Bud Light Elections in The Netherlands

After the fall of the Dutch cabinet and Mark Rutte’s retirement last month, The Netherlands will go to the polls in November to vote in a snap election. Our Dutch correspondent H. Numan has the grisly political details about what most likely lies ahead.

Bud Light elections in The Netherlands

by H. Numan

It’s official: on the 22nd of November the Dutch go to vote for a new government. It’ll be unique elections. Very unique elections, with no less than four major parties getting the Bud Light experience! It’s too soon to forecast anything more, especially when such a major change is in sight. So I’ll stick with what is certain to happen.

The breaker pays for the damage

In Dutch politics it’s customary that the party that caused the premature resignation of a cabinet pays for it. In the past the VVD conservatives were very capable of putting the blame on anyone but themselves and got away with it. Not this time. It’s not impossible that they may survive a major mauling and form part of a new coalition. But they will certainly have to pay for it this time. The only question is: how much?

1. The conservatives go down

Why is the VVD going down on the brown creek without paddles? The everlasting Dear Leader had to retire. He’s relatively young, so you can expect him to crawl from his political grave. But for now, he’s out of the running. Mark Rutte consistently removed anyone who could possibly replace him. Every crown prince or princess bit the dust. In big political parties there are more than enough nobodies and wannabes; they picked the minister of Justice Dilan Yesilgöz-Zegerius as their new leader.

Try saying that three times fast! Let’s call her mamma Ataturk, as she holds dual Turkish and Dutch nationality. As with most muslims, she prefers to be called by a Dutch-sounding name. She is the only noteworthy currently available and willing. Mamma Ataturk is going to campaign with the age-old lie: vote VVD mamma Ataturk for fewer muslim migrants. Doesn’t sound sincere, does it? What worked for Rutte won’t work for Ataturk. Looks like she is a volunteer sacrificial lamb. Or goat.

2. The Christian Democrats are history

Next on the list are the Christian Democrats. They abused and kicked out their very own Lazarus. The last elections (not that long ago) they got rid of the only man that easily could revive their pending doom. Not because Pieter Omtzigt had a different opinion, far from it. If anyone is toeing the party line, it’s him. But simply because they hated him. They ousted him not once, but twice. First by Fancy Shoes Hugo. Click the link. Yes, he really wears those shoes in public, even on formal occasions. He proved to be a disaster, and was quickly replaced by another nobody. That Mr. Nobody politely announced he won’t run. Who will replace him, no idea. The best the Christian Hypocrites can hope for is being halved in size. Anything more will require divine intervention.

3. D66 is getting a haircut

Make that a military haircut, marine style. D66 is a extremely woke party. As such, they are ready for the cleaners. Their leader was Sigrid Al-Qaq, who prefers to be called Sigrid Kaag. That’s better for votes. Openly stating she is a muslim convert would not be a wise move. D66 tried to kill two birds with one stone. Make her the first female as well as the first Dutch muslim prime minister. It failed. She had to settle for second best, as vice prime minister. Well, she left politics in a huff. The country doesn’t deserve her! For once, I agree.

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Thailand: Let the Games Begin!

The political situation in Thailand is really heating up since the recent election. H. Numan sends this report.

Thailand: Let the games begin!

by H. Numan

A couple of months ago, I reported we had elections. Those elections were the first free elections in years, and followed the normal pattern: the junta-backing parties lost by a landslide. The government-to-be will be fairly progressive. This is completely normal. First you have a military coup and a junta. The junta rewrites the constitution, so that a new government favorable to the junta will be elected. That was our last government. Eventually they have to release control; that’s when a progressive government is elected. That cabinet quickly loses popular support because of scandals and corruption. Turmoil rises, and the military has to step in to solve the situation. Rinse and repeat.

This time it’s a bit different. Prayuth Chan-ocha changed the rules of the game. He found a way to rule beyond the (political) grave: he appointed a number of generals as senators. Beholden to him and him alone. Without approval of those generals no prime minister can be elected. That’s exactly what is happening right now. With, in all likelihood, disastrous consequences.

There are more differences. Generals committing a coup usually cash in quickly (why else commit a coup?) and arrange for a friendly government that won’t prosecute them. Prayuth didn’t follow that pattern. He liked the raw power of being prime minister, so he stayed as long as he could. That didn’t sit well with the US government, who placed an arms embargo on Thailand. No problem, said Prayuth. We’ll buy Russian and Chinese. That’s why Thailand now has some Russian helicopters, Chinese submarines and Ukrainian tanks. Besides, those countries respect ancient traditions such as private retirement funds and don’t ask nasty questions about transparency or democracy.

Of course Prayuth wanted the good stuff, so he ‘retired’ from the army, together with his fellow junta members. After rewriting the constitution, he allowed elections and made sure the exact same junta cabinet was elected. Now as a civilian cabinet with the exact same ‘retired’ generals. Problem solved; the arms embargo was lifted.

This ‘civilian’ cabinet eventually had to resign. All cabinets have term limits in Thailand, something he couldn’t erase in his constitution. Again, no biggie. Prayuth simply made provisions for that in his new constitution. A prime minister is not directly chosen by the electorate, but in a joined session of parliament and the senate. Prayuth appointed a number of generals in the senate. Not a lot, but more than enough to do his bidding. Which they are doing right now.

That’s where we are in the game. The election results are in, and the winner is Move Forward with Pita Limjaroenrat. Quite unexpected; the runner up Pheu Thai Party was expected to win. Pheu Thai is the party owned by exiled Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Until this election, whenever a Shinawatra ran for office they won by a landslide. The parties decided immediately to work together, and Pheu Thai didn’t contest the election. They were biding their time content to work under Pita.

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Don’t Romanticize Volodomyr Zelensky

Karl-Olov Arnstberg is a Swedish writer, ethnologist, and retired university professor. His essays are posted at his blog, Invandring och mörkläggning. Below is today’s installment of his “Sunday Chronicle”. Many thanks to our Swedish correspondent LN for the translation:

Sunday chronicle: Don’t romanticize Volodomyr Zelensky!

July 16, 2023

Swedish Wikipedia has a long and excellent factual article on Zelensky. There you learn, among other things, that he was born in 1978 as the only child of Ashkenazi Jewish parents in the then “Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic”. His father is a university professor and computer engineer. His mother is also an engineer. For twenty years Zelensky has been married to his schoolmate Olena. They have two children whom he has not seen, for security reasons, since the Russian invasion began in February 2022. Zelensky has a law degree but has never worked as a lawyer, opting instead for a career as a comedian and actor. In 2003 he founded the production company Kvartal 95, which produces films, TV series and cartoons. From 2015 to 2019 he played the lead role of the President of Ukraine in his company’s TV series “Servant of the People”. In 2018 his colleagues formed a political party with the same name as the TV series. In 2019, he stood in the presidential elections. His two main political promises were to stop the civil war in the Donbass and to end corruption among the authorities and state administration.

Usually art imitates reality. In this case, it was the opposite: reality imitated art. To first make a television series for several years in which an ordinary school teacher becomes president of Ukraine and solves the nation’s major problems, not least corruption, and then immediately afterwards to run for president — that’s genius. Zelensky was rewarded with a landslide victory. He received over 73% of the vote.

Ritter’s video

A blog reader sent me a recent video of the former UN weapons inspector, US Marine Scott Ritter, reviewing Zelensky. I had just finished a first draft of this column and am rushing to watch the half-hour-long briefing, entitled “Agent Zelensky”.

His hypothesis is that the US is not only behind the 2014 May Day uprising, but also behind Zelensky becoming president. He is an American agent. If so, he is a rogue agent. At the time of writing, during the NATO summit in Vilnius, he has angered both Britain and the US by his lack of gratitude for the support he receives. It doesn’t get any better if former CIA agent Larry Johnson is right when he claims in an interview that Zelensky is a major consumer of cocaine.

On YouTube there are a large number of videos featuring Scott Ritter. My feelings about his ongoing reporting and commentary on the Ukraine war are mixed. He is undoubtedly knowledgeable. He also has considerable analytical skills. The problem is that he has openly sided with Russia, to the point where I sometimes wonder if he is on Putin’s payroll. Whether he is a Russian agent, to spin the same theme.

Ritter’s video about Zelensky disappoints me a bit. It is rather thin, and I already know most of it. Maybe the promised part 2 will be more comprehensive? The best part is the account of all Zelensky’s luxury homes, with a total value of about 50 million dollars — more than half a billion Swedish kronor. These include a villa in Miami, a luxurious summer house in Forte dei Marmi, Italy, and an apartment in London.

At the very beginning of his video, Scott Ritter asks the Russian-American film producer Igor Lopatonok to compare Zelensky as president to an airplane pilot: “Imagine getting into an airplane and discovering that the person flying the plane is not a pilot but an actor playing the role of a pilot. This is a rather poor comparison because becoming president of a country requires no special skills. The actor Ronald Reagan is considered one of the best US presidents. I also think Arnold Schwarzenegger did pretty well as Governor of California, as he was re-elected. Besides, the world is full of professional politicians running their countries into the ground. “Sleepy Joe” (Biden) is probably one of them. He has been a politician all his professional life.

The spring offensive

For those who have followed the war on the battlefield, it has long been clear that Ukraine cannot win, despite the massive support it receives from NATO, the US and Europe, including Sweden. The hope has been in the so-called spring offensive, where Zelensky promised a turnaround that would bring Ukraine to victory. It dragged on and on. Many wondered if there really would be a spring offensive. It finally started, albeit hesitantly, in early June. Zelensky felt compelled to give NATO, the US and the West a run for their money. Why would they send ammunition, tanks and other combat vehicles, replenish the war chest and train soldiers if there was no
counter-offensive?

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Mark Rutte Politically Passed Away

On Sunday H. Numan wrote about the resignation of the Dutch cabinet. Since then, departing Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced that he is retiring from politics, which prompted our Dutch correspondent to send this follow-up.

Mark Rutte politically passed away

by H. Numan

I wrote an article about the fall of the Dutch cabinet. When I wrote it, I thought it might be a trick on the part of Mark Rutte. Yes, he resigned. Slippery as he is, I expected him to go for a fifth cabinet. He hinted at the possibility a couple of days before his resignation. Nothing in our constitution forbids it. However, yesterday he announced he will not run, is retiring from politics. That, my friends, changes everything.

First of all, he has no successor. All previous possible successors never made it. You can fill a small political party with ‘likely successors of Rutte’. None of them is around today. Some disappeared because of their own mistakes, others because they were elevated but found too lightweight and most because rulers who want to be the longest ruler ever don’t like competition.

Not only did Mark Rutte announce he won’t run, but so did Wopke Hoekstra, the current leader of the Christian Democrats. That’s number two to pass into oblivion. Hoekstra is a nonentity; he was elected not on his capacities but for lack of anyone better. CDA has fifteen seats, but may consider themselves blessed by allah and its prophet if they keep ten of them.

A long time ago, Dutch politics used to be simpler. If you were conservative, you’d be voting VVD. If you were conservative and religious, that would be CDA. If you were young and moderately hip, D66 would be your choice. For common people the Labor party (PvdA) would be a nice fit and if you were mentally deranged and self destructive, there’s the Communist Party (CPN). Nice and easy. Americans tend to get dizzy by now, reading about so many parties. This is just a small preview… We have many more parties! One for every day of the month, with plenty of parties left over.

All of the above parties reached a zenith, and then spiraled and descended down to the left. The first one to implode was the Labor party PvdA. They found a new source of voters, those being muslim migrants. The core voters, blue collar workers, were quietly dumped to be replaced by muslims. At least, that is what party elites told one another at parties. What a brilliant idea! Marvelous! The other parties, left and right, followed the lead. Let’s create a new society, just as we desire it to be.

In real life it doesn’t work. Muslims do vote, but only for want of anything better and only if it benefits them directly. The same goes for all parties that currently look down upon and despise Dutch voters without a university degree. What do you do when you are no longer wanted? You go elsewhere. Not because you like it, but because you have to.

The Labor Party pretended to be the party that cared for the working classes. In reality, if you want a career in the PvdA you’d better be a scion from one of party elites or at least university-educated. The only other option was to be the minority of the day (first Surinamese, then Antillean and now Moroccan). The core voters of the PvdA moved away. In droves. Their biggest victory was 56 seats, at this moment the PvdA has… nine. Have they learned anything? Nothing whatsoever.

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Tariq Ramadan Gets His Day in Court (Again)

Long-time readers may remember that the noted Swiss philosopher Tariq Ramadan has already been tried for rape and acquitted. But that was in Switzerland, and now it’s the turn of France.

Many thanks to Gary Fouse for translating this article from Le Figaro:

Tariq Ramadan ordered to stand trial for rape of four women

July 7, 2023

The preacher will be tried by the criminal court of Paris for rapes committed between 2009 and 2016.

On Friday two investigating judges ordered a trial before the departmental criminal court of Paris for the Swiss preacher Tariq Ramadan, accused of the rapes of four women, a judicial source said, confirming sources close to the case.

Tariq Ramadan will be tried for the rapes allegedly committed between 2009 and 2016, according to the indictment order of which AFP has knowledge.

“A terrible admission of weakness”

A decision of a partial dismissal was also rendered concerning two plaintiffs. “Attempting to send a person to a trial court when a cassation court is charged with a nullification motion concerning a central point of the case is inadmissible,” reacted attorneys Philippe Ohayon, Ouadie Elhamamouchi, and Nabila Asmane, three of the lawyers for the Swiss (defendant) to AFP.

The defense (team) for Tariq Ramadan, indeed, filed an appeal in cassation after the validation of 11 May by the court of appeal of Paris of the capital psychiatric evaluations which it was contesting. “This umpteenth passage in force is a terrible admission of weakness,” they added. At the end of May, the speaker, who had also been accused by a woman in Switzerland in a matter dating back to 2008, was acquitted of the rape and sexual coercion accusation by a Geneva tribunal that ruled that there had been no proof against him.

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There Is No Middle Way in Jihad

The following video shows an excerpt from a report presented on Hungarian TV by a migration expert named Viktor Marsai.

Many thanks to László for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling.

This brief report cries out for explanatory context, and the translator has provided some for us in the form of an essay. But first, watch the video:

Now for László’s analysis:

There Is No Middle Way in Jihad

Interpretations of the 2023 intifada in France raise the question of whether right-wing PC is OK when it comes to Islam. Is partial truth worth anything when the media report about Jihad?

by László

The essay below started off as a brief description to accompany the video presented here on Gates of Vienna. It ended up almost as a novel — as I was trying to explain why I think a seemingly honest and outspoken Hungarian report on the 2023 “French riots” fails to tell the whole truth about Islam and Jihad. The piece of truth the expert in the report does tell us, though, prompted me to invent a new term that may describe Islam in Europe from a novel perspective: “free-floating Islam”.

The video from Hungarian state TV M1 has its own merits, particularly in that it correctly mentions that the “rioters” have been shouting “Allahu akhbar” and that that means “Allah is the greatest”. Which is a very positive development, by the way, because some years ago even the right-wing media in Hungary parroted the usual Western mainstream lie that it means “God is great”.

In actuality, “akhbar” is the elative, or combined comparative and superlative, form of “kabir” (great, big). So it may be more accurate to translate the Islamic battle cry as “Allah is greater” — as Robert Spencer recommends. It describes Islamic supremacism better — expressing the Islamic thought that ‘Allah is greater than your God and government’ etc. But it’s quite a thing that Hungarian state TV (!) says that it means “Allah is the greatest”, especially because the meaning of the Hungarian word M1 uses for it (“leghatalmasabb”) also means “most powerful”. And it is all about power, isn’t it?

On the other hand, I think Mr. Viktor Marsai’s analysis on M1 is a wishy-washy one, concerning both the causes and the effects of the events he elaborates on. He seems to fail to mention the root cause, for example, which is Islam. And he fails to explain why Muslims in France have targeted the institutions of the state in their attacks. They have done it because, in my opinion, they are waging war on the kafir power structures (in unison with some far-leftists.) Therefore framing the events in questions as “riots” is also misleading, because in fact it is Jihad. The difference is obviously huge — just like the potential political and human consequences of this lie.

Well, what if call it “intifada”, instead of “riots”? That would be much nearer to the truth.

On the plus side, Mr. Marsai explains the particular circumstances and personal traits of the Muslims that have been wreaking havoc: that they are mostly young, cut off / disengaged from the [kafir] society. That they do not go to school very often, and they do not really speak either the language of their countries of origin or French.

On the minus side, the expert in the report puts the cart before the horse if he means to imply that these circumstances are causes. Because the cause, again, is Islam, which prohibits the Muslims to integrate into the host society of the najis kafirun (dirty non-Muslims), and to hate that host society and diametrically oppose and dismantle that society at all levels. Daniel Greenfield (at the David Horowitz Freedom Center) posits that crime by Muslims against non-Muslims and Jihad are essentially inseparable. Therefore, I think, not mentioning the Islamic root cause in this case is a serious lie by omission.

With all that, Mr. Marsai’s accurate description of the “rioting” part of the Mohammedan parallel society in France led me to invent a new term: “free-floating Islam”.

In Europe a stratum of Islamic society has evolved that I call a “free-floating Muslim community”. These people, now in their tens of million in Eurabia, have no roots anywhere. Though born in Europe, they do not speak the language and know neither the culture of their Western host countries, nor that of their countries of origin any more. They belong nowhere — except to Islam. Therefore, in their lack of national Islamic root-cultures, they will be forced to return to the deepest roots of their Islamic identity: Jihad. Hence the Ummah will unite them all in Jihad more easily.

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What’s a Little Passport Forgery Between Friends?

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock may be easy on the eyes, but her policies and actions just keep getting uglier and uglier.

Many thanks to Hellequin GB for translating this article from eXXpress:

Baerbock has new problems: Public prosecutor investigates in Afghan thriller

Oops: Now the public prosecutor’s office is investigating the Foreign Ministry of Annalena Baerbock (Greens). There is a suspicion of perversion of justice. Despite a warning, her agency wants to bring an Afghan with a forged passport into the country illegally.

The preliminary proceedings of the Berlin public prosecutor’s office bear the file number 235 UJs 848/23. Behind it is the thriller about the Afghan Mohammad G., whom Annalena Baerbock’s Foreign Office wants to bring to Germany. And this despite the fact that their own embassy in Islamabad had cabled considerable doubts about the identity and the alleged history of persecution of the Afghan to the responsible ministry, and had refused to allow his departure for Germany. Mohammad G.’s passport was clearly a fake. Baerbock’s highest officials nevertheless gave the order, the local employees still refuse.

After the political magazine Cicero made the case public, a former official of the German Ministry of the Interior intervened and filed a criminal complaint with the judiciary. His reasoning: “The admission of people from crisis areas with unclear identity and nationality is a threat to the security and order of the Federal Republic of Germany. For the Foreign Office, however, not even forged passports and fictitious family relationships seem to be a problem.” In fact, Mohammad G. had specified a brother who already lived in Germany and whom he wanted to rejoin. This brother is obviously fictitious.

The public prosecutor confirmed the initial suspicion

The public prosecutor’s office examined the charge, affirmed an initial suspicion of perversion of justice by the Foreign Ministry of Annalena Baerbock. Investigations against unknown persons are still ongoing. Should the suspicion be confirmed, the procedure would probably be extended to top officials in the ministry.

Afterword from the translator:

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Tariq Ramadan: Persona Non Grata in Nice

The noted Swiss philosopher Tariq Ramadan, fresh off his acquittal by a court in Geneva, had planned a little lunch with his admirers in the French city of Nice. However, the Islamophobic mayor of Nice is having none of it, and has forbidden the erudite theologian from holding his event in the city.

Many thanks to Gary Fouse for translating this article from Le Figaro:

Nice: Municipal decree filed to ban a “literary lunch” with Tariq Ramadan

On the eve of the event scheduled for Sunday, the attorneys of the Islamic scholar, accused of rape, filed a petition against the decision by Mayor Christian Estrosi.

On Friday, the city of Nice issued a municipal ban against the “literary lunch” organized by Tariq Ramadan on June 4 based on disturbing the public order, reports Liberation. The Islamic scholar, acquitted by a Geneva court on May 24 on charges of rape and sexual coercion, had announced on his Facebook account that he wanted to invite his followers to lunch at a restaurant in the Maritime Alps city.

This meeting, where some fifty guests were expected, has notably aroused the reaction of the Maritime Alps antennae of the feminist association “Nous Toutes” [All of us]. One of the officials stated that a demonstration might be staged against the holding of this event organized by the theologian [i.e. Tariq Ramadan], who remains under the threat of trial for similar acts in France.

On BFM TV, the mayor of the city, Christian Estrosi, had announced on May 26 his intention to prevent the meeting from taking place. “Our city is not one that accept those who have to answer for violence against women, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and racism,” he had stated. On Monday, however, Tariq Ramadan, a guest on the same channel, stated that he intended to hold his event on June 4. “If Mr. Estrosi decides that the city of Nice belongs to him and that he is the guardian of the dungeon, then he is free to do so, but freedom of expression is stronger than his decision,” he retorted.

Tariq Ramadan’s lawyers, for their part, have filed a petition with the administrative tribunal for which a hearing was scheduled for Saturday.

Thai Elections: Rinse and Repeat

The recent Thai elections were quite a surprise. Our Bangkok correspondent H. Numan has the latest.

Thai elections: rinse and repeat

by H. Numan

Last Sunday we had the first free elections in a long time. The government was soundly defeated, as everybody expected. The incoming government will be a progressive government. Don’t be alarmed. It’ll be a Thai progressive government. You can compare a progressive Thai with a progressive Texas republican. Definitely not a ‘Western’ progressive. Even today a communist party is illegal in Thailand. We’re now in the honeymoon phase of a new cycle.

You see, Thailand isn’t a democracy. It’s a coup-o-cracy. I’ve lived for thirty years in Thailand, and witnessed many coups. At least four, plus several failed attempts. Ever since Thailand became a democracy (in a coup!), it has been the preferred way to change governments. I’ve counted the coups in Thailand and cabinets in The Netherlands since 1932. It’s about the same. We vote a government out of office, in Thailand the army does that for the people. Sometimes very bloody, like the 1976 coup. The most recent military coups were with a minimum of bloodshed and even welcomed by the population.

The current elections went as expected, but with a some surprises. Prayuth’s government lost by a landslide. The big man himself finished in fifth place. Rather embarrassing, but expected. No surprise here. All conservative (= military/royalist) parties lost in a big way. We also have a Democrat Party. They were wiped out in Bangkok, which used to be one of their strongholds. Oops! That party cannot be compared with your Democrat Party. Much more corrupt, far less democratic. Why did they completely disappear in Bangkok? They were the core of the yellow shirts, who caused so much grief and hardship in Bangkok. The voters remembered. Also not a big surprise. The Democrat chairman apologized for the abysmal performance of his party and resigned.

The big surprise was that the Shinawatras didn’t won outright. In the last two decades, when a Shinawatra ran for office, he or she won by a landslide. They didn’t this time, a first. The Pheu Thai Party came in second. Not bad, but not expected and will have serious consequences. For example, Thaksin Shinawatra announced his plan to return to Thailand. He misses his grandchildren so much that he is willing to go to jail. Yeah, and I have a bridge for sale. It was easy to say before the elections, when he could expect one of his children (three of them ran for PM) would be elected PM. I think his desire to see his grandchildren is a bit diminished now.

The winner of the election is the Move Forward Party with Pita Limjaroenrat at the helm. Granting Thaksin a full pardon is far more difficult for him, if not outright impossible. He doesn’t have filial obligations.

General Prayuth Chan-o-cha (retired) still has a few tricks under his shoulder boards. He was the guy who ousted the last democratically elected government and formed his own junta. He stayed in power for as long as he possibly could. After writing a new constitution he grudgingly allowed elections, which he narrowly won, last time. One of the tricks I expect him to use is the 60 day rule. The election committee — appointed by him — has sixty days to approve the election results. At this moment it is difficult to contest the election results, but in a few weeks? Who knows? Also, the time isn’t right to commit a coup. 60 days is a long time, in Thai politics.

Another trick under his shoulder boards is the senate. The PM has to be accepted and voted for by both houses. Prayuth appointed a number of generals as senators. It is not certain whether those appointees will vote for Pita Limjaroenrat. They announced they will abstain from voting for any prime minister, so as to remain unbiased. But we’ll have to see if that holds. Mr. Pita did throw a gauntlet in the senate by saying that they can vote for whomever they want for, but have to live with the consequences.

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Tariq Ramadan Gets His Day in Court

The illustrious Swiss philosopher Tariq Ramadan is on trial in Switzerland for allegedly engaging in non-consensual hanky-panky with a woman some years ago.

Long-time readers will remember the “French” “comedian” Dieudonné M’bala M’bala, more commonly known simply as Dieudonné. It now appears that the atmosphere of Mr. Ramadan’s trial will be made even more circus-like by the expected testimony of Mr. Dieudonné on behalf of the defense.

Many thanks to Gary Fouse for translating this article from Le Matin:

Dieudonné expected at rape trial of Tariq Ramadan in Geneva

The defense of the Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan, who has been on trial since Monday for rape — which he denies — has called the controversial humorist Dieudonné to come and testify Tuesday.

The plaintiff, present in the courtroom during all the arguments on Monday, may also speak for the first time on Tuesday before the criminal tribunal, where this case has attracted the French press and crowds.

A convert to Islam, the Swiss plaintiff, who chose the assumed name of “Brigitte” to protect herself from threats, was 40 years old at the time of the alleged facts. She claims that the Islamic scholar subjected her to brutal sexual acts accompanied by blows and insults on the night of October 28, 2008, in a hotel room in Geneva. She filed a complaint in 2018.

The defense wanted to call Dieudonné, a relative of the plaintiff, because his name appeared in an anonymous letter received by the tribunal. He reportedly was confided in by “Brigitte” concerning a consensual relationship with Tariq Ramadan. “He will bring his contribution to the manifestation of the truth,” Dieudonné’s lawyer Emmanuel Ludot told Agence France Presse.

“To bring in Dieudonné as a witness based on an anonymous letter that surfaced fifteen days before this hearing in a case that has been going on for five years, which letter is neither dated nor signed, and it is not known who wrote it, is a completely pathetic process that says a lot about the fact that Ramadan is out of arguments,” the plaintiff’s attorney, François Zimeray, told reporters.

During the hearing, “Brigitte” asked to be separated from Tariq Ramadan by a screen so as not to see him during a trial that for her “is a test and not therapy,” according to Attorney Zimeray. She said during the investigation that she made the acquaintance of the Islamic scholar during a book signing a few months before the facts in question, and then saw him again during a conference in September. That was followed by an increasingly intimate correspondence on social media.

Tariq Ramadan affirmed on Monday that he wanted “to fight” against “the lie and the manipulation”. The Swiss intellectual, a charismatic and controversial figure in European Islam, risks between two to ten years in prison. The verdict is expected on May 24. “There are multiple contradictions between what has been said and what is in the file,” Attorney Zimeray stressed.

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All in the Family, German Version

What better way to express fraternal devotion than to award a prize to your brother? Especially when your brother is a prominent politician, and the prize is publicly funded.

Many thanks to Hellequin GB for translating this article from Junge Freiheit. The translator’s comments are in square brackets:

Nepotism

When Habeck’s brother invents a prize

Economics Minister Habeck has been waiting for an award for his controversial energy policy. Now he has it — from his brother’s taxpayer-funded facility. He [the brother] personally presented the trophy.

HANOVER

At the Hanover Fair, Hinrich Habeck , Managing Director of Economic Development and Technology Transfer Schleswig-Holstein (WTSH), presented the “Energy Coasts” award to his brother Robert, the Green Federal Minister of Economics. This is the first time this award has been given. [What does Energy Coasts (Energieküsten) mean? These people make up utterly meaningless phrases, willy nilly, to suit their nefarious agenda, which is in my eyes to “rob everyone blind and destroy that which they can’t carry.”]

On behalf of the state-sponsored company, the 50-year-old honoured the commitment of his three-year-older brother for his commitment to the energy transition. Because the Green politician fights “tirelessly for climate protection, renewable energies and for his homeland Schleswig-Holstein.”

Prize “invented” especially for Habeck

The WTSH is financed by the black-green state government from tax money. The pink trophy that Hinrich Habeck presented bears the words “Great work, well done”.

Criticism comes from the FDP: “It is not the task of public institutions to invent awards for active politicians. It’s really bizarre that he also gets the award from his own brother,” said Schleswig-Holstein parliamentary group leader Christopher Vogt to the Bild newspaper.

The Green Economics Minister also sees himself exposed to accusations of nepotism. His state secretaries are related by marriage and, through other close family connections, commissioned NGOs with expert opinions, which, among other things, prepared Habeck’s heating ban. [They are definitely “experts” in having ideologically-based opinions that are detriment to the German people, and must therefore be promoted. After all, there are still German people who are ALIVE, and we can’t have that, now, can we?]

Afterword from the translator:

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The Invasion and Ethnic Cleansing of a Small Archipelago

The latest essay by our English correspondent Seneca III provides a broad overview of the Götterdämmerung that is now well underway in the British Isles.

The Invasion and Ethnic Cleansing of a Small Archipelago

by Seneca III

“And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.”

— Revelation 6 verse 8 (In the Bible a pale horse is a prominent symbol of death and pestilence.)

Provenance and apologies

Whilst this article is written from a purely UK perspective or, to be precise, an Anglo-Irish one, its primary thrust is applicable across the whole of the Western Ecumene from the Antipodes to the Americas.

Also, it is said that all writing is plagiarism, and I am certain that much of what I write is such. For the best part of eighty years I have been a copious reader across a considerable range of news, literature, history, commentary and opinion and thus I offer my thanks and apologies to any authors who, reading this, recognise a paraphrasing of their own contribution(s) to this dialectic.

Prologue: A soupçon of geography and history

An archipelago is a group of islands closely scattered in a body of water. Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland are the two largest constituents of a windswept archipelago in the North Atlantic lying to the west of Continental Europe. This ancient archipelago is centred on the British mainland at Latitude and Longitude 54° 00′ N and 2° 00′. Overall, it is a roughly linear feature running north to south from the Nordic-influenced Shetland Islands, through the Orkney Islands, the Outer Hebrides, the Isle of Man and finally to the Isle of Wight off the southern coast of England.

In a west-to-east direction, it encompasses the predominantly Catholic Republic of Ireland (Éire) in the south and the far smaller, predominantly Protestant, six counties of Northern Ireland (British). The oft-disputed geological and geopolitical anomaly of the Channel Islands — Guernsey, Jersey, Sark, Herm and the private islet of Jethou (part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey) — lies 100 miles due south from the English mainland at Weymouth and 12 miles due west from the French mainland on the Cotentin Peninsula.

[As an aside, geophysics has determined that the lonely pinnacle of Rockall is part of the land mass that broke off from Europe and hence is also part of the archipelago.]

Once contiguous with mainland Europe, it became separated 450,000 years ago. Stretched by tectonics and pounded by great waters a mega flood finally destroyed the land bridge that had physically connected the islands of Britain with continental Europe for some 10 million years. This crossing, consisting of relatively soft chalk, was approximately 20 miles wide and ran from Dover to Calais.

After the land bridge disappeared the only way that invasive tribes could cross the Channel was by hazarding their lives in fragile, generally unseaworthy boats, something they only managed to accomplish in small numbers owing to the unpredictable weather conditions and dangerous currents, and because in those days our farcical Border Force and the RNLI water taxi services did not exist. Now they come by their hundreds and thousands, parasites and predators all from every failed, primitive socio-economic basket case on the planet.


Proposition I: Britain and Éire are the victims of a successful mass invasion. As a consequence, long-heritage ethnic Caucasians are heading towards becoming a minority in their own lands within a matter of decades and possibly, in the long term, extinction through a process of country-wide xenogamic breeding coupled with a host of genetically damaged children resultant from Muslim consanguineous serial reproduction, all of which will have dire consequences for the future of we native inhabitants. This, then, is the survival challenge of our time as Nazism and Fascism were the challenges of the 1930s and ’40s through until ’45

“…We have explained before that human beings cannot exist except through social organisation and cooperation for the purpose of obtaining their food and other necessities of life. Each one will stretch out their hand for whatever he needs and try to take it since injustice and aggressiveness are in the animal nature.”

— From ‘The Muqaddimah’ (The Classic Islamic History of the World) by Ibn Khaldûn, Chapter Three, Proposition 21, “On dynasties, royal authority, the caliphate, government ranks and all that goes with these things.”

The human predilection to gather in co-operative groupings in order to shape, control and utilise a particular environment for the benefit of all members of a homogeneous community is as old as our species. It is an animal thing, a pack thing, a tribal thing. In zoology, sociology and psychology the phrase ‘territorial imperative’ is used to describe the need to claim and defend a territory, its assets, its physical and historic achievements and the successful socio-political organisation that generated them.

It has been argued that in human terms the intensity of the need to exercise a territorial imperative is inversely proportional to the length of time such a domain has been populated by a particular group who have become morally and ideologically united and are genetically homogenous, not the mongrel products of retrogressive human xenogamy.

Essentially, throughout the Euro-Anglosphere there have evolved those socio-cultural characteristics and modes of conduct that determine and will forever define why and what we are, and so clearly separate us from the descendants of the tribes of Arabian Peninsula, those conquered by them and those of the predominantly feral, low-IQ, predatory and violently unstable African ethnicity.

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Go Woke? Go Broke!

The latest sensational story of the ongoing culture wars is the sordid tale of Dylan Mulvaney, Alissa Heinerscheid, and the self-immolation of the Bud Light brand by Anheuser Busch. Our Dutch correspondent H. Numan examines the crisis from a larger commercial and cultural perspective.

Go woke? Go broke!

by H. Numan

Folks, I’m a bit of a beer aficionado and I studied marketing. I was also lucky enough to live close to the biggest specialty beer store in the city and close to Belgium where they have the largest variety and best beers in the world. I don’t drink beer to quench my thirst, but as a hobby. I find the whole ruckus around Bud Light hilarious and sad at the same time. Sad how this could happen, hilarious in that Anheuser Busch really believes they can get away with it.

Don’t get me wrong here. America is great, except for its beers. Your beers are the rock bottom end. Lite beers are proof you can’t go any lower, otherwise they’d have done it. I have sampled beers from around the world, in every country I have been to. American beers — with the exception of specialty beers and micro breweries — are lacking in any kind of flavoring. It’s mass marketed to the biggest audience possible. Lite beers are even worse. In Europe it would be considered a children’s drink. Actually, a Snow White or Shandy is just that: a glass with ⅓ beer, ⅔ lemonade, usually 7 Up or Sprite. It contains less alcohol than a lite beer, and is often served within the family to children and teenagers. My parents were teetotalers but Shandy was okay. We got one glass on occasion.

American beers used to be better, a lot better. Then came Prohibition, which bankrupted most breweries. After Prohibition only the biggest brewers survived. They decided to consolidate their position by going for quantity, not quality. This strangely, mysteriously even, was a decision they all took. Of course that wasn’t a cartel. The very idea! We all decided at the same time that we would lower the quality as low as the customer is willing to accept. Purely coincidental.

In the ’70s the biggest player dropped out: Schlitz. Many reasons why, but a big one was that Schlitz started to use corn syrup and chemicals to cut the corners. The other brewers learned a lesson: don’t tell anyone! All of them at the same time came up a bit later with a beer that is barely a beer: lite beers. Less alcohol with the cheapest ingredients possible.

Again, don’t get me wrong. Americans have been drinking sub-standard beers for well over a century. You are used to bland beers, just as I am used to bland Dutch food. I don’t particularly like spicy Thai food — for the same reason. I’m used to bland food.

When a company can lose $7 billion without going bankrupt immediately, and even try to pretend nothing bad has happened, they must have very deep pockets. In reality, the profit margin on beer is low. Especially on lite beers. Economy of scale makes up for it. The profit per glass is just a penny or so, certainly not a dime. The volume makes it all not only worthwhile, but immensely profitable. That’s economy of scale.

It’s very difficult to enter such a market. You need sufficient buyers for your new product. That means marketing, and marketing is expensive. You can’t get enough buyers because you don’t have the money for marketing. You won’t get the money because they competition operates on razor thin margins. It’s a closed market.

But it works both ways. The brewers have closed the beer market; the drinkers require the drinks they are accustomed to. Brewers aren’t worried about foreign brands. Sure, Heineken (a mediocre Dutch brand) is widely available. But it doesn’t sell in the same league. Nor will it ever. Because of the price difference, the taste and the alcohol content.

That brings us to the market. Who drinks Bud Light? As Ms. Alissa Heinerscheid knows and resents, mostly frat boys and blue-collar workers. They have different reasons for drinking flavored water. The frat boys (and frat girls, hi Alissa!) want to drink as much as possible. Blue-collar workers like a couple of beers after work to relax without getting drunk.

So, economy of scale works fine for the American market. Both producers and consumers are happy. That’s all that matters.

Let’s have a look at marketing. Years ago I saw the very first soap commercial broadcast on Dutch TV, now 60 years ago. It is exactly the same as today! Yes, the clothing is updated, the speech is updated, the kitchen is updated. Father doesn’t wear a hat anymore, nor does he smoke a pipe. The message is exactly the same. Almost word for word. Why?

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A Duty to Lie

The following video features a recent appearance by Col. Douglas Macgregor (retired) on Judge Napolitano’s podcast. In it the two men discuss issues related to the leak of classified Pentagon documents by Jack Teixeira, an Air National Guardsman.

I was interested to see that Col. Macgregor and the judge had come to the same general conclusions about the leak that I did: it was a setup. The documents were deliberately made accessible to Airman Teixeira in the expectation that he would leak them. The intelligence community, a.k.a. the Deep State, found it expedient to have the information become public, without its having to be officially released by the U.S. government. Col. Macgregor outlines the most likely reasons for the leakage, which align fairly well with my own conclusions.

A side effect of the release is that major military and government officials have now been revealed as deliberate liars about the war in Ukraine and related matters. It’s still too early to tell whether this will affect any careers. If the media establish a uniform firewall against any meaningful discussion of the government’s mendacity, it’s quite possible that everyone can skate by and continue with business as usual. Or, it may be that the Deep State decided to sacrifice a few pawns, and maybe a rook and a bishop, in its execution of a sophisticated strategy on the global political chessboard.

Hat tip: Conservative Tree House.