Fed Documents Reveal Secret Lobbying Effort Against Audit Provisions
The Federal Reserve is secretly engaged in an intense lobbying effort in an attempt to stave off moves to have the Government Accountability Office audit it, internal documents reveal.
The Huffington Post has obtained the documents, which were distributed to Senate offices by a Fed official, whose identity the online news site agreed not to reveal.
“The effort to beat back the audit relies on playing two members of the same caucus — Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) — off each other.” writes Ryan Grim.
Today will see a possible first round of votes on on amendments to Senator Christopher Dodd’s financial-overhaul bill. One such amendment is S 604 The Federal Reserve Sunshine act, the Senate version of Congressman Ron Paul’s Federal Transparency Act, sponsored by Sen. Sanders. The amendment calls for a full audit of the Fed.
The unnamed Fed official in the documents essentially acknowledges support of a much more restrictive audit proposal by Sen. Merkley.
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Greece: Papoulias, Punish Those Responsible for Failure
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, MAY 3 — “Those responsible for the crisis must be punished,” said President Karolos Papulias today while receiving Premier Giorgio Papandreou the day after the announcement of a harsh austerity plan in exchange for 110 billion euros in loans from the EU and IMF. The government already announced the creation of a Parliament-led investigatory commission, which, however, has not yet been established. According to surveys, 85% of Greeks believe that former Premier Costas Karamanlis is the main figure responsible for the country’s current catastrophic situation. Papandreou said that he is in agreement with the president on the need to “punish those responsible for the economic crisis”. Because, he explained, otherwise “the sense of impunity” would provoke “mistrust and a lack of cohesiveness” among Greeks in a moment in which they are being asked to make “great sacrifices”. The premier added that the country “needs assistance” and the EU-IMF deal was “necessary and important to create a new Greece”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Greek Loans Will be Ready in Time, EU Says
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS — The European Commission has insisted that eurozone states will provide enough money to help Greece meet a looming 19 May debt deadline, despite parliamentary hurdles in a number of countries.
At the same time, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero hit out at market speculation as being “unfounded” on Tuesday (4 May), after Spanish shares suffered sharp losses during the day.
“We will be ready on time to meet the needs of Greece in terms of refinancing. By mid-May there will be a critical mass [of funds available],” commission economy spokesman Amadeu Altafaj told a regular news briefing in Brussels. “Procedures in some euro area members will last longer than in others, but that was clear since the beginning.”
Euro area finance ministers on Sunday agreed to make loans worth €80 billion available to Greece over three years, with the IMF contributing a further €30 billion. However, investors have questioned the ability of some governments to quickly achieve parliamentary approval for the loans, a process necessary in a number of member states.
Deputies in France’s lower chamber overwhelmingly approved the aid legislation during an emergency session late on Monday night, with the senate expected to do likewise on Thursday. France has agreed to provide €16.8 billion in bilateral loans to Athens, although Monday night’s vote only covered this year’s anticipated transfers of €3.9 billion.
The German government, set to contribute €22.4 billion over the three year period, is racing to achieve parliamentary approval by Friday. Debate amongst the country’s parliamentarians has already proved to be heated, with crucial regional elections taking place on Sunday and with polls indicating a majority of German citizens are against providing support to Athens. The country’s tabloid newspaper Bild has led a media campaign against the loans.
Elections are also proving a factor in Slovakia, where on Monday Prime Minister Robert Fico appeared to toughen his stance on providing Greece with a bilateral loan. “We want to see laws approved by the parliament leading to cuts in salaries, pensions and social benefits. Until then the Slovak cabinet will not authorise its loan,” Mr Fico told journalists.
Parliamentary elections in Slovakia are less than six weeks away, with a majority of political parties opposed to Greek support.
In a bid to convince partners and markets it is serious about implementing reforms, the Greek government on Tuesday presented draft legislation outlining a package of budgetary saving measures to parliament, with a vote expected on Thursday. A 48-hour-long public sector strike also got underway and is expected to intensify on Wednesday.
Spanish stocks tumble
Analysts have repeatedly warned that any agreement on a Greek bail-out could cause markets to turn their attention towards Portugal and Spain, also seen as weak eurozone economies. On Tuesday, Spanish stocks suffered heavy loses, especially in the banking sector.
Speaking in Brussels, the country’s Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, said market doubts over the Spanish economy are “unfounded.”
“I need to confirm that whatever other speculation there is regarding the eurozone, it is unfounded and irresponsible,” he said. “We ask all actors to look at the real data.”
At 55 percent of GDP, Spain’s debt level is roughly 20 percent below the European average, insisted Mr Zapatero, who also pointed to fresh statistics on Tuesday indicating that the country’s exceptionally high unemployment rate had retreated marginally. It still hovers around the 20 percent mark.
In a further bid to calm investor doubts, the Socialist politician is set to meet with the main conservative opposition leader on Wednesday to discuss the economy and aid to Greece, the first formal meeting between the two men since October 2008.
Markets would be likely to welcome any signs of co-operation between the country’s two main parties, easing doubts over the government’s capacity to push through a package of painful austerity measures, intended to cut Spain’s budget deficit from the 2009 level of 11.2 percent.
| — Hat tip: Henrik | [Return to headlines] |
Spanish youth hit hardest in the crisis
The unemployment rate in Spain surpassed 20 percent last week. The country’s young are hardest hit in the economic crisis sweeping through the southern European nation.
By Merijn de Waal in Barcelona
Almost every workday, Beatriz Mera heads to her bank’s branch office in the centre of Barcelona. She sidles up to the counter with a folder bulging with documents under her arm. “Then I demand an explanation, I whine and I complain until they send me away,” Mera said, sitting in a bar around the corner from the bank. “I have few options left other than being a pain in the behind.”
Mera (30) grabbed her folder and spread out the documents and forms it contained in front of her. They showed how she and her partner took on massive debt during the economic boom. Apart from two mortgages, they also took out an ‘insurance policy’ that turned out to be a risky financial product. This is the reason she is now waging war against her bank. “For 18 months now we have to pay instalments of 2,000 euros a month,” Mera lamented. “We simply don’t have the money, and we won’t have it for years to come.”
A trillion euros in debt
Beatriz Mera’s worries illustrate the Spanish economy as a whole. All together, 45 million Spanish consumers are currently a trillion euros in debt. For two years, the poor job market has effectively prevented any economic recovery. This week, Spain, the fourth economy in the eurozone, emerged as a potential next victim of the crisis that has already taken hold of Greece and could soon spread to Portugal. Whether the unrest in the markets is justified, or whether it is merely the result of speculators ganging up on the euro, it certainly has forced the country further onto the economic defensive.
Last week, more bad news was announced in Madrid: unemployment has now risen to 20 percent. Spain is now home to 4.6 million unemployed people. Before the crisis, the number was below two million. Odds of quickly finding a job again are poor. Even the most optimistic forecasts assume that unemployment will decrease by no more than a few points in the coming years. The root cause is the Spanish economy has become structurally less competitive since the country joined the euro. Prices and wages have risen starkly, but productivity has failed to keep up the pace. Economists like Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman have advised the country to reduce wages by ten percent to regain its competitive edge.
But even though Spain is in an ever deeper hole thanks to the Greek debt crisis, social support or political manoeuvring room for such an extreme measure has yet to materialise.
“Krugman’s suggestion could have been put into practice if we were living in the 19th century, or if Spain was an Asian country,” said Angel Laborda, an analyst with the authoritative Funcas think-tank, and an economic columnist for El País newspaper. “But our system lacks that type of flexibility.”
The crisis has led the government to conclude the labour market is in dire need of reform. Measures are not only required to stimulate recovery, but particularly to prevent similar massive job losses from occurring during a next crisis. Economists mostly agree that the exceptionally large number of temporary contracts the Spaniards work under needs to be reduced.
Close to half of youths unemployed
Young people in particular have been finding it hard to get a steady job in recent years. They are the same people that have been let go en masse: 43 percent of all Spaniards below the age of 25 are unemployed.
One proposal for reform would stimulate contracts guaranteeing less severance pay. Unions have resisted such reform. Their ‘social dialogue’ with the government and employers, should have resulted in a social pact by the end of this month, but that deadline won’t be met. This is a setback for prime minister José Zapatero’s government. A pact could go a long way towards reassuring the jittery international capital markets that Spain is dealing with the crisis in an effective manner.
Outside pressure on Spain seem to weigh more heavily on it than that emanating from its own youth caught up in the crisis. Plenty of them welcome a few months on the dole as an enjoyable break. “I don’t mind all those temporary contracts. At least they lead to a long holiday once in a while,” joked 25-year-old Lena, who had joined some friends for an afternoon beer on the street of an old fishing neighbourhood in Barcelona.
“And if you really need work, you can always find something,” said her friend Israel, who is originally from Colombia. “The problem is that many Spaniards feel they are too good for it. Nobody has to die of hunger here.”
Besides, many unemployed people can fall back on their family. Support from parents and other relatives has spared many, mainly young, Spaniards the worst of the crisis. Beatriz Mera for instance, had — up until now — been able to pay everything she owed the bank, thanks to her parents and in-laws. “They have already pitched in some 30,000 euros,” she said.
Mera added she believed families were a better source of solidarity in these times of crisis than society was. She did not see the point of making it cheaper to let employees on fixed contracts go to benefit young workers. “That would only mean more people would lose their jobs,” she said. “People 50 or 60 years old may never get back to work. And they could also even have families to support.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Mortgage Lending Dives 83% as Housing Recovery Runs Out of Steam
Mortgage lending was down 83 per cent during March, fuelling speculation that the housing market recovery has stalled.
Net lending, which strips out redemptions and repayments, fell to just £318 million during the month.
That was down from £1.85 billion in February and the lowest level since July last year — when it was negative — according to the Bank of England.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Boost for Disarmament Talks as US Reveals Size of Nuclear Arsenal
The US revealed the size of its nuclear arsenal last night in an unprecedented attempt to galvanise efforts to rid the world of nuclear weapons.
Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, announced the declassification of one of the Pentagon’s most closely guarded secrets at the opening day of a critical international meeting on global disarmament.
The Pentagon’s figures show that the US stockpile consists of 5,113 nuclear warheads and “several thousand” more retired warheads that await dismantling. The figures reveal an 84 per cent reduction from the historic peak of 31,225 warheads in 1967 at the height of the Cold War.
“Beginning today, the United States will make public the number of nuclear weapons in our stockpile and the number of weapons we have dismantled since 1991,” Mrs Clinton told the UN review conference on the Non-Proliferation Treaty. “So for those who doubt that the United States will do its part on disarmament, this is our record, these are our commitments and they send a clear, unmistakable signal.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Dirty Secret of Black-on-Asian Violence is Out
San Francisco’s hidden truth is out. That’s what community organizer Carol Mo calls the realization that Asian residents are being targeted for robberies, burglaries and intimidation by young black men.
“It is San Francisco’s dirty little secret,” said Mo, a former Safety Network Community organizer in the Sunset District. “It’s not news to us.”
Hundreds of people marched into Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting to express their fear, frustration and outrage. But so far the response has been disappointing, particularly from the San Francisco Police Department. It seems intent on downplaying the role of race and its impact in the community.
The recent incidents of black violence against Asians is the perfect opportunity to open a dialogue about racism. Instead, they are attempting to close the door.
City officials, including the Police Department, say these assaults are part of a larger crime picture where gangs of kids take advantage of a vulnerable group of small stature. But Mo participated in a 2008 survey by the Police Department in which about 300 strong-arm robberies were analyzed. “In 85 percent of the physical assault crimes, the victims were Asian and the perpetrators were African American,” she said.
The squeamishness city officials are experiencing about confronting those numbers doesn’t reflect well on anyone. No one is saying the entire African American community is violent. But ignoring the legitimate anger and frustration from Asians is disingenuous and unfair.
“We love San Francisco,” said the Rev. Norman Fong, a Presbyterian minister. “And we don’t want to do anything to divide the communities. But at the same time, our community is hurting and we feel like our voices are not being heard.”
Now that the Asian community has found its voice, city leaders must listen and respond. What should be done? Here are a few suggestions:
— Understand the underlying conflict: This isn’t just about stealing iPods. There’s a deep divide between the two communities. Edward Chang, who lectures on civil unrest and race relations at UC Riverside, has studied the contentious history of Korean-African American relations in Los Angeles when Korean store owners moved into black neighborhoods.
“There was this sense of being invaded by someone else,” Chang said. “There was a sense of needing to protect and defend their turf.”
Another factor is the way the two cultures are perceived. Lee Mun Wah, a Berkeley-based documentary filmmaker and diversity trainer for large corporations, said there is resentment over how Asians are seen as “the favored minority.”
“We are pitted against each other,” Wah said. “African Americans sometimes say, ‘We did all the work in civil rights, and they get all the benefits.’ “
— Create a dialogue: As Chang said, “In order to build trust, you must do things together.” Wah suggests hiring black employees in Asian stores. Board of Supervisors President David Chiu is pushing a summer program to hire black and Asian youths to work together in community patrols.
— Speak up: Chiu thinks the language barrier is a huge part of the reason Asian victims do not report crimes. He stresses the need for multilingual police officers.
But the Chinese community also needs to overcome its reticence to go to the police. They are only making themselves more vulnerable by being seen, as one officer put it, as “silent, vulnerable and unwilling to fight back.”
— Listen to Mrs. Cheng: The 52-year-old woman was attacked March 22 when a 15-year-old boy allegedly threw her off the Muni platform at Third Street and Oakdale Avenue. She was injured, but she says she doesn’t want retribution.
“This is my simple request,” she wrote in an e-mail with the help of an interpreter. “That we can all live safely in our own homes without being burglarized. I feel ashamed that this horrible bad luck has happened to me. I only hope that my bad luck will fend off future bad luck situations for other people.”
And then she added one more thought.
“My neighbor is black,” she said. “Though we can’t communicate much, he is a good person and a good friend. He often jokes that he would teach me English and I Chinese to him.”
That would be a great start — two people talking.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EMP Could Leave ‘9 Out of 10 Americans Dead’
Analyst: ‘That is exactly what Iranians are working toward’
There is renewed alarm about the possibility of an EMP attack — electromagnetic pulse — on the United States because of Iran’s work on a multi-stage Space Launch Vehicle, according to a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.
And experts forecast if such an attack were a success, it effectively could throw the U.S. back into an age of agriculture.
“Within a year of that attack, nine out of 10 Americans would be dead, because we can’t support a population of the present size in urban centers and the like without electricity,” said Frank Gaffney, president of the Center for Security Policy. “And that is exactly what I believe the Iranians are working towards.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Military Defends Prosecution of SEALs
The U.S. military is issuing an extensive defense of its decision to prosecute three Navy SEALs on charges of abusing a terrorism suspect they had captured in Iraq, after two of the servicemen were found not guilty during courts-martial.
The case of the SEALs — Petty Officers Julio Huertas, Jonathan Keefe and Matthew McCabe — has outraged many Americans who see the prosecution as weakening the war on terrorism. Some members of Congress have condemned the criminal charges as unnecessary, while thousands of people have signed up on Facebook pages to support the specialized warriors.
Petty Officers Huertas and Keefe were acquitted of charges of dereliction of duty and impeding an investigation during courts-martial last month in Baghdad. Petty Officer McCabe, who is accused of punching Ahmed Hashim Abed after capture, goes on military trial Tuesday in Norfolk, Va.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
NBC: Suspect Arrested in NYC Bomb Attempt
Man is a Connecticut resident who bought the SUV at center of probe
NEW YORK — Authorities arrested a suspect in the attempted weekend car bombing in Times Square, NBC News’ justice correspondent Pete Williams reported early Tuesday morning.
A U.S. citizen of Pakistani descent, Shahzad Faisal, was arrested Monday night on Long Island, Williams reported.
Earlier, an official told The Associated Press that the potential suspect recently traveled to Pakistan. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the case was at a sensitive stage.
The officials said the man was a Connecticut resident who paid cash weeks ago for the SUV parked in Times Square on Saturday and rigged with a crude propane-and-gasoline bomb.
NBC’s Williams reported the man’s name was on an e-mail that was sent to the seller of the car last month, as well as other evidence suggesting he had a role in the attempted bombing.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reported on Monday that an FBI-led terrorism task force has taken over the investigation of the failed car bombing in Times Square because of indications it was connected to international terrorism, a senior law enforcement source said.
The probe had been overseen by the New York Police Department. Responsibility for it shifted to a Joint Terrorism Task Force as Obama administration officials said the incident increasingly appears to have been coordinated by more than one person in a plot with international links, the Post reported on its Web site.
The White House, according to the Post, intensified its focus on the failed bombing Saturday in New York City, in which explosives inside a Nissan Pathfinder were set ablaze but failed to detonate at the busy corner of Broadway and 45th Street. Emerging from a series of briefings, several officials told the Post it was too early to rule out any motive but said the sweeping investigation was turning up new clues.
Sold for cash
A law enforcement official says the registered owner of the SUV used in the botched bombing told investigators he sold it for cash three weeks ago.
The official told The Associated Press that the Connecticut owner questioned Sunday about what happened to the SUV says he sold the vehicle to a stranger.
Officials continued to look into the history of the vehicle as one way to crack the case. The vehicle identification number had been removed from the Pathfinder’s dashboard, but it was stamped on the engine and axle, and investigators used it to find the owner of record.
Investigators tracked the license plates to a used auto parts shop in Stratford, Conn., where they discovered the plates were connected to a different vehicle.
They also spoke to the owner of an auto sales shop in nearby Bridgeport because a sticker on the Pathfinder indicated the SUV had been sold by his dealership. Owner Tom Manis said there was no match between the identification number the officers showed him and any vehicle he sold.
Hundreds of hours of video
In New York, police and FBI were examining hundreds of hours of video from around the area and wanted to speak with a man in his 40s who was videotaped shedding his shirt near the Pathfinder.
The video shows the man slipping down Shubert Alley and taking off his shirt, revealing another underneath. In the same clip, he looks back in the direction of the smoking vehicle and puts the first shirt in a bag.
They traveled to Pennsylvania for video shot by a tourist of a different person and were evaluating the tape and determining whether to make it public.
In Washington, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Saturday’s attempted bombing was a terrorist act.
Attorney General Eric Holder, who earlier in the day refused to classify the incident as terrorism, said the bomber intended to spread fear across New York and said investigators had some good leads in addition to the videotape that was released Sunday.
Investigators had not ruled out a range of possible motives, and federal officials said they hadn’t narrowed down whether the bomber was homegrown or foreign.
One federal law enforcement official, according to the Washington Post, cautioned that, while investigators are examining unspecified international communications that may be connected to the attack, “that doesn’t get you to an international plot, a multi-organizational plot.”
“We’re just not there,” the official told the Post.
Another U.S. official, recounting a conversation with intelligence officials, was quoted in the Washington Post: “Don’t be surprised if you find a foreign nexus. … They’re looking at some telltale signs, and they’re saying it’s pointing in that direction.”
Every lead has to be pursued’
Early Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told NBC’s “Today” show that no suspects or theories had been ruled out.
“Right now, every lead has to be pursued,” she said.
And investigators had not ruled out a range of possible motives.
Barry Mawn, who led New York’s FBI office at the time of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and has since retired, said suspects could range from those sympathetic to the interest of U.S. enemies to a domestic terrorist to a disgruntled employee who worked in Times Square.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Administration Says Emirates Airlines Dropped the Ball; 9/11 Commission Vice-Chair Says U.S. Govt is Dropping the Ball
Senior administration officials say that Faisal Shahzad was put on the no fly list on Monday at 12:30 pm ET.
So how was he able to board the Emirates Airlines flight to Dubai?
“It takes a few hours for the airlines system to catch up,” a senior administration official tells ABC news.
Another senior administration official adds that Emirates refreshes their system to update with US intelligence information periodically — but not frequently.
In any case, the first official says that airlines were “within minutes” of Shahzad being put on the no-fly list told to “look at a web-board” and manually check its passenger manifest against the news on the web board.
“That appears to not have happened” the official says. “For whatever reason there was a breakdown at the Emirates level.”
Emirates Airlines provided its locked-in passenger manifest to the Customs and Border Protection agency. The plane at that point can leave. But a CBP official caught Shahzad’s name on the manifest and the plane never left the gate.
“That redundancy is built in,” the official says. “It’s not luck it’s design. It was good work by CBP.”
Former 9/11 Commission vice chair and Democratic congressman Lee Hamilton seems less impressed.
Hamilton reminds ABC News that “the 9/11 commission recommended that you had to have biometric evidence, documentarian evidence of people coming in and exiting” the country. “We’ve done a pretty good job on the first part of it people entering the country. But with regard to those exiting the country we simply have not been able to set up a system to deal with that and it showed in this case.”
Hamilton says “we need to have in this country a system of checking people leaving the country so that we can protect against the very sort of thing that happened here — or at least almost happened here.”
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
Off-Duty Policeman Disarms Knifewoman Who Stabbed Four Shoppers in Supermarket
A woman wielding two knives has gone on the rampage in a Hollywood supermarket and stabbed four shoppers leaving one in a critical condition.
Customers ran for the door as Layla Trawick, 34, plunged a knife into the upper back and shoulder of a male shopper who crouched down and covered up to fend off the blows. She injured three others before she was eventually arrested by an off-duty police officer.
Journalist Allison McNamara, who saw Trawick attacking a shopper, said: ‘You could see where the knife was going into his back. The knife had ridges and a tag on it. She was going as fast and strong as she could.
‘Four to six inches were covered in blood. She looked like she was going to stab everyone there. She was yelling “I’m bipolar. There’s no witness protection programme.”‘
Trawick was stopped by off-duty policeman Clay Grant, who was shopping for paper towels in the Target store on Santa Monica Boulevard.
Grant, 26, drew his Beretta service weapon and demanded she drop the steak knife and butcher’s knife she was carrying.
Grant told the Los Angeles Times that training had taught him that from her distance of about 20 feet she was no danger to him and he chose not to pull the trigger.
The woman saw his gun and dropped both knives on the floor. Grant and Target security officials restrained Trawick then handcuffed her.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tea Partiers: Neither Racist Nor Extremists
The absence of a significant number of blacks that both attend and identify themselves as tea partiers makes the tea-party movement no more racist than having only a few black skaters makes the National Hockey League racist.
The tea party is open and available to all who share the opinion that America is on a path that is not only unsustainable, but is antithetical to the Constitution. To suggest that this position is somehow color-sensitive is ludicrous. To suggest that the calcification of opinion into an amalgamation of peoples’ shared ideals and beliefs is in some way owing to the color of Obama’s skin is the last best argument of the desperate.
The tea party was not formed based on issues of race, nor has it transmogrified into same as it has spread from state to state across the nation. In fact, it wasn’t started with a singular focus on Obama as such.
[…]
It is patently irresponsible for the likes of Bill Clinton, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson to claim tea partiers are extreme right-wing radicals who are dangerous and targeting Obama for harm. The only thing we are targeting Obama for is a one-way ticket out of Washington in 2012 — sooner if possible. And that has nothing to do with the color of his skin; it has to do with his policies.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The War on Freedom
How do you take away the freedom of a free people without putting tanks on every street? You do it by transforming their culture. By turning the very idea of freedom into something ugly and shameful. A foul thing to be associated with extremists and other bad folk that good citizens are advised to avoid. The goal being to convince the people that their freedom is a thing they should be happy to give up, rather than having to forcibly take it away from them.
And so the political War on Freedom begins by rebranding freedom itself as selfish. In this new narrative, freedom is a lie because there is no such thing as freedom in America. The very idea of freedom is an arrogant and privileged entitlement held by “rich white males” and used to oppress “people of color” and all the other officially designated minorities by the Commissars of Political Correctness.
In place of the old fashioned idea of freedom, we have the far more “equitable” system of social justice with its myriad of organizations and departments all created to ensure that everyone does what they’re supposed to, thinks what they’re supposed to, and has as many rights as they’re supposed to.
As Orwell’s 1984 accurately predicted, in Newspeak, Freedom becomes Slavery, and Slavery becomes Freedom.
[…]
People who want to be free are no longer Americans. Certainly not Constitutionalists. Instead, paradoxically, they’re the new parasites, the people who refuse to be cogs in the great machine of socialism. The selfish Kulaks who hoard their wheat. The businessmen who make too much money. The hardworking housewife who won’t pay double for a “Green” labeled product. These are the worms in the apple of the socialist state. The people who refuse to contribute to what the government and the alliance of unions, left wing front groups and media pundits label as the Public Good.
[…]
The destruction of the economy is not part of the collateral damage from liberalism’s uncontrollable spending or nanny statism. It is the whole point.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Times Square Car Bomb Attack: Pakistani Man Arrested at Jfk Airport Trying to Flee to Dubai
[see link for photos]
A Pakistani man believed to be behind a failed car bomb attack on New York’s Times Square was arrested today while trying to leave the U.S.
Faisal Shahzad, 30, is being held in New York after he was identified by customs agents at John F Kennedy International Airport. He was stopped before boarding an Emirates Airlines flight to Dubai, according to officials.
The airline today revealed that three men were removed from a New York to Dubai flight due to depart yesterday.
It is currently unclear whether the arrested men were on the same flight that Shahzad was trying to board.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ben Ammar Strongly Desires Nessma TV in Italy
(ANSAmed) — MILAN — Among the things I desire the most “is the arrival of Nessma TV in Italy,” said Franco-Turkish financier Tarak Ben Ammar, the president of D-Free, speaking during an interview in Milan at the national conference of digital terrestrial television. The TV station created from a partnership between Quinta Communications (25%), Mediaset (25%) and North African group Karoui & Karoui World (50%), in Ben Ammar’s opinion, can play a decisive role “to export democracy and favour integration: it is a moderate TV station from Northern Africa and I,” he added, “consider Italy to be a moderate northern Arab country”. Ben Ammar pointed out that he and Silvio Berlusconi wanted Sky television to come to Italy. “I wanted Murdoch in Italy, because your country is an open one. But also Confalonieri and the Berlusconi government did everything possible for Sky to come to Italy. And this is positive”. As for future projects, related to his tv channels in Italy through the digital terrestrial, “we want to achieve,” announced Ben Ammar, “94% coverage, today we are at 85%. We want frequencies to be guaranteed for all, but we are not giving them for free after having paid a lot of money for them. We want transparent competition. And we want to create Eagle TV, which has important film rights such as Twilight and Basilicata coast to coast,” added the financier who bought Eagle Pictures almost three years ago. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Burqa Ban ‘Inappropriate’: German Interior Minister
Germany’s interior minister hit out at moves in Belgium and France to ban the wearing of the full Islamic veil or burqa in public, saying even a debate would be “unnecessary.”
Such a move is “inappropriate and therefore not required,” Thomas de Maiziere said, according to excerpts of an interview published by the Leipziger Volkszeitung local daily.
President Nicolas Sarkozy’s government is drafting a bill that would make it illegal to wear the face-covering veil, making France the second European country after Belgium to move toward a ban.
Belgian MPs approved a bill last week. It will not enter into force for weeks and may have to be re-examined if early elections are called as Belgium battles a political crisis.
Both countries have drawn fire from rights campaigners and Muslim groups.
On Sunday German MEP Silvana Koch-Mehrin, European parliament vice-president and a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s junior coalition partners, called for a Europe-wide ban.
Italian police fined a Muslim woman 500 euros (650 dollars) for wearing a full Islamic veil in a street in the northern city of Novara, possibly the first such incident in Italy, city officials said Tuesday.
The city is a stronghold of the anti-immigration Northern League, allies to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and adopted a decree in January banning the burqa in public places, Mauro Franzinelli of the municipal police told AFP.
While there is no specific legislation on the burqa, covering the face in public — even with a motorcycle helmet — has been banned in Italy since 1975.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Cannes: Debate Grows on Algerian Film on Setif Massacre
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, MAY 4 — Controversy is growing over Rachid Bouchareb’s “Hors la loi”, a film about the Setif massacre in Algeria in 1945, which has been shortlisted at the Cannes Film Festival, yet stands accused of being historically false. While far-right organisations are promising “a crusade on the Croisette”, the prefecture of Cannes has announced that on May 21, the same day as the film’s screening, a ceremony will be held in front of the monument to the fallen, in memory of all the victims of the Algerian war. The initiative is designed to placate the most vociferous critics but also risks provoking tension and disorder. The Algerian-made film attempts to shed light on the massacre of Algerians (45,000 according to Algiers) committed by French settlers in Setif, in a revenge attack following the slaughter of around a hundred French during pro-independence protests. Lionel Lucca, an MP from France’s governing party who has not seen the film but asked for the script to be examined by the Ministry of Defence, accused it of historical falsehood because, he said, “the director wants to make people believe that Muslims were blindly massacred by Europeans, while it was in reaction to the massacre of Europeans that Europeans acted against Muslims.” The French are never explicitly cited in the argument. This has, however, been enough to embarrass the government and provoke a wave of protests, ranging from calls for the film to be removed to appeals to occupy the famous steps of the Festival “Palais”, and even threats of protests “sabotaging the festival”. Thierry Fremau, the director general of Cannes 2010, said that there was no chance of the film being withdrawn. The historian Benjamin Stora has pointed out that the first person to die was an Algerian who was waving his country’s flag in a parade. Another historian, Pascal Blanchard, has issued a reminder that “Hors la loi” is a fictional film and not a historical documentary, saying that nobody ever blamed Francis Ford Coppola for not telling the story of the war in Vietnam in “Apocalypse Now” in the correct order. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch Queen in Security Scare at War Memorial
AMSTERDAM, May 4, 2010 (Reuters) — Dutch police detained two suspects after a disturbance at a Remembrance Day ceremony on Tuesday that injured 30 people and forced security officers to escort Queen Beatrix hastily from the scene.
During a two-minute silence for victims of war at the war memorial in Amsterdam, someone yelled an unintelligible remark which caused panic and confusion among the crowd.
More than 30 people were hurt, most of them trampled underfoot or falling against safety barriers, Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said. Police detained two suspects.
Queen Beatrix reappeared shortly after the incident.
Just over a year ago the queen was the target of an attack on the April 30 Queen’s Day national holiday when a Dutchman rammed his car into onlookers at a royal parade in the city of Apeldoorn, killing himself and seven others.
Security was tightened at this year’s Queen’s Day event last Friday and also at Tuesday’s Remembrance Day ceremony.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
Finland: Police Investigate May Day Eve Scuffles in Tampere
Police in the city of Tampere are continuing their investigations into scuffles involving youths and fire fighters in a city park late Friday night.
A gang of youths managed physically to prevent fire officers from extinguishing an open fire in Näsinkallio Park. They also interfered with fire hoses being used to tackle the blaze started by the youths.
The fire brigade was forced to leave the scene after the gang attacked rescue vehicles with bottles. Police were called in to restore order.
Some of 400 youths involved in the incident were members of an anarchist group. Most were under the influence of alcohol at the time.
Police hope eye witnesses will come forward to help with inquiries into the scuffles. Eight persons were taken into police custody for a time in connection with the incident.
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
Guantanamo: Second Former Detainee Arrives in Spain
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, MAY 4 — Spain has accepted a Yemenite from the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo, Cuba, the second after a Palestinian arrived in February, reports the Interior Ministry in a statement. The detainee has no pending legal cases for crimes of terrorism, and has no international arrest warrants against him. According to sources, the individual will live in Spain with a legal residency permit and job. The Spanish government came to an agreement with U.S. officials to accept four Guantanamo detainees after the decision made by the Obama administration to close the prison. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Minister Gets Flak Over Flat
Opposition presents no confidence motion
(ANSA) — Rome, May 3 — The opposition Italy of Values (IdV) party on Monday presented a no confidence motion against Industry Minister Claudio Scajola for his alleged involvement in a shady real estate deal. For over a week the Italian media has been running daily reports claiming the minister covered up the real price paid for his Rome apartment with the help of a businessman arrested earlier this year in a broader probe over public tenders.
Scajola has denied wrongdoing, saying his 2004 deal to purchase a 180-square metre apartment which overlooks the Colosseum was totally above board.
But according to the IdV, “the reports on the real estate deal which have appeared in the press over the last few days are extremely serious” and the minister has not given satisfactory explanations.
IdV leader Antonio Di Pietro, a former graft-busting prosecutor, said Scajola should be “sent home” because he had been caught red-handed.
The opposition Democratic Party (PD) urged Scajola to address parliament and “explain about these increasingly serious reports about his Colosseum flat.
“If he doesn’t do so, we’ll ask for his resignation,” PD economy pointman Stefano Fassina.
But lawyers for businessman Diego Anemone told ANSA on Monday their client categorically denied any involvement, saying the press reports were “totally made up” and without “a shred of proof”.
“I’ve never paid for anyone’s house,” his lawyers quoted Anemone as saying.
Anemone and three other people — among whom the former head of the state public works office, Angelo Balducci — were arrested in February by prosecutors probing alleged graft in public tenders for the construction of state venues, including the renovation of the original site of last year’s Group of Eight summit on the Sardinian island of La Maddalena and a police barracks in Florence.
Scajola says he took out a bank mortgage to pay the owners, sisters Beatrice and Barbara Papa, 610,000 euros for the first-floor flat in a 1950s apartment block.
The media reports claim that Zampolini gave the sisters 80 cheques worth 900,000 euros, to cover the difference between the asking price and the amount paid by Scajola.
The minister says he asked Anemone to help him find a flat and was introduced to Zampolini who showed him a number of flats in downtown Rome before he settled for the one near the Colosseum.
Anyone who claims he knew about the cheques “is lying”, Scajola says.
The President of the Rome province, Nicola Zingaretti of the PD, urged the minister to give residents looking for a house the name of his real estate agent so “they could all go” and aim for the same sort of deal.
“Certainly, to pay 600,000 euros for a 180-metre flat overlooking the Colosseum seems surreal to any Roman resident looking for a house or paying rent”. Scajola received the solidarity of the cabinet on Friday and Foreign Minister Franco Frattini on Monday said he had no doubts over the minister’s version.
“Scajola told everyone he had a clear conscience and I fully believe him,” said Frattini.
Government Programme Minister Gianfranco Rotondi accused the media of whipping up the story for political ends, defending Scajola as an “upright and honest” person.
Lory Del Santo, a television personality who lives in the penthouse apartment in Scajola’s building, said the minister’s flat was run down when he bought it and probably worth half of what the press claims.
“It’s a first-floor flat, without balconies,” said Del Santo, claiming that the Papa sisters were too poor to afford to renovate it.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy 49th in World for Press Freedom
Over ten Italian journalists live under police protection
(ANSA) — L’Aquila, May 3 — Italy in 2009 ranked 49th in the world for press freedom, according to standings drawn up by Reporters Without Borders (RsF) and released on Monday to mark World Press Freedom Day.
Italy fell five places from the previous year and trails behind most other European countries, while Denmark, Finland and Norway topped the 2009 ranking. Nevertheless, Italy did find itself above countries like Bulgaria, Brazil and Croatia.
In its report for 2009, RsF recalled how 125 journalists were killed in the world between 2008 and 2009 and already this year 14 have lost their lives.
In Italy 11 journalists were killed in the last 50 years for their coverage of organised crime and terrorism.
A report drawn up by the Italian branch of RsF said that over ten journalists in Italy are currently forced to live under police protection and dozens of others “are the target of threats, anonymous letters, slashed tires and burned automobiles”.
Everyone who writes about organised crime sooner or later ends up needing police protection,” the RsF study added.
The report singled out the case of Roberto Saviano, who wrote the 2006 best-selling expose’ on the Camorra entitled Gomorrah, later made into a film, “who has been forced to live under permanent police protection”.
RsF also cited the case of Palermo-based ANSA reporter Lirio Abbate and Rosaria Capacchione, a reporter for the Naples daily Il Mattino who “for over 20 years has highlighted committed by the Neapolitan mafia the Camorra”.
Italy’s leading organised crime syndicates were included in this year’s RsF list of ‘40 Enemies of Press Freedom’.
“Italian retailers, businessmen and magistrates are not the only victims of organized criminal organisations like Cosa Nostra (in Sicily), la Camorra (in Naples, ‘Ndrangheta (in Calabria) and the Sacra Corona Unita (in Puglia)”, the RsF report said.
This year’s list of ‘40 Enemies of Press Freedom’ included several heads of state in the republics of the former Soviet Union including the president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko. Also on the list were the leaders of dictatorial regimes in North Korea, Iran and Myanmar, as well as the heads of terrorist organizations including Farc in Colombia, ETA in Spain and private militias in the Philippines.
In this year’s report RsF criticised Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi because in November 2009 “he threatened to ‘strangle’ the authors of films and books on the Mafia who he said gave Italy a bad reputation”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Calderoli Snubs Lumbardy and Veneto Citizens
(AGI) — Rome, 2 May — “Calderoli proved to be unacceptably haughty during an event that should be celebrated by all -those in favour and those against federalism. A Minister of the Italian Republic must not act that way, “ said Pd member of parliament Enrico Farinone, vice president of the European Affairs committe, commenting on Minister Calderoli’s words during the celebration for Italy’s Unity. “Calderoli should know that celebrating 150 years of Italy’s Unity means also remembering all those citizens of Lumbardy and Veneto who contributed to the country’s unification,” Farinone adds. “Here once again the Lega’s fight and rule attitude. Still another case of discrimination coming from a member of the cabinet that should represent all Italians.” .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: UDC Leader Accuses N. League of Secessionism
(AGI) — Rome, 2 May — UDC secretary Lorenzo Cesa has issued a statement stating that “While the PDL quarrels about almost anything, the Northern League appears to have very clear ideas on many subjects, among them the unity of this country. Today an authoritative minister of this republic who is a member of the Northern League, used dismissive and disdainful words about the celebration of the 150th anniversary of Italy’s unity, as if these celebrations did not concern every single Italian with no distinctions. We wonder, at this point, whether the Federalism this government is about to implement, and that has been coherently opposed only by the UDC, will follow the guidelines provided so clearly today by Minister Calderoli, certainly more of a secessionist than a federalist.” .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Telecom to Earmark ‘€330 Mln for Probe’
Milan, 7 April (AKI) — Telecom Italia is looking at setting aside more than 330 million euros in its 2009 accounts following a mafia-related fraud probe of its Internet telecommunications Sparkle unit, according to a report on Wednesday. The company’s board of directors is expected to approve the move during its next meeting on 12 April.
The funds will cover possible sanctions into an alleged tax-fraud scheme, Italian daily Il Messaggero reported, citing unnamed “consultants” of Telecom Italia’s chief executive Franco Bernabe (photo).
Sparkle and rival Fastweb on Friday said they had won a reprieve in the probe when Rome prosecutors withdrew requests to place the companies under court-appointed management.
Both Fastweb and Sparkle have denied any wrongdoing.
Anti-mafia judges in Rome on in February issued arrest warrants for 56 suspects including Fastweb founder and former chief executive Silvio Scaglia.
Conservative Italian senator Nicola di Girolamo resigned ahead of his arrest for mafia association in the alleged fraud.
Fastweb chief executive Stefano Parisi — also under investigation — will be temporarily replaced by Carsten Schloter, Fastweb’s chairman and parnet company Swisscom’s chief executive, Swisscom said on Tuesday.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Nine Arrested Over Public Works Extortion
Reggio Calabria, 3 May (AKI) — Police in the southern Italian region of Calabria on Monday arrested nine people suspected of extortion and abetting the mafia over public works contracts in the energy and construction sectors. The suspects allegedly extorted the money over a 16-year period from companies in the town of Giffone, according to anti-mafia investigators who ordered the arrests.
The extortion ring is alleged to have operated between 1994 and early 2009 and “habitually” forced companies that won local public works contracts to hand over “large sums” of money.
Investigators claimed that it targeted methane gas distribution companies and construction firms involved in building a middle school and a sports ground in Giffone.
The methods of intimidation used by the alleged extortionists included damage to the companies’ equipment and materials, investigators said.
The suspects were arrested on the basis of tapped phone conversations, police surveillance of their movements and “a number of complex checks” according to investigators.
The arrests came as prosecutors in the central Italian city of Perugia extended a corruption probe into 327 million euros worth of public contracts from last year’s Group of Eight summit to other Italian public works projects.
So far six people have been arrested in the probe including Italy’s former civil protection deputy, Angelo Balducci, and Rome businessman, Diego Anemone, who allegedly organised “sex parties” for Italy’s civil protection chief Guido Bertolaso.
One current government minister and a former minister have now been cited by prosecutors involved in the investigation. Both have denied any wrongdoing.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Veil Row Erupts After Woman Fined in North
Novara, 4 May (AKI) — A political row has erupted in the northern Italian city of Novara after a Muslim woman was fined 500 euros by police after she refused to remove her full-face covering burka. According to details released by police, the Tunisian woman Amel Salah and her husband Ben Salah were stopped by police on Friday.
When asked to remove her veil, her husband refused to allow her to expose her face on the grounds that such an act would violate their Muslim beliefs.
“I cannot take off my veil in front of you, because you are two men, I am sorry,” she reportedly told police.
This was Italy’s first such fine and made possible after Novara introduced a controversial by-law in January banning clothing which prevented immediate identification in public.
A 1975 Italian law to combat domestic terrorism forbids any mask or clothing that makes it impossible to identify the wearer, while allowing for some exceptions.
Novara, which is 50 kilometres west of Milan, is run by the anti-immigrant Northern League.
Novara mayor Massimo Giordano who was re-elected in 2006 with a hefty 61 percent of the vote, defended the city by-law introduced on the back of the 1975 law to combat terrorism.
“I signed the ordinance for security reasons, but also to make those who come to live in our city respect our traditions,” said Giordano, cited by the Italian daily, La Repubblica.
Italy’s largest Muslim organisation, the Union of Italian Islamic Communities and Organisations, said women should be free to choose, but the body’s president did not support wearing the full burka.
“The UCOII many times has expressed its support for a fully-veiled face for women as well as respect for Italian law, which recognises the rights of everyone,” said UCOII president Izzedin Elzir.
“We’re for women’s freedom and against any veil that hides the face,” Elzir told La Repubblica.
Alhough he opposes the burka, which leaves only a slit in the veil for the eyes, Elzir, an imam in the city of Florence, stressed it was important to distinguish different types of traditional Islamic dress for women that allow the wearer varying degrees of exposure.
The Tunisian woman was fined one day after Belgium’s lower house of Parliament voted to ban burka-type Islamic dress in public.
The bill must still be approved by the country’s Senate. In January, Denmark’s centre-right government called the burka as out of step with Danish values, but held off on a ban.
The French government is pressing for similar legislation, and at the weekend a German member of the European Parliament said a ban should be enforced across the European Union.
French president Nicolas Sarkozy has said the burka “is not welcome” in France, and questions have been raised about the constitutionality of any ban.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: ‘I Have to Keep Her Indoors Now’: Muslim Husband’s Shocking Response as Wife is First to be Fined £430 for Wearing a Burka
The Muslim husband of the first woman in Italy to be fined for wearing a burka has vowed to never let her outside again, because he doesn’t want other men looking at her.
Amel Marmouri, 26, was handed a penalty of 500 euros (£430) after being spotted by police officers in a post office in the northern city of Novara.
The fine is the first case of its kind in the country.
But the Tunisian’s husband, Ben Salah Braim, 36, said she will now have to remain indoors.
‘I just don’t know where we are going to get 500 euros to pay the fine. We thought as she was going to the mosque she was OK to wear the burqa.
‘We knew about the law and I know that it’s not against my religion but now Amel will have to stay indoors.
‘I can’t have other men looking at her.’
Under Italian anti-terrorist laws brought in during the 1970s to fight political activism, it is illegal to be seen in a public place with your face covered.
It had never been fully enforced but, earlier this year, Novara mayor Massimo Giordano introduced new local laws banning any clothing that ‘prevents the immediate identification of the wearer inside public buildings, schools and hospitals’.
The case comes just days after Belgium’s lower house of Parliament voted unanimously to prohibit women from wearing full-face veils in public.
If the bill is passed by the Senate, it would become Europe’s first national ‘burka ban’.
Mr Giordano said: ‘I signed the new regulations for reasons of security but also so that people who come to live in our city are aware and respect our traditions.
‘The regulations in Novara specifically cover people wearing clothing that prevents them from being identified in a public place, and a post office is a public place.
‘This would also apply to a motorcyclist who walked into a post office wearing a crash helmet. The people of Novara do not want to see people walking around in the city wearing a burka.
‘This is the only way to stop behaviour that makes the already difficult process of integration even harder.’
Police chief Paolo Cortese said: ‘The fine was given because the woman was inside the post office at the time, which is a public building.’
The Northern League, which once called for the Italian Navy to shell boats carrying illegal immigrants towards the country, has called for the original 1975 terror law to be amended and make specific reference to Islamic face coverings.
The proposed wording would prohibit ‘the use of female garments common among women of Islamic faith known as burkas’.
Muslim groups in Italy today insisted that Italian laws must be respected.
Imam Izzedin Elzir, president of the Islamic Community and Organisations Union in Italy, said: ‘We are for the freedom of women and against veils of any kind and Italian laws must be respected.
‘We as an organisation have always said that we are against face veils or coverings in Italy because the law of recognition has to be observed.’
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Scajola Not Under Investigation
Outgoing industry minister to be quizzed in corruption probe
(ANSA) — Perugia, May 4 — Outgoing Industry Minister Claudio Scajola is not under investigation in connection with a probe into alleged graft in public tenders, Prosecutor Federico Centrone said on Tuesday.
The magistrate confirmed that Scajola, who announced his resignation on Tuesday, would be questioned here on May 14 as a person “privy to information” related to the corruption case.
Businessman Diego Anemone and three other people — among whom the former head of the state public works office, Angelo Balducci — were arrested in February by prosecutors probing alleged corruption in the award of contracts for the construction of state venues, including the renovation of the original site of last year’s Group of Eight summit on the Sardinian island of La Maddalena and a police barracks in Florence.
Scajola resigned in the wake of a media tempest when it was reported that Anemone had allegedly paid 900,000 euros in 2004 to help pay for the minister’s apartment overlooking the Colosseum in Rome, for which he officially claimed to have paid 610,000 euros.
An architect working for Anemone, Angelo Zampolini, is reported to have told Perugia magistrates that he was given 900,000 euros in cash from the businessman to convert into 80 cashiers checks which were later handed over to the owners of the 180-square metre flat, sisters Beatrice and Barbara Papa.
Bank records show that the 80 checks were later deposited by the Papa sisters, who are said to have admitted accepting the under-the-table payment.
Anemone’s lawyers told ANSA on Monday their client categorically denied any involvement, saying the press reports were “totally made up” and without “a shred of proof”. “I’ve never paid for anyone’s house,” his lawyers quoted Anemone as saying.
Until Tuesday Scajola had always denied receiving the 900,000 euros, which Zampolini claims to have personally handed to the minister and the Papa sisters said they received from Scajola.
However, during the press conference at which he announced his resignation, Scajola said “should it be proven that my apartment was paid for by others without my knowing the existence of any ulterior motives, my lawyers will move to have the acquisition annulled”.
Commenting on Scajola’s decision to step down, Justice Minister Angelino Alfano observed that without an institutional role he would be “freer to defend himself before public opinion from an attack based on revelations made by the press”.
The Senate whip for the opposition Democratic Party (PD), Anna Finocchiaro, noted that the accusations made against Scajola were “very serious from a political point of view and were made by press organs from every political inspiration”.
By stepping down, she added, Scajola “did the right thing.
His position was undefendable. He has said that after being questioned in Perugia he would come before parliament to give a full explanation. Let’s hope he does”.
Scajola was forced to resign from a previous Berlusconi government in July 2002 after sparking controversy by making derogatory remarks about slain Labor Ministry aide Marco Biagi. Biagi was gunned down the previous March by the Red Brigades after being denied a police escort by Scajola. However he was back in government a year later as the minister in charge of implementing the government’s program and in 2005 became industry minister for the first time when Berlusconi reshuffled his cabinet.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Industry Minister Scajola Quits
No wrongdoing in acquisition of Rome flat, he claims
(ANSA) — Rome, May 4 — Industry Minister Claudio Scajola announced his resignation on Tuesday saying he could not continue to do his job and defend himself at the same time.
For over a week the Italian media has been running daily reports claiming the minister covered up the real price paid for his Rome apartment which he is said to have bought with the help of a businessman arrested earlier this year in a broader corruption probe over public tenders.
Speaking at a press conference, Scajola explained that “everyday I find myself in the crossfire of contradictory press reports. I do not wish anyone to be in such a position and I must defend myself”.
“And in order to defend myself I cannot continue to be a minister as I have for the past two years, giving my all. You (the press) are my witnesses, I have dedicated all my energies and all my time, perhaps making mistakes, doing what I thought was best,” he added. “For the past ten days I have been in a very difficult situation. I have been at the center of an unprecedented media campaign and without being under investigation. I myself have spent nights and days examining the press trying to understand what is going on,” Scajola said.
“I have received messages of support from Premier (Silvio) Berlusconi, his government and our People of Freedom party and appreciate the responsible and institutional attention shown by the opposition,” the outgoing minister added.
“In order to take part in politics, which is a noble art with a capital P, one must have a clean slate and not be overshadowed by suspicions,” he said .
Scajola has denied wrongdoing, saying his 2004 deal to purchase a 180-square metre apartment which overlooks the Colosseum was totally above board.
Lawyers for Diego Anemone, the businessman said to have helped buy the flat, told ANSA on Monday their client categorically denied any involvement, saying the press reports were “totally made up” and without “a shred of proof”.
“I’ve never paid for anyone’s house,” his lawyers quoted Anemone as saying.
During Tuesday’s press conference Scajola said that “should it be proven that my apartment was paid for by others without my knowing the existence of the ulterior motives, my lawyers will move to have the acquisition annulled”.
Anemone and three other people — among whom the former head of the state public works office, Angelo Balducci — were arrested in February by prosecutors probing alleged graft in public tenders for the construction of state venues, including the renovation of the original site of last year’s Group of Eight summit on the Sardinian island of La Maddalena and a police barracks in Florence.
Scajola has maintained that he took out a bank mortgage to pay the previous owners of his apartment, sisters Beatrice and Barbara Papa, 610,000 euros for the first-floor flat in a 1950s apartment block.
The press has noted that the price was considerably below its market price in 2004.
An architect working for Anemone, Angelo Zampolini, is reported to have told magistrates that he was given 900,000 euros in cash from the businessman to convert into 80 cashiers checks which were handed over to the sisters to cover the difference between the asking price and the amount paid by Scajola.
The 80 checks were later deposited by the Papa sisters.
Scajola was forced to resign from a previous Berlusconi government in July 2002 after sparking controversy by making derogatory remarks about slain Labor Ministry aide Marco Biagi.
Biagi was gunned down the previous March by the Red Brigades after being denied a police escort by Scajola.
In off-the-cuff remarks, Scajola said Biagi had been a “pain in the a**” and that had Biagi been given an escort “three people would have been killed instead of one.”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Remembrance Day in Amsterdam, 2007. Photo Vincent Mentzel
Jewish police network to reconcile force and community
The Dutch police was very active in handing over Dutch Jews to the German occupier in the Second World War. Jewish officers within the force are now helping to improve the relationship between their employer and their community
By Karel Berkhout in Amsterdam
When Max Engelander became a policeman in Amsterdam in 1978, his mother was stunned. “How could you ever join the police?” she asked. What she meant was: how could you, a Jewish boy from a family largely murdered by the Nazis, join a police force of which many officers participated in the deportation of Jews? “The Amsterdam police force has changed,” Englander then told his mother.
May 4, National Remembrance Day
On May 4, 1945, German forces occupying the Netherlands capitulated. Ever since, the date has been a national day of remembrance for the Dutch, which many people observe with two minutes of silence at eight pm.
In the Netherlands, the effects of the Holocaust were particularly gruesome. Before the war, the country was home to some 140,000 Jews. Approximately three out of every four didn’t make it through the war. Relatively, the Netherlands saw more deaths amongst its Jewish population than did other Western European countries.
By the late 1970s, flower power and other social movements of the era had left their mark on the police force. Today, equality is a core value of the Amsterdam police. It is going out of its way to express its diversity by setting up professional networks of Moroccan, Surinamese and homosexual officers. Jewish officers and their sympathisers have had a network of their own for a year now.
Jews reluctant to call police
This Tuesday, May 4, the national day of remembrance dedicated to the victims of the war, Max Engelander and the other members of the Amsterdam police force’s Jewish network will attend a special memorial service. The service will be held in the Hollandsche Schouwburg. Here, Amsterdam Jews were gathered before being deported to concentration camps. “We want to show that the Amsterdam police force is here for the Jewish community as well,” said Engelander, who would be attending the service in uniform. “Because of the war, people like my mother are still reluctant to call the police if they become victims of a crime.”
Engelander’s mother was arrested in Amsterdam at the age of 13 and deported to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1943. “In those years, the Schalkhaar Battalion marched through Amsterdam’s streets,” Engelander said, recalling the name of the town where Dutch police officers were trained according to Nazi ideology at the time. “Of my mother’s extended family, only she and two other relatives survived.”
History has also forged her son’s character. “Not until 1986 did the last Schalkhaar officer in the force retire,” Englander said. His Jewish identity played an important role throughout his police career. “I have always been adamantly opposed against discrimination, no matter who it was aimed at,” he said. Personally, he has never experienced anti-Semitism. “But it exists within the police force, as it does within any major organisation,” he explained.
Hamas united police Jews
The Jewish police network he founded developed in response to an anti-Israel demonstration organised by the Dutch labour union FNV two years ago. The police union participated in that demonstration, to which prominent members of Hamas has also been invited, Engelander recalled. After an unpleasant conversation with the chair of the police union, Engelander placed an advertisement in the police force’s magazine. Some 15 officers responded and the police force’s Jewish network was born. Today, it has about 30 members.
The network was officially founded in March of last year in the Jewish Historical Museum, housed in a former synagogue in Amsterdam. Amsterdam police chief Bernard Welten then referred to what he called a “black page” in the history of the Amsterdam police force. He emphasised his desire to create a “mixed force” that could identify with “citizens in need, no matter what their origin, culture, looks or orientation”. All the force’s networks are supposed to serve as a “connection” between the police and society, Welten said.
“We want to serve as a bridge between the police and the Jewish community,” Engelander said. “Not only because the police force should be a cross section of society, but also because it allows us to be more effective at police work.” He gave an example: “When the police are called upon in a domestic violence case in a Jewish family on a Friday evening, we can recommend our colleagues to wait until after the Sabbath,” Engelander said.
Yom Kippur cyclist fined
Not long ago, Engelander received a call from a colleague who had caught a woman riding her bicycle without a light after dark. “She said she wasn’t allowed to turn on her lights on Yom Kippur [a Jewish holiday]. My colleague asked: ‘Max, should I fine her?’ I told her: ‘You sure should’. If you adhere to the Yom Kippur rules in the strictest sense, you aren’t even allowed to get on your bike.”
Conversely, Engelander can also impress upon his colleagues how heavily some matters can weigh upon his fellow Jews’ minds. He recalled a case in which a Jewish man’s tefillin (boxes containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah, worn on leather straps) were stolen from his car. “These were heirlooms that had been in the family for 150 years. I explained to my colleagues how important they were and they looked for them intensively,” Engelander said. The tefillin were never recovered though.
Engelander said he dreamed of establishing a national Jewish police network. He also hoped more Jews would join the ranks of the police force. “This summer, we will be manning a stand at a football tournament for Jewish youth,” he said. “We will be looking to promote our network, but also to recruit.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Half of Wilders Voters Considering Switching to VVD
THE HAGUE, 04/05/10 — The conservatives (VVD) have the biggest potential following of people that currently still plan to vote for another party. PVV voters in particular are considering switching to VVD, according to a survey by opinion pollster De Hond.
Of all those entitled to vote that would not now vote VVD, 35 percent say they are in fact considering doing so in the 9 June general elections. The group of potential voters among those currently not voting for them is also substantial for Labour (PvdA) and centre-left D66 (both at 29 percent). The Christian democrats (CDA) can count on possible support from 23 percent who now vote for another party, the same as the PVV.
The party of Geert Wilders has already lost many virtual voters to the VVD in the recent period. Nevertheless nearly half (49 percent) of those who now — still — intend to vote for the PVV name the VVD as a party that they give a chance for their vote.
Also noteworthy is the finding that of the likely PvdA voters, 52 percent are keeping the leftwing Greens (GroenLinks) and 44 percent, D66, up their sleeves as an option. Conversely, 34 percent of D66 voters are considering switching to PvdA, but the VVD is for them a more frequently-named alternative (39 percent). For GroenLinks voters, the VVD is hardly an option but PvdA is.
There are still rumours that VVD leader Mark Rutte may want to put Neelie Kroes forward as candidate VVD premier. With the European Commissioner as trump card, the VVD would have bigger chances of becoming the biggest party than if Rutte himself wants to head the cabinet, according to De Hond.
Currently, VVD (32) and PvdA (33) are running about level in De Hond’s latest poll. CDA comes next with 27, ahead of the PVV (17), D66 (12) and GroenLinks (10).
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Carmelites Report Brother for Abuse
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, MAY 4 — The Discalced Carmelites of Castellon have reported one of the members of their order for alleged abuse against a young altar boy in their convent in Burriana (Castellon). According to the Levante newspaper, this is the first report of this type in Spain, and is being investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office of the Court of Valencia. The Carmelites reportedly decided to turn to the authorities after a report made by a vicar in the area, based on accounts of alleged abuse carried out by the father of the victim and by the Carmelite brother. The events date back to 2007, when the altar boy of Peruvian origin was 17-years-old and worked for 100 euros per month in the Burriana convent. According to the report, he was forced to have sexual relations with the Carmelite brother. While awaiting further developments regarding the investigation, the Carmelites have sent the brother away from the convent, moving him to the order’s centre in Castile and Leon, and have banned him from being alone with minors and administering the sacraments and confession. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Switzerland: Controversial Muslim Group Kept Out of Dialogue
The controversial Islamic Central Council of Switzerland (ICCS) will not be invited to take part in talks between the justice minister and Swiss Muslim groups.
The head of the Migration Office, Alard du Bois-Reymond, met a delegation of the ICCS on Tuesday and said it was “unthinkable in present circumstances” for them to take part in the planned dialogue.
He said the organisation must distance itself explicitly from the stoning of women and give up its demand to create a fatwa council. The ICCS says such a council is needed as a theological authority for dealing with Islamic issues.
Du Bois-Reymond told the ICCS leaders that the same laws applied to everyone in Switzerland, and that certain values, including the equality of men and women, were non-negotiable.
He said the majority of the 350,000 or so Muslims in Switzerland were well integrated, or trying to integrate, and these were the people with whom the dialogue would be held.
In a statement on its website the ICCS described its conversation with du Bois-Reymond as “interesting”.
The meeting “opened the opportunity to learn more about the collaboration of the [Swiss] Confederation with the Islamic associations and it allowed the ICCS once again to commit itself clearly to the Swiss legal and social order”.
It said du Bois-Reymond had described the “doors of dialogue as basically open”, and added that the council wanted to participate constructively in this.
Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf has already had several meetings with established Muslim groups in Switzerland. The next is scheduled for May 19.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Tintin in Peril: Congolese Man Seeks Court Ban on ‘Racist’ Cartoon
The intrepid boy reporter Tintin, or at least his publishers, have been charged with racism over the portrayal of Africans in the cartoon book ‘Tintin in the Congo,’ a spokeswoman said Tuesday.
The civil case is being brought by a Brussels-based Congolese man who has for years tried to get the offending cartoon strip, created in the 1930s, pulled off the shelves.
In his sights is the Herge foundation Moulinsart, whom the plaintiff, Bienvenu Mbutu Mondondo, has been pursuing in the criminal court for three years.
Frustrated at the lack of progress, he began a parallel civil case and announced Tuesday that he was including in that action the comic book publishers Casterman.
“We will appear in court on May 12 after having been named both as editor and distributor,” of the offending comic strip book, said Valerie Constant, spokeswoman for the Casterman, the publisher which can trace its roots back to the 18th century.
The plaintiff Mondondo “demands that the album be withdrawn from sale or, failing that, that a warning be inserted,” in all copies as he considers the book’s portrayal of black Africans to be offensive, she said.
“Casterman opposes such a withdrawal. This work was created 80 years ago, it is just a snapshot of the sentiments of the day, is distributed in Europe and Africa without problem,” she added.
“Tintin in the Congo,” which first appeared in Belgian newspaper Le Vingtieme Siecle as a comic strip in 1930-1931, is part of the popular series “The Adventures of Tintin” created by late Belgian author and illustrator Herge.
It features his popular red-headed boy journalist Tintin and the faithful dog Snowy.
But the tale of Tintin’s trip to what was then the Belgian Congo is controversial because of its depiction of colonialism and racism, as well as casual violence towards animals.
The official Tintin website has previously acknowledged the controversy.
“In his portrayal of the Belgian Congo, the young Herge reflects the colonial attitudes of the time,” it said on its website when the original case was launched.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘The First Punch Came, Landing on My Nose, Sending Blood Down My Face’
‘Independent’ reporter Jerome Taylor relives his bloody experience on the trail of voting fraud in east London
When I look back on it now what surprises me is how disarmingly polite my attackers were.
“What are you doing?” asked one of the two, seemingly inquisitive, Asian teenagers who approached me on a quiet cul-de-sac in Bow, east London, shortly after 1pm yesterday.
“There’s been a photographer around here, do you know her?” he added.
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I didn’t, but I explained I was a journalist for The Independent looking to speak to a man at an address in the area, who was standing as a candidate in the local elections, about allegations of postal vote fraud. “Can we see your note pad,” the boy asked.
I declined and then the first punch came — landing straight on my nose, sending blood and tears streaming down my face. Then another. Then another.
I tried to protect myself but a fresh crop of attackers — I guess between four and six — joined in. As they knocked me to the ground one of them brought a traffic cone repeatedly down on the back of my head.
As their fists and feet slammed into me, all I could think about was some advice a friend had given me. She’s a paramedic and has dealt with countless victims of assault. “Whatever you do don’t get knocked to the ground,” she once said. “Blows on the floor are much more dangerous.” It seemed faintly absurd now. “That’s easy for you to say,” I thought. “How on earth are you meant to stay up?”
I don’t know how long it lasted — it was probably only a minute — but it was a long minute. I don’t remember them saying anything as they did it. The first noise I was aware of was the beeping of a car horn and a woman screaming.
The noise brought a man out of a nearby block of flats. With little regard for his own safety he waded in and defended me until my attackers ran away.
I shudder to think what would have happened if he hadn’t been brave enough to take action and I cannot thank him enough for what he did. He gave me a bottle of water to wash the blood away and showed me a mobile phone that one of the attackers had dropped which he later handed to the police. He also maintained that he saw at least two of the attackers run into the candidate’s house.
What brought me to Bow yesterday were allegations of widespread postal voting fraud. Both the local Conservative and Respect parties in Tower Hamlets have been looking through the new electoral rolls for properties that have an alarmingly high number of adults registered to one address. The area has a large Bengali population and this type of fraud is unfortunately all too common. In some instances there have been as many as 20 Bengali names supposedly living in two or three-bedroom flats. When journalists have previously called, all too often there are far fewer living there. In some instances, no Bengalis at all…
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Dozens of TVs and Fridges Catch Fire After Theft of £20 Cable Triggers Massive Power Surge
Thieves who risked their lives to steal £20 worth of copper wiring from an electricity substation have been blamed for a potentially deadly power surge which caused televisions to blow up and fuseboxes to catch fire.
Families had to evacuate their homes and hundreds were left without power all day after the voltage spike wrecked electrical equipment and caused them to spew out acrid smoke.
Those who endured a frightening start to their Bank Holiday Monday as a result slammed the thieves saying they were fortunate not to have caused a fatal blaze.
The vital copper component was stolen overnight from the substation in Westhoughton, near Bolton, Greater Manchester, removing a vital connection meant to absorb spikes in voltage.
As a result the power supply surged to as much as 400 volts, causing appliances to blow up when they were switched on and fuse boxes to burst into flames.
Nicola Platt, 36, had to rush her sons Joshua, 19, and Brandon, 12, and pet Yorkshire terrier outside after coming downstairs to find the house filling with smoke from the fusebox.
‘It was very dense and caught the back of my throat,’ she said. ‘My first thought was to get everyone out of the house because I thought it was going to go up in flames.
‘I hope these idiots realise what problems they have left behind. The furniture and the rugs in the front room are covered with soot, and there are black marks which are just burned into the laminate flooring.’
Supermarket workers Carole and Barry Lucas, both 52, were woken by banging noises as lamps and other electrical appliances were destroyed.
‘There was crackling all over the house as lamps and lightbulbs were popping,’ said Mrs Lucas. ‘Then the TV set just blew up with a loud noise.
‘The fire service told us we were very lucky to have woken up when we did because it could have been a lot worse.’
[…]
United Utilities engineers arrived at the substation, which carries deadly voltages of 6,600, to find the copper neutral switching gear had been stolen.
Mark Williamson, a spokesman for the supplier, said: ‘We have got staff on site.
‘They are starting to repair the neutral connection in the sub-station and people’s power will hopefully be restarted some time this evening.’
He added: ‘230 volts is the normal voltage and when you lose the safety gear, that voltage can start to fluctuate and can go up to 400 volts, which is far over what most appliances can handle.’
The spokesman added: ‘We want to stress that the copper stolen had such a small monetary value. The electricity sub station in Bolton where thieves stole an essential part of the mechanics
‘Anyone going into a sub-station is risking their lives.
‘There are thousands of volts in the sub-station and if someone takes a wrong turn, then they could be dead, and it just isn’t worth the risk.’
According to United Utilities, this break-in was similar to one carried out in the area 10 days ago. Another incident was also reported to police in mid-April.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Hearse Driver Transporting a Woman’s Body to Her Funeral Fined for Not Wearing a Seatbelt
A hearse driver was pulled over by police because he was not wearing a seatbelt as he transported a woman’s body to her funeral, it was reported today.
The driver, from M J Silcox and Son Funeral Directors, was given a £60 penalty after he was pulled over, the Cambridge Evening News reported.
PC Steve Gedny, who stopped the driver, told the newspaper: ‘Drivers and passengers of hearses are just as likely to be involved in a collision as anyone else.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Postal Vote Fraud: 50 Criminal Inquiries Nationwide Amid Fears Bogus Voters Could Swing Election
Voter fraud could determine the outcome of the general election as evidence emerges of massive postal vote rigging.
Police have launched 50 criminal inquiries nationwide amid widespread cases of electoral rolls being packed with ‘bogus’ voters.
Officials report a flood of postal vote applications in marginal seats. With the outcome of the closest election in a generation hanging in the balance, a few thousand ‘stolen’ votes there could determine who wins the keys to Downing Street.
Anti-sleaze campaigner Martin Bell said: ‘There is actually a possibility that the result of the election could be decided by electoral fraud. That’s pretty grim.
‘We are facing a situation where we can no longer trust the integrity of our electoral system. It was a huge mistake to extend the postal vote. It opened up our system to all kinds of frauds.’
Out of a total estimated electorate of 46million, 7million have registered for postal votes.
The Metropolitan Police are examining 28 claims of major abuses across 12 boroughs — with four separate investigations in Tower Hamlets, East London.
Labour supporters stand accused of packing the electoral roll at the last minute with relatives living overseas or simply inventing phantom voters.
Officials in Tower Hamlets received 5,166 new registrations just before the April 20 deadline, and there has been no time to check them all.
In Bethnal Green, it is feared the electoral register has been deliberately stacked with fictitious names.
Yesterday the Mail visited one four-bedroom flat in the area where 18 men are apparently claiming a vote, all of whom registered within the past month.
The students living there were baffled by many of the names said to be residing with them. Another resident was surprised to learn that eight complete strangers were also registered as living in the small flat she shares with her partner.
Other addresses investigated by the Mail were linked to the Labour Party.
At a property in Rainhill Way, Bethnal Green, where Labour Party council election candidate Khales Uddin Ahmed lives with his family, seven adults have suddenly joined the electoral roll.
A few streets away, where Labour councillor Shiria Khatun is seeking re-election, her household has been boosted by three new voter registrations at her small flat within the past few weeks.
Her husband angrily slammed the door when questions were asked yesterday.
The Mail’s Richard Kay has learned that for the first time ever the Commonwealth is dispatching a group of election monitors — more used to supervising banana republics — to scrutinise the results on Thursday.
Opposition parties fear a concerted effort is being made to swing the election.
Tower Hamlets Conservative councillor Peter Golds said: ‘There is increasing evidence of ongoing electoral corruption. I am concerned that there will be no attempt to investigate this before election day.
‘All the dodgy addresses seem to involve Bangladeshi names, and the police are terrified of investigating that community for fear of being branded racists.
‘At one of the addresses, a Russian woman answers the door. How many Bangladeshi men live together with a Russian woman?’
Numerous other examples of this corruption are coming to light, including a visitor from Bangladesh who arrives with a tourist visa next week, but whose postal vote has already been sent off.
The problem is not confined to London. In Yorkshire, five police investigations are under way in Bradford and Calderdale, where two arrests have been already been made.
In Derby, police are investigating several claims of electoral fraud, including one case where a female voter was allegedly intimidated by three men who demanded that she fill in and sign postal votes for the Labour Party.
In Surrey, Tory activists have received reports that two members of a rival party pretended to be Conservatives and bullied a man on a ventilator in hospital into signing over his postal vote to them.
Under election law, anyone from Commonwealth countries can vote in the general election if resident in the UK.
But names can be added to the electoral roll — and become eligible for postal votes — without anyone checking their identities or whether they are actually in the country.
In 2005 around 15 per cent of all votes were cast using a postal vote, but the Electoral Commission watchdog believes that figure will rise this time.
In the last month there were 150,000 applications and, in some areas, postal vote registrations have increased by 200 per cent since 2005.
Surveys of the most marginal seats, where the election will be decided, have revealed a surge in postal voting.
In the key marginals Edinburgh South and Barnet, postal votes are up by 60 per cent, while Brighton has seen an increase of 40 per cent in voter registration.
In Islington, a vital Labour-Lib Dem marginal, the numbers on the electoral roll have increased by nearly 20,000 to 135,800 in just five years.
The Electoral Commission, which oversees the elections process, warned seven years ago that widespread postal voting is open to fraud.
But rules to ensure that every voter has to provide personal ID before joining the electoral roll will not come into force for three years.
LEO MCKINSTRY: Postal passport to ballot frauds — a farce that shames democracyThe integrity of our voting system used to be taken for granted. Whatever their allegiance, voters could have absolute faith in the outcome of a General Election.
But, like so many other British traditions, the credibility of our democracy has been badly weakened during the last 13 years of Labour rule.
Thanks to the introduction of mass postal voting on demand, the stench of malpractice now hangs over the process, whether it be through serial abuses on the electoral roll or widespread fraud in the casting of postal votes.
With the result of the General Election so uncertain and the gap between the three main parties so narrow, the potential for corruption is deeply worrying.
This Thursday postal voting will play a far bigger role than in any previous contest, with more than seven million people having registered for a postal ballot.
In the last month alone, there were 150,000 applications and, in some areas, the number of registrations for postal votes has increased by 200 per cent compared with the 2005 election.
Yet, unlike voting at a polling station, the postal process is easily open to manipulation by political parties and criminals because no proper checks are made on the electors’ identities.
The same problem applies to the electoral roll, where names are added or removed without effective investigation, a flaw compounded by the phenomenal demographic upheaval caused by mass immigration.
With an annual inflow running at over 500,000 and emigration by Britons reaching almost 400,000 a year, electoral registers have increasingly turned into little more than works of fiction.
The Government and its agencies have been celebrating the recent surge in registrations and postal vote applications as evidence of a new enthusiasm for politics amongst the electorate, due partly to the TV debates.
The reality is that it has undermined the whole democratic process.
A study by the Council of Europe in 2008 stated that ‘the voting system in Great Britain is open to electoral fraud’, since it was ‘childishly simple’ to register bogus voters, while ‘postal voting provides the anonymity to carry out fraud without detection’.
Particularly disturbing is the position in the crucial marginal seats that will decide the outcome of election.
Here, in a desperate drive to boost support, all the major parties have been making intensive efforts to increase registration and postal voting.
In Edinburgh South, a vital three-way marginal, postal votes are up by 60 per cent, while in the London borough of Islington, scene of a bitter fight between Labour and the Liberal Democrats, the numbers on the electoral roll have increased by nearly 20,000 to 135,800 since 2005.
Five police investigations are under way in the Yorkshire conurbations of Bradford and Calderdale, where two arrests have been made.
In London, police are examining 28 allegations of major abuses across 12 boroughs. In one typical case, a resident of Bethnal Green was surprised to learn that eight complete strangers were also registered at the small flat she shares with her partner.
Responding to mounting concern about corruption, John Turner, chief executive of the Association of Electoral Administrators, admitted ‘fraudulent activity’ was easy to perpetrate.
‘It’s not a properly verified system and it should be.’
This growing threat to democracy has happened entirely because of decisions taken by Labour.
Despite strong opposition, it pressed ahead in 2004 with the introduction of postal voting on demand without any safeguards or tightening of the register.
Before then, voters had to provide a valid reason why they needed to vote by post, such as work commitments, disability or holiday.
The theoretical justification was to boost turnout at a time of growing public apathy. But in reality, Labour saw that an insecure-system could work to the party’s advantage in urban areas where the population is more fluid.
This is particularly true among inner-city wards dominated by Asian clan leaders who effectively control the local franchise and even set up ‘voting factories’ to process ballot papers.
Almost all the worst instances of fraud since 2000 have arisen in places with large concentrations of Asian voters, such as Blackburn, Oldham and Tower Hamlets.
In the Birmingham local elections of 2004, six Muslim men stole thousands of ballot papers and marked them for Labour candidates. The Election Commissioner, Richard Mawrey QC, said at their trial that the contest ‘would have disgraced a banana republic’.
Yet the problem remains as bad as ever. A BBC report last week found that Asian activists are targeting British Pakistanis who have relocated in their thousands to the Pakistan district of Maipur.
The activists are going door to door asking any who are still eligible for a British vote to sign over their entitlement to a proxy or postal vote.
As a result, it is claimed that many have signed forms for this week’s elections, without knowing who they are voting for.
This is a farce that shames democracy. But Labour, desperate to cling on to power, does not care about rebuilding trust. Partisan gain is all that matters.
Labour’s willingness to exploit a dodgy system was graphically illustrated in its two unexpected recent by-election triumphs in Scotland.
At Glenrothes in 2008, the neighbouring seat to Gordon Brown’s at Kirkcaldy, there was a fourfold increase in postal ballots and Labour’s opponents demanded to see the marked official register which showed whether individuals had voted or not.
Unbelievably, the Sheriff ‘s Clerk’s Office in Kirkcaldy had to explain, after five months, that the register had ‘gone missing’.
And Labour’s win in Glasgow North East last November followed a dramatic increase in postal votes, with almost 2,000 applications submitted less than three days before the registration deadline.
The Electoral Commission complained that Labour ‘did not comply’ with the code of conduct on the submission of postal-vote applications.
Labour would no doubt just dismiss this as scaremongering. But the truth is that the Government’s own cynicism towards the voting process could make this the most tainted, distorted result in General Election history.
One disquieting straw in the wind could be seen last Friday, when Kerry McCarthy, Labour candidate for Bristol East, revealed details on her Twitter page of an early sample of postal votes.
She has been accused of breaching electoral law, since candidates are not meant to release such information.
But even more alarming is the apparent extent of her lead, despite Labour’s fall to third place in most opinion polls. If Labour is still in power on Friday, the entire voting system will be in the dock.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Pensioner’s Red, White, And Blue Anti-MP Election Protest Poster is Branded ‘Racist’ By Police
A pensioner who put up a red, white and blue election poster telling voters to kick out MPs was accused of racism by police.
After being inundated by canvassing politcians, Roy Newman, 74, decided to tell other voters: ‘GET THE LOT OUT.’
But 90 minutes after he put up the homemade sign up in an upstairs room at his house, two police officers arrived and threatened with arrest.
They said the Union Jack-coloured lettering on a white background could be considered ‘racist’.
He was told there had been a single complaint and he was ordered to remove it or change it otherwise he would end up in court .
But the former Tory councillor, from North Anston, near Rotherham, South Yorkshire, said police had misunderstood his message.
He said : ‘My sign is up there because the MPs and council leadership we have in place at the moment are a load of rubbish and I want them out, nothing more.
‘The police told me that due to the fact that the words were written in red and blue and the background was white, my sign had racist connotations.
‘What a load or rubbish — it certainly wasn’t my intention to come across as racist. I’m not racist.’
And the furious pensioner , chairman of his local history society and a former Samaritan , slammed police for wasting their time.
He said : ‘Three years ago vandals put a brick through my window and when I called the police all they offered me was a crime reference number.
‘Put up a poster and a police car with two uniformed officers arrives quick as a flash — it’s unbelievable.’
In the end, under protest Roy altered the colour of some letters to yellow, but refused to change the words.
A spokeswoman for South Yorkshire Police said : ‘Officers responded to a call from a complainant who had seen the sign and interpreted it as being racist.
‘Given this sign was displayed publicly and seemed to be causing offence we did see fit to attend the address.
‘Officers spoke to Mr Newman and were told that his words referred to councillors and MPs. WE advised him that the wording could be changed to make that fact more clear.
‘Following the officers’ visit the complainant was contacted by us and the meaning of the sign was explained . They said that they were no longer offended and were happy to let the matter rest.
‘It is unlikely that any further action will be taken.’
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Postal Passport to Ballot Frauds: A Farce That Shames Our Democracy
The integrity of our voting system used to be taken for granted. Whatever their allegiance, voters could have absolute faith in the outcome of a General Election.
But, like so many other British traditions, the credibility of our democracy has been badly weakened during the last 13 years of Labour rule.
Thanks to the introduction of mass postal voting on demand, the stench of malpractice now hangs over the process, whether it be through serial abuses on the electoral roll or widespread fraud in the casting of postal votes.
With the result of the General Election so uncertain and the gap between the three main parties so narrow, the potential for corruption is deeply worrying.
This Thursday postal voting will play a far bigger role than in any previous contest, with more than seven million people having registered for a postal ballot.
In the last month alone, there were 150,000 applications and, in some areas, the number of registrations for postal votes has increased by 200 per cent compared with the 2005 election.
Yet, unlike voting at a polling station, the postal process is easily open to manipulation by political parties and criminals because no proper checks are made on the electors’ identities.
The same problem applies to the electoral roll, where names are added or removed without effective investigation, a flaw compounded by the phenomenal demographic upheaval caused by mass immigration.
With an annual inflow running at over 500,000 and emigration by Britons reaching almost 400,000 a year, electoral registers have increasingly turned into little more than works of fiction.
The Government and its agencies have been celebrating the recent surge in registrations and postal vote applications as evidence of a new enthusiasm for politics amongst the electorate, due partly to the TV debates.
The reality is that it has undermined the whole democratic process.
A study by the Council of Europe in 2008 stated that ‘the voting system in Great Britain is open to electoral fraud’, since it was ‘childishly simple’ to register bogus voters, while ‘postal voting provides the anonymity to carry out fraud without detection’.
Particularly disturbing is the position in the crucial marginal seats that will decide the outcome of election.
Here, in a desperate drive to boost support, all the major parties have been making intensive efforts to increase registration and postal voting.
[…]
In the Birmingham local elections of 2004, six Muslim men stole thousands of ballot papers and marked them for Labour candidates. The Election Commissioner, Richard Mawrey QC, said at their trial that the contest ‘would have disgraced a banana republic’.
Yet the problem remains as bad as ever. A BBC report last week found that Asian activists are targeting British Pakistanis who have relocated in their thousands to the Pakistan district of Maipur.
The activists are going door to door asking any who are still eligible for a British vote to sign over their entitlement to a proxy or postal vote.
As a result, it is claimed that many have signed forms for this week’s elections, without knowing who they are voting for.
This is a farce that shames democracy. But Labour, desperate to cling on to power, does not care about rebuilding trust. Partisan gain is all that matters.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Tax Chat Could Land You a £5,000 Fine: Big Brother Law Threatens Innocent Advice
Anybody who advises a friend to take out an Isa or gives them a similar tax-saving tip risks a £5,000 fine, experts warned yesterday.
They attacked proposed ‘Big Brother’ powers for HM Revenue and Customs which could ensnare those simply trying to help a friend, relative or colleague to cut their tax bill.
Innocent victims could include a person who mentions to a friend in the pub that an Isa is a way of saving £10,200 a year tax-free.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Woman, 40, Dies of Heart Attack After Two GPs Said ‘Take Painkillers for Your Chest Pains’
Two GPs who prescribed painkillers to a 40-year-old woman with chest pains have been criticised after she died of a heart attack within two hours of leaving their surgery.
Doctors Richard Waldon and James Holmes both failed to provide an ‘acceptable and reasonable standard of care’ to social worker Monica Hicks, an inquest was told.
They missed opportunities to save her life by having her immediately admitted to hospital by 999 ambulance when she consulted them with chest and shoulder pain, said Gloucestershire coroner Alan Crickmore.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Yob Wins Right to Wear Trousers That Show His Underpants After Judge Said Asbo Ruling Would ‘Breach Human Rights’
A teenager has struck a victory for young thugs after an order to stop him wearing low-slung trousers and a hooded top was scrapped because it breached his ‘human rights’.
Violent offender and drug user Ellis Drummond, 18, was facing a ban on the clothing worn by many young people because he was considered to be using it in an intimidatory manner.
Critics said today the decision amounted to the human rights of the criminal being put above the human rights of innocent people.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bosnia: Security Tight as Serbs and Muslims Mark Wartime Massacre
Sarajevo, 3 May (AKI ) — Busloads of Serbs arrived in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, on Monday on the eighteenth anniversary of a massacre in now-predominately Muslim city at the start of Bosnia’s bloody 1992-1995 war. Amid fears of violence, police cordons kept Serbs and Muslims apart and no incidents were reported amid tight security.
About 150 Serbs arrived by bus to the centre of Sarajevo, to pay tribute to 42 soldiers of the former Yugoslav Army, who were killed on 3 May 1992 while withdrawing from Sarajevo at the beginning of the Bosnian war.
Members of families of the slain soldiers laid flowers and lit candles at the site of the massacre, before leaving the city under police escort.
“They killed our children and no one was held responsible,” said Bogdana Tomovic, whose 18-year old son was killed in the attack.
“We want justice for the crime against soldiers who were peacefully withdrawing from Sarajevo,” she told media.
Meanwhile, paramilitary Muslim “green beret” veterans decided to hold their own gathering only a short distance away, to pay tribute to the “defenders of Sarajevo” from what they called “Serbian aggression”.
In the Sarajevo massacre, the withdrawing Serb army column was ambushed on Dobrovoljacka Street by the “green berets”, who killed 42, wounded 51 and took over 200 soldiers prisoner, despite an agreement ensuring them safe passage.
The families of the Serb victims this year decided for the first time to mark the anniversary of the Dobrovoljacka Street massacre. Police allowed the gathering to go ahead, but local Muslim authorities complained it was a “provocation”.
Sarajevo City council and Muslim mayor Alija Behmen had called for a ban on the Serb meeting.
Only a few thousand Serbs still live in Sarajevo. Before the Bosnian war, Sarajevo was a multi-ethnic city with about 160,000 Serbs.
Serbia issued arrest warrants last year for 19 wartime Bosnian officials, blaming them for the attack on the army column.
Wartime member of Bosnian state presidency Ejup Ganic was arrested on a Serbian warrant in London on 1 March.
He was later released on 300,000 euros bail, but was ordered to stay in Britain until the court issues a final ruling on his extradition to Serbia on 13 July.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Macedonia: Ethnic Group Warns of Violent Attacks
Skopje, 3 May (AKI) — An ethnic Albanian paramilitary group, called the National Liberation Army (ONA) has threatened to carry out attacks in areas of Macedonia populated by ethnic Albanians, local media reported on Monday. The ONA started a rebellion in 2001, demanding more rights and territorial autonomy for ethnic Albanians in the former Yugoslav republic.
The dispute was settled by the Ohrid peace agreement with the help of the international community, as most ethnic Albanians’ demands were met.
The ONA has been officially dismantled, but has claimed credit for several armed incidents over the past years.
On Sunday, it sent a message to Skopje television station, Alsat-M, which broadcasts in Albanian and Macedonian, saying it would carry out attacks. The threat coincided with the ninth anniversary of the 2001 rebellion.
“We will continue action in all parts of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia populated by ethnic Albanians,” the message said.
Ethnic Albanians make up about 25 per cent of Macedonia’s population of two million people and inhabit mostly western part of the country, bordering Albania.
Last week, Macedonian police clashed with an armed group in northern village of Blace on the border with Kosovo.
Police discovered a large cache of weapons and ONA military uniforms in several locations near Blace.
Kosovo police last week arrested seven people after discovering an arsenal of weapons in the town of Kacanik, bordering Macedonia.
Macedonian police spokesman Ivo Kotevski told the media the weapons belonged to “extremist groups which represent a threat not only to Macedonia, but to the entire region”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Slovenia-Croatia: June 6 Border Referendum in Ljubljana
(ANSAmed) — LJUBLJANA, MAY 4 — The Slovenian parliament has decided to call a referendum on the agreement reached with Croatia last autumn in which the two countries outlined ways to settle the dispute over the maritime border in the northern Adriatic, an issue that has caused tension between the two ex-Yugoslav republics for twenty years. The referendum, which was favoured by the Prime Minister Borut Pahor’s centre-left government, was approved yesterday by 78 out of 82 MPs in the Ljubljana parliament and will take place on June 6. Slovenia’s political parties are divided about the agreement, which stipulates the creation of a panel of international arbiters asked to trace the border. The government and ruling coalition believe that the formula of “ensuring a link between Slovenia and international waters” that figures in the text guarantees its future status as a maritime country and free access to the open sea in the Gulf of Trieste. The opposition, on the other hand, is strongly against the agreement, because “with such arbitration, Slovenia will not be able to obtain territorial contiguity with the open sea,” as Janez Jansa, the centre-right leader and former Prime Minister put it. Jansa has called for Pahor to stand down if citizens turn down the agreement he reached last September with Croatia’s Prime Minister, Jadranka Kosor. A rejection would also have serious consequences for Croatia, with Ljubljana agreeing to resume talks over Zagreb’s admission to the EU — that were frozen for the whole of 2009 by a Slovenian veto — only after the agreement is reached. Croatia ratified the agreement last December. The latest figures show that support for the agreement is waning, despite still representing a relative majority. According to preferences expressed in an opinion poll published by the daily newspaper Delo, Slovenians inclined to vote have fallen from 50% to 46% in the last ten days. Many are still undecided, however, while around 35% are against the proposals. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt-Italy: Hussein (Coppem), Italy Arab World’s Best Friend
(ANSAmed) — ROME, MAY 4 — “Italians are the Arab world’s best friends”, said Adly Hussein, governor of Qalyubiya (north of Cairo) and Vice President of the Standing Committee of Euro Mediterranean Partnership of Local and Regional Authorities (COPPEM), who spoke today in Rome during a meeting organised at the Italian Section of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (AICCRE). “Italy really wants peace in the Middle East and in the Mediterranean Area”. Rome, the Egyptian governor continued, “really wants to find a just solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict”. The Israeli-Palestinian question is certainly an obstacle in the progress of the Euro-Mediterranean process, but the COPPEM and the Union for the Mediterranean, Hussein added, “must go ahead and focus on concrete problems, like poverty. A problem that some Mediterranean countries are facing”. “Italy and Egypt have been friends for a long time, and work together in many sectors” Hussein underlined. “Soon people in Qalyubiya will speak Italian” he concluded, mentioning cooperation in the field of education between the countries. “An agreement on teaching the Italian language in the governorate is close”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Algeria: Human Rights Watch Denounces Press Repression
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, MAY 4 — The Algerian police yesterday nipped a demonstration in front of State television in the bud. The protest had been organised to ask for press freedom. Four of the organisers were detained for several hours, three of them journalists. The organisation Human Rights Watch has asked the Algerian regime to end the repression of demonstrations in the capital. The organisation reports that the demonstration was launched on Facebook, to protest against “the regression of civil liberties, freedom of press in particular”, and to ask “for an end of the control over the public media so that they can carry out their public service as they should”. The message also asked for pluralism in the media, through the creation of new channels and stations “representing the Algerians and reflecting the country’s social and political reality”. The appeal, which describes Algerian television as “a propaganda machine at the service of President Bouteflika”, was put online last week, in time to be intercepted by the security services. When the four organisers arrived at the television station in Algiers, they found checkpoints, blocked roads and many policemen. As soon as they took out their banners they were taken to the police station. Those who wanted to participate in the demonstration decided to turn back. Based on the state of emergency that has been in force since 1992, demonstrations “that can disturb public order and tranquillity” are prohibited in Algeria. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Internet: + 18%: Morocco Second in Arab World
(ANSAmed) — RABAT, MAY 4 — With a growth of 18%, Morocco in 2009 reached second place regarding the number of internet users, MAP news agency writes quoting a Google survey. Egypt is first with 20%, Saudi Arabia third with +17%. The number of internet users in the Arab World has increased from 16 million in 2004 to 56 million in 2010, +228%. The number of personal computers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has reached 26 million, against 11 million in 2004. The company Advanced Datanetwork Communication expects that in 2010 the Arab Region will see its expenditure on information technology and communication increase more than the rest of the world: +12%, against an average of 4%. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Gaza: Israeli Fire Stops ‘Infiltrated’
(ANSAmed) — GAZA, MAY 4 — Today’s attempt of two Palestinians who were deported in the past days to the Gaza Strip to return to Israel via the Eretz border post failed due to fire from Israeli border troops. The incident, eyewitnesses report, took place in the late morning. The two, after ignoring several warnings, were halted by a barrage of projectiles in which nobody was injured. Both were expelled in April to the Gaza Strip, separating them from their families, on the basis of new Israeli military orders regarding the so-called ‘infiltrated’: Palestinians who live in the West Bank or in Arab-Israeli communities and who have documents that are not accepted by Israel (or that are no longer valid). The Palestinian authorities and some Israeli peace movements have denounced these orders as being arbitrary. In another incident that took place at another point of the Gaza Strip’s border, Israeli units made a short raid today using eight armoured vehicles covered by a helicopter. During this raid they razed the ruins of a building that had been used as a mosque to the ground. The location, close to a disused airport, was apparently considered to be a possible hideout for snipers. The blitz was carried out without firing any shots.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Israel Says Hezbollah Missile Buildup Accelerating
JERUSALEM (AFP) — Syria’s government routinely ships weapons to Lebanon’s Shiite militia Hezbollah in an operation that goes well beyond sporadic smuggling, a top Israeli intelligence officer said on Tuesday.
The head of the military intelligence research department, Brigadier General Yossi Baidatz, told a parliamentary committee that Hezbollah’s arsenal included thousands of rockets of all ranges and types, some solid-fuelled.
Baidatz did not specifically name the long-range Scud missiles which Israeli President Shimon Peres has accused Hezbollah of stockpiling, but appeared to allude to Peres’ warnings.
“The shipments of long-range missiles which have been reported recently are only the tip of the iceberg,” Baidatz told the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee.
“Syria has a significant role in the growing strength of Hezbollah’s rocket arsenal,” he said. “Weapons are sent to Hezbollah from Syria on a regular basis under the direction of the Syrian and Iranian regimes.”
Hezbollah has not confirmed or denied the Scud allegations, saying only that it has the right to possess any weapon it chooses.
On Monday, President Barack Obama renewed US sanctions on Syria for a year, accusing Damascus of supporting “terrorist” groups and pursuing missile programs and weapons of mass destruction.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad last week about the risks of sparking a regional war if he supplied long-range Scud missiles to Hezbollah.
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
Negotiations: Israel Says Abbas Preparing for Failure
(ANSAmed) — JERUSALEM, MAY 4 — “PNA President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) is laying the groundwork for failed negotiations in order to expose, in his opinion, Israel’s ‘true face’, said Yossi Baidatz, an Israeli intelligence official, speaking to the parliamentary committee for foreign affairs and defence. His assessment was made the day before the start of proximity talks between Israel and the PNA, mediated by U.S. envoy George Mitchell, who returned to the region yesterday. “Mahmoud Abbas”, continued Baidatz, “is interested in an agreement with Israel, but his degree of flexibility on fundamental issues is very limited. We do not detect any real attempt to be flexible in Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) and he will return to negotiations with the same positions shown to the previous Israeli government”. Regarding the Iranian nuclear threat, Baidatz expressed certainty that “at this point everything depends on Tehran’s decision on whether to produce an atomic bomb or not”. In the past, the Iranians had to overcome technological obstacles, while now, he insisted, “everything depends on their independent decision”. Finally, referring to Syria supplying missiles to Lebanese Hezbollah, Baidatz specified that now Hassan Nasrallah’s militia is equipped with an arsenal of thousands of rockets “of all types and ranges, including long range and highly precise solid-fuel missiles”. But in this phase, in Baidatz’s view, Nasrallah does not intend to start a conflict. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Palestine Betrayed: Book Review by Daniel Pipes
Nakba, the Arabic word for “catastrophe,” has entered the English language in reference to the Arab — Israeli conflict. As defined by the anti-Israel website The Electronic Intifada, Nakba means “the expulsion and dispossession of hundreds of thousands [of] Palestinians from their homes and land in 1948.”
Those who wish Israel to disappear actively promote the Nakba narrative. For example, Nakba Day serves as a mournful Palestinian counterpart to Israel’s Independence Day festivities, annually publicizing Israel’s alleged sins. So established has this day become that Ban Ki-moon, secretary general of the United Nations — the very institution that created the State of Israel — has sent his support to “the Palestinian people on Nakba Day.” Even Neve Shalom, a Jewish-Palestinian community in Israel claiming to be “engaged in educational work for peace, equality, and understanding between the two peoples,” dutifully commemorates Nakba Day.
The Nakba ideology presents Palestinians as victims without choices and therefore without responsibility for the ills that befell them. It blames Israel alone for the Palestinian-refugee problem. This view has an intuitive appeal, for Muslim and Christian Palestinians had long formed a majority on the land that became Israel, whereas most Jews were relative newcomers.
Intuitive sense, however, does not equal historical accuracy. In his new tour de force, Palestine Betrayed, Efraim Karsh of the University of London offers the latter. With his customary in-depth archival research — in this case, relying on masses of recently declassified documents from the period of British rule and of the first Arab — Israeli war, 1917 — 49 — clear presentation, and meticulous historical sensibility, Karsh argues the opposite case: that Palestinians decided their own destiny and bear near-total responsibility for becoming refugees.
In Karsh’s words: “Far from being the hapless victims of a predatory Zionist assault, it was Palestinian Arab leaders who, from the early 1920s onward, and very much against the wishes of their own constituents, launched a relentless campaign to obliterate the Jewish national revival which culminated in the violent attempt to abort the U.N. partition resolution.” More broadly, he observes, “there was nothing inevitable about the Palestinian — Jewish confrontation, let alone the Arab — Israeli conflict.”
Yet more counterintuitively, Karsh shows that his understanding was the conventional, indeed the undisputed interpretation in the late 1940s. Only with the passage of time did “Palestinians and their Western supporters gradually rewr[i]te their national narrative,” thereby making Israel into the unique culprit, the one excoriated in the United Nations, university classrooms, and editorials.
Karsh successfully makes his case by establishing two main points: that (1) the Jewish-Zionist-Israeli side perpetually sought to find a compromise while the Palestinian-Arab-Muslim side rejected nearly all deals; and (2) Arab intransigence and violence caused the self-inflicted “catastrophe.”
[Comments from JD: review continues at url above.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Rebel Against Orthodox, Tel Aviv Mayor Storm
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, MAY 3 — The mayor of Tel Aviv, the socialist Ron Huldai, has caused a political storm by calling for lay sectors in Israel to “rebel” against Orthodox Jews who, he says, are a growing burden on the general public. There was an immediate response from the confessional parties, who thundered against his outburst, saying it was “imbued with racism” and should therefore be discarded and scorned. The controversy began with a report published recently by the research institute TAUB which said that the least productive sectors in Israel — Arab and Orthodox sectors — are undergoing significant demographic growth. The report found that one in three Arab adults does not work, while 65% of Orthodox adults have no productive occupation and live off social benefits. The Israeli economy, according to the TAUB institute, cannot carry this burden any longer and must help Arabs and Orthodox enter en masse into the working world, even with an immediate improvement in school structures. But Orthodox rabbis, the institute says, continue to refuse to teach disciples “lay” subjects (such as mathematics, science, civil education, history, English) and “condemn them to creating a new generation of unemployed”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
What Do the New Israel-Palestinian Indirect Talks Mean?
by Barry Rubin
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The question of the day is whether the Israel-Palestinian Authority (PA) indirect talks will make progress in the “peace process” or result in failure. One wonders at this point how many naive people believe that peace is at hand, and how many misled people think that the lack of peace is Israel’s fault.
What is needed to understand the issue is precisely what is not presented by policymakers, academics, and all-too-much of the mass media: The PA neither wants nor is capable of delivering a compromise peace agreement.
Radicalism within its ranks, in public opinion, and the ever-present challenge from Hamas ties the hands of leaders who are not so moderate themselves.
Belief that if they continue the struggle or keep saying “no” or subvert Western support for Israel they will get everything they want without giving up much is too tempting.
But can these specific talks at this specific time bring progress or failure?
Depends on what you mean by “progress”; depends on what you mean by “failure.”
If one believes there will be a comprehensive peace agreement, then the result will be failure because the PA didn’t want a comprehensive agreement to begin with, and both internal politics and intoxication in believing the Obama Administration will give them what they want is going to result in even more intransigence…
| — Hat tip: Barry Rubin | [Return to headlines] |
Closer Ties Between Turkey and Syria
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, MAY 4 — Political, economic and commercial relations between Turkey and Syria intensified in 2009, the year in which trade totalled 1.8 billion dollars with a 1.1 billion dollar surplus for Turkey (Turkish exports to Syria increased by 27.8% to USD 1.4 billion). During the first quarter of this year, the Turkish press reports quoting sources of the Undersecretaryship for Foreign Trade, trade totalled USD 536 million (+124.2% ‘10/’09) with a surplus for Turkey of 300 million. The same sources stress that more than 250 Turkish companies are active in Syria with an invested capital of more than USD 700 million. The most interesting sectors for Turkish investors are the textile industry, hotels and shopping centres. A Turkish-Syrian split-capital bank will soon be constituted, and the abolition of visas by the two countries is generating a growing flow of people visiting the provinces closest to the border (for tourism and business), like Gaziantep, Sanliurfa and Mardin in Turkey and Aleppo in Syria. Other interesting sectors, mainly for Turkish companies, are the railway sector, waste processing and infrastructures in general. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Jordan River Could Run Dry by Next Year, Experts
(ANSAmed) — AMMAN, MAY 4 — Environment experts have called on the international community to work on saving the Jordan River before it runs dry by next year due to industrial use by countries on the banks of the biblical river. During a two day conference that ends today in Amman, around 200 experts from around the world gathered to examine means of rehabilitating the River, which separates Jordan from Palestine and Israel. Amman based environment group, established after peace with Israel revealed that diversion by Israel, Syria and Jordan for domestic and agricultural purposes has turned the river into sewage, fish farm waters, agricultural run-off and saline water from salt springs around the Sea of Galilee. Over the past 80 years the river has lost over 98 percent of its 1.3 billion flow causing a highly degraded ecosystem on the banks and directly affecting the Dead Sea, the natural end of the river. According to a report, Israel diverts most amount of water by 46.47 percent, Syria consumes 25.24 percent, Jordan 23.24 percent and Palestine using only 5.05 percent. Friends of Earth said it has started an ambitious project to channel 400 million cubic metres (mcm) of freshwater into the river on hope of saving the river. Hundreds of thousands of Christians flock to Jordan every year to be baptised in the river, were Jesus Christ is believed to received his baptism. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Military Growing Concerned With Obama’s Afghan Policy
The Obama administration’s plan to begin an Afghanistan withdrawal in 2011 is creating growing friction inside the U.S. military, from the halls of the Pentagon to front-line soldiers who see it as a losing strategy.
Critics of the plan fear that if they speak out, they will be labeled “pariahs” unwilling to back the commander in chief, said one officer who didn’t want to be named. But in private discussions, soldiers who are fighting in Afghanistan, or recently returned from there, questioned whether it is worth the sacrifice and risk for a war without a clear-cut strategy to win.
Retired Army Reserve Maj. Gen. Timothy Haake, who served with the Special Forces, said, “If you’re a commander of Taliban forces, you would use the withdrawal date to rally your troops, saying we may be suffering now but wait 15 months when we’ll have less enemy to fight.”
Haake added, “It plays into … our enemies’ hands and what they think about us that Americans don’t have the staying power, the stomach, that’s required in this type of situation. It’s just the wrong thing to do. No military commander would sanction, support or announce a withdrawal date while hostilities are occurring.”
A former top-ranking Defense Department official also saw the policy as misguided.
“Setting a deadline to get out may have been politically expedient, but it is a military disaster,” he said. “It’s as bad as [former U.S. Secretary of State] Dean Acheson signaling the Communists that we wouldn’t defend South Korea before the North Korean invasion.”
The former defense official said the Obama administration’s policy can’t work. “It is the kind of war that is best fought with a small number of elite troops, not tens of thousands trying to continually take villages, leave, then take them again,” he added.
NATO commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s rules of engagement, which emphasize protecting civilian lives, even if that means putting troops at greater risk, are adding to the anxiety of troops in Afghanistan. That strategy is contradicted by a policy that sets an early withdrawal date, said some soldiers with combat experience in Afghanistan.
“I think McChrystal’s strategy is probably right, it is just not the strategy I want to fight under,” said one officer who recently returned from a combat tour in the Helmand province of Afghanistan.
A Pentagon spokesman declined comment on Afghan policy.
President Obama announced his plan in December to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan by July 2011.
According to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, the withdrawal date set by Obama is only the beginning of a drawdown, marking the time when U.S. and its foreign allies begin to turn over more security to Afghan security forces. Gates recently told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, “It will be the beginning of a process, an inflection point, if you will, of transition for Afghan forces as they begin to assume greater responsibility for security.”
However, a foreign military official currently training Afghan security forces in Afghanistan told the Washington Examiner that “Afghan forces are far from being capable of taking over security themselves, and it may take a lifetime to get them where they need to be because corruption is so prevalent in the system.”
For the troops on the ground, it’s a subject that keeps them awake at night, “wondering if what we’re fighting for will mean something in the end and did all the people who’ve made the ultimate sacrifice die for something,” said one U.S. troop stationed in southern Afghanistan.
“I don’t want to speak out against my commander in chief but we’re out here everyday fighting against an enemy that wants to kill our way of life,” the U.S. troop said in correspondence with the Examiner. “At least that’s what we’ve been told and now we’ve given the Taliban and al Qaeda hope that we’ll be walking out of here. I just don’t understand why he would’ve done that.”
Another U.S. soldier stationed in Afghanistan said that “making the announcement of a withdrawal date was a signal of defeat.”
He added, “It’s not whether we withdraw a little or a lot, but it’s the point we’re making. Once we made it public, the Taliban knew we weren’t going to stick it out, and I think that little bit of hope is all they need to keep going.”
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
Japan Could Put a Human(oid) On the Moon by 2015
A group of engineers in Japan have begun planning a two-legged humanoid robot designed to walk to the surface of the moon, according to Japanese press reports.
“We decided on a human-like robot because it’s more fascinating and stimulating for us,” said association director Hideo Sugimoto to the Daily Yomiuri newspaper. “We’ll make an attractive robot to carry our dreams to the universe.”
The engineers are part of a manufacturing cooperative called Astro-Technology SOHLA, which is based in Osaka Prefecture, a local governing unit in the Kansai region on Honshu — the main island of Japan.
The huge development costs could make it difficult for the group’s plans to materialize, but the association is poised to try. They feel the project could boost Japan’s manufacturing industry by showing the public that small and mid-size companies can have lofty goals and be competitive, the engineers said.
Japan is known for its advanced robot manufacturing technology, and the association stated that it would be able to use its expertise in dealing with radiation and heat to develop a robot that could function on the lunar surface, reported the Daily Yomiuri.
Last year, Astro-Technology SOHLA successfully built a satellite that they named Maido Ichigo. The Daily Yomiuri reported that the association is tentatively naming the human-like robot Maido-kun, in honor of the satellite.
The robot’s estimated cost is approximately 1 billion yen (about $10.6 million U.S.).
The Japanese central government and the Japanese Aerospace Agency (JAXA) are preparing to send a research robot to the moon in 2015, and Astro-Technology SOHLA hopes that their robot design will be able to accompany it on the planned mission.
JAXA had previously considered sending a two-legged robot to the moon, but experts felt that a wheeled robot would encounter less technical issues, and would be more stable to travel on the moon’s sandy surface.
Meanwhile, NASA is already planning to send a human-like robot, called Robonaut 2, to the International Space Station aboard the space shuttle Discovery, set to launch in September. The dexterous robot will be the first human-like robot to become a permanent resident at the space station. The robot consists of a head and torso with two arms and two hands, but no legs.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
White Tourists’ Safety Under Cloud in South Africa
Johannesburg, May 2 (ANI): The safety of white tourists visiting South Africa for the upcoming FIFA World Cup is under a cloud. There are fear that they could be this summer’s easy targets of racial violence and may even lose their lives in the process.
Over 900,000 white people have fled the country since the onset of racial violence, though there are a few who hace decided to stay behind and fight.
Fifty-one-year-old Lita Fourie is one of those who stayed. She maintains a memorial in remembrance of white farmers who have been murdered as a result of racial violence. Over 3,400 crosses stand sepulchrally along a hillside bearing testimony to years of racial slaughter.
Her own parents were brutally murdered by farm-hands and she lives in constant state of fear so much so, that she has even taught her five-year-old son Neels how to use a hunting rifle. She warns tourists to stay away from the world cup extravaganza for the sake of safety.
“I want everyone to know what is really going on, I think FIFA want to keep this quiet. Every day there is a murder, sometimes three a day. We don’t feel safe here. And it is irresponsible of the organisers to play down the risks and dangers to white football fans.” She told News of The World.
Another victim of racial brutality, Sophia Aucamp, echoes Lita’s view, she recognizes that the violence is not just racially motivated, a lot of the time the perpetrators are looking to make a quick buck at the expense of someone’s life.
“Football fans will come with lots of money, cameras and mobile phones and people here won’t give your life a second thought for a nice watch,” she told the paper. “South Africa is not safe for anyone right now. It could turn nasty. FIFA could end up with a very embarrassing situation if fans are murdered.” she concludes forebodingly. (ANI)
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Arizona Law Sparks States’ Rights Revolution
Citizens finally lose patience waiting for Washington to secure border
Editor’s Note: The following report is excerpted from Jerome Corsi’s Red Alert, the premium online newsletter published by the current No. 1 best-selling author, WND staff writer and columnist. Red Alert subscriptions are $99 a year or $9.95 per month for credit card users. Annual subscribers will receive a free autographed copy of “The Late Great USA,” a book about the careful deceptions of a powerful elite who want to undermine our nation’s sovereignty.
Arizona’s new law empowering state and local police to determine a person’s immigration status may mark the beginning of a states’ rights revolution, Jerome Corsi’s Red Alert reports.
“Arizona has finally lost patience waiting for Washington to secure the border with Mexico while the state is overrun with illegal immigrants demanding expensive government-funded social welfare services, including free education of children in Spanish in the public schools and free medical care in the emergency rooms of state hospitals receiving federal aid,” Corsi wrote.
Illegal aliens by the tens of thousands took to the streets this weekend in protest dozens of U.S. cities across the nation.
“This time illegal immigrants might be well advised to temper their anger as the mood of America appears to have changed against their cause,” Corsi explained.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Despite Ariz. Law, Illegals Vow to Keep Coming
The line of Mexicans waiting to go shopping in Arizona snakes twice around the sun-drenched plaza, even as politicians nearby slap stickers on cars calling for a boycott of the U.S. state.
And the illegal migrants targeted by a tough new Arizona law dismiss it as just another obstacle that pales in comparison to the extortion, arrests and kidnappings they already risk to reach U.S. soil. They vow to keep on coming.
[…]
“I’ll return to Arizona because I know a lot of people there, and I’ll go where people will give me work, law or no law,” said Nicasio Benitez, who worked in landscaping there until he was deported last week after being caught in a car with a cracked windshield.
He said he would visit family in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz before heading back to the border in a month.
“You live under a lot of pressure in Arizona. You have a hard time finding a place to rent, being able to drive,” said Benitez, a father of three teenagers. “But what you make in the U.S. in one day, you make it in Mexico in one week.”
“Life there is awful, but I don’t go to the U.S. because I like living there,” he added. “I go because I like dollars.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
France: More Flexible Rules for Revoking Citizenship
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, MAY 4 — French Immigration Minister Eric Besson is focussing on making state regulations to revoke the nationality of foreign French-naturalised citizens more flexible. In a letter addressed to Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux and reported on Le Figaro website, Besson says that he is willing to study “the possibility of an evolution of our right on this point”, in particular, in case of “offences against the fundamental values of our republic” which are unacceptable and contrary to respecting the republican principles, which are inseparable from gaining French citizenship”. In recent days Hortefeux sent a letter to Besson, asking for “a verification of the conditions” to “revoke” citizenship from Lies Hebbadj, the naturalised French citizen of Algerian origin suspected of polygamy and tax fraud. “Under current laws, the procedure of revoking citizenship seems very difficult to apply to this case,” said Besson, referring to the Hebbadj case. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Mexico’s Illegals Laws Tougher Than Arizona’s
Mexican President Felipe Calderon denounced as “racial discrimination” an Arizona law giving state and local police the authority to arrest suspected illegal immigrants and vowed to use all means at his disposal to defend Mexican nationals against a law he called a “violation of human rights.”
But the legislation, signed April 23 by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, is similar to Reglamento de la Ley General de Poblacion — the General Law on Population enacted in Mexico in April 2000, which mandates that federal, local and municipal police cooperate with federal immigration authorities in that country in the arrests of illegal immigrants.
Under the Mexican law, illegal immigration is a felony, punishable by up to two years in prison. Immigrants who are deported and attempt to re-enter can be imprisoned for 10 years. Visa violators can be sentenced to six-year terms. Mexicans who help illegal immigrants are considered criminals.
The law also says Mexico can deport foreigners who are deemed detrimental to “economic or national interests,” violate Mexican law, are not “physically or mentally healthy” or lack the “necessary funds for their sustenance” and for their dependents.
“This sounds like the kind of law that a rational nation would have to protect itself against illegal immigrants — that would stop and punish the very people who are violating the law,” said Rep. Steve King of Iowa, ranking Republican on the House Judiciary subcommittee on immigration, citizenship, refugees, border security and international law.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Thou Shalt Not Pray: Atheists’ Bid to Ban Prayers Before Council Meetings — Because They Breach ‘Human Rights’ Of Non-Believers
Militant atheists are trying to ban the age-old tradition of councils starting their meetings with Christian prayers by claiming it infringes the ‘human rights’ of non-believers.
The National Secular Society has instructed lawyers to take a town council in North Devon to court for a judicial review of the practice.
If the test case succeeds, Christian prayers — or those of any faith — would become illegal at thousands of councils.
Religious groups called the legal move an attack by ‘aggressive atheists’ on Britain’s Christian heritage, while one mayor described it as ‘religiously correct madness’.
It follows a succession of judicial rulings seen as undermining the Christian faith.
Last week Lord Justice Laws ruled that the sacking of a Christian relationship counsellor who refused to counsel homosexual couples on religious grounds was lawful because religious views cannot be protected by law.
And yesterday the Daily Mail told how preacher Dale Mcalpine was held in a cell for seven hours and charged a public order offence after telling a gay police community support officer that homosexuality was a sin.
The vast majority of councils choose to start meetings with Christian prayers. A handful begin with those of other faiths.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Extremist Muslims and Their Totalitarian Cousins
Radical Islam revealed itself to the world on Sept. 11, 2001, the date in which 19 Islamic extremists killed themselves in their successful quest to kill as many innocent Americans as possible. This radical element continues to manifest itself with an attempted car bombing in Times Square, an underwear bomber, a mass murderer at Fort Hood and numerous other examples around the world. Yet the problem faced by the Western democracies and moderate Islamic states today does not entirely reside with radical Islam.
To understand the nature of the immoral enemy confronting the free world today, we need to open up the lens and acknowledge that radical Islam has resonated, historically and presently, with the two great socialist movements of the 20th century, Nazism and Communism, and that those two movements were entirely Western and European in their origin. Like radical Islam, Nazism and Communism sought, as their ultimate goal, world conquest and a one-world utopian government under their respective alleged enlightened rule. All three movements, Nazism, Communism and radical Islam, advanced the cause of the totalitarian state ruled by a strong leader controlling all aspects of the lives of citizens. The Nazis called this the Furherprincip, the Communists called it the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, and the radical Islamists call it the Caliphate.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Wins Seat on UN Commission on Status of Women
TEHRAN — Iran has won a four-year seat on the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, an influential body committed to promoting gender equality.
At a meeting at UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday, Iran was elected, through a vote of acclamation, as a member on the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).
Iran’s election to the commission came Just days after Iran announced it withdrew from a high-profile bid for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council.
When its term begins in 2011, Iran will be joined by 10 other countries namely Belgium, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Estonia, Georgia, Jamaica, Liberia, the Netherlands, Spain, Thailand and Zimbabwe to help set UN policy on gender equality and advancement of women.
The CSW, a functional commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), is tasked with setting global standards and policies to promote gender equality, monitoring the implementation of measures for advancement of women, appraising progress made at the national, sub-regional, regional and global levels, and conducting review of cases of women rights violation across the globe
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
U.N. Elects Iran to Commission on Women’s Rights
Without fanfare, the United Nations this week elected Iran to its Commission on the Status of Women, handing a four-year seat on the influential human rights body to a theocratic state in which stoning is enshrined in law and lashings are required for women judged “immodest.”
NEW YORK — Without fanfare, the United Nations this week elected Iran to its Commission on the Status of Women, handing a four-year seat on the influential human rights body to a theocratic state in which stoning is enshrined in law and lashings are required for women judged “immodest.”
Just days after Iran abandoned a high-profile bid for a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council, it began a covert campaign to claim a seat on the Commission on the Status of Women, which is “dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women,” according to its website.
Buried 2,000 words deep in a U.N. press release distributed Wednesday on the filling of “vacancies in subsidiary bodies,” was the stark announcement: Iran, along with representatives from 10 other nations, was “elected by acclamation,” meaning that no open vote was requested or required by any member states — including the United States. FOXNews.com learned of the press release only after being alerted to it by Anne Bayefsky director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust.
The U.S. currently holds one of the 45 seats on the body, a position set to expire in 2012. The U.S. Mission to the U.N. did not return requests for comment on whether it actively opposed elevating Iran to the women’s commission.
Iran’s election comes just a week after one of its senior clerics declared that women who wear revealing clothing are to blame for earthquakes, a statement that created an international uproar — but little affected their bid to become an international arbiter of women’s rights.
“Many women who do not dress modestly … lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which (consequently) increases earthquakes,” said the respected cleric, Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi.
As word of Iran’s intention to join the women’s commission came out, a group of Iranian activists circulated a petition to the U.N. asking that member states oppose its election.
“Iran’s discriminatory laws demonstrate that the Islamic Republic does not believe in gender equality,” reads the letter, signed by 214 activists and endorsed by over a dozen human rights bodies.
The letter draws a dark picture of the status of women in Iran: “women lack the ability to choose their husbands, have no independent right to education after marriage, no right to divorce, no right to child custody, have no protection from violent treatment in public spaces, are restricted by quotas for women’s admission at universities, and are arrested, beaten, and imprisoned for peacefully seeking change of such laws.”
The Commission on the Status of Women is supposed to conduct review of nations that violate women’s rights, issue reports detailing their failings, and monitor their success in improving women’s equality.
Yet critics of Iran’s human rights record say the country has taken “every conceivable step” to deter women’s equality.
“In the past year, it has arrested and jailed mothers of peaceful civil rights protesters,” wrote three prominent democracy and human rights activists in an op-ed published online Tuesday by Foreign Policy Magazine.
“It has charged women who were seeking equality in the social sphere — as wives, daughters and mothers — with threatening national security, subjecting many to hours of harrowing interrogation. Its prison guards have beaten, tortured, sexually assaulted and raped female and male civil rights protesters.”
Iran’s elevation to the commission comes as a black eye just days after the U.S. helped lead a successful effort to keep Iran off the Human Rights Council, which is already dominated by nations that are judged by human rights advocates as chronic violators of essential freedoms. The current membership of the women’s commission is little different.
Though it touts itself as “the principal global policy-making body” on women’s rights, the makeup of the commission is mostly determined by geography and its membership is a hodge-podge of some human rights advocates (including the U.S., Japan, and Germany) and other nations with stark histories of rights violations.
The number of seats on the commission is based on the number of countries in a region, no matter how small their populations or how scant their respect for rights. The commission is currently made up of 13 members from Africa, 11 from Asia, nine from Latin America and the Caribbean, eight from Western Europe and North America, and four from Eastern Europe.
During this round of “elections,” which were not competitive and in which no real votes were cast, two seats opened up for the Asian bloc for the 2011-2015 period. Only two nations put forward candidates to fill empty spots — Iran and Thailand. As at most such commissions in the U.N., backroom deals determined who would gain new seats at the women’s rights body.
The activists’ letter sent to the U.N. Tuesday argued that it would be better if the Asian countries proffered only one candidate, instead of elevating Iran to the commission.
“We, a group of gender-equality activists, believe that for the sake of women’s rights globally, an empty seat for the Asia group on (the commission) is much preferable to Iran’s membership. We are writing to alert you to the highly negative ramifications of Iran’s membership in this international body.”
A spokeswoman for the U.N.’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs, which oversees the commission, did not return phone calls or e-mails seeking comment.
When its term begins in 2011, Iran will be joined by 10 other countries: Belgium, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Estonia, Georgia, Jamaica, Iran, Liberia, the Netherlands, Spain, Thailand and Zimbabwe.
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
2 comments:
Athens is burning.
3 dead in burning bank.
LINK HERE
Switzerland: Controversial Muslim Group Kept Out of Dialogue
The controversial Islamic Central Council of Switzerland (ICCS) will not be invited to take part in talks between the justice minister and Swiss Muslim groups.
The head of the Migration Office, Alard du Bois-Reymond, met a delegation of the ICCS on Tuesday and said it was “unthinkable in present circumstances” for them to take part in the planned dialogue.
He said the organisation must distance itself explicitly from the stoning of women and give up its demand to create a fatwa council. The ICCS says such a council is needed as a theological authority for dealing with Islamic issues. [emphasis added]
Council = Camel's nose in the tent
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