Gates of Vienna News Feed 7/21/2016

A man named Peter Zhurawel drove a burning car into the security barrier at the entrance to a parking garage under a police station in Sydney. Mr. Zhurawel, a Czech national, was severely burned, but no one else was injured. The gas bottles he carried in the car failed to explode. Police have raided his house and carried away various materials. The motive for the attack remains unknown, but Mr. Zhurawel is alleged to have had mental health problems.

In other news, police in Brazil arrested ten people who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and reportedly planned a terror attack during the upcoming Olympics.

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

Thanks to AF, C. Cantoni, Dean, DV, Fjordman, Insubria, Joseph Patrick, MM, Reader from Chicago, RL, Seneca III, Steen, 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
» 60% Say Race Relations Have Gotten Worse Since Obama’s Election
» ‘Device Toss’ Suspect Collared After Columbus Circle Standoff
» Exclusive — Twitter Executives Refuse to Answer Whether They Believe in Freedom of Speech
» Hispanic Business Group Endorses Clinton
» Milo Yiannopoulos Says His ‘Ghostbusters’-Related Twitter Ban is ‘The Most Gigantic Possible Gift’
» Mystery Surrounds Sources of Many Bill Clinton Speaking Fees
» NY Police: 81-Year-Old Marine Corps Veteran Held Hostage for 4 Years
» Roger Ailes Resigns as Fox News Chairman, Rupert Murdoch Assumes Acting Role
» Trump Calls Cruz Non-Endorsement ‘No Big Deal, ‘ Senator Defends Decision
» Woman Chases Pokemon Into Tree, Needs to be Rescued: Police
 
Europe and the EU
» A Third Killed in Nice Attack Were All Muslim
» France: ‘Counter-Terror Raids’ Carried Out Near Paris
» French Right Rises, Hollande Flails After Nice Attack
» Germany: Lufthansa Cuts Profit Targets After ‘Repeated Terror Attacks’
» Italy Woos Chinese to Help Restore Crumbling Treasures
» Nice Attack: Prosecutor Says Suspect Had Accomplices
» Norway is the Best at Doing What the EU Says
» Terror Threat in Europe Will Only Increase
» UK: RAF Marham: Serviceman Threatened With Knife Treated as Abduction
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» A Deadly EU Blind Spot on Israel
 
Middle East
» Turkey Attempted Coup: EU Says Measures ‘Unacceptable’
» Turkish Lawmakers Give Erdogan Sweeping New Powers After Failed Coup
 
South Asia
» Nepal: Kathmandu: Eight Christians on Trial for Proselytising, i.e. Handing Out Copies of the Bible
 
Australia — Pacific
» Merrylands Police Station: Car Filled With Gas Cylinders Rams Building
» Merrylands Police Station Attack: Police Raid Home of Man Who Drove Burning Car Into Security Door
» Terror Attack on Sydney Police Station After a Man Drives a Car Packed With Gas Bottles Into the Building Before Setting Himself on Fire
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Zimbabwe War Veterans End Backing for Robert Mugabe
 
Latin America
» Brazil Police Arrest at Least 10 in Possible ISIS-Linked Rio Olympics Attack Plot
» Guatemala Security: ‘Those Who Can Afford it Buy Protection’
» Luis Fleischman: From AMIA to Nice: A War We Still Fail to Agree to Fight
 
Immigration
» EU, Jordan Agree Historic Trade Agreement to Help Refugees
 
Culture Wars
» How a Generation Lost Its Common Culture
» Law Schools Worry Bar-Passage Standard Will Undermine Diversity
» Milo at Gays for Trump: ‘We’re at War’
» ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ Director: ‘We Wanted to Diversify the Cast’
» Why is FBI Even Less Diverse Than 20 Years Ago? Director Doesn’t Know
 

60% Say Race Relations Have Gotten Worse Since Obama’s Election

As the nation reels from angry protests and deadly violence against police officers, voters are more pessimistic than ever about the state of race relations in this country since the election of its first black president.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 60% of Likely U.S. Voters think race relations are worse since President Obama’s election nearly eight years ago. That’s an 18-point jump from 42% in late 2014 and up from 43% when we first asked the question in August 2013. Just nine percent (9%) believe race relations are better now, little changed from the previous survey, while 28% say they have stayed about the same.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

‘Device Toss’ Suspect Collared After Columbus Circle Standoff

A nearly six-hour standoff in Columbus Circle ended Thursday morning when an unhinged man wearing a red helmet and suspected of tossing a hoax bomb into a police vehicle was taken into custody without incident.

The man, identified by police as Hector Meneses of Queens, was taken into custody at around 8 a.m. after cops were forced to pepper spray him, cops said.

“It appears he is suicidal,” said one police source. “But he has no prior [psychological] history — no criminal history found either.”

Hours earlier, police said Meneses, 52, flung what appeared to be a crudely made contraption into the police car at Duffy Square in Times Square about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday.

An officer and a sergeant moved the vehicle to 46th Street and Sixth Avenue, where they placed the device -— which appeared to be a flashlight wrapped and candle wrapped in tin foil — on the sidewalk, away from pedestrians, sources said…

           — Hat tip: MM [Return to headlines]
 

Exclusive — Twitter Executives Refuse to Answer Whether They Believe in Freedom of Speech

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Two executives from Twitter, the social media giant, refused to answer over and over again for more than eight minutes whether the company believes in the basic American principle of freedom of speech.

After Breitbart Tech editor Milo Yiannopoulos—who was banned for life by Twitter—confronted the executives, I followed the two around and asked them repeatedly to answer the question: yes or no, does the company believe in freedom of speech?

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

Hispanic Business Group Endorses Clinton

The U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce announced its support for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Wednesday in its first-ever presidential endorsement.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Milo Yiannopoulos Says His ‘Ghostbusters’-Related Twitter Ban is ‘The Most Gigantic Possible Gift’

Conservative lightning rod Milo Yiannopoulos was in high spirits late Tuesday night just hours after he learned that he had been permanently banned from Twitter.

“Are you kidding? This is the most gigantic possible gift!” the Breitbart News senior editor said by phone from Cleveland, where he was attending the Republican National Convention. He contended that his ban was politically motivated and represents a threat to free speech.

Twitter gave Yiannopoulos the boot on Tuesday following critical comments he made to actress Leslie Jones, one of the stars of the new “Ghostbusters” movie. He has been critical of the Sony release — which is a female-centric remake of the 1984 comedy — and was one of many who sent Jones, who is a black woman, negative tweets.

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

Mystery Surrounds Sources of Many Bill Clinton Speaking Fees

By all accounts, it was the most popular gala the Lady Taverners had ever held. Over 1,000 people packed the Park Lane Hilton in London on Oct. 30, 2009, with the crowd overflowing into the hallways, to listen to President Bill Clinton speak on the power of giving.

While Clinton’s speech helped raise a substantial sum for the prominent cricket charity, his staggering $290,000 speaking fee was not covered by the group, according to organizers. The fee also was not covered by “World Management Limited,” the marketing company Hillary Clinton listed as the payment source in her federal financial filings.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

NY Police: 81-Year-Old Marine Corps Veteran Held Hostage for 4 Years

HIGHLANDS, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) — A New York man is accused of holding an 81-year-old Marine Corps veteran hostage in an upstate motel next door to a police station for at least four years in order to steal his benefits checks.

Perry Coniglio was arrested July 19 in his room adjoining the victim’s at the U.S. Academy Motel in Highlands, just feet away from a building housing police and ambulance services in the Hudson Valley town. The charges against Coniglio include grand larceny and unlawful imprisonment.

Police say he used brute force and intimidation to get veteran David McClellan to cooperate with him. Investigators say the victim received three checks every month. The amounts weren’t released…

           — Hat tip: DV [Return to headlines]
 

Roger Ailes Resigns as Fox News Chairman, Rupert Murdoch Assumes Acting Role

Roger Ailes resigned Thursday as chairman of Fox News, Fox Business and Fox television stations, effective immediately, in the wake of a sexual harassment lawsuit that led to days of negotiations about his departure.

Rupert Murdoch, executive chairman of parent company 21st Century Fox, who hired Ailes to launch Fox News two decades ago, said in a company statement that he would take over as chairman and acting CEO of Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Trump Calls Cruz Non-Endorsement ‘No Big Deal, ‘ Senator Defends Decision

Donald Trump mostly brushed off the furor over Ted Cruz’s non-endorsement speech Wednesday night, calling the snub “no big deal” even as the senator himself doubled down — though the Republican standard-bearer used the dispute to warn voters that if Democrats win in November, their justices “will destroy us all.”

Trump blasted out a pair of tweets responding to the Cruz speech backlash.

Cruz, meanwhile, defended his remarks Thursday morning at a breakfast with Texas delegates, during which he was pushed to admit he still held a grudge against Trump for “maligning” his wife and father.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Woman Chases Pokemon Into Tree, Needs to be Rescued: Police

Fire and rescue services had to use an extension ladder to rescue her Tuesday night.

Playing PokemonGo has been praised by some for getting children to go outside and exercise rather than spending the summer indoors watching TV.

It has also elicited warnings about trespassing on other people’s property, causing accidents by driving or walking while looking at the screen, and reports that people have used the app to lure people into secluded areas and rob them.

Add another warning to that list: please stay out of trees.

Firefighters in Gloucester County were dispatched to Eglington Cemetery in East Greenwich Township on Tuesday night after receiving a report of a woman who got stuck in a tree while chasing a Pokemon. A rescue team used an extension ladder to rescue her.

The app combines cartoon action with local landmarks, and has users wandering around outside looking for places to catch monsters…

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

A Third Killed in Nice Attack Were All Muslim

With burials underway for many of those killed the prosecutors office has said that all 84 people killed in the Nice attack had been formally identified meaning that the number of Muslim fatalities may be even higher.

Out of the 84 victims who died in the Nice attacks on France’s Bastille Day, at least 30 were Muslims, figures based on the types of funerals required by relatives released by local Nice authorities revealed Tuesday.

The Muslim victims came from or had roots in many different countries including Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, according to Otmane Aissaoui, head of a Nice mosque and president of the Union of Muslims of Alpes-Maritimes…

           — Hat tip: Steen [Return to headlines]
 

France: ‘Counter-Terror Raids’ Carried Out Near Paris

Counter-terror raids were carried out on Thursday afternoon in a suburb to the north west of Paris.

Thursday’s operation comes as France remains on high alert for terrorism attacks, following last Thursday’s truck rampage in Nice that left 84 dead.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

French Right Rises, Hollande Flails After Nice Attack

Grieving together? Forget it. Unlike past violence in France, the Bastille Day attack on Nice didn’t inspire political solidarity — instead it sharpened the anger of government critics, fortified the hard right and made it even less plausible that Socialist President Francois Hollande will win re-election next year.

The attack is stirring up fear of immigrants, Muslims and today’s world order, echoing the anxieties that are driving many voters in the U.S. and Britain, and threatening to dig a deep and potentially explosive social divide.

“The wall of national unity is totally collapsed. French society is stripped naked, with no guide. There’s a risk of hardening of society,” said Emmanuel Riviere of the TNS-Sofres polling agency.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: Lufthansa Cuts Profit Targets After ‘Repeated Terror Attacks’

“Advance bookings, especially on long-haul routes to Europe, have declined significantly, in particular due to repeated terrorist attacks in Europe and to greater political and economic uncertainty,” the group said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italy Woos Chinese to Help Restore Crumbling Treasures

Italy is looking to Chinese investors to secure the future of many of its crumbling archaeological sites.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Nice Attack: Prosecutor Says Suspect Had Accomplices

Nice truck attacker Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel received logistical support for his Bastille Day attack from five suspects who are now in custody, French prosecutor Francois Molins has said.

Mr Molins told a news conference the crime had been planned for months.

He said one of the suspects had filmed the scene of the attack the day after.

All five are facing preliminary terrorism charges for their alleged roles in helping Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a Tunisian living in Nice.

The four men and one woman aged between 22 and 40 are due to appear in court shortly.

They include an Albanian couple suspected of providing Lahouaiej-Bouhlel with a pistol.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Norway is the Best at Doing What the EU Says

Of all the 31 countries in the EU and the European Economic Area (EEA), Norway is the only country that has adopted all EU directives before their deadline, according to the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA).

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Terror Threat in Europe Will Only Increase

The European Union’s police agency Europol warns that attacks from Islamic State are only beginning, saying that the terror group will increase activity as more fighters return from Syria.

This year’s analysis by the European Union’s (EU) police agency Europol is clear in its warning that terror attacks from Islamic State are only beginning in Europe.

Europol states that the Islamist threat is growing in Europe because of the return of many of the Europeans who have gone off to Syria and Iraq to fight for Islamic State. Many of these 5,000 radicalised fighters are returning to Europe with combat skills and real military experience that could translate into further acts of terror, reports Die Welt.

Europol notes in the report that the tactics of Islamic State have diversified from large scale attacks like Paris and Nice, to smaller lone wolf style attacks such as the recent axe attack on a German train.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: RAF Marham: Serviceman Threatened With Knife Treated as Abduction

Soldiers are patrolling the exterior of RAF Marham following the abduction attempt

A serviceman who was threatened with a knife near an RAF base was the victim of an attempted abduction, police said.

Officers said he was approached by two men as he was out jogging near RAF Marham in Norfolk on Wednesday.

He was threatened with a knife and attempts were made to grab him but the victim, who was not in uniform, fought them off and escaped unharmed.

Norfolk Police said it was “unable to discount terrorism” as a motive…

           — Hat tip: Seneca III [Return to headlines]
 

A Deadly EU Blind Spot on Israel

By Evelyn Gordon

Following last week’s terror attack in Nice, a Belgian Jewish organization issued a highly unusual statement charging that, had European media not spent months “ignoring” Palestinian terror against Israel out of “political correctness,” the idea of a truck being used as a weapon wouldn’t have come as such a shock.

But it now turns out that European officials did something much worse than merely ignoring Palestinian attacks: They issued a 39-page report, signed by almost every EU country, blaming these attacks on “the occupation” rather than the terrorists.

The obvious corollary was that European countries had no reason to fear similar attacks and, therefore, they didn’t bother taking precautions that could have greatly reduced the casualties…

           — Hat tip: RL [Return to headlines]
 

Turkey Attempted Coup: EU Says Measures ‘Unacceptable’

The European Union says Turkey’s measures against the education system, the judiciary and the media following the failed coup are “unacceptable”.

In a statement, High Representative Federica Mogherini and Commissioner Johannes Hahn said they were “concerned” by Turkey’s decision to declare a state of emergency.

The move gives Turkey’s leaders “far reaching powers to govern by decree”.

Thousands of people have been sacked or arrested following the failed coup.

The two top EU officials urged President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to respect the rule of law, rights and freedoms.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Turkish Lawmakers Give Erdogan Sweeping New Powers After Failed Coup

Turkish lawmakers declared a three-month state of emergency Thursday, overwhelmingly approving President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s request for sweeping new powers to expand a government crackdown after last week’s attempt military coup.

Parliament voted 346-115 to approve the national state of emergency, which will give Erdogan the authority to extend detention times for suspects and issue decrees that have the force of law without parliamentary approval, among other powers.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Nepal: Kathmandu: Eight Christians on Trial for Proselytising, i.e. Handing Out Copies of the Bible

Local sources complain that the authorities are carrying out a crackdown against the local Christian community. This is the first trial related to religious freedom since the country’s secular Constitution came into effect in 2015. The defendants are out on bail. Trial set to start on 23 July.

Kathmandu (AsiaNews/Agencies) — Nepal’s first religious freedom case since the country’s new Constitution came into effect last September is due to come to trial on Saturday.

Eight Christians, seven lay people and their pastor from a Protestant community, are on trial for handing out copies of the Bible at a Christian school whilst helping children through the trauma of last year’s earthquake.

According to the new constitution of the Himalayan state, every act geared towards evangelisation is considered proselytising and can be prosecuted under the law.

The defendants were arrested on 9 June, when police stopped them as they handed religious materials to children at a Christian school in Dolakha, in Nepal’s northern district, one of the hardest hit in the quake.

They allegedly violate Article 26 paragraph 3 of the Constitution, which bans acts “contrary to public health, decency and morality, or behave or act or make others act to disturb public law and order situation, or convert a person of one religion to another religion”.

The seven men and one woman have denied the charges. They said that they handed out the sacred text in the mixed school, which is open to pupils of different beliefs, “only to Christian students” who “had made the request” earlier.

Barnabas Shrestha, president of Teach Nepal, said that police tried to extort a confession as they arrested the eight Christians. He denied that the eight had preached the Gospel for the purpose of proselytising.

Meanwhile, local sources confirm that freedom of worship for Christians in Nepal is increasingly under attack.

Last week the government announced new, heavy fees for Christian-run schools and orphanages in Kathmandu. The authorities also said that they might close them down and seize them if they found Christian books and materials.

The law bans communal prayer with children and the latter’s participation in groups that listen to biblical readings and engage in biblical reflection.

Increasingly, Christian associations and NGOs have seen their freedom of movement curtailed.

Under Nepal’s new constitution, all forms of evangelisation are deemed proselytising and illegal.

The government crackdown seems to be due to Hindu nationalists who still resent the decision of the constituent assembly to make Nepal a secular state.

The eight defendants are currently out on bail, awaiting trial on 23 July.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Merrylands Police Station: Car Filled With Gas Cylinders Rams Building

A MAN is in custody after he set himself on fire and drove his flaming vehicle into Merrylands police station’s underground carpark.

No officers were injured in the car-bomb attack when the man rammed the vehicle into the carpark about 7pm.

The man — aged in his 60s and with a history of mental illness — was arrested about 8pm.

He was taken to Westmead Hospital with burns and is a serious condition.

It is understood he is well-known to police, but has no known links to terror groups.

It is believed the car was filled with gas bottles that did not detonate.

Assistant Commissioner Denis Clifford said although they do not believe he has any links to terror groups, they are “keeping an open mind” throughout the investigation.

“Initial inquiries suggest there are no links to any groups,” he said…

           — Hat tip: Dean [Return to headlines]
 

Merrylands Police Station Attack: Police Raid Home of Man Who Drove Burning Car Into Security Door

Police are searching the home of a western Sydney man who set his car alight and rammed it into the car park of Merrylands Police station in what the Police Commissioner has described as a “drama-laden” incident.

Officers are currently raiding the Greystanes home of 61-year-old Peter Zhurawel and have removed a number of items for examination.

Court documents revealed Mr Zhurawel was due to appear in Fairfield Local Court this morning on an apprehended violence order involving a male relative.

Mr Zhurawel, a Czech national, suffered serious burns and was taken to Royal North Shore hospital after the incident on Thursday night.

He was parked outside Merrylands Police Station when, just after 7:00pm, he set the car alight and drove into the car park’s security door.

A number of police officers smashed the windows to get Mr Zhurawel from the car, and he remains in a serious but stable condition.

Police ruled out any link to terrorism, but said the man was known to them and had serious mental health issues.

It is believed the car was ignited by an accelerant, and the bomb disposal unit found two gas cylinders in the car.

Assistant Police Commissioner Denis Clifford said his motivations were still unknown…

           — Hat tip: Joseph Patrick [Return to headlines]
 

Terror Attack on Sydney Police Station After a Man Drives a Car Packed With Gas Bottles Into the Building Before Setting Himself on Fire

A man has driven a car filled with petrol bottles into a Sydney police station carpark on Thursday night in an attempted terror attack.

The man, who is said to be in his 60s and of Caucasian appearance, set himself on fire but the gas bottles did not explode after he rammed the vehicle into the underground carpark of Merrylands police station in western Sydney.

He is said to have initially tried to drive into the front of the police station, and claimed he had a bomb.

The station had been recently fortified after receiving threats including letters threatening attacks on ‘non-Muslims’ and pictures of severed heads…

           — Hat tip: Dean [Return to headlines]
 

Zimbabwe War Veterans End Backing for Robert Mugabe

Zimbabwe’s war veterans association, which has played a key and sometimes violent role in supporting President Robert Mugabe, has released a statement withdrawing its backing for him.

It accuses Mr Mugabe of dictatorial tendencies, egocentrism and misrule.

It was not immediately clear if all of the war veterans agreed with the text.

Pressure on Mr Mugabe, 92, is growing, with factions in the governing Zanu-PF party openly fighting to succeed him and protests about the failing economy.

But he has said he plans to run for president again in 2018 and rule until he dies.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Brazil Police Arrest at Least 10 in Possible ISIS-Linked Rio Olympics Attack Plot

Brazilian police arrested 10 people who allegedly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group on social media and discussed possible attacks during the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, officials said Thursday.

Justice Minister Alexandre de Moraes said in the capital, Brasilia, that 10 suspects had been detained and two more were being sought. All are Brazilian, and one is a minor. The gender of the people was not given.

Police acted because the group discussed using weapons and guerrilla tactics to potentially launch an attack during the Olympics, which begin Aug. 5, Moraes said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Guatemala Security: ‘Those Who Can Afford it Buy Protection’

With an average of 13 murders per day across the country last year, Guatemala is one of the most dangerous nations in the world, outside of a warzone.

Bedevilled by drug gangs, grinding poverty and an abundance of guns, violent crime rates are sky high.

In the capital, no suburb “including the upscale shopping, tourist and residential areas” are “immune to daytime assaults”, warns the US State Department.

Under such circumstances it is perhaps no surprise that the country’s private security sector is booming.

“The demand is always increasing,” says Alredo Rosenberg, a manager at one such security firm, Sedicop. “Unfortunately this comes from the problem of insecurity that we all experience as Guatemalans.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Luis Fleischman: From AMIA to Nice: A War We Still Fail to Agree to Fight

On July 18, it will be 22 years since a suicide bomber destroyed the headquarters of the Argentinean Jewish community in Buenos Aires (AMIA), killing 85 people and wounding hundreds. Two years earlier, the Israeli Embassy in the same city was destroyed.

In none of the cases has anybody been punished. Based on the findings the late Argentinean prosecutor, Alberto Nisman, Hezbollah along with its’ Iranian proxy were responsible for the attack. A day before he was to reveal his findings to the Argentinean Congress he was found dead with a bullet to his head.

We have spoken a lot about the corruption involving the case and the complicity of the Argentinean government in covering it up. Argentina even tried to involve Iran in the investigation alleging that would help resolve the case. To the contrary, the government only tried to normalize relations with Iran, considering the country to be a symbol of resistance against U.S. hegemony.

From another angle, I would say that the attack on AMIA was the precursor of the 9/11 attacks in 2001 in the heart of the United States as well as terrorist attacks that are taking place nowadays in Western Europe, Turkey, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and possibly future terrorist attacks that will take place elsewhere in the world.

To be sure suicide bombings have been taking place in the Middle East since the Iran/Iraq war. This type of warfare was introduced by Iran during that war and then applied in Lebanon against the Israelis, American marines and French peacekeepers by its proxy Hezbollah. Hezbollah began to carry out these attacks since the early 1980’s and quickly became a role model for other terrorist groups. Hamas has been using suicide bombers against Israel since 1989…

[Return to headlines]
 

EU, Jordan Agree Historic Trade Agreement to Help Refugees

Relaxed rule of origin to boost local industry, employ Syrians

AMMAN — Jordan has become the first country in the Middle East to reach an agreement with the EU to ease rule of origin that would allow the kingdom easy access to the European market, officials said today.

The agreement was signed between Jordan top officials and EU delegates after months of tough negotiations. Jordan would be granted 10 years to export its local products to Europe on the base that at least %70 of production inputs are made in Jordan.

The move comes against the backdrop of worsening economic situation in the kingdom in light of an influx of Syrian refugees and rising level of unemployment in the kingdom.

The deal will open the EU markets to struggling industries across Jordan, but officials concede there is a long way to go before the deal brings tangible profits. Foreign investment is expected to be attracted to the prospect of having an easy access to the EU market, but concern is already rising that an abuse of working conditions would take place in local factories.

One of the stipulations of the deal include a provision whereby at least 15 percent of manpower in factories exporting to the EU must be Syrian refugees, a move aimed at improving situation of asylum seekers and easing pressure on the local market. The target is to employ at least 200,000 Syrians in the concerned industries, according to Jordan minister of planning and international cooperation Emad Fakhouri.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

How a Generation Lost Its Common Culture

By Patrick Deneen

My students are know-nothings. They are exceedingly nice, pleasant, trustworthy, mostly honest, well-intentioned, and utterly decent. But their brains are largely empty, devoid of any substantial knowledge that might be the fruits of an education in an inheritance and a gift of a previous generation. They are the culmination of western civilization, a civilization that has forgotten nearly everything about itself, and as a result, has achieved near-perfect indifference to its own culture.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Law Schools Worry Bar-Passage Standard Will Undermine Diversity

The American Bar Association is considering a new bar-passage standard that some law school deans believe contradicts an existing clause on diversity and inclusion.

The Deans of several historically black law schools say the 75 percent bar passage standard threatens their very existence because “minority law graduates…tend to have a lower bar passage rate than their white counterparts.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Milo at Gays for Trump: ‘We’re at War’

Talking at the “Gays for Trump” event last night during the Republican National Convention, told the audience that “there is a war on” that they will not hear about from the mainstream media.

Echoing the famous quote of Andrew Breitbart, Milo added that he “understood instinctively that politics was downstream from culture,” and that “by the time you were talking about policy and free trade you’d already lost the war.”

Wearing a bullet proof vest, he explained that the institutions that drive politics and culture, such as the entertainment industry, “have been completely occupied by the political left.”

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

‘Thor: Ragnarok’ Director: ‘We Wanted to Diversify the Cast’

Right from the start we wanted to diversify the cast, and it’s hard when you’re working with Vikings. [Laughs.] You want to be more inclusive and provide a broader representation. And at that point, you have to look at the source material as a very loose inspiration. And then take it from there and go with your gut. Say, “You know what? None of that stuff matters. Just because the character was blonde and white in the comic book. That doesn’t matter. That’s not what [that character] is about.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Why is FBI Even Less Diverse Than 20 Years Ago? Director Doesn’t Know

With nearly 85 percent of agents being white, FBI Director James Comey calls for more diversity, but once again gives no reason — or solution — for why the bureau is becoming increasingly more white.

During a speech on Wednesday, FBI Director James Comey called a decrease in diversity a “crisis” during a time when racial issues are at the forefront.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

21 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 7/21/2016

        • And perhaps Ukrainian, too.
          The transliteration is weird though; the proper one (Russian to English) would be Zhuravel, and there indeed were several Zhuravels living in Czechia, probably a part of an Ukrainian season-worker-slash-immigrant wave of the last 25 years; here they are: http://www.kdejsme.cz/prijmeni/Zhuravel/hustota/2011. If they were naturalized before the 1990s, they’d probably write themselves Žuravl (which, by the way, means “Crane”). So I’d wager a guess that Mr. Zhurawel’s ancestors came through a German-speaking community at one point (with their v=f, he’d have to write proper v as w to be pronounced correctly).

          Either way, beats me how’d he ever get a Czech nationality without getting recorded in Czechia name statistics. One can’t get a nationality without a residence, and if he resided in Czechia long enough to get the nationality, he’d be in the records.

          Sorry for wasting so much data on such a marginal matter. It’s sort of a hobby for me. 🙂

          • This isn’t a waste. It’s the kind of useful detail that amateur linguists like me enjoy reading.

          • Interesting. In that case, it would be pronounced
            z-hoor-ah-vel and not zhoo-rah-vel.

  1. “Police have raided his house and carried away various materials. The motive for the attack remains unknown, but Mr. Zhurawel is alleged to have had mental health problems.”

    I am only asking but was he a solitary individual who impulsively (and thus very rapidly) decided to act in this manner?

    I am only asking because I am baffled otherwise why he should behave so?

    I’ll keep refreshing the BBC homepage for updates.

  2. ** “minority law graduates…tend to have a lower bar passage rate than their white counterparts.” **

    Solution? Lower the standards to accommodate the lesser intellectual capacity of minorities. It’s not up to minorities to prove they are the intellectual equals of non-NAMs (in Todayspeak) but it’s up to non-NAMs to prove they are not racists.

    This kind of thinking is called “progressivism” – because it leads to “progress.”

    A school system in Atlanta resorted to falsification of test scores but even progressives couldn’t bring themselves to try to defend this practice and criminal prosecutions ensued. Red faces all around.

  3. “Out of the 84 victims who died in the Nice attacks on France’s Bastille Day, at least 30 were Muslims, figures based on the types of funerals required by relatives released by local Nice authorities revealed Tuesday.”

    It matters little that 30 or so were Muslim. Muslims kill Muslims in Muslim countries every day around the world. What matters is a Muslim killed 54 non-Muslims in France, a non-Muslim country.

    • Further, is it reasonable to extrapolate that greater than 30% of Nice, or even southern France, is now Arab origin or muslim?

  4. I read the whole article by Patrick Deneen. It was very sad and somewhat disturbing because even though I am old, I would still like a bright future for America for my chidren and grandchildren. If standards in school keep being lowered for some stupid PC reason, then nobody gets a decent education whether they are bright or dim. Nobody will come out of school knowing the things that well-educated people are supposed to know.
    And no, I don’t know all the things Deneen mentioned but I at least know of them and have read many of the books he mentioned, just not all of them. I don’t know who said it, but somebody did: reading is the key to knowledge. (it doesn’t help much in calculus, which takes a different kind of brain — but I squeaked through).
    And as long as I’m being loquacious today, I’d like to thank my husband for putting me through college! What a guy, eh?

    • May I suggest you subscribe to Gatestone, Mariadee? They’re not impartial (who is?), but they’re very informative on the effect of large numbers of “refugees”/immigrants on European countries, especially Sweden.

      That country has dropped several places in the international league tables for educational attainment, due to the lower aptitude of the incomers. When I point out to fellow-leftists that this is unsustainable, as it is literally killing the goose that laid the golden eggs (which pay for benefits for immigrants, as well as natives) in the first place, they don’t want to know.

  5. Muslims amongst victims is a very important point in apologists’ propaganda. It means that the attacker was “not a true muslim”, the attack “has nothing to do with islam”, ant it is an attack “on all of us”. It also allows to immediately draw a picture of poor muslims who are “real victims” of the attack because of “rising islamophobia”.
    If you look for it, the “muslims amongst victims” narrative was used after all major islamic attacks of last years. After Nice it was one of the first things brought up by MSM.
    You may also notice that every time along with reporting on the attack itself there is a parallel “xenophobia” narrative going on. Tear-jerking stories of “growing racism” in Europe accompanied by pictures of headscarfed girls with sad eyes. BBC brings a woman wrapped in rags who tells a heartbreaking story of how one man looked at her disapprovingly when she went shopping in her full veil. “I never experienced such a xenophobic outburst of hate in my life” concludes a woman whose religion calls for murdering of gays.

    • Haram-

      The narratives you mention are all part of the ongoing media jihad that has turned the West’s tolerance into a huge Achilles heel.

      Sadly, most of the left fall for these tactics hook, line, and sinker.

    • At the Charlie Hebdo terror attack in Paris, they put forward a muslim policeman who died in the attack, making him some sort of a hero above the other victims.

      At the Utøya massacre, attending at a muslim’s funeral, a Turk minister came to attend, in Norway.

      “Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is visiting Norway next week to show his solidarity, saying he commends the country’s response to the tragedy.”

      So, the “Norwegian” victim muslim aspiring politician, wasn’t all that Norwegian, after all?

      At the Hyper Casher terror attack in Paris, a muslim from Mali was made a hero by the government honoring him with a French citizenship

      “Lassana Bathily has learned that France wants to give him citizenship.

      Citing Bathily’s “act of bravery,” Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve says France will expedite a citizenship application that Bathily filed last July. The minister will also head Bathily’s naturalization ceremony next Tuesday.”

      The above points have been lifted to top political levels, namely governmental.

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