amid the deaths of thousands of refugees, led to Britons voting out of the EU on June 23.

He also repeated a previous warning that Jean Claude Juncker and others must address the key issue of migration or face failure, stating it is “obvious” who was at fault for Brexit.

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

Frontex Chief: 300,000 More Migrants Headed From Africa to Europe

The director of the agency for the control of the external borders of the European Union (EU) has predicted that as many as 300,000 new migrants will be heading up from sub-Saharan Africa into Europe, most of whom will attempt to reach Italy as first port of call.

Fabrice Leggeri, the director of Frontex, said Tuesday that he based his estimates in part on recent surveys done in the Agadez region of Niger, where sub-Saharan migration has reached 13 thousand persons per month.

“If migration flows from West Africa continue toward Libya, then we must expect some 300,000 people fleeing this year from West Africa to the northern Maghreb, to then continue to travel to Europe,” he said in an interview with the German Funke media group.

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

Kurz: EU Migration Policy a “Dramatic Failure”

Austria’s Foreign Minister, Sebastian Kurz, has warned that the refugee crisis could break the European Union apart, and described EU migration policy as a “dramatic failure”.

In an interview with German media, including Die Welt, he said that the refugee crisis had become an emotional issue and had been decisive in influencing the outcome of the UK’s referendum on whether to leave the EU. He warned that other countries may decide to follow Britain’s example.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

‘Merkel’s Open Door Policy Caused Britain to Leave EU’: German Leader is Blamed for Brexit Over Her Failure to Deal With Migrant Crisis and Open Arms Immigration Policy

As Germans demand their own opportunity to free themselves from ‘EU slavery’, fingers are being pointed at Chancellor Angela Merkel for sparking the potential dissolution of the European Union.

Critics have branded Ms Merkel’s open-door immigration policy as being to blame for a tidal wave of demands for Brexit-style referendums across several countries in the bloc.

The right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) has openly branded Ms Merkel as being responsible, amid calls for a ‘Dexit’ — Deutschland exit.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Prof: Promoting ‘Anti-Abortion’ Views is a Microaggression

An “educational presentation” on Longwood University’s website claims that challenging someone’s pro-choice views or assuming they smoke weed are both microaggressions.

The presentation, which can be found on Longwood’s Diversity and Inclusion Resources page, asserts that there are three types of microaggressions: insults, assaults, and invalidations.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Right-Wing Populism is Prevailing in Left-Wing Strongholds Around the World

Across the postindustrial world, the populist right is excelling in the old bastions of the left.

If there is a lesson for the United States in the decision by British voters to exit the European Union, it is the importance of the emerging split between the beneficiaries of multicultural globalism and the working-class ethno-nationalists who feel left behind. These issues have the potential to overcome longstanding partisan ties, even in the United States.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Saturn Moon Enceladus’ Plumes May Resemble Earth’s ‘Lost City’

Saturn’s intriguing moon Enceladus could resemble Earth’s “Lost City,” a network of hydrothermal vents in the Atlantic Ocean where life survives despite cold and darkness.

Earth is the only planet in the solar system with liquid water on its surface, but many of the solar system’s moons and dwarf planets seem to hide their oceans beneath their crust. Saturn’s moon Enceladus, on the other hand, isn’t content to keep things underground; large gashes at the moon’ south pole spurt liquid from the interior into space. The access provided by these vents makes it a tempting spot for scientists hoping to search for signs of life outside of Earth.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

17 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 6/29/2016

  1. The Chinese people has the will to survive,conversely the peoples of the west commit suicide.

    Please read the following:

    Subject: China Makes Major Moves on Muslims‏

    So what is China doing?
    It’s declaring an all-out war to make sure Islam doesn’t take over, and never gains the strength to attack them.

    Here are China’s directives:
    – Female head-coverings completely banned,threats of deportation exist if they refuse to comply.
    No citizenship privileges granted to Muslims and very strict immigration laws are in place,every Muslim residing in China, even Muslim visitors are closely monitored.
    No Mosques allowed to be built and strictly no praying on public streets or anywhere in public.
    Any Muslim caught hate-preaching in public or trying to poison the minds of the young will be deported immediately, that is if they are lucky to escape the death penalty or life in prison.

    – Muslim men are forbidden from growing long beards, the Chinese feel it is too intimidating.
    – Islamic restaurants must sell cigarettes & alcohol and they must display them prominently for all patrons to visibly see.
    — Strictly no sale of any Halal meats at all,
    — They must display a highly visible sign in their window, “Pork Available If Requested,”
    Any business owner who does not follow this order…will lose their business registration and be closed down.
    Any Muslims who commit any serious crimes like terrorist activity, murder or rape and the culprit faces execution by hanging or thrown in prison and never seen again.
    27 Muslim male and females were executed by hanging in 2014-2015 for suspected terrorism while dozens are in prison awaiting their fate.
    In China you are guilty until proven innocent, not innocent until proved guilty, as practiced in civilized Christian countries.
    Chinese Lawyers are forbidden by the Government to defend a Muslim in a court of law because of their Islam belief which is not recognized in China, they must represent themselves.
    Chinese Judges are known for their despise of Muslims and are very cold hearted and biased, very similar to how Indonesian Muslim Judges treated the Australian girl Shappelle Corby over her drug charges.
    2,127 Muslims left China in 2015 and returned home because of its very tough anti-Muslim laws and China completely ignores the anger of the United Nations Refugee Council.

    China sees what’s happening to the West.
    It sees what has happened throughout Western European, in France – Belgium – Holland – Sweden – Norway – Denmark – the USA and Britain. And now the million Muslims who have stormed into Germany dragging their economy down to its knees that is predicted to send the country spiralling into bankruptcy.
    The Chinese Government will not tolerate Islam or their hideous Sharia law.
    China has decided to eradicate the plague before it can gain a strong foot-hold and turn their country into another Western Europe.

    Unlike inept USA government, with it’s Muslim sympathizers – the foremost being our current totally failed President Obama and his administration -China understands the violent reality behind Islam and is prepared to stamp it out even if it means deporting every single Muslim.

    Communism is a horrible form of government, but it also unshackles China from tolerating the idiotic delusions of those who continue to preach that Islam is a “religion of Peace.” There is nothing about peace written in the Koran it is all based on hatred and killings simply because Mohammed was a mass murderer and a rapist of women and children.

    Britain/Canada and Australia should take heed before Islam becomes too overpopulated because that is their objective.
    If Britain doesn’t get tough on their Muslims and begin a huge deportation program including the thousands of violent Muslim prison inmates imprisoned at the taxpayers expense for committing hideous crimes, it is has been predicted by the experts that the British public can expect to have a Muslim Prime Minister in place by the year 2050.

    Britain desperately needs another courageous Winston Churchill as their
    Prime Minister to lead them out of their political wilderness. The current and previous Prime Ministers have all proved to be cowards.
    Be strong before Islam before Sharia law takes over your Christian countries,
    march on your Parliament House in the thousands and demand your rights
    before it’s too late, think about your children and grand children’s future.

    • I didn’t see this on the news above, but it’s good news.
      The Japanese, likewise; it would seem the orientals have indeed a higher I.Q. than the rest of us! (or at least higher than our leaders)

    • ‘ Britain desperately needs another courageous Winston Churchill … ‘

      Ain’t gonna happen. Churchill was a product of another age, one which had confidence in itself.

      • It looks like we are going to get Theresa May instead, the totally inept and ineffectual Home Secretary who has presided over the greatest surge of migration into the UK in our history.
        We also are likely to get Angela Eagle as the opposition Labour Leader too.
        The feminazis will vote for these two because they are women and not on their actual policies.
        Scotland has a clean sweep of women leaders, SNP, Labour and Tory.
        I am not surprised by this, as this generation of men has become soft, effeminate with very little back bone.
        On the centenary of the Battle of the Somme could you imagine, god forbid if there was a repeat today, we would be marching under a rainbow banner with placards instead of rifles and totally be bemused why people were actually shooting at us. Instead of a battle plan there would be a committee forming a sub committee to complain about “Officer privilege” and why we had run short of vegan ration packs and was the meat actually halal.

    • I don’t know where you are getting your information from, but it is definitely not all correct. I know because I lived in China for a while, in an area with a relatively high proportion of Muslims. China has a total Muslim population of over 20 million, including about 10.5 million Hui (Muslims whose first language is Chinese), and about 6 million Uighurs, 1 million Kazakhs, and 100,000 Kirghiz (all of whom are peoples that speak Turkic languages). There are mosques, and Hallal restaurants and foods. I never saw any hallal restaurants with signs offering pork, on request or otherwise (I can read Chinese). The Chinese government is not above censoring criticism of Islam, for fear of riots or other disturbances, though it also can be heavy handed with the Muslims, particularly those who support separatist movements, and no doubt keeps a close eye on the mosques, as it does with other religious institutions of all kinds.

  2. China may be totalitarion, but they are not going to commit suicide for muslims.

  3. While I overall have a very low opinion of Georgy Soros, he is right this time. Angela has a lot to answer for, but I doubt anyone will stand up and demand it. Germany is lost for now. . .

  4. The political class in Sweden IMHO is clueless,spineless, feckless and ba##es. Instead of handing out ‘armbands’ they should be giving the Swedish women batons or clubs for instant lessons in proper behavior.

    • Right. This news item was amazing in its vapidity: a wrist-band is going to stop demented Islamic “youths” from raping young women with their fingers and possibly other parts of their anatomy?

      What a useless gesture. Batons, clubs, pepper spray, or even (dare I say it with regard to Sweden?) personal firearms would convey a much clearer–and more effective–message. Firearms would have the additional advantage of…ah…discouraging (i.e., removing) repeat offenders.

      • I agree the threat or the application of a ‘lead shower’ has an amazing effect on criminal vermin.

Comments are closed.