Dance Lessons in Africa, Jets for Tyrants, Derelict Offices… How EU Wastes Aid Billions
Billions of taxpayers’ cash is being spent on spurious aid projects through the EU, including giving dance lessons to Africans who earn less than 70p a day.
Britons pay £1.4billion towards the EU’s £10billion aid budget, but much of the money is going to corrupt regimes or projects where no checks are made that it is properly spent.
Meanwhile, relatively wealthy Turkey is the EU’s main recipient of aid, raking in £500million a year.
The EU’s Court of Auditors has criticised Brussels for failing to measure the impact of the aid. It said the EU commission randomly selected projects without assessing a country’s needs, and corrupt regimes were getting vast handouts just by filling out paperwork.
In Burkina Faso, where half the population earn less than 70p a day, Belgian instructors are teaching people how to dance through the ‘I Dance Therefore I Am’ project. Organisers say: ‘If its music moves, Africa will also move.’
The EU has given £8.8million to an immigration advisory centre in Mali, which tells people how to find jobs in Europe. The centre has found work for six people in three years.
A medical store built through aid funds in Sierra Leone, to house pharmacists and distribute free drugs, has been left derelict and is used as a urinal.
Hard-line regimes are also getting EU taxpayer funds, allowing their governments to be propped up.
Malawi — which recently outlawed flatulence in public and ruled that gay people could face 14 years’ jail — will get £450million in aid money over five years. Malawi’s president Bingu Mutharika bought a jet shortly after receiving the latest tranche of EU cash.
Uganda is getting £407million over five years. President Yoweri Museni, 67, who fought an election with posters depicting him as Rambo, bought a Gulfstream G550 jet. He has also built a lavish £100million residence while most of his people live in poverty.
Other funds dished out by the EU are swallowed up by bureaucracy and spin doctors. The Tipik Communications Agency in Brussels was given £442,000 for aid campaigns. This included £80,000 to organise an ‘I Fight Poverty’ music contest where entrants were encouraged to ‘join our fight with music’.
International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell said the controversy ‘underlines the reason why we are pressing for strong reforms of the way the EU spends aid’.
He added: ‘The EU’s aid needs to be far more transparent, results-focused and targeted at the poorest people, and we are now working with Brussels to help achieve this.’
A UKIP spokesman said British taxpayers were ‘subsidising French guilt over their colonial past’.
He went on: ‘EU aid money is focused on countries that are former French colonies. When we joined Europe, it was made clear to us that no money would be going to countries with British ties, like India, Bangladesh or Pakistan.’
Chris Heaton-Harris, a Tory MP and former MEP, said: ‘EU aid has always been bedevilled by corruption and waste but lessons have not been learnt. They continue to support questionable projects and corrupt regimes at a time when national governments are tightening their belts.’
Robert Lugolobi, the Uganda director of anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International, said: ‘Throwing money into a highly corrupt system and pretending you are helping citizens is a waste of public resources.’
Britain gives £1.4billion — or 18 per cent — of its protected £7.7billion aid budget to the EU. Think-tank Open Europe scrutinised EU aid spending and warned that the funds were often not going to poor countries.
Stephen Booth, Open Europe’s research director, said: ‘While development aid can have a real impact, the EU’s aid budget suffers from poor accountability, unnecessary bureaucracy and, most critically, less than half the money spent actually goes to the world’s poorest people.
‘Old colonial links and regional proximity, rather than fighting global poverty, continue to determine the destination of most EU aid.’
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Dollar Faces Extinction
The United States greenback has become the biggest speculative bubble in history and will soon go the way of the dinosaurs, warns Swiss financial journalist Myret Zaki.
In her latest book, Zaki says that the euro’s future is much brighter and that attacks against the currency are just a smokescreen aimed at hiding the collapse of the American economy.
“The collapse of the American dollar… is inevitable. The world’s biggest economy is nothing but an illusion. To produce $14,000 billion of nation income, the United States has created over $50,000 billion of debt that costs it $4,000 billion in interest payments each year.”
There can be little doubt about Myret Zaki’s opinion of the American dollar and economy, which she considers technically bankrupt, an opinion she backs up in her new book, La fin du dollar (The end of the dollar).
Over the past few years, she has become one of Switzerland’s best known business journalists, with a book about the UBS debacle in the US and another about tax evasion.
Myret Zaki: I realise that predicting such a huge event when there are no tangible warning signs of a violent crisis may seem all doom and gloom. But I reached those conclusions based on extremely rational and factual criteria.
More and more American authors believe that their country’s monetary policy will lead to such a situation. It is simply impossible that it will happen any other way.
M.Z.: It’s true that it has been announced since the 1970s. But never have so many different factors come together, letting us fear the worst. American debt has reached a record level, the dollar is at a historic low against the Swiss franc and most new American bond issues are being bought by the US Federal Reserve. Other central banks have also been criticising the US, creating a hostile front against American monetary policy.
M.Z.: Everybody has an interest in the US economy staying afloat, so everyone is in denial for the time being. But it won’t last forever. No one will be able to save the Americans. They will have to carry the burden of their bankruptcy alone.
They can expect a very long period of austerity, which has already begun. Forty-five million Americans have already lost their homes, one third of the population is out of the economic system and is not spending, while a number of states are bankrupt. There is nowhere prosperous anymore. Everything is built on debt.
M.Z.: We all like America and we prefer to see the world through pink-tinted lenses. But since the end of the Cold War and the creation of the euro in 1999, an economic war has been going on. A competitive offer of sovereign debt based on a strong currency risks lowering demand for American debt.
The United States cannot afford to stop accumulating debt, because that debt has helped them finance wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and consolidate their leading role in the world. It is a vital need for them.
In 2008, the euro was a currency that was taken very seriously by oil-producing nations, sovereign funds and central banks. It was about to overtake the dollar, something the US wanted to prevent at all costs. The world needs a safe place to offload its excess assets and everything is done to make sure Europe isn’t that place. It was precisely at that moment that speculators began attacking the sovereign debt of some European nations.
M.Z.: Europe is the planet’s biggest economic power and it has a strong reference currency. Unlike the United States, it is also expanding. In Asia, the Chinese yuan will become the reference and China is Europe’s biggest ally.
It has an interest in supporting a strong euro so it can diversify its investments. China also needs an ally within the World Trade Organization and the G20 so it can avoid a re-evaluation of its currency. Today, Europe and China are two gravitational forces that are attracting two former US allies, Britain and Japan.
M.Z.: Its value as a safe haven will keep on growing. If there is a crisis concerning the US sovereign debt, investors will turn in mass towards the franc. The Swiss franc has almost the same status as gold and it isn’t about to lose ground against the dollar.
In a monetary system undergoing change, Switzerland will have to decide which way to jump. I’m not convinced the Swiss franc can survive alone, as its position as a safe haven would be too detrimental to Switzerland’s economy.
Samuel Jaberg, swissinfo.ch
(Adapted from French by Scott Capper)
Dollar decline?
The dollar is considered the standard unit of currency in international markets for commodities such as gold and oil. Some non-US companies dealing in globalized markets also list their prices in dollars.
The dollar is the world’s foremost reserve currency. In addition to holdings by central banks and other institutions, there are many private holdings.
American economist Paul Samuelson and others have warned that overseas demand for dollars allows the United States to maintain persistent trade deficits without causing the value of the currency to depreciate or the flow of trade to readjust.
But Samuelson stated in 2005 that at some uncertain future period these pressures would precipitate a run against the dollar with serious global financial consequences.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
EU: Inflation Rockets, Analysts Tip New Interest Rates Rise
New figures out Friday showed eurozone inflation gaining “alarming” momentum, leaving analysts tipping a sharper rise in interest rates by the European Central Bank.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU: IMF Start Tough Talks With Portugal on Bailout
European and IMF officials kick off tough talks Monday with Portuguese authorities on the scale and the modalities of a massive international bailout expected to involve scores of billions of euros.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘German Self-Righteousness on Trade Has Been Shot Down’
The G-20 has come up with a plan to monitor global imbalances and recommend corrective measures, which is aimed at countries with huge trade surpluses such as China and Germany. But German commentators warn that it has no teeth.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Moody’s Cuts Irish Banks to Junk Status
Rating agency Moody’s has downgraded long-term deposits at Irish banks by two notches to junk status.
This follows last week’s cut by the agency to Ireland’s sovereign debt rating. Today’s move means Bank of Ireland is now rated Ba1 while AIB , EBS and Irish Life & Permanent are rated Ba2.
The outlook on the long-term bank deposit and unguaranteed senior unsecured debt ratings of these institutions is negative, the agency said.
It said the reduction in the level of systemic support embedded in our deposit ratings following the downgrade of the sovereign rating.
Moody’s said there is a high level of uncertainty around whether the government would extend further support to the banking sector if required, beyond the â‚35 billion that has been committed to as part of the EU/IMF support package.
“As a result, Moody’s is no longer incorporating any systemic support in the unguaranteed senior unsecured debt ratings of the domestic Irish banks and these are now placed at the same level as the stand-alone ratings of the banks,” it said.
The agency last week cut the rating on Ireland’s foreign and local currency government bonds by two notches to Baa3 from Baa1, just above junk status.
| — Hat tip: McR | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Credits Default Rate, Highest in Last 16 Years
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, APRIL 18 — The default rate of banking credits in Spain reached 6.19% in February, the highest rate since September 1995, when the figure reached 6.20%, according to figures released today by Spain’s central bank. The default of banks, savings banks, cooperatives and financial credit bodies stood at 6% in January and 5.38% in February 2010. Of the 1.816 billion euros being leant, 112.458 million euros are assets of uncertain collection, 14.2 million euros more than in February 2010. The amount of assets of uncertain collection is double the 63.057 million euros recorded in 2008, the first year of the financial crisis in Spain, and is seven times the 16.251 million in outstanding debts in 2007.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Labour Councils Are ‘Sitting on Billions’ As They Axe Crucial Services
Labour councils are today accused of slashing services while sitting on billions of pounds.
The Government claims many authorities are refusing to touch contingency funds meant to cushion them in difficult financial times.
Local government minister Grant Shapps said some were even increasing their reserves while attacking front-line services.
‘It is totally unacceptable for Labour councils to make political cuts while sitting on cash reserves of billions,’ he said.
‘Sensible financial planning is about putting cash away when the sun is shining so you have some cover during the rainy days. Thanks to Labour’s deficit, it is now pouring.
‘These reserves exist to ensure councils can react to unforeseen situations like clearing up the economic mess left by Labour.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Chuck Norris: Holy Week, Holy Shariah? Part 1
Like most Americans have done since our republic’s inception, this Holy Week millions of us across the country will commemorate the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But what concerns me in America is not only the growing disdain for Christian sentiment but also the increasing spread of Shariah law.
There’s no mystery that radical Islamists intend to use the freedoms in our Constitution to expand the influence of Shariah law. But, still, too many Americans don’t know or understand how it threatens the very fabrics of our republic. So I’ve decided to do a series on how Shariah is seeping into American society.
First, let me categorically state that I’m not an Islamaphobe. I welcome the plurality of religions in America and am a firm believer in the First Amendment. But just as our religious freedom is secured in the Bill of Rights, so is our freedom of speech to share even our religious concerns.
For those who might not know, the Arabic term Shariah literally means “the path to be followed,” denoting its nature as a guide for a blessed life. Shariah is derived from both the Quran (Muslim scriptures) and Sunna (Islamic custom, piety and practice). In short, Shariah is Islamic law, a religious code for living, which is a system of moral, religious, social and civic laws. Shariah details and decrees proper benevolence, prayers, fasting, dress, business practices, marital and relational conduct, sexual offenses, custody, contracts, inheritance, etc.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Frank Gaffney: Enabling the Muslim Brotherhood in America
The Muslim Brotherhood’s mask is slipping in Egypt. Small “d” democrats there and elsewhere are alarmed by top Brotherhood officials who now aver openly what has been utterly predictable: Once in power they will impose shariah — the totalitarian, supremacist politico-military-legal program practiced in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Somalia, Sudan and increasingly elsewhere.
The prospect that the most populous Arab nation — one that sits astride the strategic Suez Canal and has a vast American-supplied arsenal — is heading in such an ominous direction is made all the more remarkable since evidence continues to accumulate that the Obama administration has been enabling the rise of the Ikhwan (as the Muslim Brotherhood, or MB, is known in Arabic)…
| — Hat tip: CSP | [Return to headlines] |
Pak-Born American Gets 23-Year Jail for Assisting Al-Qaeda Terrorists
A Pakistan-born computer engineer has been sentenced to 23 years in prison by a US court after he pleaded guilty to charges that he tried to assist suspected members of al-Qaeda in planning bombings at Metro rail stations in the Washington area.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Taxpayers Paid for Obama Propaganda Campaign, Says Report
Documents from President Barack Obama’s own Department of Health and Human Services detailing the agency’s massive taxpayer-funded multimedia campaign designed to promote the Affordable Health Care Act (also known as Obamacare) and other HHS policy initiatives were obtained yesterday by a Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group devoted to investigating and prosecuting government corruption and abuse.
According to the records obtained by Judicial Watch in response to a March 23, 2011, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, the total cost of the campaign, which targets Obama’s electoral coalition, could reach as much as $200 million.
The HHS documents describe in detail the key to success of the propaganda campaign in the “Statement of Work” accompanying the Acquisition Plan: “Health and program-related messages are processed by the target audience according to a particular reality, which he or she experiences. Attitudes, feelings, values, needs, desires, behaviors and beliefs all play a part in the individual’s decision to accept information and make a behavioral change. It is by understanding the importance of these characteristics that health and program-related messages can be targeted to the beneficiary in effective ways.”
“When it comes to effective propaganda creation, no one — not even Adolph Hitler’s minister of propaganda Dr. Joseph Goebbels — holds a candle to the denizens of Madison Avenue and Hollywood,” said political strategist Mike Baker. “We’re talking about a subtle, almost subliminal kind of propaganda that if discovered is easily defended or used to discredit those who expose it.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Great Education Rip-Off
It has taken a severe recession, combined with rising costs for gas and the weekly grocery list, for Americans to begin to seriously question where their tax dollars are going and why. As individuals, as families, and communities, we can no longer be indifferent or profligate.
The events in Wisconsin where the teacher’s union led to protests against collective bargaining has made many Americans begin to question all those TV ads about what a great job teachers are doing and the reassuring message that it’s all about the kids. No, it’s all about salaries, health benefits, and pensions that far exceed those in the private sector. They Spend WHAT? The Real Cost of Public Schools
A recent Policy Analysis (No. 662) published by the Cato Institute on March 10th and written by Adam Schaeffer is titled “They Spend WHAT? The Real Cost of Public Schools.”
The analysis is based on a review of district budgets and state records for the nation’s five largest metro areas and the District of Columbia. “It reveals that, on average, per-pupil spending in these areas is 44% higher than officially reported.” In other words, taxpayers simply had no idea how big a part of their local and state budget the educational system actually represented. That is deceit on a massive scale.
“Real spending per pupil ranged from a low of nearly $12,000 in the Phoenix area schools to a high of nearly $27,000 in the New York metro area. The gap between real and reported per-pupil spending ranges from a low of 23% in the Chicago area to a high of 90% in the Los Angeles metro region. (Emphasis added)
The educational system has been so thorough degraded with political correctness and idiotic “No Child Left Behind” national testing standards that it is little wonder many school systems have massive, unforgivable dropout rates.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Va. Nuclear Power Plant Shuts Down After Storm
Dominion Virginia Power reports that an apparent tornado touched down on the switchyard supporting the Surry Power Station and the facility’s access road Saturday. The storm cut off the electrical feed from the grid to the station, which is located in Surry County, Va.
Both reactors at the station shut down automatically as designed and backup diesel generators started immediately to provide the electricity necessary to maintain both units.
A spokesperson for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission says no release of radioactive material occurred beyond minor releases associated with normal station operations.
That release is below federally approved operating limits and poses no threat to station workers or the public, the NRC said in a statement released Sunday.
The apparent tornado did not strike the two nuclear units, which are designed to withstand natural events such as tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes.
Power company personnel and NRC staff are working to restore full electrical service to the station.
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
Vt. Yankee Files Lawsuit to Stay Open
Wants to prevent state from shutting it down
BERNARDSTON, Mass. (WWLP) — The owners of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear power plant filed a lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court to prevent the State of Vermont from shutting the plant down.
Vermont Yankee’s current operations license will expire on March 21, 2012. The nuclear regulatory commission has already granted them an extension to operate until 2032; the problem is that state law requires the plant to get approval from the Vermont legislature.
The lawsuit comes after the Governor of Vermont said that he wants to shut the plant down—citing maintenance issues like the collapse of a cooling tower and a leak of radioactive tritium into the groundwater.
Vermont Yankee spokesperson Larry Smith told 22News that the plant passed an exhaustive five-year safety and environmental review, and that the plant is completely safe.
22News talked to Franklin County residents who live on the Vermont state line to see what they thought about Vermont Yankee.
“I fall, as a member of Bernardston, just right in the blast zone. Every Wednesday at 6:00 P.M., they test the siren here in town, and its just another reminder that we’ve got a nuclear power plant right across the border. Especially with what’s happened in Japan and the trouble that they’re having just containing it it makes me a little nervous,” Tommy Byrnes of Bernardston said.
“I think it creates a lot of good jobs for people, but I’d feel safer probably if it wasn’t there,” Timothy Dirth of Winchester, New Hampshire said.
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
“Extremist” Preacher Not as Troublesome as Expected
More than 1,000 show up to hear Bilal Philips speak about Islamophobia
Yesterday’s conference featuring controversial Muslim preacher Bilal Philips drew a standing room only crowd, as well as hundreds of protesters. The speaker’s “extremist” message, however, never materialised.
A horde of demonstrators, including politicians from across the political spectrum, converged outside the Korsgadehallen auditorium in the Nørrebro district to protest Philips’s support for the death penalty for homosexuals, husbands’ right to hit their wives and Sharia laws.
Anticipating trouble, the police had made arrangements to keep the protesters at arm’s length from the venue, and that was apparently enough to avoid any serious confrontations.
Inside, the atmosphere among the audience of around 1,000 people was relaxed, despite one member of the audience standing up to criticise Philips, only to be escorted out of the auditorium.
Philips started his speech with a brief definition of Islamophobia, followed by a criticism of the media and politicians for putting Muslims in a bad light.
“It’s important to give the media a clear picture of what Islam is all about. And we need to make sure we as Muslims do not develop some form of ‘mediaphobia’. We should take advantage of those within the media who have shown themselves to be neutral.”
Citing an example of how Islam and the West could live together, Philips explained that Nordic Vikings were able to sail to North America using shipbuilding techniques learned from the Spanish Moors.
“The Muslims were fully aware that the Vikings were pugnacious, but they did not stigmatise them as terrorists. They helped them. We can learn a lot from that today,” he said.
Commentators seem to agree that Philips’s speech did not reflect the image of the preacher that the media had portrayed leading up to yesterday’s conference.
Less than an hour before the Philips took to the stage, the Islamic Society in Denmark, which had invited him, admitted it had made a mistake by allowing him to speak.
“Seen in light of the pressure we have come under, it is probably fair to say that we regret having invited him,” Imran Shah, the spokesperson for the Islamic Society, said. . “We don’t support Sharia law in Denmark, but that’s an attitude that has been thrust upon us, and that’s something we had not expected.”
According to Shah, the Islamic Society was offered a visit by Philips as guest speaker by the youth department of the Swedish Islamic Society.
“We accepted the offer without looking any further into what views Philips represented,” said Shah.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Adolf Eichmann Trial: Evidence of Nazi Infiltration in West Germany
The scores of documents released by the German secret services on the Adolf Eichmann trial have provided a wealth of information — much of which has made uncomfortable reading for supporters of the old West Germany.
Despite attempts by Germany to “de-Nazify” itself after the war, it has turned out that the BNP, the German secret service, knew the location of Eichmann’s hideaway in Argentina as far back as 1952, a full eight years before his kidnap by Israeli agents.
The documents also revealed that the BNP itself was riddled with old Nazis, employed by the new West German government.
Such was the number of old senior Nazis in West Germany the government became fearful that if, or when, Eichmann went on trial he would point his finger and incriminate leading members of the post-war German establishment.
The fact that the Eichmann trial passed without major embarrassment to Germany, and the fact that some files remain classified, has led some to suspect that West Germany and Israel struck a secret deal under which Bonn provided material support for the Jewish state, in return for it keeping the trial just on Eichmann.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Big Test Looms for British Space Plane Concept
A huge, unmanned British space plane is on pace to start launching payloads into Earth orbit in less than a decade — provided it can pass a crucial engine test in June, its builders say. The Skylon space plane— which would take off and land horizontally, like a commercial jet — is still concept vehicle for now, but it recently passed several rigorous independent design reviews, the British company Reaction Engines Ltd, which is developing the spacecraft, announced Wednesday (April 13). Private funding is lined up to see it through all stages of development, culminating with the start of commercial operations in 2020.That funding, however, is contingent on Skylon hitting some key milestones along the way, and a big one looms just a few months off.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Election Success for the True Finns: Finland’s Right Turn Spells Trouble for Europe
The right-wing populist party True Finns won 19 percent of the vote in Finland on Sunday. The euroskeptic party has said it is opposed to a bailout package for Portugal, which could spell trouble for the euro zone.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Finnish Election Threatens Portugal Rescue
Finnish politics has been transformed with the soaring success of the nationalist right in Sunday’s general election. The True Finns, a staunchly anti-EU and anti-immigration party saw their support skyrocket, from five seats in the last election to 39 on the back of almost a fifth of the country’s voters
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: So Whose Liberty, Equality, Fraternity is Really at Stake?
A week into France’s burka ban and the country is more divided than ever, says Henry Samuel.
Hind Ahmas breaks the law as she steps out of her front gate. There is a quick flash of gold bracelets as her hands disappear into thin black gloves. Now all that is visible through the narrow slit of her black niqab are her pretty brown eyes. The 31-year-old French single mother lives with her three-year-old daughter in a charming Parisian suburb of wisteria-draped, detached houses. This is Aulnay-sous-Bois, just north of the capital but, walking down its neat lanes in the spring sunshine, one could be almost anywhere in provincial France.
It may be less than a mile from poor, high-immigrant housing estates, but all the usual markers of La France profonde are on display, from the local boulangerie to the bar-tabac where regulars sip pre-lunch pastis. Local roads tell a story of Gallic history, from Avenue de la République to Rue Vercingétorix — the closest historical figure France has to Asterix, the plucky cartoon warrior who defends Gaul from the invading Romans. This week France moved to fend off what it views as an attack on Gallic civilisation, not by marauding legionaries but by women clad in face-covering Islamic veils. Hind is a member of this outlawed “burka brigade”. They may not be numerous — figures vary from 367 to 2,000 among a Muslim population of up to six million — but the government claims that these women threaten the French republic to its secular core. On Monday, France barred Muslim women from covering their faces “in public spaces” including shops, museums, public transport, banks and the street. It is the first country in Europe to enact such a ban. Belgium has passed a law but it is not yet in force.
“The Bill Prohibiting Facial Dissimulation in a Public Place” does not single out full Islamic veils. Indeed, it almost farcically tiptoes round the issue by omitting the words “women”, “Muslim” and “veil”. But there is no doubt its main targets are the burka, with its face mesh, and the niqab, with its slit for the eyes. Exceptions have been made for fencing masks, motorcycle helmets and festive face coverings. Zorro and Father Christmas can rest assured.
The price of non-compliance is a €150 fine or French citizenship classes, or both. Anyone who forces a woman to wear a facial veil can be sentenced to one year in jail and fined €30,000. Police unions have warned that the law will be virtually impossible to enforce, and could even spark riots in already sensitive suburbs of Paris, home to many French Muslims. “It’s impossible for police to resolve this problem,” says Philippe Capon, secretary-general of UNSA Police, a leading police union. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s not a priority. Our priority is to fight crime.” Nevertheless, Claude Guéant, the interior minister, promised that the ban would be fully applied, in the name of “secularism and equality between men and women… two principles upon which we cannot compromise”.
Sitting in a quiet park, Hind dismisses all these arguments. “It simply violates my individual freedom, my freedom of thought, of religious expression and practice, and I have absolutely no intention of applying it.” To show her disapproval, she decided to challenge President Nicolas Sarkozy in person on Monday by pitching up to the Elysée Palace in full Islamic attire. “Within minutes, 30 policemen had swarmed around us. One policewoman tried to tear my veil off,” she recounts. She and her companions spent three hours in a police station but were released without a fine or caution. Since Monday, several women have been stopped and at least two cautioned but none has yet received a fine.
The ban has the backing of feminist groups. Ni Putes Ni Soumises (“Neither Whores Nor Submissives”), a women’s rights group founded by a victim of a gang rape in an immigrant suburb, described the full veil as a “walking coffin” and the “ultimate paroxysm of machismo”.
Hind laughs at the suggestion that her attire symbolises subservience to men. “If I wasn’t on such bad terms with him, I’d give you my ex-husband’s number. He would tell you I am under nobody’s thumb,” she chuckles. Raised by “moderate Muslim” parents of Moroccan origin, Hind feels “completely French”. She “made the most of Parisian life” in her twenties, living in her own flat, working and going out in “skirts and high heels”. Then, aged 26, she started feeling dissatisfied. “I happened to have a book about the Prophet and read it all one night.” Then one morning she woke up and decided she wanted to wear the full veil. “I had looked into the life of the wives of the Prophet Muhammad, their way of living, and I was seduced. Then I wanted to resemble them in their clothing, behaviour and piety,” she says.
She may feel “relieved and protected by God”, but the owners of the local bar, Au Gros Peuplier, think she should remove the veil. “I think it’s totally fake to say it’s religious. Religion is not to hide oneself,” says Manuel Laurenco, pulling a beer. “I have plenty of Muslim regulars who say the niqab is daft. [Hind] is a nice girl but I told her the niqab creates a barrier,” says his daughter, Sandrine. “If you have something to say, say it face-to-face.” The Laurencos reflect the vast majority of French opinion; a recent poll suggested 74 per cent of French are for the ban. Supporters say it helps uphold laïcité, a concept loosely translated as “secularism” and enshrined in a landmark 1905 law that prohibits the state from recognising, funding or favouring any religion. State schools are strictly non-faith, and all public bodies must be free of religious influence.
Jean-François Copé, the leader of Mr Sarkozy’s UMP party who led the drive for the bill, described it last week as “one of the bravest laws ever passed in France”. But critics say extending it to the street strays from the spirit of 1905 and tramples on democratic rights. Rachid Nekkaz, a businessman, has promised to set up a €1 million fund to help pay any fines. “I am against the niqab and am for a ban in closed public spaces, but a red line has been crossed: we are the only democracy in the world that forbids you to wear what you like in the street,” he says. Mr Nekkaz was with Hind at the Elysée on Monday and behind another demonstration of 61 people, just two of whom were wearing niqabs, in front of Notre Dame cathedral. He said the police were under orders not to hand out fines. “We are impatient to receive a fine so we can take the case to the European Court of Human Rights, and the government knows that.”
Legal experts say the law has a good chance of being found in breach of Article 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which allows freedom of thought, conscience and religion. The British Government appears to agree. Theresa May, the Home Secretary, this week ruled out a ban because “it would be out of keeping with our nation’s long‒standing record of tolerance”. There are claims that the ban is part of a cynical electoral ploy. Mr Sarkozy, at a record low in poll ratings, has been accused of stigmatising Muslims to win far-Right voters and counter the rise of the Front National. Guéant attracted accusations of Islamophobia by declaring that the “growing” number of Muslims poses “a problem”.
Critics also point to a clumsy “great debate” last year on national identity (since denounced by France’s six major religions as “poisonous”) and a controversial follow-up last week on Islam and secularism. It caused similar ructions within the government as David Cameron’s pronouncements on cutting immigration earlier this week. Muslim leaders said they were against the burka but that “dialogue and education” were better solutions. Gilles Bernheim, France’s chief rabbi, told Le Monde: “It’s difficult to be a Muslim in France. This difficulty is worse today in this unhealthy climate, aggravated by talk that divides rather than unites.”
In a sign that the ban is creating new ideological fault lines, Bernard-Henri Lévy, France’s swashbuckling “warrior philosopher” leapt to its defence. “This is not about the burka, it’s about Voltaire. What is at stake is the Enlightenment of yesterday and today, and the heritage of both,” he wrote in the National Post. “A step backwards, just one, on this front would give the nod to all obscurantism, all fanaticism, all the true thoughts of hatred and violence.” Given the rash of calls to attack France on militant web forums since Monday, he has a point.
But Hind says her choice has nothing to do with fanaticism. “If I want to strut around in a miniskirt, I should be allowed. If I want to put feathers on my back, why not. We have all sorts in this world and are obliged to try to live together.” People are beginning to listen, she insists. “There’s less of the hostility or mocking smiles and more of a look that says: ‘Well done for having the cheek to carry on’.” That, if nothing else, is surely a truly French value.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Industrial Espionage a Growing Threat
The German domestic intelligence agency, or Verfassungsschutz, has warned mid-sized companies to be more vigilant of cyber-attacks, which increased in 2010.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Rapper Turned Islamist Preacher Faces Weapons Charges
Former Berlin rapper Deso Dogg, who quit music to become a radical Islamic preacher, is facing weapons charges after police raided his home and found ammunition.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Judges Ask PM to Provide Evidence or Face Slander Charges
(AGI) Rome — Speaking on TG3, the president of the National Association of Magistrates, Luca Palamara, answered Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s accusations of a conspiracy between Gianfranco Fini and the judges by saying, “Enough, the time has come to say that judges only have an agreement with the law and are subordinate to it.” Palmarola continued, “If there is proof of a plot, he must show it, otherwise we descend into slander.” .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Prosecutors Seeks Subpoeana in Ex-Minister’s Mafia Trial
(AKI) — Naples prosecutors in former junior economy minister Nicola Cosentino’s trial for mafia association said Monday they were seeking a ruling from Italy’s top court on the constitutionality of a parliamentary vote that withheld potential wiretap evidence.
The evidence barred by Italy’s lower house of parliament concerns 46 phone wiretap transcripts from the period 2002 and 2004. Prosecutors also want access to a further 90 transcripts of accidentally recorded phone conversations in 2009 that involve Cosentino.
A Naples court in March ordered Cosentino to stand trial on for association with the Camorra’s powerful Casalesi clan.
Cosentino, a Naples businessman with interests in the waste disposal sector, is currently coordinator of Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s ruling People of Freedom party for the Campania region.
He resigned as a junior economy minister in July 2010 just days before he was set to face a no-confidence vote in parliament called by the opposition.
The Italian parliament in November 2009 barred a request by Naples prosecutors to arrest Cosentino for alleged links with local organised crime figures. He denies all charges against him.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Maroni ‘Confident’ Of Migrant Solution With France
Interior minister says April 26 summit will ease tension
(ANSA) — Rome, April 18 — Italy’s Interior Minister Roberto Maroni is confident that next week’s summit in Rome between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi will ease the current diplomatic crisis over immigration.
“We feel confident that the summit of (April) 26 will amicably resolve issues which should not continue,” Maroni said.
The minister was speaking after France blocked the passage of trains from Italy for seven hours on Sunday to stop North African migrants from entering the country.
Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said the move was “a clear violation” of European principles and asked the Italian ambassador to France to lodge a formal protest.
France has sent a letter to the European Commission in Brussels to explain the action taken by authorities on the French-Italian border on Sunday. Commission spokesman Michele Cercone said it would be evaluated before the commission made any comment about what happened. On a visit to the Romanian capital Bucharest on Monday, French Interior Minister Claude Gueant said France did not want to have any tensions with Rome on the issue of Tunisian migrants.
Italy has angered France by giving temporary resident permits to thousands of Tunisian migrants.
The permits allow them to travel freely in many European countries.
Gueant said that the Italian government’s decision to issue temporary permits “had been disputed by many countries in the European Union” but “we have accepted this measure” with several conditions including “sufficient financial resources.” France-bound train services returned to normal on Monday in the northern town of Ventimiglia, the final Italian stop only eight kilometres from the French border, and there were no reports of any immigrants being sent back by French authorities.
Around 30 Tunisian immigrants returned to Ventimiglia station on Monday to resume their journey after Sunday’s disruption. “I am very angry, I wanted to leave yesterday,” a migrant called Abdel told ANSA. “I was in the queue at the ticket office when the French stopped the trains because of the protest.
“But why protest, we are not doing anything, on the contrary, before the protest we were travelling into France without any problems”.
On Sunday around 300 activists gathered in Ventimiglia to support the migrants and police stopped them from marching towards the border.
Ventimiglia’s migrant centre hosted 150 immigrants overnight, while another 50 slept in the former corridor of the station’s customs department. Maroni is due to meet interior ministers from Malta, Greece, and Cyprus on Tuesday to discuss immigration and a common approach to responding to the issue in the Mediterranean. However, neither France nor Spain will take part in the talks.
The minister said he was optimistic about the accord reached between Italy and Tunisia for the repatriation of Tunisian migrants. “More than 330 Tunisians have already been repatriated from Lampedusa and will continue to repatriate them because we think it is an important deterrent for those who come from Tunisia — that they will be repatriated,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Thyssenkrupp Worker Death Convictions Raise Political Heat
German firm condemns manager’s second-degree murder conviction
(ANSA) — Milan, April 18 — Italy’s Labour Minister Maurizio Sacconi on Monday denied suggestions German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp would leave Italy as a result of a court ruling that condemned six of its managers to long-term jail sentences Friday, sparking furore.
The sentences stemmed from a fire at Turin’s Thyssenkrupp steelworks where seven workers died in 2007.
For the first time in Italy in a workplace death trial, one of the six executives, managing director Harald Espenhahn, was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 16 and a half years in jail.
Four other managers, convicted of manslaughter, received jail sentences of 13 and a half years while a fifth was sentenced to ten years in prison. The court also fined ThyssenKrupp nine and a half million euros, barred the company from advertising its products for a year and excluded it from all tax breaks and subsidies. ThyssenKrupp said in a written statement regarding the Friday ruling, “ThyssenKrupp expresses its deepest sympathies to the families of the victims and once again regrets that such a tragic accident could have occurred at one of its plants…
“An accident of this nature must never be repeated. Dr.
Espenhahn’s conviction in the first instance of ‘second-degree murder’ is incomprehensible for ThyssenKrupp”.
The company would neither confirm nor deny that its management had threatened to pull out of Italy as a result of the ruling — including its plant in Terni, northeast of Rome.
Responding Monday to the reported threat, Labour Minister Sacconi told viewers on morning television show Mattino 5, “I do not believe (the sentences) could have this effect…The prosecution had presented a very strong case”.
“I was (at the ThyssenKrup plant) in Terni,” Sacconi continued. “I felt a positive atmosphere of cohesion in that plant that makes me think that the company will stay to produce special steel (products) in our territory”.
The opposition quickly accused the minister of “cowardice”.
“After the historic sentence on ThyssenKrupp, the company’s heads threatened to abandon Italy, and…Sacconi, instead of reacting toughly, responded as usual in a timid and servile way to the profiteers, comparing a work post to the life of the workers,” declared Maurizio Zipponi, head of work and welfare for the opposition party Italy of Values (Italia dei Valori). In the fire on December 6, 2007, one worker died immediately in the plant’s thermal treatment department.
The other six died of severe burns over the following days and weeks.
The trial stems from an investigation into emergency training and anti-fire equipment at the steelworks.
The industrial conglomerate has denied charges of failing to keep adequate fire-fighting systems in place at the plant.
Relatives of the seven workers reached a compensation agreement with the German multinational in June 2009 for a reported total pay-out of 12.97 million euros.
The plant has remained closed since the fatal accident, and a group of ex-workers who survived the fire filed a civil lawsuit against ThyssenKrupp.
Last week they accused the City of Turin of discrimination, claiming the City helped dozens of ex-colleagues find jobs, but only those who had not joined the lawsuit.
“We workers, who have carried forward with courage and determination a just battle for truth and justice, we are completely abandoned by the institutions of this city,” the workers claimed in a written statement.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Banks Acquitted Over Parmalat
Five majors cleared of market-rigging in 2003 scandal
(ANSA) — Milan, April 18 — Five major international banks and their managers were on Monday cleared of market-rigging in the 2003 fraudulent bankruptcy of multinational food conglomerate Parmalat.
Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, UBS and Citigroup were found not guilty of charges of share-price manipulation and organizing bond issues to cover their own potential losses.
The sentence was greeted with groans from plaintiffs and hugs from defence lawyers.
The trial was one of several stemming from the Parmalat scandal, the biggest financial collapse in European history.
In December, in a separate trial, disgraced Parmalat founder and ex-CEO Calisto Tanzi was handed an 18-year prison sentence and 16 other people received shorter terms.
Tanzi had already been sentenced to 10 years in Milan for market-rigging and feeding false information to stock market regulator Consob.
In Parma, Tanzi and over 50 ex-members of Parmalat management are at the center of two other trials: one focusing on Parmalat’s acquisition of the mineral water company Ciapazzi and the bankruptcy of Parmalat’s tourism division Parmatour; and the second dealing with Parmalat’s 1999 purchase of milk company Eurolat from Cirio, another food giant which went bankrupt.
Tanzi’s defence in both Parma and Milan has always been that he was manipulated by banks which, while aware of the group’s dire finances, forced him to make acquisitions and issue more bonds so they could recover their loans to the multinational.
Parmalat was declared bankrupt in December 2003 after it emerged that four billion euros it supposedly held in an offshore Bank of America account did not in fact exist.
The case then snowballed, eventually leading to Parmalat’s collapse amid debts of some 14.5 billion euros and a fraud scandal which rocked the Italian financial world.
Investigators found that from 1990 until 2002 Parmalat lost money every year except one but nonetheless reported uninterrupted profits and routinely forged documents in order to deceive banks and regulators.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission called the case “one of the largest and most brazen corporate financial frauds in history”.
Parmalat’s bankruptcy — dubbed ‘Europe’s Enron’ — left more than 150,000 investors with virtually worthless bonds.
Parmalat has since been put back on its feet by corporate turnaround expert Enrico Bondi who, first as government-appointed administrator and later as official CEO, shed the group’s non-core activities, cut foreign activities and reduced staff.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Vatican Reporter Calls for Boycott of Moretti Pope Film
‘Habemus Papam’ ranks number one at the box office
(ANSA) — Milan, April 18 — A Vatican reporter for the Italian news agency AGI, Salvatore Izzo, called for a boycott of the box-office hit and Cannes Palme D’Or contender ‘Habemus Papam’, the latest film directed by top filmmaker Nanni Moretti.
The Catholic reporter’s appeal appeared in the Italian bishops’ newspaper Avvenire over the weekend as well as on the blog ‘Friends of Pope Ratzinger’ (Benedict XVI).
“You don’t touch the Pope: he is the Christ’s vicar, the rock upon which Jesus founded his church,” wrote Izzo in an open letter. (For this reason) “let’s make it fail at the box office”.
Izzo also condemned the absence of outcry from the Catholic Church.
“Let’s not trust the Catholic critics, even if they are priests, who absolve (Moretti) with a very curious justification: ‘Moretti could have been even worse’,” wrote Izzo.
He concluded, “We do not need ‘Habemus Papam’“.
The much-anticipated comedy about a newly elected pope who has trouble adjusting to his role shot to number one in box office sales after opening in Italian theaters Friday.
It garnered 227,132 euros in 380 theaters over its debut weekend, compared to 218,000 euros for the second best, the cartoon feature “Rio”.
“I wanted to confront the fragility and inadequacy of this cardinal who is selected as pontiff, but within a comedy,” Moretti told reporters at a presentation of the film in Rome on Thursday.
The film stars Michel Piccoli as a cardinal who, after being elected pope, is plagued by panic attacks and profound psychological crisis that lead him declare his refusal to be pope from his apartment overlooking Saint Peter’s Square.
‘Habemus Papam’ will be among 19 contestants for the Palme D’Or at the 64th Cannes Film Festival May 11-12.
Moretti won the Palme d’Or in 2001 for ‘The Son’s Room’ and Cannes’ Best Director in 1994 for ‘Caro Diario’.
‘Habemus Papam’ echoes to some degree Joseph Ratzinger’s actual initial reaction to being elected pope after the death of Pope John Paul II.
“The fact of finding myself suddenly in from of this immense task was for me, as everyone knows, a real shock. The responsibility was, in fact, enormous,” he said in one of many interviews with German journalist Peter Seewald in a book called ‘Luce del Mondo’, published last November in Italy.
The pontiff recalls in the book that he even considered resigning.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Leader: “I Hate Democracy”
A short while ago, Tommy Robinson, leading member of the Israel-friendly English Defence League (EDL), was accompanied by an Australian TV team through his hometown Luton a short, a hotbed of Islamic fundamentalists north of London. The statements of various Muslim leaders against democracy that need to be combated should also be a warning signal for us.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Wilders Again Asks for Judges to be Replaced
MP Geert Wilders’ defence asked the district court in Amsterdam on Friday to prosecute Islam expert Bertus Hendriks for perjury. When the court refused this demand, the defence asked for the judges to be replaced.
Bram Moszkowicz, Wilders’ lawyer, wanted an investigation of perjury launched against Hendriks. The lawyer stated that Hendriks made a statement as witness in the case on Friday morning that was in conflict with an earlier commentary that he gave in De Pers newspaper on the now notorious ‘dinner’ on 3 May 2010.
A dinner club met on 3 May last year, of which Hendriks was a member. Fellow Islam expert Hans Jansen was also invited to it. Jansen already appeared on Thursday as a court witness and stated that Judge Tom Schalken tried to convince him at the dinner table that Wilders must be convicted.
Hendriks was the person who invited Jansen to the dinner. “That he was an expert witness in the case seemed interesting to us,” Hendriks said earlier in De Pers. But on Friday, he said in the court that there was no connection whatever with the Wilders case.
Hendriks thereby committed perjury, said Moszkowicz. But the court rejected this request to launch an investigation. The lawyer then asked for the judges to be replaced for alleged bias.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Primary Teachers in Particular Are in Low Pay Scales
The government is spending €700m on improving teachers’ pay, training and promotional opportunities, junior education minister Halbe Zijlstra told MPs in a briefing on Monday.
That is enough to put 55,000 teachers on a higher salary scale, Zijlstra said.
Last year, 93% of primary school teachers were in the bottom pay scale. This should have gone down to 58% by 2014, under targets agreed between the government and trade unions.
According to the Telegraaf, a primary school teacher earns between €2,300 and €3,600 a month.
Secondary school
Some 56% of secondary school teachers are currently in the bottom pay scale. This should be reduced to 33% by 2014. Secondary school teachers can earn up to €5,000 a month, depending on age and experience, the Telegraaf says.
The minister also said that since 2008, 19,000 teachers have taken advantage of a special grant to take a master’s degree.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Hague Council Rejects PVV Demand for Ban on Building Mosques
The Hague council on Thursday rejected a Freedom Party proposal to ban the construction of new mosques in the city. All parties fiercely rejected the proposal which they branded as discriminatory because the Freedom Party is not opposed to the construction of new places of worship of other religions. Green Left leader Inge Vianen said: “They are guilty of discrimination when they suggest that the council should assist all religious people in finding a suitable place of worship except Muslims.” The Green Left politician added that “the fact that this type of statement is increasingly considered normal, does nothing to change that”. The local party Islam Democrats said if felt discriminated against and the Hague City Party (HSP) spoke of a “provocation, pure and simple”. Alderman Marnix Norder (Diversity) called the Freedom Party proposal “completely unacceptable”. The Freedom Party proposal was prompted by a letter from the Mayor and aldermen proposing an expansion of the number of places of worship in The Hague in the coming 10 years.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
New Radio Wave Technique Could Detect Alien Planets
Radio waves from the auroras of planets like Jupiter could be used to detect exoplanets that orbit at large distances from their parent star, according to a new study. Auroras are flares of ultraviolet light in the upper atmosphere of planets. Scientists at the University of Leicester in England have shown that emissions from the radio aurora of planets such as Jupiter and Saturn could be detectable by radio telescopes such as the European Low Frequency Array, or LOFAR. Construction of the LOFAR radio telescope, with stations primarily located in the Netherlands, will be completed later this year. “This is the first study to predict the radio emissions by exoplanetary systems similar to those we find at Jupiter or Saturn,” said Jonathan Nichols, who is presenting the study’s results today (April 18) at the Royal Astronomical Society’s National Astronomy Meeting in Wales.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Organ Donation, Courses for Muslims
Spain is European leader in organ donations, and it is thought that organ donations are infrequent in the Muslim community, although there are no official statistics to support this. The national transplantation organisation (ONT) has organised courses for around twenty imams at the Law Faculty of the Uned University in Madrid. These courses are meant to encourage the practice among the Muslim population, estimated at more than a million people in Spain. The Muslim spiritual guides will be explained how the donation process works, so that they can inform Muslims across Spain. The news of the initiative was reported by sources in the ‘foundation for pluralism and cohabitation’, which organised it. “A chapter in the Koran says that whoever gives life to another person, saves the entire world”, said imam Azelareb el Hadadi, religious leader in Torremolinos (Malaga), who attended the sessions. “We Muslims can donate organs, but not sell them, says Muslim law, the Sharia”, confirmed Mohamed Bakali Tahiri, member of the Muslim community in Seville. Tahiri also learned during the course that Spanish law does not allow the sale of organs, and that organ donors remain anonymous.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘What About Burning Poppies?’: Court Outburst of Man Jailed for Setting Koran Alight
A man has been jailed for 70 days today after he burnt a copy of the Koran just over a month after a Muslim got away with a paltry £50 fine for a similar offence.
Andrew Ryan, 32, stole a copy of the holy book from Carlisle Library then set it on fire by a monument in the city of Carlisle.
Last month Emdadur Choudhury was fined after he burned a poppy outside the Royal Albert Hall in London on Remembrance Day while shouting ‘British soldiers burn in hell’.
As he was led down to the cells, Ryan shouted at the judge at Carlisle Magistrates’ Court today: ‘What about burning poppies?’.
Police arrested Ryan shortly the Koran burning in English Street on January 19.
Sentencing him at Carlisle Magistrates’ Court, District Judge Gerald Chalk said: ‘This is a case of theatrical bigotry. It was pre-planned by you as you stole the book deliberately. You went out to cause maximum publicity and to cause distress.’
He told Ryan that people were entitled to protest but not in the manner he chose. The court heard the defendant had six public order convictions between 2002 and 2010 including racial chanting at a football match and assault with intent to resist arrest.
Judge Chalk said: ‘You are a man who has a history of violence and disorderly conduct.’
Ryan pleaded guilty to religiously aggravated harassment and theft at an earlier hearing. Prior to the hearing, a Facebook page created by the ‘English Defence League Carlisle Division’ urged visitors to support ‘Division Member’ Ryan in his court appearance.
Around 10 men sat in the public gallery but walked out when District Judge Chalk announced the sentence. Comments of ‘what a joke’ and ‘call that justice’ were made as they left the courtroom.
Before he was led to the cells, Ryan said: ‘What about burning poppies?’
The court was told that Ryan’s former probation officer witnessed him shouting and waving a book at Carlisle Cross outside the Old Town Hall in the city centre.
Ryan told him he intended to burn the Koran in a protest against the Muslim faith. He failed in his first attempt with matches before he succeeded with a lighter.
Ryan then continued to shout abuse about the Muslim faith as he held the burning book, before he threw it to the floor and walked away, the court heard. He then updated his Facebook page to reveal what he had done.
When arrested and interviewed by police, Ryan told officers: ‘I just hope I have not caused World War Three.’
Margaret Payne, defending, said: ‘Mr Ryan has said to me that the incident was silly and it is not something he would do again.
‘He wants to make it clear that it was directed towards radical Islam such as the burning of poppies and flags.
‘He would certainly not want Muslim people to think he had problems with their beliefs.
‘Mr Ryan was brought up to respect the Armed Forces. Some members of his family were in the Armed Forces and he himself served in the Army between the ages of 16 and 20 in Northern Ireland.
‘What caused him to ‘lose it’ on that day was that he had been looking at a website which had shown radical people burning poppies and abusing British troops returning from abroad.’
The defendant joined the library with the intention of borrowing the Koran but instead stole it. His solicitor said the incident was relatively short and he acted alone.
Unemployed Ryan was also sentenced to 30 days in jail for the theft of the book, to run concurrently. Following sentencing, Inspector Paul Marshall, of Carlisle CID, said: ‘Today’s result shows how seriously we take hate crime in the county.
‘This incident was highly unusual for Cumbria as we have such low levels of hate crime in the county.
‘However, when it does occur we investigate thoroughly so that offenders, and the local community, know that hate crime will simply not be tolerated.’
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘Wear Scarf or We Will Kill You’, Muslims Told Woman
ISLAMIC extremists bent on imposing Sharia law have threatened women and told them to cover up their heads, it has been claimed. One woman was told she faced death if she failed to don the hijab, or headscarf, in east London’s Tower Hamlets. Signs warning the area is a “gay-free zone” have also been seen while posters at bus shelters featuring models and a Bollywood film have been defaced with black paint. Incidents involving posters have also happened in Birmingham.
An Asian Whitechapel shopkeeper, who is not a practising Muslim and who dresses in western clothes, said she was told to cover up last month or face a boycott of her pharmacy. When she went to the press a man came to the shop, she said, telling her, “If you keep doing these things we will kill you”. She spoke to police last week. The news comes after Iraqi Mohamed Al Hakim, 30, was spared jail for threatening to kill his cousin if she didn’t cover her head. He claimed Alya Al Safar, 21, had branded her family as “bitches and whores”. But firebrand Muslim cleric Anjem Choudary insisted the Muslims were only giving “advice”. He said: “It’s ridiculous. I think the idea of threats being made has been fabricated.” Paul Rickett, Borough Commander of Tower Hamlets, said the issue was being investigated and anyone making threats would be prosecuted.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘London Taliban’ Target Women, Homosexuals
Women who do not wear headscarves are being threatened with violence and even death by Islamic extremist group Taliban, in a bid to impose Sharia Law in Britain. According to police investigations in the Tower Hamlets area of London, other targets of these Islamist extremists include homosexuals. Some incidents have been reported that include the placing of stickers on public walls, which state it is a “gay-free zone” and the daubing of paint on posters for clothing shops featuring women in bikinis.
In response to such incidents, Ghaffar Hussain, of the anti-extremism Quilliam Foundation, said that the intimidation was the work of “Talibanesque thugs”. “This minority think they have the right to impose their fringe interpretation of Islam on others,” the Daily Mail quoted Hussain, as saying. Police official Paul Rickett said that three men have been charged with religiously-aggravated criminal damage in connection with some of the incidents, which have mirrored crude attempt at censorship in Birmingham.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: “Extremists Threatened to Kill Me Over Headscarf”
Police in east London have vowed to tackle Islamist extremists suspected of threatening violence against Asian women for not wearing headscarves, with one victim claiming she received a death threat. A 31-year-old woman was told that the Whitechapel pharmacy she works in would be boycotted unless she covered her hair. The woman, who is not a practising Muslim, says her life was threatened when she went to the media with her story.
Islamist fanatics are also thought to be responsible for plastering stickers reading: “Gay-free zone. Verily Allah is severe in punishment” in Tower Hamlets, for defacing high street fashion chain H&M’s posters of bikini-clad models, and for daubing Bollywood film posters with black paint. Paul Rickett of the Met said: “A small minority of people do not wish to respect the lifestyle choices of others. I would like to reassure people that we are investigating. Anyone found committing such criminal acts will face criminal proceedings.”
Radical Muslim preacher Anjem Choudary said he was aware of individuals who would speak up if they saw a Muslim woman without a headscarf, but insisted they were only giving advice about their views of Islam. He said the death threat allegation was “ridiculous”. Three men have been charged with religiously aggravated criminal damage in connection with vandalism. Ghaffar Hussain, of the Quilliam Foundation anti-extremism think tank, said the intimidation was the work of “Talibanesque thugs” and added: “This minority think they have the right to impose their fringe interpretation of Islam on others.”
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Changing Pub Name Would be Cardinal Sin, Says Archbishop
The Archbishop of Westminster is backing a campaign to stop a pub changing its name and cutting a historic tie with the Catholic Church. The Cardinal in Victoria was named in honour of Cardinal Manning, a 19th-century Archbishop of Westminster who worked to improve social conditions for migrants. It is a favourite of politicians. The current Archbishop, Vincent Nichols, is to write to the Samuel Smith Old Brewery urging it to abandon plans to change the pub’s name to the Windsor Castle. He said it would mean losing a reminder of the Catholic Church’s commitment to the “social good”. Westminster council said the brewery had permission to change the interior of the pub but not the name or the sign. No one from the brewery was available for comment.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Cameron Joins Labour’s Big Beast John Reid to Urge AV No Vote
David Cameron will today share a platform with one of Labour’s biggest beasts to warn changing the way Britain elects its MPs would end the historic principle of ‘one person, one vote’.
Mr Cameron is taking the unprecedented step of appearing alongside former home secretary John Reid to claim the alternative vote threatens the fabric of British democracy.
The pair will warn that AV, in which candidates are ranked in order of preference, would mean ‘the votes of some people get counted more than others’.
Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable has agreed to appear with Labour leader Ed Miliband to support electoral reform.
It marks a dramatic stepping-up of the increasingly fractious debate over AV ahead of the May 5 referendum, although Mr Cameron yesterday insisted the issue would not tear the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats apart.
[…]
Under AV, voters have to rank candidates in order of preference rather than simply voting for the one candidate they want to win.
Any candidate who secures 50 per cent of the first-choice votes is elected immediately — but if they fall short of an outright majority, the candidate with the fewest first-choice votes is eliminated, and those that voted for him then have their second-choice votes counted instead.
The process continues until one candidate passes 50 per cent. The system means that the subsequent preferences of voters who back minority parties knocked out in the early stages are more likely to be counted.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: EU ‘Wastes Billions in Aid’
The EU is spending billions of pounds of British taxpayers’ money on spurious aid projects such as giving dance lessons to impoverished Africans, it was claimed.
Britain makes a £1.4 billion contribution to the EU’s £10 billion aid budget, but there are few measures in place to ensure corrupt nations spend it appropriately, according to reports.
Others in receipt of EU aid include Turkey, which received £500 million in 2009 — twice as much as Afghanistan — despite being quite well off. The EU was criticised by the Court of Auditors for failing to track how the aid money is spent, claiming the European Commission selects projects at random without looking at where it is needed most. In one example, Belgian dance teachers were recruited to teach people in Burkina Faso — where half the population lives off less than 70p a day — through a project called “I Dance Therefore I Am”.
Some £8.8 million was handed to an immigration advisory centre in Mali, which helps people find work in Europe but has found jobs for just six people past three years.
Substantial aid was also given to some oppressive regimes, such as Malawi, where homosexuality can result in a 14 year prison sentence. The country will receive £450 million over five years. Its president Bingu Mutharika bought an aeroplane after receiving its most recent aid donation from the EU, the Daily Mail reported. In Uganda, which will be paid £407 million over five years, President Yoweri Museni lives in a £100 million property and recently bought a Gulfstream G500 jet despite much of the population living in extreme poverty.
Andrew Mitchell, the International Development Secretary, said: “The EU’s aid needs to be far more transparent, results-focused and targeted at the poorest people.”
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Ex-Soldier Jailed for Burning Koran in Carlisle
A former soldier has been sentenced to 70 days in prison for setting fire to a copy of Muslim holy book the Koran in the centre of Carlisle.
Andrew Ryan had previously admitted religiously aggravated harassment and theft of a Koran from a library.
The 32-year-old, of Summerhill, said he had been “shocked” watching a Muslim burning a poppy on Remembrance Day.
Shoppers and schoolchildren witnessed the burning, outside the old Town Hall, on 19 January.
Sitting at Carlisle Magistrates’ Court, District Judge Gerald Chalk described it as a case of “theatrical bigotry”.
‘My country’
He said: “It was pre-planned by you as you stole the book deliberately.
“You went out to cause maximum publicity and to cause distress.”
Ryan struggled with security guards in court after the sentence was passed.
While being handcuffed he shouted: “What about my country? What about burning poppies?”
About 10 people were in court to support Ryan, and as they left the court they shouted “do you call this justice?”.
After sentencing, Insp Paul Marshall, of Cumbria Police, said: “This incident was highly unusual for Cumbria as we have such low levels of hate crime in the county.”
| — Hat tip: AL | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Is the English Defence League Really Anti-Islamist?
The English Defence League (EDL), a street-protest movement in Britain, purports to be fighting against Islamism in the UK, but is this actually the case? The question of which groups or people one works with among self-described “anti-Islamists” or “counter-jihadists” is often vexing. Many EDL supporters, for example, do not even live in the UK.
[…]
[reader comment]
amaros 16 April 2011, 9:49 pm
The more they try to portray the EDL as some racist white supremacist movement, the less these allegations will stick.
George makes a great point, Labour has more nasty links than 10 EDLs. Not to mention the LibDems and their Nazi Baroness Tonge and her Jewish organ conspiracies. Shall we now say that the LibDems are an antisemitic organization?
Or Labour an Islamist organization?
Or how about the so called anti fascists who regularly attack and provoke the EDL. They stand with Hezbollah and Iran during the Al Quds day.
The EDL is clearly a movement which is against Islamization. It wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for the government’s ineptitude and sleeping at the wheel while the Jihadi rot grew in the UK and if that anger would have been successfully satisfied by the BNP. Which it clearly wasn’t.
The EDL proves that there is a difference between racist xenophobia and a fear and desire to resist radical Islam from spreading further. Otherwise the BNP would have picked up on that anger and would be the vanguard against radical Islam.
Yet it isn’t.
Recently the leaders of major EU nations echoed what the EDL was saying for the last 2 years. That multiculturalism failed, Islamic politics has no place in democracy. the state should not build mosques and full veils are an affront to women’s rights.
I suppose now France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland and even the UK are fascist racist regimes…
In France there is the Bloc Identitaire which the left tries desperately to link to the FN. Yet they are not the FN, do not support fascist proposals and their biggest act of “bigotry” was to hold a sausage barbeque with French wine in Paris. An act which the international left has called racist and hateful.
To eat French sausages with French wine in public is now an act of xenophobia.
Seriously, get a grip.
Is the EDL nice, no it isn’t.
But when in London Muslims can march chanting Hezbollah and Hamas slogans along with the “kill the Jews” and “Kill Americans” with a police escort, some locals chanting them down is an encouraging sign.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: London is No Longer an English City, Says John Cleese. Is He Right?
David Cameron’s speech on immigration may not have gone down too well with the parliamentary Liberal Democrats, but I can think of at least one Lib Dem supporter who probably agreed with the PM on this one. In an interview with Seven magazine, the Lib Dem-supporting comedy legend John Cleese explained why he had moved from London to Bath:
Cleese also spoke about the shift in British attitudes away from a “middle-class culture” and the emergence of a “yob culture”.
He said: “There were disadvantages to the old culture, it was a bit stuffy and it was more sexist and more racist. But it was an educated and middle-class culture. Now it’s a yob culture. The values are so strange.”
He added that he preferred living in Bath to London because the capital no longer felt “English”.
“London is no longer an English city which is why I love Bath,” he said. “That’s how they sold it for the Olympics, not as the capital of England but as the cosmopolitan city. I love being down in Bath because it feels like the England that I grew up in.”
It is certainly true that London explicitly sold the Olympics on the fact that the city, while less pleasant than Paris in every conceivable way, was multicultural. And while there are many positive things about cosmopolitan London — a dark-skinned Frenchman once told me that London was paradise because nowhere in France could he go about his business without fearing his skin colour might cause some problem — it is certainly not English in the way that Bath still is.
And Bath is English in a particularly liberal way, in the same way, I suppose, that Monty Python was. In fact, one of the strange things about immigration and enforced diversity is that it destroys the very things that liberals love about this country — its egalitarianism, its secularism (including the ability to laugh about religion), an unarmed police, a public willingness to pool resources to pay for publicly owned libraries, arts services, education and health care. Personally, being a latte-sipping European girly-man, I quite like those things, and yet they are slipping away (could Life of Brian even be made today? I’m not too sure).
Perhaps Cleese’s support for Liberal Democrats and his obvious scepticism about a process of social engineering that is endorsed by all three main parties is explained by his age. The equivalent Cleeses of my generation have probably come to accept this change, and where they privately doubt it they suppress their feelings.
But in order to rid England of its negative traits it rid of itself of many positive ones too. Charles Moore asked in this excellent national obituary about a British-born but very Bangladeshi taxi driver: “Would names like the Duke of Wellington, Tennyson, or William Blake have rung even the faintest bell?” True, but increasingly I wonder how many people of white British origin under the age of 40 would know about them. British history has been almost erased from the collective memory, and this was in part a response to immigration, and an ideological opposition to nation-states.
Salman Rushdie once said in a famous Channel 4 documentary: “Britain isn’t Nazi Germany. The British Empire isn’t the Third Reich. But in Germany, after the fall of Hitler, heroic attempts were made by the people to purify German thought and the German language of the pollution of Nazism. Such acts of cleansing are occasionally necessary in every society. But British thought, British society, has never been cleansed of the filth of imperialism. It’s still there, breeding lice and vermin, waiting for unscrupulous people to exploit it for their own ends.”
And this is sort of what happened to British culture — a purification of sin. One of the rationales for diversity is that it makes us better people, a logic that superficially makes sense; many of the people who seem to care most about immigration are hateful, weird and/or slightly mad, while those at the other end of the debate are all nice, easy-going and intelligent. Although Britain is unquestionably less racist than it was 40 years ago, have our overall cultural values improved? I’m not so sure.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Phone Workers Facing the Axe Told: ‘You Can Move to the Philippines… And it Includes a Rice Allowance’
Workers facing the axe at a mobile phone company have been offered alternative employment in the Philippines.
Staff at the Orange customer service centre in Darlington, County Durham, say they were even given details of a ‘rice allowance’ they could claim as part of the ‘transfer’ package to work for IBM in Manila.
Orange, which last year merged with T-Mobile to create Everything Everywhere, recently confirmed that 40 staff would be affected by plans to outsource some work abroad.
[Picture] A long way from Darlington: A shanty town under a bridge in Manila, the Filipino capital, where Orange customer service staff say they were told they could move
[…]
The Darlington jobs are being moved to the firm’s service partner, IBM, based 7,000miles away in the Philippines.
Staff were told they could move to the new customer services hub in the Far-Eastern country. They were also offered alternative roles elsewhere in Britain.
So far, a small number of staff have accepted severance packages, while others have moved jobs.
Others affected have been placed on ‘special leave’, receiving basic pay while they consider their options.
One employee, who did not want to be named, said staff were angry with the way the situation had been handled by the company.
She said: ‘It is a complete joke. No one in their right mind would want to move to Manila.
‘When we asked for details of the transfer package we were handed a sheet of paper with what the IBM employees receive, which is less than £200 a month, with a rice allowance and a laundry allowance.
‘That’s not a transfer package, it’s a job description for someone who works for IBM in Manila.
‘People are really upset about the way the whole process has been handled.
‘It is appalling, we have had to fight for information about a number of things all along the way.
‘People have naturally been worried about their job and have been told things like “If you hate it so much, why are you here?” ‘
Some staff also claim severance packages are less than previously accepted by workers who have left Orange.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Racist Leaflets Delivered to Residents of Cumbrian Town
A leading anti-fascist campaigner has slammed a racist leaflet delivered to homes in Millom. The leaflet refers to the Muslim burka, a veiled dress traditionally worn by women, as a “black crow like tent” and describes the British Government as “treacherous”. Paul Jenkins, chairman of Unite Against Fascism north west, said: “Whoever is getting this sort of thing out there is completely unacceptable. In the same way in the 1930s Hitler’s Nazis targeted Jews, now far right groups and others are trying to scapegoat Muslims. Muslims are not to blame for the cuts or other problems. Our communities are better united than divided.”
Sergeant Ashley Bennett of Copeland Neighbourhood Policing Team said: “We have been made aware of several leaflets being posted through doors in the Millom area over the last week. They read like they have been written by a person of Islamic faith however upon closer examination they appear to be spoof in nature. “They have clearly been done on somebody’s word processor as they have not been professionally published and printed. That said we take all forms of racism very seriously and are investigating the matter.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 0845 3300247.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Wear Hijab or Die
ISLAMIC extremists bent on establishing Sharia law in Britain have threatened to kill women who do not cover their heads. They have also posted signs warning of “gay-free” zones and defaced posters featuring bikini-clad models. Hardline Muslims are feared to be imposing their values on others in Tower Hamlets, East London. A non-Muslim Asian pharmacist in Whitechapel who wears western clothes said she was told to cover up with a hijab headscarf or face a boycott. Later she claimed a second man told her: “If you keep doing these things we will kill you.” Police are investigating.
Borough Commander of Tower Hamlets Paul Rickett said: “Anyone found committing such acts will face criminal proceedings.” MP Khalid Mahmood for Birmingham’s Perry Barr — where posters have been defaced — said: “These people must accept others.” Firebrand Muslim cleric Anjem Choudary said: “They may say, ‘Sister, it’s obligatory to cover your hair’. But nobody’s going to say, ‘You are going to be killed’.” In February a man got community service for threatening to kill his cousin if she didn’t cover her head.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
What Can the True Finns Truly Do?
The 19 percent won by the True Finns on April 17 is a political earthquake for the Finns and a worry for the rest of Europe. But the party of Timo Soini will have to negotiate to impose its ideas, and stay united through the inevitable compromises. This will not happen all by itself, observes the daily Aamulehti.
The Finnish political landscape has completely changed overnight as the party of Timo Soini, the “True Finns”, turned out the big winners in the elections, earning 19 percent of the vote against just four percent in 2007. The National Coalition Party, which picked up 20.4 percent of the vote, has been the largest party for years, but what can its chairman and current Minister of Finance, Jyrki Katainen, do?
To judge by the results of the ballots alone, by the middle of June Finland should have a government put together by Katainen, Soini and Jutta Urpilainen, the chair of the Social Democratic Party [which won 19.1 percent]. But Katainen, who is heading the negotiations, is confronted with a tough case. The differences in percentage between the parties are minimal, and Soini, the big winner, will stand his ground.
Plenty of hard bargaining will have to take place before Katainen, Urpilainen and Soini can hash out the future government’s programme. At the centre of the battle is the bailout package for Portugal. The opinions of the SDP and the True Finns [both parties oppose European bailouts] are known, but what will the National Coalition do?
The grapes of victory have been sweet, so far
If Brussels does not budge and Katainen sticks to his guns, will Soini and Urpilainen form a government together? The situation is complicated because Soini has to be in the game, and the Centre party ought to depart for the opposition benches. The defeat of the Centre [the party of outgoing Prime Minister got only 15.8 percent] is a historic event as important as the victory of the True Finns.
Analysing the outcome of the election will take more time. It is too early to say whether politics in Finland have truly changed, or if the route taken by Soini will be identical to that of his forerunner, Veikko Vennamo. While Vennamo was the party chairman of the Finnish Rural Party, the True Finns’ predecessor, he got the party into parliament, but as a political force it was soon spent.
In the wake of their victory the True Finns have enormous hopes. If the party fails to stay united, however, Soini’s mission will be a tough one indeed. If the new delegates from the True Finns remain disciplined and show a sense of realpolitik, cooperation between the parties can flourish.
What the vote has revealed is a desire for change. The risk is that if Soini cannot hold onto the reins of his party and a deal cannot be worked out with the other parties, that failure to cooperate may be seen as a show of contempt for the wishes of the population.
The grapes of victory have been sweet, so far. It remains to be seen whether the fruit can cling to the vine through the months ahead.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Croatians Burn EU Flag Following Hague Court Ruling
Support for the European Union has plummeted in candidate country Croatia, where thousands of people took to the streets over the weekend to protest against a UN court ruling which handed two popular wartime generals lengthy prison sentences.
The Hague criminal court said the ex-generals had played a key role in Croatia’s 1995 state-led campaign to drive out ethnic Serbs. Brussels has made the prosecution of all war crimes suspects in former Yugoslav republics a key requirement of EU membership, but Friday’s court decision has sparked outcry in the country tipped to become the EU’s 28th member. Protest banners read “I love Croatia, not the EU”, and “Go away EU”, reports Reuters. EU flags were burnt in Zagreb’s central Bana Jelacica Square, with smaller demonstrators also taking place in the streets in Osijek and Split.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Algeria: ‘At Least 20’ Killed in Al-Qaeda Attacks
(AK) — The North African branch of Al-Qaeda has killed at least 20 people in the last few days, according to London-based Al-Arab online.
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) was responsible for three attacks in Algeria between last Friday and early Sunday, according to the report. The attacks were concentrated in the eastern part of the country.
Five soldiers were among the victims.
Suspected Islamist insurgents on 15 April killed 13 Algerian soldiers in the country’s northern Kabylie region, the deadliest attack in months, a security source was cited as telling Reuters.
The AQIM terror group claimed a twin suicide bombing against United Nations offices and a court building in Algiers that killed at least 41 people on 11 December, 2007.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Bloggers and Reporters Behind Scenes of Arab Spring
(ANSAmed) — PERUGIA, APRIL 18 — “As long as the Tunisians stay in Tunisia they are the heroes of the jasmine revolution, when they arrive in Lampedusa they become just illegal immigrations people want to get rid of”. This statement was made by a young blogger from the international journalism festival in Perugia, who described Europe’s schizophrenic response: first looking in astonishment at the uprisings in and around North Africa, then hurrying to welcome the first evidence of democracy and in the end worrying about the uncontrolled, but limited flow of migrants drifting across the Mediterranean. The Arab spring, and the speed at which it moved from network to the streets, were discussed in panels and workshops organised for the festival that has just come to an end in the capital of Umbria. There were also debates on the hardly reassuring prospects of a Europe groping about in disarray, and the difficulties in transforming uprisings into something that looks like a democratic system. But the questions of oil and immigration, faced by the single competitors rather than the EU due to the uncertain adjustments in the Mediterranean area, had to give way to a debate on the network, that could not have been less virtual. The prospects of internet-journalism and the announced death of the printed press were already the focus of many events, and everyone has had to deal with the virtual power that was made real by disobeying bloggers, from the president of the Espresso Group, Carlo De Benedetti, to on-line activist Sami Ben Gharbia of Global Voices, who has been ‘translating’ information supplied by bloggers and from people on the street into understandable information on the internet for ten years now.
“Bloggers and internet users in Tunisia knew how to get around platforms like Youtube, which had been blocked, and get easy access to Facebook”, said Sami. “But without aggregator hubs like ours, which have translated incomprehensible dialects and supplied the system that gives access to the profiles, foreign journalists and Al Jazeera itself would not have been able to use and spread information”. Giulio Anselmi underlines that “we all know very well what has happened in North Africa”, with a crucial contribution given by the internet. De Benedetti also focuses on the “benevolent power” and the “mobilisation capacity” of the social networks, thanks to which “thousands of people demonstrated to force regimes that had been in place for decades to step down”. De Benedetti is certain however that “the internet is not enough to build a real democracy in Egypt or Tunisia, and perhaps Syria”. Everybody seems to agree on the internet’s contribution to the revolutions, but there is a heated debate on the reliability of sources and the coverage of the events ‘piloted’ by Arab media. Ahmed Ashour, director of Al Jazeera Talk — a kind of ‘super blog service’ of the television channel — is convinced of the reliability of his community of more than 300 young bloggers, who pave virtual and real ways across North Africa and the Middle East. Ayman Mohyeldin, of Al Jazeera English, disputes the accusations of “opportunistic double standards” allegedly used by the channel in its reports about Egypt, Tunisia and Bahrain, and points out that “the events set our coverage priorities, not the other way around”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Al-Qaeda Chief ‘Heading for Besieged City of Misrata’
(AKI) — The head of Al-Qaeda in Libya is heading for the stricken city of Misrata from the rebel stronghold of Bengasi, government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim announced, cited on Monday by pan-Arab daily Al-Quds al-Arabi’s website
“We have learned that a prominent Al-Qaeda leader, Abdelhakim al-Hasari, is heading towards Misurata aboard a ship,” said Ibrahim.
“There are 25 well-trained fighters on board the ship with him,” Ibrahim added.
The humanitarian situation was reported to be dire in Misrata on Monday, which has been the scene of intense fighting between anti-government rebels and forces loyal to longtime Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. A chartered Greek ferry arrived off the port as part of an international refugee rescue operation to help an estimated 10,000 non-Libyans waiting to leave.
The refugees are camping out around Misrata without adequate shelter, clean water or food and no medical care, according to the IOM.
Ibrahim said Misratat was still in rebel hands. “It’s possible that terrorists will gain the upper hand in Libya and this represents a threat for the region and for Europe,” he stated.
He reitereated Gaddafi’s repeated claims that Al-Qaeda is playing a role the uprising against his 40-year-long autocratic rule.
“The evidence that Al-Qaeda is involved in the war in Libya is increasing day by day,” Ibrahim said.
Al-Hasadi was sailing towards Misrata aboard an Egyptian ship, the ‘al-Shahid Abdelwahab’, Ibrahim said. Gaddafi forces have been pounding the western bastion since mid-February when the pro-democracy revolt began.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Britain Pledges Funds to Help 5,000 Escape Misurata
The Government will help 5,000 people escape the besieged rebel-held town of Misurata and provide vital medical supplies to those caught up in violence across western Libya, International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell announced today.
Speaking before talks with United Nations aid bodies in New York, Mr Mitchell said the emergency evacuations would aim to get foreign workers who had managed to reach Misurata docks safely out of the town. The evacuations will be carried out by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). Britain will also fund critical medical aid, to be provided by the International Medical Corps (IMC), for civilians in towns across western Libya. Mr Mitchell said: “I am determined that Britain continues to provide help to those innocent civilians who are caught up in the ongoing violence. “Thousands of foreign workers have managed to reach the port but find themselves at terrible risk from incoming fire, with no way to get out. These evacuations will take them to safety and help reduce the demand in Misurata for the very limited supplies of food, water and medical supplies available.” He added: “In conflict-affected areas across western Libya, there’s a shortage of doctors — most have no training in war surgery — few nurses, overwhelmed staff, and weak or non-existent post-operative care. British support will mean medical supplies and highly-trained teams get into the worse-hit areas, which could mean the difference between life and death for many people.”
Tens of thousands of people are trapped in Misurata and other towns following more than a month of fighting which has killed at least 300 and injured more than 1,000, including many children. Some severely injured people are unable to be evacuated for medical attention, hospitals lack electricity and water and people have been trapped indoors for weeks with little or no food. The United Nations is concerned that consumption of untreated water from wells could lead to outbreaks of water-borne diseases. Mr Mitchell said the IMC would send in volunteer surgical and trauma teams to medical facilities, and provide medical supplies including antibiotics and analgesics, bandages and first aid kits and surgical equipment. The IMC will also provide emergency evacuations for the most severely sick and injured to Benghazi and areas outside Libya if necessary, he said.
Mr Mitchell was in New York to meet leading UN bodies, including Unicef, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, to discuss the deteriorating humanitarian situation. IMC vice president for international operations Rabih Torbay said: “Britain’s support for the International Medical Corps programme in Libya has been provided at a critical time and will enable life-saving emergency medical care and supplies to be delivered to the most vulnerable populations in Libya. “Our doctors estimate that they will be able to provide life-saving care to at least 30 severely wounded people a day, and provide essential health care to hundreds more on a daily basis.” Britain has already sent aid to affected areas as well as emergency shelters, medical supplies, food and enough midwifery kits to deliver 200 babies.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Libyan Aid Ship Unable to Dock Following Fears it Will be Overrun by Desperate Civilians
A Libyan aid ship was stuck at sea this weekend following fears it would be overrun by civilians desperate to escape the stricken Libyan city of Misrata.
The Ionian Spirit, loaded with 500 tonnes of food and medical supplies, had been due to dock in the city’s port yesterday after being sent from Benghazi to rescue foreign nationals by the International Organisation for Migration (IoM).
However, hundreds of Libyans trying to flee the rebel-stronghold lined up their cars as a barrier at the waters edge stopping up to 3,000 Egyptians from embarking, and forcing the ferry to stay half a mile off the coast.
It comes as Gaddafi’s government this week promised the U.N. access to Misrata.
The access is part of an agreement reached yesterday to allow the U.N. to deliver humanitarian aid in areas of western Libya under the leader’s control.
The U.N. has already set up an aid operation in rebel-run eastern Libya.
Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim confirmed that the deal with the U.N. includes setting up a humanitarian corridor to Misrata, a city of 300,000 and the sole rebel holdout in Gadhafi-controlled western Libya.
The Libyan government has denied it has used heavy weapons against Misrata, where rebels are clinging to positions near the sea port, their only lifeline to the outside world.
However, rebel sources said Loyalist forces bombarded Mistrata with rockets and artillery again this morning and pounded the insurgents’ eastern frontline outpost of Ajdabiyah yesterday with 17 reported dead.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appealed to Libyan forces to hold their fire. ‘Considering the magnitude of this crisis, and as this fighting is still continuing, it is absolutely necessary that Libyan authorities stop the fighting, stop killing people,’ he told a news conference in Budapest, Hungary.
He said the basic needs of tens of thousands of people in Libya are not being met.
The U.N. will have a ‘humanitarian presence’ in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, which is under Gadhafi’s control, he said. It has already set up an aid operation in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
Meanwhile, the UK Government has today pledged to help 5,000 foreign workers escape the city and deliver medical supplies for those caught up in the violence.
International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell made the announcement today ahead of talks in New York between the UK and the U.N. to discuss the deteriorating humanitarian situation with aid bodies today.
Mr Mitchell said: ‘I am determined that Britain continues to provide help to those innocent civilians who are caught up in the ongoing violence.
‘Thousands of foreign workers have managed to reach the port but find themselves at terrible risk from incoming fire, with no way to get out.
‘These evacuations will take them to safety and help reduce the demand in Misrata for the very limited supplies of food, water and medical supplies available.’
He added: ‘In conflict-affected areas across western Libya, there’s a shortage of doctors — most have no training in war surgery — few nurses, overwhelmed staff, and weak or non-existent post-operative care.
‘British support will mean medical supplies and highly-trained teams get into the worse-hit areas, which could mean the difference between life and death for many people.’
It is estimated tens of thousands are trapped in the city and other towns following more than a month of fighting which has killed at least 300 and injured more than 1,000.
Misrata is the rebels’ only major stronghold in the west of Libya and has been targeted by pro-Gaddafi forces for seven weeks.
Hundreds of civilians are believed to have been killed and evacuees say conditions are becoming increasingly desperate.
Hospitals are lacking electricity and water and many have been trapped indoors for weeks with little or no food.
The United Nations is concerned that consumption of untreated water from wells could lead to outbreaks of water-borne diseases.
Britain has already sent aid to the affected areas as well as emergency shelters, medical supplies, food and enough midwifery kits to deliver 200 babies.
However Mr Mitchell wants to secure better access for the relief effort.
His mission came as David Cameron said there was still “no question” of an international invasion of Libya, despite admitting UN constraints on ground forces were making the mission more difficult.
The Prime Minister said the Nato-led air strikes on regime military targets had helped prevent massacres and the taking of Misrata but opposition forces have called for a stronger intervention.
Their inability to hold territory along the desert road to the east of the country was highlighted yesterday when Gaddafi’s forces shelled the eastern edge of Ajdabiya.
While the United Nations Security Council authorised “all necessary measures” to protect civilians, it specifically ruled out the presence of any occupying force on the ground.
With the two sides mired in a stalemate, Mr Cameron conceded that meant the international allies were not able to “fully determine the outcome”.
Allies had to look at “what more can we do to protect civilian life and to stop Gaddafi’s war machine unleashing such hell on his own people”, he said.
But while rebel forces were receiving help, including body armour and communications equipment, there was no question of going beyond the UN mandate.
‘It is because we have said we are not going to invade, we are not going to occupy (that) this is more difficult in many ways because we can’t fully determine the outcome with what we have available,’ the premier told the Murnaghan show on Sky News.
‘But we are very clear that we must stick to the terms of the UN Security Council Resolution, we must keep the support of the Arab world.’
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Frattini: NTC Must Guard for Infiltration by Radicals
(ANSAmed) — TRIESTE, APRIL 18 — “Assistance to the Council of rebels in Benghazi must include continuous vigilance against possible infiltration by radical elements”, said Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini. Today Frattini spoke in Trieste about the issue of possible infiltration by Al Qaeda among the rebels fighting Gaddafi in Libya.
“Gaddafi has been saying so since the start of the crisis”, Frattini explained. “We have had several meetings with the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) and they have clearly told us that they were approached by radical elements at the start of the crisis, and that these radicals have been pushed back”. Frattini added that “the conclusions we have reached in Doha have introduced an important point, namely continuous vigilance against possible infiltration by radical elements. I will meet Jalil (head of the NTC, editor’s note) tomorrow. He has made it clear that they don’t want any kind of pollution by radical movements”. The Italian FM is convinced that this is true, because “they are the first to have an interest in avoiding infiltration by radical groups”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Radial Islamist Groups Gaining Stranglehold in Egypt
The rapid spread of Muslim political parties ahead of September’s parliamentary elections has strengthened fears that Egyptian democracy will be dominated by radical Islamic movements.
The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest Islamic movement and the founder of Hamas, has set up a network of political parties around the country that eclipse the following of the middle class activists that overthrew the regime. On the extreme fringe of the Brotherhood, Islamic groups linked to al-Qeada are organising from the mosques to fill the vacuum left by the collapse of the dictatorship.
The military-led government already faces accusations that it is bowing to the surge in support for the Muslim movements, something that David Cameron warned of in February when he said Egyptian democracy would be strongly Islamic.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, warned on Sunday that the direction of Egyptian politics was anti-Israeli. He told diplomats last week that Egyptian officials — including Nabil al-Arabi, the foreign minister — were pandering to political militants by branding Israel as the “enemy”.
“I am very concerned over some of the voices we’ve been hearing from Egypt recently,” Mr Netanyahu said. “I’m especially concerned over the current Egyptian foreign minster’s statements.”
An Egyptian court on Saturday disbanded the National Democratic Party, which won 80 per cent of seats in parliament in December’s rigged election. Hosni Mubarak, the ousted president, and his protége’s are under arrest and threatened by prison.
Mohammed Badie, the Muslim Brotherhood’s spiritual leader, last week predicted the group’s candidates would win 75 per cent of the seats it contested.
Fundamentalist factions have also emerged as parties. Gamaa al-Islamiya, an al-Qaeda linked group that promotes Salafist traditions has used its mosques as a political base for the first time since the 1970s.
A scare campaign that a No vote in last months referendum would eliminate Islamic law from the Egyptian constitution ensured a 77 per cent Yes result.
But the April 6th movement that spearheaded protests has no clear plan for party politics. Diplomats have warned the demonstrators are not well prepared for elections.
“The leadership of the protests was so focused on the street-by-street detail of the revolution, they have no clue what to do in a national election,” said a US official involved in the demonstrations. “Now at dinner the protesters can tell me every Cairo street that was important in the revolution but not how they will take power in Egypt.”
A clean-up campaign, including the laying of fresh grass on the roundabout, has transformed Tahrir Square, the focal point of protests. Last Friday was the first holiday since the outbreak of the uprising that was protest-free at the square. Only the daily gathering of hundreds to perform Islamic prayer ceremonies is a reminder of the protests that topped Mr Mubarak.
Mahsud Arishie, a teacher visiting the square, said Egypt would be a different country in the wake of the uprising. “Muslims have their own space now where there is no pressure from the government, only a direct connection to the Lord in the sky,” he said as he made his way to the prayers. “That does not mean our country will be hostile to the West but it does mean we will do what we want.”
Although the leading contenders for Egypts presidency are independents, many have begun wooing the Muslim blocs. Front-runner Amr Moussa, the Arab League president, has conceded that its inevitable that Islamic factions will be the bedrock of the political system.
As hardliners compete for street power, Egypt’s Christians — who make up 10 per cent of the population — are emigrating in growing numbers.
Al-Masry al-Youm, an Egyptian newspaper, reported last week that the Canadian embassy had been swamped by visa requests from Coptic Christians.
Others are fighting back. Naquib Swiris, a Copt who is one of Egypt’s richest men, has formed the Free Egyptians Party as a rallying point for a liberal democracy.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Businessman Wants to Launch Jewish Al Jazeera
(ANSAmed) — The Jewish American businessman Alexander Mashkevich has announced his intention to launch a satellite television channel in a number of languages, including Arabic, to improve Israel’s image in the world and to compete with Al Jazeera, which he believes poses a danger to the image of Israel and Jews around the world. The news was posted on the Al Jazeera website, with Mashkevich said to be planning to name the new station “Jewish Al Jazeera”.
The Jewish businessman has always claimed that military forces alone are not enough for the wars Israel is forced to fight. In 2009, Mashkevich said during a conference in Jerusalem that the new satellite channel would include Christian and Muslim religious leaders, in an attempt to give off a better image of Israel.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Bahrain: Government: Gulf Troops Go When Iran ‘Threat’ Ends
(ANSAmed) — DUBAI, APRIL 18 — The Saudi and UAE forces will only leave Bahrain when the “threat” posed by Iran will considered to be over. This was announced today by Bahrain’s Foreign Minister, Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed al-Khalifa, who made it clear that the troops could stay in the country for some time. The Gulf troops were deployed last month in Bahrain, which is seen as a stronghold against Iran’s Shiite ambitions by Washington and its Sunnite allies. The move was part of a defence pact between Gulf countries meant to bring back order in Bahrain after the protests of the pro-democratic movement led by the Shiite majority. Iran has protested at the UN for the use of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) forces in Bahrain, claiming that it cannot remain indifferent to the clampdown on the protests that continued in the past weeks with the arrest of hundreds of activists, and some deaths in prison. “There are no Saudi forces, there are GCC forces and they will only leave the country when the threat is over”, said Bahrain’s Foreign Minister from a conference in the United Arab Emirates.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Circassians in Turkey Rally for Their Rights
Many Circassians were forced to abandon their native homelands when Czarist Russia conquered the region in the 19th century.
Circassians in Turkey staged a rally Sunday in Istanbul’s Kadiköy district to demand broadcasting and education rights in their native language, following the lead of pro-Kurdish organizations and other groups.
“During the new process of democratization that is currently underway, we, too, have some demands, like the other peoples who are also living in Turkey,” said Meretuko Kenan Kaplan, the general secretary of the Circassian Peoples’ Initiative, who read his press statement in both Turkish and Circassian.
“The denials, exiles, betrayals, insults, policies of assimilation and social exclusion that have taken place during the 87 years that have passed since the foundation of the Turkish Republic nearly amount to a gallery of sins,” Kaplan said.
Demonstrators chanted slogans such as “Mother tongue is our honor, and we’ll fight to defend it” and “Anywhere, anytime, Circassian is my mother tongue” as they waved Adygeyan, Abkhazian and Chechnyan flags and banners. Some protesters wore traditional Circassian garments.
In his speech, Kaplan claimed that all the different communities in Turkey were forced to merge under the single umbrella of Turkishness.
“With the growing proliferation of democracy in the world, systems that enforce uniformity have become unsustainable. As Circassians, we find this new state of affairs to be in Turkey’s interest, and we consider it our duty to contribute to this new process of democratization to the best of our abilities,” Kaplan said.
He added that Circassians demand the immediate cessation of assimilation policies and the creation of conditions under which they could live freely and develop their identity, language and culture.
Kaplan also voiced his demand for the recognition of the right to be educated in one’s native language, a redefinition of the concept of citizenship, positive discrimination and the changing of the current Constitution, which was written following a military coup Sept. 12, 1980.
Although actual Circassians constitute only one of the ethnic groups coming from the North Caucasus region in present-day Russia, all the peoples who originated from that area are collectively referred to as “Circassians” in Turkey. Many Circassians were forced to abandon their native homelands when Czarist Russia conquered the region in the 19th century. Most of those Circassians who fled were resettled in Ottoman Turkey.
At the rally, Kaplan called for a state-supported radio and TV channel to air broadcasts at a national level in Circassian, as well as in all other local languages spoken in Turkey. The event ended with concerts given by Circassian artists.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Blames US: Israel for Stuxnet Computer Worm
The United States and Israel are behind the computer worm Stuxnet designed to hurt Iran’s controversial nuclear program, state news agency IRNA reported Saturday quoting a military officer.
“Investigations and studies show that the source of Stuxnet originates from America and the Zionist regime,” the commander of the Iranian civil defense organisation, Gholam Reza Jalali, said.
Jalali was the first Iranian official to accuse Tehran’s two arch-foes over the Stuxnet virus. German computer experts and some Western media reports had indicated that the United States and Israel were behind it.
Stuxnet was publicly identified last June and it reportedly mutated and wreaked havoc on computerized industrial equipment in Iran in the following months. The worm was reportedly targeting Bushehr nuclear power plant, where several technical problems have been blamed for delays in getting the facility fully operational.
Jalali said once the worm mounts on a system, it begins to gather information and then sends reports from the infected machines to designated Internet addresses. “After following up the reports that were sent, it became clear that the final destinations (of these reports) were the Zionist regime and the American state of Texas,” he was quoted as saying by IRNA.
In March, a German computer security expert Ralph Langer said he believes the United States and Israel’s Mossad had unleashed the Stuxnet worm on Iran’s nuclear program.
But it was the New York Times which reported first in January that U.S. and Israeli intelligence services collaborated to develop the computer worm to sabotage Iran’s efforts to make a nuclear bomb.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon’s Hariri Proposed Brotherhood Replacement for Assad, Leaks Say
WikiLeaks cables unveiled by a Lebanese daily on Friday revealed that outgoing premier Saad al-Hariri wanted Syria isolated and its leader replaced with the Muslim Brotherhood and exiled former officials.
The release of the cables by WikiLeaks’ Arabic-language partner al-Akhbar comes days after Damascus accused a member of al-Hariri’s Saudi-backed Sunni Future Movement of arming and funding anti-regime protests in Syria that broke out mid-March.
In the cable filed by the U.S. embassy in Lebanon on Aug. 24, 2006 — 10 days after the end of Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah’s devastating war with Israel — al-Hariri, who was an MP at the time, urged the international community to isolate Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Saudi-backed al-Hariri also said Riyadh was no longer interested in dialogue with its rival regional powerhouse Syria after al-Assad had threatened civil war in Lebanon, added al-Akhbar, which is close to Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
Al-Hariri was quoted as warning U.S. officials of trouble in Lebanon should the international community fail to isolate al-Assad through sanctions.
When asked who could fill the void in the event of the toppling of the al-Assad regime, he replied by “talking about sectarian demographics in Syria,” al-Akhbar said.
He then proposed a partnership between the Muslim Brotherhood — currently banned in Syria — and former Syrian officials such as Abdel Halim Khaddam and Hikmat Shehabi, according to the cable.
Shehabi is a former Syrian army chief of staff. Khaddam, formerly Syria’s vice president, resigned in 2005 after Syria pulled its troops from Lebanon before going into exile and voicing criticism of al-Assad’s rule over Beirut.
Damascus was forced to pull its troops out of Lebanon in 2005 following a 29-year presence.
The withdrawal came in the face of massive international pressure over the Feb. 14, 2005, assassination of ex-premier Rafiq al-Hariri, Saad’s father.
Syria has denied accusations it was involved in the killing.
Al-Akhbar also quoted al-Hariri as comparing the Muslim Brotherhood to moderate Islamists in Turkey, saying they were open to the participation of Christians and women in power and would support peace with Israel.
Lebanon and Syria have not signed peace treaties with Israel and remain technically at war with the Jewish state.
Unprecedented protests demanding the end of 48 years of emergency rule and sweeping reforms erupted in Syria mid-March and continue to spread across the Baath-ruled country.
Syrian state television on Wednesday aired “testimonies” of three people saying they had received funds and weapons from lawmaker Jamal al-Jarrah to fuel a wave of protests against the ruling Baath regime.
Al-Jarrah has denied the allegations.
Al-Hariri had sought to move closer to al-Assad since rising to premiership in 2009 before Shiite militant group Hezbollah toppled his Cabinet on Jan. 12, 2011.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Swiss TV Crew Held in Qatar
Swiss television channel RTS says two of its sports reporters were detained by police without explanation in Qatar, the host country for the 2022 football World Cup.
The duo “were grounded on Qatari soil for two weeks without receiving a clear explanation of what they were accused of”, said the French-language public broadcaster on Sunday.
The journalist and the cameraman were filming a report on football in Qatar, when the incident occurred.
The pair were filming “landscape shots,” according to RTS, when they were stopped by a police patrol at Mesaieed and taken to a local police station, where they were handcuffed and interrogated for several hours.
The crew were required to pay a fine but did not receive either a report detailing their offence or a receipt, RTS said in a statement.
The cameraman had his camera confiscated before he and the journalist were freed, but without official authorisation to leave Qatar.
The pair returned to Switzerland at the end of last week following intervention from the Swiss embassy in Kuwait. Switzerland does not have diplomatic representation in Qatar.
“The arbitrary conduct of the Qatari police constitutes a serious violation of press liberty,” said Massimo Lorenzi, head of sports at RTS.
Qatar has not commented the incident.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: WikiLeaks: USA, Opposition Secretly Funded
(ANSAmed) — NEW YORK, APRIL 18 — The United States has secretly financed opposition groups in Syria, supplying the resources to support the anti-government television channel Barada TV, based in London. This emerged from several diplomatic documents of the American Department of State, obtained and published by Wikileaks and quoted today by the Washington Post. Barada TV (named after the river that crosses Damascus) started broadcasting in 2009. It is very close to the Movement for Justice and Development, a Syrian group based in London. The classified documents show that the US has funded the group with at least 6 million USD, starting in 2006, under the George W. Bush administration.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: More Victims: U.S. Funds to Opposition
(ANSAmed) — NEW YORK, APRIL 18 — The USA is behind the demonstrations in Syria, though not in a direct way. While tensions in the country remain very high, with more victims among the protesters who are demanding President Bashar al Assad to step down, the Washington Post today published a series of U.S. diplomatic documents obtained by Wikileaks. The documents show that the US has secretly funded Syrian opposition groups in the past five years.
The allocation of at least six million USD, if not more, has been authorised by Washington for the support of anti-government groups and activities, including Barada Tv, a television station set up by Syrian exiles based in London. Washington’s stance has always been to avoid any direct involvement in Syria, but the classified documents reveal that the group of Syrian exiles, the Movement for Justice and Development, which is based in London and has been fighting Assad’s regime for years now, has received more than six million USD to create Barada Tv.
The television channel is named after the river that crosses Damascus. It started its broadcasts in 2009 — the Washington Post reports — and has become a point of reference for exiles as well as many people living in Syria. The senior U.S. diplomat in Damascus suggests in a cable sent to Washington in 2009 that the Department of State should reconsider America’s involvement in Syria. The Syrian authorities “would undoubtedly view any U.S. funds going to illegal political groups as tantamount to supporting regime change”, the document reads. When the Obama administration tried a rapprochement between the two countries (with a new American ambassador, the first in six years), funding illegal groups could have jeopardised this new policy. The Washington Post writes that “it is not clear” whether the funding still continues or not. Today thousands of people attended the funeral of eight protesters who were killed last night in the city of Homs.
Humanitarian sources say that they have been killed in cold blood by government forces. The same sources specify that the number of victims killed last night by the police is 12, not eight.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia: Sumatra: Announcing the Gospel Whilst Battling Fatigue and Extremist Threats
Father Dani works with various Catholic communities spread out in remote areas of West Sumatra Province. Christians are targeted by local Muslims, who have carried out violent attacks, including the burning of a house of prayer. At Christmas and Easter, Christian families walk for hours to take part in the Mass, but “we have not lost patience or the desire to pray the Lord,” the priest said.
Jakarta (AsiaNews) — Announcing the Gospel and bringing the sacraments to the remotest areas of Indonesia, battling fatigue and fears of attacks by Muslim extremists, is what Fr Dani does. Speaking to AsiaNews under only a given name, he talked about his mission among the remotest communities of Indrapura, on the southern coast of West Sumatra Province. For Christian services, like those of Christmas and Easter, the faithful meet in Padang after walking for half a day. “Despite all the hardships we have had to face, we have not lost patience or the desire to pray the Lord,” the priest said.
The Indonesian archipelago runs from Aceh, the westernmost tip of Sumatra Island, to Papua in the East. Since 1945, when independence was proclaimed, the country has been crippled by unbalanced development, especially in terms of infrastructures (roads, telecommunications and transportation).
Under the rule of Dictator Suharto (1967-1998), the country experienced a certain degree of economic development as well as inter-confessional harmony, with greater religious freedom and minority protection.
Suharto’s death and the fall of his regime began a process of democratisation but also allowed Muslim extremists to exert greater power and start the systematic persecution of non-Muslims.
Fr Dani operates in Indrapura, among the many parishes that dot the southern coastline of West Sumatra Province, under the ecclesiastic jurisdiction of Padang Diocese.
Local Muslims and authorities have been opposed to Christian functions, including the Eucharist, for quite some time. Because of misunderstandings and dissatisfaction on the part of the Muslim community, open attacks against Christian targets have occurred.
“A while back, hundreds of angry Muslims set fire to a hall Catholics used as a non-permanent church,” the clergyman said. Shouting “Allah Akbar”, the thugs threw kerosene and torched the wooden structure, which burnt and collapsed. Nothing was left.”
Since then, Catholics have been haunted by fear. They can no longer celebrate their faith in public. “We have been discreet in our practices, holding services in private homes. However in 2006, a local village chief banned even that.”
Indrapura has become a meeting place for Christian families, who walk for hours in the forest to take part in liturgical celebrations. At the start, 12 families came to Mass, now the “number is over 50”, the priest said.
Despite the opposition of local Muslims and village chief, Fr Dani does not plan to stop performing religious services or offering religious education, which is compulsory in school, but which is not locally provided.
“When I celebrate a function, I read at a low voice. We cannot even sing,” he said, fearing that it might draw the attention of Muslims.
At Christmas and Easter, the faithful must travel for hours to reach the provincial capital of Padang if they want to take part in the Mass.
“Despite all the hardships we have had to face, we have not lost patience or the desire to pray the Lord,” the priest said.
There is no greater joy, for him, to celebrate the Eucharist with the Christian communities in the remote regions of West Sumatra.
Catholics and other Christians in the area are mostly immigrants, ethnic Bataks or Javanese. Locals are mostly Muslim.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Accused of Blasphemy, Arif Masih is Now Free, As Fresh Anti-Christian Attacks Go on in Gujranwala
Thanks to the action of the Masihi Foundation, which collected 50 affidavits from mostly Muslim witnesses, the 40-year-old Muslim man is now free. However, he is now living under protection with his family fearing new attacks. Yesterday, a mob of extremists interrupts Palm Sunday services in Gujranwala. Police respond by arresting Christians.
Lahore (AsiaNews) — Arif Masih, the 40-year-old Christian man arrested on 5 April on false blasphemy charges, was freed last night. Police dropped charges against him thanks to the strenuous efforts of the activists of the Masihi Foundation, who demonstrated his innocence. One of Arif’s Muslim neighbours, Shahid Yousaf, had accused him of tearing up a copy of the Qur’an. The Christian man’s family has been in hiding in a secret location since the start of the affair.
Upon Arif’s release, the Christian Foundation, which is also monitoring the Asia Bibi’s case, whisked him away to safety in an undisclosed location protected by an armed escort fearing possible retaliation by Muslim extremists opposed to his release.
Meanwhile in Gujranwala (Punjab), tensions remain high after police took into custody 12 Christians who had protested an attack against a Christian village when a Muslim mob damaged a local church and disrupted Palm Sunday services.
On 5 April, police arrested Arif Masih, a Christian from Chak Jhumra in the Diocese of Faisalabad, on blasphemy charges. He had allegedly torn out some pages from a copy of the Qur’an, and sent threatening letters to a group of Muslims, telling they convert to Christianity.
The accusation was made by one Shahid Yousaf, a neighbour with whom Arif Masih had had legal problems. Using the ‘black law’ as a pretext, Shahid tried to get back at his Christian neighbour.
The Masihi Foundation managed “to get affidavits from 50 witnesses, most of them Muslim, who reiterated Masih’s innocence, describing him as a peaceful man of sound character,” Haroon Barkat, the foundation’s director, told AsiaNews. Activists also “launched an international pressure campaign” and “kept in touch with Punjab government officials.”
Last Saturday, as Arif’s family was moving, they were attacked by enraged Muslim mob. “No one was injured”. According to Barkat, the attack was orchestrated by the local mafia, which is trying to get a hold of the Christian family’s possessions.
The Foundation has now placed Arif and his family in a safe hiding place, and found a school for their children. It has also provided them with money to live on.
“We decided to give him security and shelter” because fears persist that, as a free man, the 40-year-old Christian could “be killed at any time.”
Meanwhile, tensions are still running high in Gujranwala (Punjab), where hundreds of Muslims on Saturday attacked the Christian village of Khokarki who had protested against Muslim fundamentalists. The latter had organised a demonstration against a Christian man, Mushtaq Gill, and his son for allegedly desecrating the Qur’an. The mob in fact wanted to “punish them publicly” before any police investigation was actually carried out.
The next day, Palm Sunday, Muslim demonstrators also interrupted Mass services, provoking a counter-protest by Christians, still angry over the arrest of Mushtaq, 60, vice principal of the Christian Technical Training Center (CTTC), and his son. The CTTC is a part of the theological seminary Gujranwala district of Punjab.
The Christian protest was led by Rev Eric Isaac and involved a group of 12 Christians demonstrating peacefully against the church attack. Christian sources said that Rev Isaac was able “to evade capture”, but police detained the other protesters.
The same sources believe the police to be in collusion with Muslim extremists. At present, the latter has not issued any statement on the matter.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The Afghan War to Nowhere
In the first years of Operation Enduring Freedom, the United States managed to oversee a campaign that broke the Taliban, drove them out of major cities and regions, including Kabul, and left them dispirited and broken. And did it while taking under 50 casualties a year. But in 2010, the United States suffered almost ten times as many casualties as it did in the toughest battles of the early days of the war.
The differences between the US involvement in Afghanistan in 2001-2003 and 2005-2011 are tremendous and profound. And they explain the ugly death toll and the nature of the unwinnable war as it’s being fought today.
In 2001-2002, we barreled into Afghanistan on a mission to break the Taliban and kill or capture as many Al Qaeda as possible. We employed maximum firepower so casually that the fleeing Taliban fighters were thoroughly demoralized. So much so that it took them years to even seriously think about confronting us again.
Let’s go back to the end of 2001 and the Battle of Qala-i-Jangi. Hundreds of Taliban and Al Qaeda prisoners imprisoned in Qala-i-Jangi Fortress revolted, seized weapons from their guards and took over parts of the fortress. The United States and its allies responded with mass bombardment using gunships and guided missiles. A handful of surviving prisoners took refuge in the basement, which was flooded with water, forcing them to surrender.
Can anyone imagine something like this being done today, without everyone involved facing media smear campaigns and criminal trials? Only 3 years later, the mild mistreatment of some terrorists and insurgents imprisoned at Abu Ghraib resulted in a media feeding frenzy and criminal trials. Two years later, the Haditha Marines were virtually lynched for acting in self-defense. Today the ACLU is actually suing the US government for daring to use drone strikes against Anwar Al-Awlaki, a top Al-Qaeda terrorist recruiter who was tied to the Christmas bombing and Fort Hood Massacre, because he happens to hold US citizenship.
The difference between 2001 and 2011, is that today the idea of fighting a war is controversial.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Catholic Church Burned Down in Nigerian Clashes
(AGI) Rome — A Catholic Church has been set on fire in Kano, the northern Nigerian stronghold of the Muslim presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari, defeated in the elections. The news was reported by MISNA quoting the Bishop Monsignor John Niyiring who said that no one had been killed.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Brazil: Iranian Cleric Recruiting for Islam…in Time for the World Cup and the Olympics
Brazil will be hosting the World Cup in 2014, and the Olympics in 2016. Meantime, Mohsen Rabbani, an Iranian cleric who is wanted by Interpol in connection with two terrorist attacks in Buenos Aires in 1992 and 1994 that killed 114 people, is in charge of converting young Brazilian men to Islam and training them in Iran.
Reinaldo Azevedo blogs at Veja (link in Portuguese) that once converted to Islam, the young Brazilian men will travel to Iran, all expenses paid, with the official objective of “religious instruction.”
Rabbani is considered one the two masterminds of the Buenos Aires attacks, and is also wanted for his involvement in terrorist acts of 2006, according to Veja’s report (my translation):…
| — Hat tip: Fausta | [Return to headlines] |
EU Claims France Had the Right to Block Immigrants’ Trains
(AGI) Brussels — France “had the right” to temporarily block the railway traffic for reasons of public order. The comment was made by EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs Cecilia Malmstrom.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
EU Ministers to Meet in Cyprus to Discuss Immigration
A Ministerial meeting will take place tomorrow in Cyprus with the participation of EU Ministers from the six Mediterranean states, which are faced with disproportionate mass immigration flows. EU Ministers from Cyprus, Greece, Malta, France, Spain and Italy (Roberto Maroni), responsible for immigration issues, will gather in Nicosia tomorrow at the invitation of the Minister of the Interior Neoclis Sylikiotis. The Nicosia meeting, as CNA reports, will focus on the situation in North Africa and the Middle East and immigration flows which exert disproportionate pressure on the six EU Mediterranean countries. The meeting will discuss the need for a comprehensive management of immigration flows in the EU framework, based on the principle of solidarity among EU member states. During the meeting, the Ministers will put forward common proposals in a Joint Communique, which will then be submitted to the next EU Council of Justice and Interior Ministers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
French Border Police Block Italian Trains
Demonstrators at Ventimiglia demand entry for Tunisians. Public order grounds for ban
VENTIMIGLIA — The frontier was closed for half a day at Ventimiglia, separating Italy and France. No trains arrived or left. French police deployed a dozen armoured vehicles, two fitted with barrier netting, at Pont Saint Louis, the old seaside customs post. A guard at Menton station admitted: “The order came from the interior ministry”. It was only with the 18.08 TGV service that the two countries again became neighbours. The problem was not migrants, entry permits or travel documents, at least not primarily. What triggered the reaction of French authorities was a demonstration outside Ventimiglia station by 200 Italians from ARCI associations, trade unions, social centres and student groups who bussed in from Emilia and Veneto, or arrived from Genoa on the “dignity train” to escort the Tunisians to Marseilles and “watch for any abuse”.
But no drivers had come from Menton to start up the engines, which switch nationality here before crossing the border. Italian railways could only say: “They’ve told us the line has been blocked until further notice”. The first train to suffer was the 12.47 local service, the one the demonstrators wanted to catch. For every station in France, the destinations board said “cancelled”. “What’s going on?” asked Hicham, a 27-year-old decorator happily showing off the plastic temporary permit he acquired on Saturday. He wants to join his sister in Antwerp, Belgium, but can’t even manage the ten kilometres that separate him from the Côte d’Azur. Uncertainty reigned until the authorities in Paris announced: “It’s a temporary measure on public order grounds, motivated by the fact that there was a demonstration under way”. An official from the interior ministry added: “We have no record of any request for authorisation in Nice”…
English translation by Giles Watson
www.watson.it
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Immigration Row Deepens Between France, Italy
France’s interior minister said Monday that Tunisian migrants arriving from Italy would be sent back across the border if they were unable to show they have the financial resources to stay.
Claude Gueant referred to the rules of the Schengen Accords, the treaty under which core EU members agreed to allow residents to travel without passports within their borders, when discussing the spat with Rome over the influx of migrants.
Italy has moved to grant temporary residence permits to more than 20,000 migrants, who have been arriving on Italian shores since January’s popular revolt in Tunisia. The government in Rome says the permits allow the mainly French-speaking migrants to travel to France where many of them have friends and relatives, to the irritation of Paris.
On Sunday French authorities blocked trains coming from the Italian border town of Ventimiglia to block a pro-immigrant protest. Gueant insisted Paris had respected “in letter and spirit” the Schengen Accords, and said as the first country of arrival, Italy was responsible for managing the migrants, who must show they have the financial resources to stay in the second country.
In the absence of such resources, “we will return these people to Italy,” said Gueant. The minister also defended the decision to block trains from Ventimiglia, citing the risk of public disorder. “A public order problem was possible and the simplest way of dealing with it was to stop the train coming in,” he explained.
Gueant insisted that Paris wanted to avoid a rift with Rome. Asked by AFP about tensions between the two countries, Gueant said: “France does not want that at all.” Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said in an interview Monday that despite their different handling of the Tunisian immigrants, the two governments would “work together” to clear the cloud hanging over relations.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Iraqi Immigrant Who Ran Over Daughter Gets 34 Years
An Iraqi immigrant was sentenced Friday to 341/2 years in an Arizona prison for running over and killing his 20-year-old daughter because she became too Westernized. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Roland Steinle told Faleh Hassan Almaleki that forgiveness is the core of all religion, but the judge said he was struck by Almaleki’s apparent lack of remorse for killing Noor Almaleki.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Irish Immigration to Canada Increasing
[Old but good]
03 March 2011
Canada is seeing an increasing number of Irish immigrant arrivals as Ireland continues to experience an economic downturn.
A recent report by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) estimates that almost 1,000 people are leaving Ireland each week, many of them highly skilled workers.
“Worldwide, [Canada] is looking like the superstar of how to manage your economy,” Eamonn O’Loghlin, executive director of the Ireland Canada Chamber of Commerce told the ‘National Post.’
“So you have all these young, educated, highly skilled people in Ireland who are suddenly in a situation where there are very few jobs,” he added. “They’re looking around and they see how Canada has come through the recession and they see more opportunity here.”
The number of temporary visa holders coming from Ireland has more than doubled in the last five years; Encouraged by Canada’s relatively liberal economic immigration policy.
People with the right skills who gain enough points under criteria such age, work experience and academic qualifications can gain permanent residence through the federal skilled worker program, a points based system similar in some ways to those in the UK and Australia.
In addition, other routes exist for skilled immigrants such as the Canada Experience Class program for foreign students and the Provincial Nominee Program.
| [Return to headlines] |
‘Is This Your Democracy?’: Refugee Influx Exposes Limitations of European Solidarity
The influx of economic refugees from Tunisia has exposed deep rifts in the European Union. Italy wants help in dealing with the thousands of immigrants who have arrived since the beginning of the year, but the rest of the bloc refuses to provide it. It is just one more example of an EU struggling to stay united.
He is still wearing the red-and-yellow jersey of the football club “Espérance sportive de Tunis,” the only remaining vestige of his past life. He wore it on the fishing boat that brought across the stormy seas to Lampedusa, hoping it would bring him luck.
The journey into his new life took Amir, 22, a very tall, alert Tunisian, five weeks to complete. During that time, he hid in buses and trains and traveled 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) through Italy and half of France. Now he is sitting under a flowering clematis vine in a garden on the Loire River, near the Atlantic coast, breathlessly telling the story of his odyssey.
He made it to France because he was faster and more courageous than most of his fellow Tunisians, who had fled across the sea since the beginning of the year to find a new future in Europe.
Amir is one of the Tunisians who helped make the revolution in his country possible. He is educated and speaks polished French. He organized sit-down strikes in his university department, and he was among those who protested in the streets of Tunis and sent the country’s then president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, into exile.
Frustration, more than anything else, was the fuel which drove the revolution. Most Tunisians are younger than 30 and there are far from enough jobs to go around; the future looked bleak. But the post-revolution economy is, if anything, in much worse shape than it was prior to Ben Ali’s departure — and Amir’s university is still not open, months after the revolution. It was, Amir decided, time to leave.
Extremely Fragile
He scraped together €900 ($1,305) to pay for his trans-Mediterranean passage and, together with 35 other young men, boarded a fishing boat in the port city of Sfax. After 15 hours, they arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa, the small, rocky European outpost in the middle of the sea.
They were not alone. Some 26,000 refugees have been stranded on the tiny Italian island since January, most of them Tunisians. But while they are looking for a better life, their arrival has set off a bitter dispute — one proving that Europe, their paradise, is at times an extremely fragile community.
The dispute has to do with who should be obligated to accept the refugees on a temporary basis. The Italians, on whose territory they landed in the first place, as provided for in European treaties? Or is the number of refugees too large for Italy to handle? This is the position of the government in Rome, which wants to declare the refugee crisis a state of emergency, a position other EU members do not support.
When Italy announced that it would issue the refugees temporary residence permits with which they could travel to other EU countries, its neighbors threatened to reintroduce border controls. This would spell the temporary end of a borderless Europe.
Italian Interior Minister Robert Maroni upped the ante when he said last week: “I wonder if it even makes sense to stay in the EU.” Given that Maroni is a member of the nationalist Northern League, his words weren’t exactly surprising. But Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s argument was. He said that either Europe ought to be something real and concrete, but that if it wasn’t, perhaps it would be better for each country to return to using its own methods for dealing with the refugees.
More Unpopular than Ever
The dispute over what to do with the Tunisian refugees on its southern flank is far from the only conflict battering the European Union. Indeed, the 27-member bloc has rarely been as divided as it is today, despite hopes that the Lisbon Treaty would bring EU countries closer together. Common interests are fading while the self-interest of individual countries is on the rise once again. The supposedly unified continent, which benefited from the great upheavals of 1989, has never been as unpopular with its citizens as it is today.
The disturbing development has been in evidence since the financial crisis. For the EU, the question of how to rescue the euro has expanded into an ongoing dispute over a European economic policy. That alone has created a deep divide within Europe, particularly between the affluent north and the less affluent south.
Then came the quarrel over the NATO intervention in Libya, when France pressed for military force against Moammar Gadhafi while Germany joined China and Russia in abstaining from the United Nations Security Council vote — and in doing so demonstratively veered away from the Western alliance.
And now comes the third dispute, this time over refugees. Objectively speaking, relatively little is at stake; the number of stranded North Africans is still fairly small. But of all the European disputes, this one could prove the most difficult to resolve.
Immigration is an issue that motivates voters in all EU countries, as evidenced by the rise of right-wing populist parties in France, the Netherlands, Sweden and now Finland. But skepticism of a flux of newcomers from North Africa is everywhere — and national interests have clearly trumped collective solidarity.
Isolation and Fury
Italy claims the current refugee crisis is an emergency, which would necessitate suspending the principle established under the so-called Dublin II Regulation, namely that a refugee can only apply for asylum in the country in which he arrives. Germany and France counter that they have already received far more asylum requests per year, namely about 40,000 each, while Italian authorities only process about 6,000 applications a year.
One reason Italian politicians are so furious is that they feel isolated. At a meeting of the EU interior ministers in Luxembourg last Monday, only the island nation of Malta supported the Italians. France, in particular, is nervous about immigration from primarily francophone North African countries.
Austrian Interior Minister Maria Fekter pointed out that Italy is a big country “and could certainly show a little good will.” German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich likewise stood his ground, saying “Italy has to live up to its responsibility.” He added that Rome’s plan to issue travel visas violated “the spirit of Schengen.”
The German minister announced Berlin’s plan to increase scrutiny, particularly in southern Germany. Germany’s federal police is even looking into how quickly it would be able to reintroduce regular border controls, even though only about 300 North Africans entered Germany in the first quarter of this year. The Italian interior minister, noting his isolation, said obstinately that he would rather be alone than “in bad company.”…
Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: France Allows African Migrant Trains From Italy Amid Row
Ventimiglia, 18 April (AKI) — France on Monday allowed trains from Italy with migrants on board to enter its territory after a temporary block on Sunday sparked Rome’s ire. The move came after the Italian government issued six-month visas to tens of thousands of mainly Tunsiian migrants who entered Italy this year from turmoil-rocked North Africa.
Around 30 Tunisian immigrants returned on Monday to Ventimiglia station, which lies about 8 kilometres from the border with France. Around 150 of them had stayed in a migrant centre overnight, while another 50 slept in the a corridor in the station’s customs department when France-bound services were stopped.
On Sunday around 300 activists gathered in Ventimiglia to support the migrants and police stopped them from marching towards the border after Italian railway and border police said France was preventing all trains passing the Ventimiglia-Menton border.
Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini ordered Italy’s ambassador in Paris to express “the firm protest of the Italian government to the French authorities,” according to a foreign ministry statement.
France’s actions appear to be “illegitimate and in clear violation of general European principles,” it said.
Earlier this month Italian interior minister Roberto Maroni announced that the nearly 26,000 migrants who reached southern Italy from North Africa between 1 January and 6 April were entitled to the visas.
He claimed that most of the migrants were hoping to find work in France — Tunisia’s former colonial power — and that the visas entitled them to circulate freely in most of the Europe.
Italy has complained about being “left alone” to handle the migrant influx in recent months but France and Germany and other European partners have criticised the policy of issuing temporary visas, arguing it will only encourage economic migrants to enter Europe illegally.
Maroni said he is confident that next week’s summit in Rome between French president Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi will ease the current diplomatic crisis over immigration.
“We feel confident that the summit of April 26 will amicably resolve issues which should not continue,” Maroni said.
France has sent a letter to the European Commission in Brussels to explain the action taken by authorities to stop trains from Italy crossing the border on Sunday.
“France appears to have the right to do this,” was the initial comment of EU internal affairs commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem.
On a visit to the Romanian capital Bucharest on Monday, French interior mnister Claude Gueant said France did not want any tensions with Rome on the issue of Tunisian migrants.
Gueant said that the Italian government’s decision to issue temporary permits “had been disputed by many countries in the European Union” but “we have accepted this measure” with several conditions including that they possess “sufficient financial resources.”
More than 330 migrants have been repatriated to Tunisia from the southern Italian island of Lampedusa under a recent bilateral accord, a policy that will be continued, according to Maroni.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Headmaster Says His Staff Helped Arrange Abortion for Immigrant Teen
(AKI) — The head of a technical high-school in northern Italy has claimed his staff helped arrange an abortion for an immigrant student who didn’t want her parents to know she was pregnant.
“In October, ‘Danuwa’, the daughter of African immigrants told staff at the school she was pregnant and wanted to have an abortion without telling her parents,” Nicola Scanga told Italy’s Corriere della Sera daily in an interview published on Monday.
“We contacted a judge and he authorised the procedure. A member of my staff accompanied the girl to hospital,” Scanga added.
In recent days Scanga’s school in the city of Brescia made headline news in Italy when a Pakistani couple withdrew their 19-year-old daughter ‘Jamila’ from the school and refused to let her leave the family home because she was “too beautiful”.
“This by no means an isolated case,” Scanga stated.
Immigrants — mainly from Pakistan, India, Cina and North Africa — make up 30 percent of pupils at the school and 500 have dropped out of class since the start of the school year, he said.
There been cases of physical, psychological and sexual abuse of students, as well as neglect and deprivation, Stanga claimed.
An Indian pupil, ‘Achala’ developed anorexia when the parents of the boy she was in love with forced him to return to India for an arranged marriage.
Another Indian student, ‘Kuldev’ turned up for lessons after what looked like a savage beating, Scanga said.
“I asked the boy’s father to come and see me instead of reporting him to police as I didn’t want want him to loose his job.
“He made out that his wife had struck Kuldev during an epileptic seizure, leaving him badly bruised. But I saw Kuldev’s tears — he wanted to go out with an Italian girl and his parents didn’t want him to,” Scanga told Corriere della Sera.
Not all the cases of abuse have involved immigrants students, he noted.
“‘Lucia’, an Italian pupil, had signs on her body that she had been whipped. Yesterday, we summoned her parents to the school but they ignored us,” Scanga said.
The Lombardy region surrounding Brescia, one Italy’s main industrial heartlands, has one of the country’s highest immigrant populations.
But Scanga claims that budget cuts have forced the closure of various social services for immigrants that provided help for students and their families.
“We now just have a psychologist, funded by the local gas and electricity utility, who comes here twice a week and is assisted by two members of staff,” he said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Schengen a Loser in France/Italy Duel
“France blocks trains from Italy,” writes Corriere della Sera. On April 17 French authorities, citing risks of disturbances to public order, refused to allow trains to cross the border at Ventimiglia, sparking protests on the tracks by Tunisian migrants who were planning to take a “train of dignity” together with Italian and French activists. By Sunday evening the border had re-opened to rail traffic, but only after Rome lodged a formal protest with Paris. Paris then allowed the migrants to enter, while challenging the validity of the temporary visas issued by the Italian authorities.
Behind this “miserable” diplomatic clash lies the “struggle of populist twins”, writes Bernardo Valli in La Repubblica. “In Rome, the government relies on a xenophobic party [Northern League], which holds the Interior Ministry,” while in France, Nicolas Sarkozy’s re-election in 2012 is being challenged by the increasing appeal of the National Front to his voters. As a result, Rome and Paris are “playing with migrants as if they were a natural calamity like a tsunami, as if they were mere objects that could cost them votes.”
EU is clearly not going through brightest period of its history
The other victim of this quarrel is the principle of free movement within the EU. “Goodbye to Schengen?” asks Spain’s El País in an editorial, expressing regret that “France is blocking access to Arab immigrants and violating the agreement on freedom of movement.”
The President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, for his part, the Madrid daily continues, has launched “a bland appeal for calm, requesting that the magnitude of the crisis not be exaggerated.” But, El País notes, “in reality he is mistaken about the real crisis. As difficult as it is to manage the immigration issue in the face of a public opinion — particularly in the south of Europe — that is increasingly opposed to letting in more ‘visitors’ in times of economic difficulty, the truly grave issue here is that France is giving itself carte blanche to do what it likes and is violating the agreements it has committed itself to, like the Schengen Convention”.
“The EU is clearly not going through the brightest period of its history, as evidenced by its inane and purely rhetorical response to the democratic uprisings in the Arab world,” El País concludes. This is “creating state policies that are purely bilateral, which runs contrary to the integration of Europe… If Schengen falls, one will have to wonder if there is any reason for the existence of the Union of Twenty-Seven”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Train Blockade: EU: France Acted Correctly
(ANSAmed) — ROME — The first assessment based on sources in the European Commission indicates that France has not violated European regulations by temporarily keeping trains from Ventimiglia from entering the country, to block trains with Tunisian immigrants on board. The sources point out that these kind of measures can be justified for reasons of public order. France claims that the decision to block train traffic for several hours was taken after the announcement that an unauthorised demonstration in support of Tunisian migrants would be held, to avoid the risk of incidents. European Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom has said that it was a “very temporary suspension” and that France “had the right to do so”. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini disagrees: “three hundred no-global supporters or even fewer than that who stage a protest are no real problem of public order”, he said. “France has used the issue of public order as an excuse. We have protested loudly” against France’s initiative “and traffic has been resumed. That’s all”, the Italian FM concluded.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Miliband Ally Attacks Labour Migration ‘Lies’ Over 2.2m They Let in Britain
A close ally of Ed Miliband has attacked Labour for ‘lying’ about immigration.
Lord Glasman — a leading academic and personal friend of the Labour leader — said that the previous Labour government had used mass immigration to control wages.
In an article for Progress magazine, the Labour peer wrote: ‘Labour lied to people about the extent of immigration … and there’s been a massive rupture of trust.’
Labour let in 2.2million migrants during its 13 years in power — more than twice the population of Birmingham.
Maurice Glasman was promoted to the House of Lords by Mr Miliband earlier this year. He has been dubbed the Labour leader’s ‘de facto chief of staff’ by party insiders and has written speeches for him.
Lord Glasman, 49, had already told BBC Radio 4 recently: ‘What you have with immigration is the idea that people should travel all over the world in search of higher-paying jobs, often to undercut existing workforces, and somehow in the Labour Party we got into a position that that was a good thing.
‘Now obviously it undermines solidarity, it undermines relationships, and in the scale that it’s been going on in England, it can undermine the possibility of politics entirely.’
The academic, who directs the faith and citizenship programme at London Metropolitan University, criticised Labour for being ‘hostile to the English working class’.
He said: ‘In many ways [Labour] viewed working-class voters as an obstacle to progress.
‘Their commitment to various civil rights, anti-racism, meant that often working-class voters… were seen as racist, resistant to change, homophobic and generally reactionary.
Lord Glasman has also argued for Labour to take a more patriotic stance, opposing the sale of the ports of Dover to the French as ‘lunacy’.
He said: ‘I would like to see Ed on the white cliffs saying, “This is forever England”.’
Tory MP Michael Ellis said: ‘What we want to know is: will Ed Miliband admit that the Labour government he was a part of lied to the country?
‘It’s time for Ed Miliband to apologise for Labour’s record on immigration.’
Mr Miliband has denied that Labour let in too many immigrants during its time in government.
A source close to the Labour leader tried to play down the significance of the peer’s remarks. He said: ‘Maurice Glasman is a mate of Ed’s but he is not his guru on this or any other issue.’
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Fundamentalists Attack Christ Artwork
Libération, 18 April 2011
“Whackos hammer Piss Christ,” headlines Libération, in the wake of the destruction of a photograph showing a plastic crucifix submerged in urine by Andres Serrano. The attack, which was perpetrated by fundamentalist Catholics using hammers and screwdrivers, took place in the Avignon Museum of Contemporary Art. “Notwithstanding its provocative title, Piss Christ is not a trashy piece of work but a beautiful red and gold photograph,” remarks the daily — a view not shared by the archbishop of Avignon, His Grace Jean-Pierre Cattenoz who, a few weeks ago, called for this “rubbish” to be removed.” On 16 April, a crowd of 500 people took part in a Front National protest in front of the museum to demand that the work be taken down. Piss Christ, which was produced in the 1980s, has already been the target of a number of attacks by Neo-Nazis: most recently in Sweden in 2007.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
‘Gay Men Love Boobs and Bums’: What Homosexual Stable-Boy Told Manageress as He Groped Her Breasts
A livery yard manageress has been awarded £12,300 damages after she was groped by a homosexual stable-boy who told her: ‘Gay men love boobs and bums.’
The tanned stable groom regularly fondled Louise Smith, simulated sex with her and even flashed his genitals at St Ives Equestrian Centre in Bingley, West Yorks.
When Ms Smith, 25, complained to bosses about the stable-boy’s lewd behaviour, they refused to believe her because of the man’s sexuality, a tribunal heard.
Instead, she was hauled before a disciplinary hearing and accused of lying, before being sacked due to a CRB check matter which was ‘fabricated’ by her bosses.
[…]
Despite numerous verbal and emailed complaints to Deborah Homewood about the gay groom’s behaviour he remained at the St Ives estate.
Instead Louise was hauled before a disciplinary hearing in February 2010 on a fabricated matter and was sacked after bosses accused her of ‘lying’.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Transsexual Activist Attempts Suicide in Turkey’s Bursa
A transsexual activist and would-be parliamentary candidate in the northwestern province of Bursa attempted suicide Sunday but was talked out of jumping from the fifth floor of her association’s building.
Gökkusagi Dernegi (Rainbow Association) head Öykü Özen previously sent a text message to her friends and the press, blaming her husband for her decision to kill herself. While standing at the window of the association’s building, she reportedly said she had had enough and did not want to live anymore.
Police arrived at the building and spent 30 minutes talking her down. After she decided not to jump, Özen was rescued using a fire-truck ladder and taken to the Muradiye Public Hospital.
In her message to friends and the media, Özen wrote: “You were the ones who gave me courage. I had hope for people but could not hope for myself. Now I am suffering from love. My husband is responsible for my action. The association building where I fight [for gay, lesbian and transsexual rights] will be my death place.”
Özen applied to be a deputy candidate from the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, for the June 12 general election, but the party did not nominate her.
She married Mehmet Özen in 2007, following a sex-change operation. The pair had been fighting due to jealousy issues, the Dogan news agency, or DHA, reported.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Ban on Christian’s Cross is Outrageous, Says Ex-Archbishop Lord Carey
An electrician facing the sack for displaying a small cross in his company van was backed last night by the former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey.
He said it was ‘outrageous’ that Colin Atkinson had been told by the housing association he works for that he cannot show the Christian symbol of his faith on the dashboard.
Mr Atkinson refuses to adhere to the ‘anti-Christian’ rules imposed on staff which come despite his boss, Denis Doody, being allowed to display a poster of communist revolutionary Che Guevara in his office.
Devout Mr Atkinson says he is prepared to lose his job at Wakefield and District Housing (WDH), where he has worked for 15 years, and has accused bosses of marginalising Christians in the name of political correctness.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: The Collapse of Family Life: Half of Children See Parents Split by 16 as Births Outside Marriage Hit Highest Level for Two Centuries
The astonishing speed at which traditional family life has collapsed is laid bare today.
Shocking figures reveal that births outside marriage are at their highest level in two centuries and nearly half of children can expect their parents to separate by the time they turn 16.
Nine out of ten couples now live together before — or instead of — tying the knot. Before the Second World War, it was fewer than one in 30.
From a situation 30 years ago where it was often considered shameful to have a child outside of wedlock, it has now become the norm.
Some 46 per cent of children are born to unmarried mothers, according to research by the Centre for Social Justice.
The think-tank said a child growing up in a one-parent family is 75 per cent more likely to fail at school, 70 per cent more likely to become a drug addict, 50 per cent more likely to have an alcohol problem and 35 per cent more likely to be unemployed as an adult.
Some 48 per cent of children are likely to see their family break up before they are 16. Ten years ago, it was 40 per cent.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Why Are the Left (And the BBC) So Keen to Promote This Ghoulish Culture of Death?
Spring, when the trees are in bud and green shoots are thrusting up from the earth, is the season when life robustly reasserts itself.
Yet in the past few weeks we have been assailed by a relentless stream of stories about people wanting to be helped to die.
First, we learned that the BBC plans to screen a documentary this summer in which novelist and Alzheimer’s sufferer Terry Pratchett advocates assisted suicide.
The programme features footage of a man with motor neurone disease travelling to the Swiss euthanasia clinic Dignitas and being shown dying on screen.
Hard on the heels of this snuff movie came the sickening news that a video featuring notorious assisted suicide campaigner Dr Philip Nitschke, in which he demonstrates how to help people kill themselves, is being shown to schoolchildren in British classrooms.
Nitschke, nicknamed ‘Dr Death’ — whose DIY suicide manual provides instructions on how to kill yourself with plastic bags, carbon monoxide, cyanide, morphine and other poisons — is shown in the film demonstrating his machine that delivers lethal injections and giving workshops on his ghastly trade.
And now the Star Trek actor Sir Patrick Stewart, who apart from being diagnosed with coronary heart disease five years ago is a healthy 70-year-old, suddenly announces his wish to be allowed an assisted death.
This would all seem to add up to an intensification of the campaign to make it legal for people to be helped to kill themselves.
This autumn, the Commission on Assisted Dying, led by Lord Falconer, is expected to deliver its recommendations to MPs over a change in the law.
All this propaganda — for that’s what it is — seems to be part of a drive to soften up public opinion so that any recommendation made by this commission to make assisted suicide legal will be accepted.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Private Spaceship Builders Split Nearly $270 Million in NASA Funds
NASA has tapped four private companies to receive grants from its nearly $300 million fund to spur new work on commercial spaceships and rockets that could eventually lead to vehicles capable of launching astronauts into space.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Single-Atom Carbon Sheets Could be Ideal for Spintronics.
The ultra-thin form of carbon known as graphene has been hailed as a wonder material because of its exceptional electrical, thermal and mechanical properties. It now appears to have just the qualities needed to make ultra-fast electronic circuits that utilize the spin as well as the charge of electrons. Graphene is a layer of carbon one atom thick arranged in a hexagonal lattice. Discovered in 2004 by Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov of Manchester University, UK, who used sticky tape to remove slivers of graphite from pencil lead, its enormous strength, high thermal conductivity and unique electronic properties have spawned a huge amount of both fundamental and applied research and earned its discoverers the Nobel prize in physics last year.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UN Embarrassed by Forecast on Climate Refugees
Six years ago, the United Nations issued a dramatic warning that the world would have to cope with 50 million climate refugees by 2010. But now that those migration flows have failed to materialize, the UN has distanced itself from the forecasts. On the contrary, populations are growing in the regions that had been identified as environmental danger zones.
It was a dramatic prediction that was widely picked up by the world’s media. In 2005, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations University declared that 50 million people could become environmental refugees by 2010, fleeing the effects of climate change.
But now the UN is distancing itself from the forecast: “It is not a UNEP prediction,” a UNEP spokesman told SPIEGEL ONLINE. The forecast has since been removed from UNEP’s website.
Official statistics show that the population in areas threatened by global warming is actually rising. The expected environmental disasters have yet to materialize.
In October 2005, UNU said: “Amid predictions that by 2010 the world will need to cope with as many as 50 million people escaping the effects of creeping environmental deterioration, United Nations University experts say the international community urgently needs to define, recognize and extend support to this new category of ‘refugee.’“
It added that “such problems as sea level rise, expanding deserts and catastrophic weather-induced flooding have already contributed to large permanent migrations and could eventually displace hundreds of millions.”
In 2008, Srgjan Kerim, president of the UN General Assembly, said it had been estimated that there would be between 50 million and 200 million environmental migrants by 2010. A UNEP web page showed a map of regions where people were likely to be displaced by the ravages of global warming. It has recently been taken offline but is still visible in a Google cache.
‘What Happened to the Climate Refugees?’
The UNEP spokesman said the map had been produced for a newspaper “based on various sources.” He said the map had been taken off the UNEP website “because it was causing confusion and making some journalists think UNEP was the source of such forecasts.”
Given the UN’s warnings of a tide of environmental refugees, the Asian Correspondent, a news and comment website, published an article this month titled “What Happened to the Climate Refugees?”
Bloggers then pounced on the prediction and heaped scorn on it. But they have encountered the same problems that scientists did in trying to forecast the impact of climate change: It is very difficult to define the term climate refugee.
Scientists have been claiming for years that some 25 million people have already been displaced by adverse environmental conditions. Drought, storms and floods have always plagued parts of the world’s population. The environmentalist Norman Myers, a professor at Oxford University, has been particularly bold in his forecasts. At a conference in Prague in 2005, he predicted there would be 50 million climate refugees by 2010.
“As far back as 1995 (latest date for a comprehensive assessment), these environmental refugees totalled at least 25 million people, compared with 27 million traditional refugees (people fleeing political oppression, religious persecution and ethnic troubles),” Myers said. “The environmental refugees total could well double between 1995 and 2010.”
“When global warming takes hold,” he added, “there could be as many as 200 million people overtaken by disruptions of monsoon systems and other rainfall regimes, by droughts of unprecedented severity and duration, and by sea-level rise and coastal flooding.” Myers’ report may have been the basis for the UN statements in 2005.
Forecasts in Doubt
But Myers’ forecasts are controversial in scientific circles. Stephen Castles of the International Migration Institute at Oxford University contradicted the horror scenarios in an interview with SPIEGEL in 2007. Myers and other scientists were simply looking at climate change forecasts and counting the number of people living in areas at risk of flooding, said Castles, author of the “The Age of Migration.” That made them arrive at huge refugee numbers.
Castles said people usually don’t respond to environmental disasters, war or poverty by emigrating abroad. That appears to be confirmed by the behavior of victims of last month’s devastating earthquake and tusnami in Japan. Many survivors are returning to rebuild their ruined towns and villages.
The UNU statement from 2005 highlights the difficulties involved in predicting the impact of global warming. The Yemeni capital Sanaa was cited as an example of the threat of climate migration. Sanaa’s ground water was falling “by 6 meters a year and may be exhausted by 2010, according to the World Bank,” the statement said.
In 2010, the IRIN news agency, a service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, reported that Sanaa “may run out of economically viable water supplies by 2017.” Meanwhile the city’s population has increased: between 2004 and 2010, it expanded by 585,000 people to almost 2.3 million. Nevertheless, there is no sign of an exodus resulting from a shortage of water.
The same applies to other nations that were classified as particularly endangered on the UNEP map of the world, such as Bangladesh, the Cook Islands and Western Sahara. In these countries and others, the population numbers have increased, according to official data. Even the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu still has its 10,000 inhabitants, even though their relocation had already been planned. The reason may be that many low-lying Pacific islands are actually increasing in size despite the rise in ocean levels, because of a build-up caused by coral debris eroded from reefs and deposited on the islands by storms and sea currents…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
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