A Cross of Gold
[The full text of an address presented at the October 2010 Meeting of the Committee for Monetary Research & Education, in New York City.]
The present domestic and international monetary and banking systems have slipped into the initial stages of terminal dissolution. In their present forms, they cannot long survive.
This is not merely my own opinion, but the view of no less than the United Nations Economic and Social Council. In July of this year it published a report entitled United Nations World Economic Situation and Prospects 2010, [1] which stated that “[t]he risk of exchange-rate instability and a hard landing of the dollar could be reduced by having a global payments and reserve system which is less dependent on one single national currency”, and that “[a] new global reserve system could be created, one that no longer relies on the United States dollar as the single major reserve currency”.
This is globalist 1984-ish duckspeak for “our present funny-money scam is coming apart at the seams” and “we need to set up a new Ponzi pyramid before the old one collapses”. But if not in its prescription, yet in its description the United Nations states the truth.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Athens’ Rating Down Again, EU Races Against Collapse
(ANSAmed) — ROME, MAY 10 — The ratings agencies have raised their sights on Greece again: S&P decided on another cut, sending Athens’ sovereign debt rating further into ‘junk’ status. Meanwhile, as the markets have returned to punishing the Greek debt, a race against time is on for Athens and Brussels in order to increase the amount of aid to Greece to avoid a painful debt restructuring plan. S&P cut Greece’s rating by two levels, from BB- to B, warning that the situation could become even worse due to an increasingly high default risk. Starting from speculation regarding an extension to the repayment deadline for the 80 billion euros loaned by the EU to Athens a year ago, S&P fears that “creditor countries will require a similar treatment for private bond holders, paying them even later”.
In reality — having acknowledged that Greece will not be able to finance itself by issuing bonds in 2012 as required in the rescue programme — EU finance officials are also working on other scenarios, such as cutting the penalising interest rates on loans, favoured by EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn. There is also the “supplementary adjustment programmed” cited by Eurogroup President Jean-Claude Juncker after the emergency summit in Luxembourg on Friday. Another 20-30 billion-euro loan is being considered in exchange for expanding the privatisation programme (currently at 50 billion euros). After the Luxembourg summit, the ball is now in the troika’s court, with the officials from the IMF, EU and ECB in Greece today to verify the implementation of the austerity plan adopted by Athens and probably to ask officials to speed up the privatisation plan and for bipartisan consensus on reforms.
On Monday the EU Council of Finance Ministers will meet regarding the approval of the 78 billion-euro rescue package for Portugal. As French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde explained, having seen the reports from the European Commission, IMF and BCE on the Greek situation, “on May 16 at the Ecofin council we will examine if additional requirements from the Government in Athens are necessary and what they might be so that they fulfil their commitments”. But it is a race against time because the markets are not letting up. The decision by S&P has put Greek government bonds into an even deeper rut, with interest rates on the rise yesterday and a soaring spread on 10-year bonds (to 1,260 basis points), which pulled Ireland and Portugal up to record levels.
The other two major ratings agencies seem to have the intention of following S&P’s lead. Yesterday, Moody’s reviewed the Greek rating, currently at B1, ahead of a possible downgrading due to the worsening of the 2010 deficit and “growing uncertainty” regarding its sustainability. Rumours are also indicating that Fitch intends to cut its rating, similar to the decision made by S&P. The positive news is that the markets do not seem to believe the hypothesis reported in ‘Spiegel’ on Friday about a possible exit by Greece from the euro, an idea that European officials denied. An investigation has been opened into the German magazine for “spreading false news” and fresh denials have been made (by the German government as well as European Commission Vice President Antonio Tajani). But despite everything, some German politicians (in the FDP, part of the government coalition) and several newspapers are continuing to talk about Greece’s possible farewell from the Eurozone, which would be better than “an infinite series of rescues”, wrote Die Welt.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Rise of the Rupee, Real and Renminbi
Rival Currencies Take Aim at Dollar’s Dominance
The dollar is losing its position as the world’s leading currency, but it’s not only the euro which will benefit. In the future, economists predict, up to five different currencies will dominate the global financial system.
The historical first simply couldn’t end without the usual mantra. At the first-ever press conference in the 98-year history of the US Federal Reserve, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke announced last Wednesday what everyone was expecting, and wanting, to hear. Flanked by the Stars and Stripes as well as the flag of the US central bank, he said: “The Fed believes that a strong dollar is both in American interests and in the interest of the global economy.”
Bernanke has often made similar pronouncements — as has US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Invoking the dollar’s strength was also part of their predecessors’ standard repertoire.
This familiar litany is actually a worrying sign, however. The statement is always made when things are not looking good for the dollar. In one sense, currencies are just like people: Anyone who is genuinely strong doesn’t feel the need to emphasize that fact over and over.
In reality, the US currency is currently plagued by an acute bout of weakness. Its exchange rate has stabilized at around $1.50 to the euro, which is not far from the low point that it reached before the outbreak of the financial crisis. Since the beginning of the year, the dollar has lost 13 percent against the euro.
Profound Global Development
The decline in the value of the dollar on the currency markets, however, is merely an indication of a profound global development. The dollar is in danger of losing its role as the global reserve currency and the world’s benchmark unit for exports.
Not only is the euro gaining in importance — despite the debt crises in Greece, Portugal and Ireland — but the currencies of emerging nations like China, India and Brazil will likely play a larger role in the near future, both in global trade and in the investment practices of central banks. The dollar no longer has a monopoly, according to US economist Barry Eichengreen, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
There are many reasons, both short-term and long-term, for the decline of the greenback, a currency once coveted around the world. The fiscal policies of US President Barack Obama and his predecessors cast doubt over whether the US will ever be able to repay its debts. The rating agency Standard & Poor’s has already threatened to downgrade the credit rating of the only remaining superpower.
To make matters worse, the low interest rate policy pursued by Bernanke’s Fed will further erode the value of the dollar. The central bank is printing money virtually without limit to finance the US federal budget. That’s a guarantee for higher inflation.
In addition, the US is losing its dominance in the global economy. In the mid-20th century, it manufactured the majority of all goods in the world. Today, the US share of global GDP is 24 percent, and is expected to fall even further.
America’s declining importance also has consequences for the role of the dollar. “It is not obvious why the dollar, the currency of an economy that no longer accounts for a majority of the world’s industrial production, should be used to invoice and settle a majority of the world’s international transactions,” economics professor Eichengreen writes in his book, “Exorbitant Privilege: The Rise and Fall of the Dollar and the Future of the International Monetary System.”
Euro’s Rising Popularity
These changes are being felt only gradually, but there is no mistaking them. The dollar is still used in twice as many foreign exchange transactions as the euro, but its share has steadily declined over the past 10 years, while the popularity of the euro has risen.
It’s a similar story when it comes to currency reserves. Last year, the world’s central banks kept 61 percent of their holdings in dollars. In 2000, this figure was nearly 10 percent higher.
The vacant space that this leaves in the banks’ vaults is primarily filled by the euro. Its share rose from 18 percent in 2000 to around 26 percent 10 years later.
The euro is also gaining ground in its role as a pegged currency. In mid 2009, 54 countries had tied their currencies to the dollar, and already half as many had been pegged to the euro.
Part 2: ‘Room for More than One Key Currency’
Many economists expect the US currency to continue to wane in importance — and not just because the Europeans are gaining ground with their common currency. “As the world economy becomes more multipolar, its monetary system, logic suggests, should similarly become more multipolar,” Eichengreen writes.
Working on behalf of the German Finance Ministry, Ansgar Belke, a professor at the University of Duisburg-Essen and director of research at the German Institute for Economic Research in Berlin, has already conducted studies on emerging global monetary trends. He has long been convinced “that the US dollar’s era as a monopolistic key currency is over,” and that in this globalized world, “there is room for more than one key currency.”
The euro has excellent chances of continuing to gain ground. Belke predicts that its success will be decided in the competition “over who has the better stability strategy,” which is essentially a contest between the Fed and the European Central Bank (ECB). It all boils down to the simple question of who is better at keeping inflation under control.
US Economy Flooded with Liquidity
The current outlook for the Europeans is not so bad. After all, the ECB has already raised interest rates to quell inflation fears, while Bernanke’s Fed continues to flood the US economy with liquidity.
Belke believes that a further condition for the rise of the euro is the “defragmentation of European markets for government bonds.” In plain English: German and French bonds could disappear from the market and be replaced by standardized European government bonds, but only if all member countries manage to keep their government debt under control.
Politicians are still shying away from such Eurobonds because they fear for the creditworthiness of their countries. But if a market for government bonds similarly attractive to the one in the US were to emerge, Europe’s politicians could no longer avoid this financing instrument.
In addition to the dollar and the euro, Belke believes that the Chinese yuan, also known as the renminbi, has the best chances of establishing itself as an international key currency, trailed at some distance by the Indian rupee and the Brazilian real.
These are currencies from countries with highly dynamic economies and, in contrast to Europe, steadily growing populations. These mediums of exchange could serve as key currencies for adjacent regions, just as the euro already does today, and thus continue to push back the dollar.
But these countries would first have to fulfill a number of conditions, according to Belke. They would have to ensure that their currencies could be easily exchanged into any other currency, at any time. Furthermore, they would have to develop strong financial markets. Currently, both of these conditions are only fulfilled to a very limited extent.
System in Transition
To change this, the G-20 countries, a group of the world’s leading industrialized and emerging economies, has established a working group to reflect on a future global monetary system. It is headed by Jörg Asmussen, an influential state secretary in the German Finance Ministry, and his Mexican counterpart.
“We have a monetary system in transition,” says the senior German official. The dollar will certainly not lose more importance suddenly, he says, but the trend is clear.
Asmussen doesn’t see this new monetary diversity as detrimental. Quite the contrary: The more currencies that play a global role, the more stable the system, he argues.
That may sound paradoxical at first, but it also makes sense. While the exchange rates of virtually only the dollar and the euro are currently fluctuating, in the future this adjustment pressure could be spread across a number of currencies. The euro would not rise in value nearly as rapidly as it is currently doing if the Chinese yuan were already freely traded.
Yet the yuan remains pegged to the dollar, and is almost perfectly mirroring the greenback’s declining value against the euro — despite China’s robust economic fundamentals. Indeed, the yuan should actually be rising against the euro. Such monetary policy distortions serve to consolidate global imbalances that threaten the world economy.
Long Road Ahead
Just as the dollar is not about to lose its importance overnight, the yuan’s importance is not suddenly going to massively increase. In any case, Asmussen and his colleagues in the G-20 working group realize that they have a long road ahead of them…
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Arizona: Mexican Drug Smugglers Tunnel 250 Feet Through Solid Rock Beneath U.S. Border
A tunnel running 250 feet beneath the U.S.-Mexican border has been discovered fully kitted out with electricity, water pumps and ventilation.
Authorities in Arizona said although they’ve found dozens of tunnels in Nogales, a city in Santa Cruz County since the 1990s, this one is by far the most sophisticated.
Chief border patrol agent Randy Hill said those who were building it had chiselled through solid rock and installed lighting and other equipment.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Celebrate American National Day of Prayer, Not Mexican
May 5, 2011, the first Thursday in May, was America’s annual “National Day of Prayer” by Act of Congress, 36 U.S.Code Sec. 119: “The President shall issue each year a proclamation designating the first Thursday in May as a National Day of Prayer on which the people of the United States may turn to God in prayer and meditation at churches, in groups, and as individuals.”
On April 29, 2011, President Barack Hussein Obama pursuant to that law issued a Proclamation stating: “NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 5, 2011, as a National Day of Prayer. I invite all citizens of our Nation, as their own faith or conscience directs them, to join me in giving thanks for the many blessings we enjoy, and I ask all people of faith to join me in asking God for guidance, mercy, and protection for our Nation.”
However, the National Day of Prayer was all but completely ignored on May 5 as the liberal, “progressive” politically correct politicians, media, and education bureaucrats and teachers, continued the farce of celebrating Cinco de Mayo as a grand day which Americans should celebrate a supposed glory day of Mexico — although in fact even Mexico does not recognize “Cinco de Mayo” as a day of celebration.
On the National Day of Prayer, the liberal media, printed and broadcast not calls to prayer, but, rather, “Happy Cinco de Mayo” greetings to Americans. Governmental agencies carried out “Cinco de Mayo” celebrations by government employees in public taxpayer-supported facilities all over the country, including on what would be “work time” in the private employment sector, but not in the politically-correct public employment sector.
America’s government schools overflowed with celebrations of “Cinco de Mayo” led by overwhelmingly liberal education bureaucrats and teachers, while America’s “National Day of Prayer” was ignored in the progressive curricula.
Indeed, American school kids were not told by their overwhelmingly liberal, politically-correct teachers of the history of the American National Day of Prayer, going all the way back to George Washington in 1775. Instead, the kids were propagandized about Mexico’s great victory (sic) over the French in the Battle of Pueblo. Alas, however, they weren’t educated to the fact that it was a singular, and shortlived “victory,” as Napoleon III sent in the French troops and quickly trounced the Mexican army, won the war, and re-took Mexico.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hasidic Newspaper Defends Airbrushing Hillary Clinton Out of Photo
On Friday, the Brooklyn-based Hasidic newspaper Di Tzeitung ran the now-famous photo of President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and others in the White House Situation Room. Just one problem: In Di Tzeitung’s version, Hillary Clinton wasn’t there. Neither was Director for Counterterrorism Audrey Tomason, the only other woman in the shot. Di Tzeitung had airbrushed them out.
This is, evidently, editorial policy at the paper—Di Tzeitung never runs photos of women, because such images could be “sexually suggestive.” But the removal of Clinton and Tomason made the media sit up and take notice. “Apparently the presence of a woman, any woman, being all womanly and sexy all over the United States’ counterterrorism efforts was too much for the editors of Der Tzitung to handle,” scoffed Morning Gloria at Jezebel. The writer Taylor Marsh called it “unethical” and “unacceptable … The people who made the decision to rewrite U.S. history, including the publisher of Der Tzitung, have shown themselves to be part of the problem in this world.”
Rabbi Jason Miller at The Jewish Week criticized the move on theological grounds: “Der Tzitung edited Hillary Clinton out of the photo, thereby changing history. To my mind, this act of censorship is actually a violation of the Jewish legal principle of g’neivat da’at (deceit).” And Miller pointed out that the manipulated photo might violate man’s law as well as God’s: the White House made the photo available with the disclaimer that it “may not be manipulated in any way.”…
| — Hat tip: Egghead | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Leaders Call Amherst Sign “Racist” And “Hateful”
AMHERST, N.Y. — Local Muslim leaders are angry over a lawn sign next to a new Mosque; some call the sign “racist” and “hateful”.
The Jaffarya Center on Transit Road in the Town of Amherst will have its grand opening celebration next weekend, and leaders say the community has welcomed them with open arms. That’s why they’re so shocked to see the sign, which reads “Bomb Making Next Driveway.”
“My initial reaction was couldn’t believe it,” Dr. Khalid Qazi with the Muslim Public Affairs Council said. “It is totally uncalled for.”
The sign sits in the front yard of Michael Heick, who claims he placed it there in a desperate attempt to draw attention to his two-year battle with the Mosque and the Town.
Heick spoke exclusively with 2 On Your Side. He said the Mosque has ruined his home and that Amherst officials refuse to enforce the code.
Heick showed Channel 2 home video and pictures that reveal the mosque’s lights shining into his backyard and home. The lights are too tall and do not have the required shields to block the lights from disturbing neighboring homes.
The mosque also hasn’t installed high impact screening around its facility to block car lights, something that is also required. Finally, Heick complains about the heating and cooling system noise. Add it all together, and Heick says he has spent around $20,000 on legal bills to fight the Town. In addition, he has called police at least 8 times to report violations.
2 On Your Side looked through the plans with Commissioner of Building Thomas Ketchum.
“I wouldn’t consider (the Mosque) anything unusual for a new project,” Ketchum said.
Ketchum said outstanding issues caused him to issue a conditional certificate of occupancy, which allows the Mosque to be used, but under the condition that code violations are corrected.
“So the neighbor’s assertion that the town has been ignoring this, you would say that’s false?” 2 On Your Side asked Ketchum.
“I would say that’s absolutely false,” Ketchum responded. “We have been persuing compliance on all the issues right from the start of the project.”
Muslim leaders say, no matter his concerns, Mr. Heick had no right to offend an entire religion that is based on peace and not hate.
“This is going to be a place for peace,” Dr. Qazi said. “This is going to be a place for people to come together.”
Mosque leaders contacted Amherst Police and also the FBI. They are also inviting the Heick family to their grand opening celebration next Saturday, May 14 at 2 p.m.
Dr. Syed Jaffri, who serves on the board of trustees for the Shiite Muslim Community of WNY, said the center is dedicated to being the best neighbor possible and hopes to “break bread” with Mr. Heick in the future. Mosque leaders insisted they will be in full compliance with the Town’s code standards and will fix any outstanding problems.
When asked by 2 On Your Side why he would use such offensive language on the sign, Heick said, “I’ve been going through this the right way for years. The right way didn’t work.”
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
US Freezes Chicago Palestinian Leader’s Bank Accounts
The US government has frozen the bank accounts belonging to Hatem Abudayyeh, a Palestinian community organizer and director of a social service organization serving the Arab community in Chicago, and his wife, Naima.
Meanwhile, several members of Congress have written to the Obama administration to express their concerns about violations in civil liberties as a result of earlier government actions toward Abudayyeh and other activists.
The freezing of the Abudayyeh family’s bank accounts on Friday, 6 May is the latest development in a secret grand jury investigation that has been launched by US District Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s office in Chicago. The freezing of the accounts has raised concerns that criminal indictments in the case may be imminent.
“I was downtown [in Chicago] on Friday, I had parked my car in a garage and when I tried to use my debit card to get out, it was declined,” Hatem Abudayyeh, director of the Arab American Action Network, told The Electronic Intifada. “I talked to Naima right away and she said she had no access with her card either, so I had to call a friend in the [Chicago] Loop to borrow money to get my car out of the garage.”
The next day the couple went to their bank branch, where the manager said that he had no information but that their accounts were frozen as a result of a government order.
The Abudayyehs’ accounts were frozen just two days before Mother’s Day is observed in the United States. “We were planning on having lunch with my mom and her family, and I couldn’t buy flowers or anything like that,” Hatem Abudayyeh said.
Last September, federal agents raided and searched the Abudayyehs’ home and confiscated the family’s belongings, including financial records and, as Hatem Abudayyeh told The Electronic Intifada last November, “everything that said ‘Palestine’ on it.” Federal agents also confiscated home videos that Naima Abudayyeh, a Palestinian immigrant, had recorded during a family visit to Palestine last summer.
The Abudayyehs’ five-year-old daughter was present during the raid and the family was mainly confined to their small living room during the hours-long search through their home.
That same day, federal agents raided several other homes and offices across the Midwest, serving subpoenas to 14 anti-war and international solidarity activists to appear before a federal grand jury in Chicago. After those activists refused to testify to a grand jury, saying that they were being unfairly targeted because of their work organizing in opposition to US foreign policy in the Middle East, Afghanistan and Colombia, nine additional activists were served subpoenas around the month of December.
The nine additional activists served subpoenas are all residents of Chicago and all are Palestinians or those who have organized in solidarity with the Palestinian people. The Electronic Intifada’s managing editor, Maureen Clare Murphy, was served a subpoena on 21 December. The subpoena issued to Murphy is not connected to her work with The Electronic Intifada, but likely targets her because of her Palestine solidarity activism.
All 23 activists who have received subpoenas since September have refused to testify, despite risking being jailed for doing so.
A grand jury, no longer in use anywhere outside the US, is an investigative tool that allows the government to compel citizens to testify even if they are not suspected of any crime. Activists targeted by these subpoenas, their lawyers, and their supporters, believe the government is using the grand jury as a form of political inquisition and intelligence gathering, targeting groups and individuals working for a more peaceful US foreign policy.
Attack on the US Palestinian community
According to a statement made by the Committee to Stop FBI Repression and the Coalition to Protect People’s Rights and also distributed by the US Palestinian Community Network, “Not only does the government’s action [to freeze the bank accounts] seriously disrupt the lives of the Abudayyehs and their five-year-old daughter, but it represents an attack on Chicago’s Arab community and activist community and the fundamental rights of Americans to freedom of speech” ( “Demand US Attorney Fitzgerald unfreeze the bank accounts of the Abudayyeh family,” 8 May 2011).
Of the total of 23 activists who have been subpoenaed, seven are Palestinians from Chicago — home to one of the largest Palestinian communities outside of the Middle East. Scores of Arab community and Palestine solidarity organizations, as well as anti-war groups, civil liberties organizations and faith groups, have issued statements condemning the investigation and attempts to criminalize the Palestine solidarity movement in the US.
The investigation for which the 23 activists have been targeted takes places in the context of widespread surveillance and repression of the Muslim and Arab communities in the US.
And as The Electronic Intifada reported in November of last year, the investigation targeting the subpoenaed activists is just the latest chapter in a long history of US government attempts to criminalize Palestine community organizing and support work in the country.
In December 2001, the US government shut down the largest Muslim charity in the US, the Holy Land Foundation, which sent direct humanitarian aid to Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation, amongst other places. Five defendants prosecuted in relation to the case are serving out lengthy prison sentences of 15 to 65 years (for more information, see the Holy Land Foundation case website).
Other prominent Palestinian community organizers in the US who have been put on trial in recent years because of their work educating Americans about the impact of US military aid to Israel and raising funds for humanitarian assistance for Palestinians living under occupation are Dr. Sami al-Arian, Muhammad Salah and Dr. Abdelhaleem Ashqar.
All three were acquitted by juries of US citizens of all terrorism and racketeering-related charges but have been charged with or convicted of obstruction of justice or contempt of court for refusing to name the names of other Palestinian activists in the US and in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Investigation into material support law violations
While the US government does not comment on grand jury investigations or even confirm that they are underway, search warrants used to raid activists’ homes last September indicate that the home invasions and subpoenas are part of an investigation into violations of the law banning material support for foreign terrorist organizations.
The material support legislation was enacted under the Clinton administration, expanded with the PATRIOT act under Bush and expanded even further last summer after the Supreme Court ruled in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project that political speech can be considered material support for foreign terrorist organizations if done in a “coordinated way.”
The broad scope of the material support laws — especially after last summer’s Supreme Court decision — has provoked sharp criticism from civil liberties groups. Humanitarian agencies have also protested the breadth of the laws, saying it impacts their ability to carry out their work.
Critics of the legislation have pointed out that had these laws been in place during the South Africa anti-apartheid movement, it would have criminalized the entire movement in the US. At the peak of the movement, the Reagan administration’s State Department placed Nelson Mandela’s party, the African National Congress (ANC), on the designated foreign terrorist organization list. The South Africa solidarity movement in the US took direction from the ANC.
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
Video: Geert Wilders Interview by Ezra Levant on SUN News Network
Video of Ezra Levant interview with Geert Wilders on Sun News Network on May 9 2011.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
An Escape From the Arab Spring: One Migrant’s Voyage to Europe
by Jack Shenker
Mohamed Munadi’s Tunisian village was barely affected by the uprising, but he was one of many who fled when Libya erupted
Everybody on the boat smoked. There was nothing else to do, except when the storms came and waves battered the vessel, as water sloshed across the deck and passengers frantically bailed it out. For 22-year-old Mohamed Munadi, the storms were a respite. They gave him something else to focus on. “To be lost there where the water is black … it’s worse than the desert,” he said, drawing on a cigarette in the early evening sunshine of Oria, the town in southern Italy where many Tunisian migrants are based. “You get scared, and you start to imagine how you will die. Sometimes I imagined I would drink so much sea water that I would die, or that my heart would stop from fear. Eventually I would sleep. And at those moments I would ask myself: ‘Mohamed, you did all this for Europe? All this for a job?’“
When the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, staged a summit in Rome on 26 April to press for the partial reinstatement of national border controls in Europe in the event of undefined “exceptional circumstances”, they had people like Munadi in mind. He and thousands of others have fuelled high-level political bickering inside Europe’s corridors of power, with some politicians demanding a fortification of the continent’s external frontiers and curbs on freedom of travel within the EU.
This year has seen a sharp spike in migrants seeking to reach Europe from north Africa, where dramatic political upheavals have created social insecurity and relaxed border controls.
On average 30,000 migrants a year land on Lampedusa, the Italian island just 60 miles off the coast of Tunisia. In the past four months that number has already been exceeded.
“I haven’t seen a television for two months, but we hear about the politics, the meetings and the deals,” said Munadi. “It’s strange that control over your life is in the hands of people you don’t know, people you will never meet. Only they know what will happen. Our job is to wait, always be waiting.”
Leaving Tunisia
After he set out at night from the Tunisian village of Dahibah on 10 March, leaving his family behind and beginning a 2,000-mile journey north, Munadi’s life became a bundle of extremes, of the epic and the mundane. The decision to leave home was the biggest of his life; now, waiting in a camp for a permit that would determine his future, he was at the mercy of bureaucrats in far-off offices who made decisions about what he could eat, where he could sleep and how his life would unfold. His horizons had expanded to take in a new continent, yet he was focused solely on obtaining a 9cm-by-12cm scrap of paper to determine his eligibility to reside legally in Europe.
He never imagined he would leave Dahibah, a Tunisia-Libya border town where he worked with his brothers as a petrol smuggler. Many Tunisians now in Lampedusa were caught up directly in January’s ousting of Ben Ali, and feared the political and economic chaos they believed would and inevitably engulf the nation in the coming months and years. “You can’t relax in a place where the forces of law and order are patrolling with tanks, and 31 political factions are fighting over who will take control,” said a 26-year-old student, one of 1,200 Tunisians also based in Oria.
For Munadi in Dahibah, the tumultuous politics of the capital seemed a long way away, and his biggest preoccupation was the house he was building on his parents’ land. “During the day I would surf the internet, and in the evening I and my friends would go out into the desert hunting for rabbits. We would make a fire and camp out there, and take photos as a souvenir. It’s a special place, not really part of Tunisia. There’s not many police around. tThe government gives us a few logistical things but apart from that we have no relationship with them. The village belongs to its people.”
The absence of the state in Munadi’s neighbourhood made revolution in January difficult to comprehend. The regular blows rained down by the corrupt and brutal security apparatus of Tunisia’s regime on much of the population were rarely felt in the semi-lawless frontier town of Dahibah. When Munadi’s family heard Ben Ali had been deposed they were pleased, but it was news detached from their own world, and — initially at least — life continued as normal.
“Then the Libyan people tried to move,” said Munadi, “and Gaddafi moved too, and everything became dangerous. When he moved, we moved because the border broke and everything we were doing, the smuggling, the life we led, it had to stop. I knew that if I stayed I would have no job. And I knew that if I had the energy, I had to try to get out, find something new.”
Munadi’s parents tried to dissuade him from joining the thousands of Tunisians who were taking advantage of the country’s post-revolutionary chaos to evade border patrols and head across the Mediterranean in search of employment in the EU. But Munadi was determined. He made contact with a fixer in the port city of Djerba, who charged 2,000 dinars (£900) for passage on a fishing boat. In the early hours of 17 March, after a week in an apartment waiting for the weather to clear, he and two friends put all their belongings together in a single sack, climbed on to a raft, and floated out to the boat. Fifty other migrants were already on board, waiting.
“The captain of the boat was only 20, and yet he was so calm and professional,” recalled Munadi. “Most of those on board were from Djerba, working in tourism or fishing. We were all so happy, smiling, singing, making videos on our phone. “On the second day, however, a storm blew up and everything changed. “The captain came to us and said: ‘As long as the winds don’t get any stronger than this, we will live. But if the wind grows, I’ll just say I’m sorry, because for sure we will die.’ I’ll never forget this moment for as long as I live. I could tell you about it for hours and you still wouldn’t understand. You have to experience it, to know what it’s like to think it’s done, this life is over.”
After three days, Munadi’s boat landed on Lampedusa, the tiny Italian outpost that has become a magnet for those trying to reach Europe from north Africa. Its permanent population is no more than 5,000; so far this year, six times that number have tumbled ashore on the island’s port and beaches. Some are Libyans, or Libyan-based workers from other countries also fleeing the conflict between Muammar Gaddafi and anti-government revolutionaries, while others are sub-Saharan refugees. But the majority are economic migrants from Tunisia who have arrived in droves over the past three months, fanning out across Lampedusa’s gentle, scuffed-idyll landscape and constructing temporary homes in caves, deserted farmhouses, pockets of scrubland and half-empty churches.
Many hardships await those who land illegally on the island, but more than 800 have died trying to reach it in the last months alone according to the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, and for Munadi the overwhelming sensation on arrival was relief. “It wasn’t just Lampedusa, it was another life. You can say that when I put my foot in the port, I was born again. The sea was like death, and Lampedusa was like life.”
The stories of those on Lampedusa charged with rescuing distressed migrants from the sea confirm his luck. “Many of those we pick up have been travelling like sardines for days,” said Lieutenant Diego Bianchi, a doctor with the Order of Malta. “They can’t move. They can’t answer to their body’s needs. They can’t help each other. Some are risking death because down below the air can be impossible to breathe. Those that have travelled from beyond the Sahara have already been on the road for months, and the damage is not just physical — these are exhausted, demoralised people when they arrive.”
Far-flung from its Italian administrators, Lampedusa has been a focus of immigration for hundreds of years, hosting ancient seafarers from the Phoenicians to the Romans. Out by the lighthouse a six-metre signpost stands testament to a long heritage of transitory visitors, pointing in the directions of dozens of cities across the planet whose citizens have, at one time or another, wound up here.
At the height of the crisis, Tunisian migrants could be seen in every corner of the island. Today evidence of the latest human influx lies tucked away in the holiday resort’s nooks and crannies, such as an under-construction swimming pool built into the hills on the edge of town. Mattresses, empty tuna tins and discarded clothing litter the floor, scattered randomly below the pool’s wide wooden beams. On the granite walls, overlapping graffiti tell of the utilisation of this space by both local youths and migrants, knitting their concerns together in an explosion of scraggly technicolour. One concrete section is daubed in Italian with 2.5-metre-high letters: “Hey Loco, Ti Amo!” The slab next to it is in Arabic: “Horreya” (freedom), it reads.
Munadi stayed on Lampedusa for 10 days. “We slept out in the open in the port, because the [migrant detention] centre was full.. To fill the time we would go on journeys around, looking at the coast and the sea.” Finally he was processed at the centre, given a temporary ID card, and placed with 1,400 other migrants on a ferry to the southern Italian town of Taranto. “They searched us all before getting on the boat and took away any objects that could be dangerous. Even our shoelaces. They knew we were full of stress.”
On 1 April, Munadi arrived in mainland Europe and was bussed to a detention centre in the Puglia region of southern Italy. Set in a grassy wasteland between the towns of Manduria and Oria and buttressed by a series of stone ruins, the blue-tent city is surrounded by barbed wire, guarded by dozens of police units — including mounted horse patrols — and subject to helicopter surveillance from the air. Originally designed to accommodate 1,500 people, the camp’s existence sparked tensions with the residents of Oria. By the time Munadi arrived there were more than 2,000 migrants inside the camp, served by two food distribution points, a shower block that regularly failed to work, and almost no official sources of information about what would be happening next.
A camp on edge
The international medical organisation Médecins Sans Frontières has described conditions in Italian migrant centres as “intolerable”, worse than refugee camps in other parts of the world where the NGO operates, and warned that this aggravates the mental state of those being held. “People get nervous. They don’t understand what’s happening,” said Munadi. “Some people get drunk and have fights; and so the whole place is on edge. I get scared because I haven’t met people like this before. Not everyone is good. Many times I’ve wished they would take me back to Tunisia, just to get away from this place.” In Munadi’s time at the camp there were two mass escapes by migrants. On the second one, Munadi made it on foot to Bari, 60 miles north, before being hauled back by police. Life in the camp settled into an uneasy routine after officials began processing temporary six-month residency visas for all those who landed on Lampedusa before 5 April, a condition that Munadi met. Each morning a list was posted up outside the camp’s police office detailing the names of those whose visas were ready for collection, but the process appeared largely random and in the absence of clear details about who would be getting the visas and when they would materialise, rumour and conspiracy theories quickly spread. Some migrants believed the camp food was being drugged to make them docile. Last month reports of camp officials charging migrants €30 for a visa almost provoked a riot. “We wake up for the lists alone,” said Munadi.. “Often you don’t feel that you are human but you have to accept the conditions. The one thing you must keep in your mind is this is a problem about days, about hours, about nothing more than that.”
Now they were waiting for their visas, the migrants were no longer locked inside the camp during the day and were free to walk a few miles into Oria, a little town of twisting alleys and stone archways, topped by a castle which plays host to historical re-enactments — a local obsession — every summer. The people of Oria have exhibited flashes of extraordinary kindness to the migrants who head in each morning for coffee. An Italian couple from the town once picked up Munadi in their car and took him for an impromptu day trip to the beach.
But there have also been clashes. Shopkeepers have put up Arabic signs ordering only one person to enter their establishment at a time, while bars and cafes have started restricting the hours in which migrants are allowed to make use of their facilities. “We are a small town that relies heavily on tourism, and that’s being threatened by an invasive presence that has turned some people’s lives upside down,” said Emilio Dell’aquila, the local police commander. “I understand,” said Munadi. “It’s their home. We must always say ‘excuse us’ for our presence here.”
At sundown the migrants gathered round small fires by the roadside and Munadi pointed out characters and cliques that dominated the rhythms of the camp. They included farmers, computer animators and a techno DJ. Some spent their time talking politics and debating the new Tunisia, and others would rather play football. “If I get the visa, I’ll go to Rome and take pictures — spend a day there, tourist and immigrant,” said Munadi. “After that I will try to reach Paris, where my friend’s cousin will get us a job in a bakery. It’s a simple job, and insha’allah we will become successful. My friend will cook the bread, and I will learn.”
Getting the permit would mark only the beginning of one more uncertain phase in Munadi’s journey. Trains and buses require money but with no identification, he has found it difficult to use money transfer services through which family and friends could send him funds. At the French border, police have been stationed in an effort to block permit-holding Tunisian migrants from crossing into France under the EU’s “borderless” Schengen scheme, and trains suspected of carrying migrants have been turned back. Even if Munadi reaches Paris there is no guarantee that he will not face deportation proceedings at some point in the future. Arrest sweeps were carried out last week on Tunisian rough sleepers in several French cities.
Back in Munadi’s home town of Dahibah, fighting in Libya had spilled across the border, leaving many dead and wounded. If the route back there seemed difficult, the path ahead was no less challenging. Meanwhile Munadi knew he would leave the camp armed only with some shampoo, a change of clothes and maybe a temporary visa to combat the bureaucratic struggles ahead.
But he believed his struggle against borders would not last for ever. “Sometimes when I see the news, all the catastrophes and wars in this world, the revolutions and natural disasters, and I see people coming from Libya to Tunisia, Haiti to Canada, Serbia to Italy, all that makes me think that soon there will be no borders in this world,” he said. “It will be a miracle, but it will happen. We will go back to the first moments of humans on this earth, and move free.”
Additional reporting by Mustafa Khalili and Valeria Testagrossa
[JP note: Arab Spring — the nonsense euphemism of this yet-to-be sorry decade. Incidentally, Testagrossa — there is a name to conjure with.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Finland: Police: Hakkarainen’s Foreigner Comments Not a Crime
Comments about foreigners made by newly-elected True Finn MP Teuvo Hakkarainen in a video interview with the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat do not constitute a crime. The police have notified the Prosecutor General’s office that they will not conduct a preliminary investigation into the matter.
Ombudsman for Minorities, Eva Biaudet, had requested an investigation into whether Hakkarainen had crossed the boundaries of what is acceptable freedom of expression.
Hakkarainen had used the Finnish word neekeri, which is considered offensive by many black people, and said that minarets would arise all over Helsinki and that people’s sleep would be disturbed by the muslim call to prayer, which he then mockingly imitated.
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Suspected Camorra Assets Worth €600 Mln, Including 300 Rome Apartments, Seized
Rome and Naples (AKI) — Italian police early Tuesday said they seized around 600 million euros worth of suspected mafia assets, including 300 apartments in Rome.
Investigators believe the property belongs to a Camorra crime family based near Naples bought businesses and real estate to launder cash earned though illegal businesses.
Police in Naples and Rome impounded 900 real estate properties, 23 businesses, 200 bank accounts and cars and motorcycles allegedly linked to the Mallardo mafia clan.
The crime family is suspected by anti-mafia investigators of acquiring large parts of coffee, wholesale drink and non-prescription drug distribution businesses.
The Camorra is one of Italy’s most powerful mafia syndicates based in and around the southern city of Naples.
The 2006 book ‘Gomorrah ‘ by Italian writer Roberto Saviano and the 2008 movie by the same name tells the story of five separate people and how they were affected by the powerful and extremely violent Camorra.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Group Takes Over Swedish Church
A Muslim group plans to turn a church into a mosque after Swedish pentecostalists decided to sell a superfluous property in Flen in eastern Sweden in a display of “Christian love”.
“We have been crowding together in a cellar now for twenty years, and as there are more members every month, it was time to buy larger premises,” said Skender Zekic of the Swedish-Romani Association, which works together with the Bosnian association and al Houda, to the local Eskilstunakuriren daily.
The church in Flen in eastern Sweden, had been on the market since November last year when the al Houda Muslim Centre approached the real estate agency with the intent to buy the church.
The decision to sell had come after two congregations joined together and one of the premises therefore became surplus to requirements.
However, selling the church to a Muslim organisation was not a decision that the congregation took lightly, according to Christina Blomqvist.
“There were very many discussions back and forward and some anguish among a few of our members who felt that it was wrong due to the persecution of Christians in some Muslim countries,” chairperson Christina Blomqvist told The Local.
But in the end the organisation couldn’t see any hindrance for the sale to go through.
After serious soul-searching the congregation had decided there was no reason to punish the Muslims in Sweden for the persecution of Christians in other countries.
The Muslims that are in Sweden, have good reasons to be here, they argued, and in the end came to the decision came down to a question of a display of goodwill.
“We decided we wanted to show our Christian love towards them,” Blomqvist said.
The Muslim organisation will now seek to raise the 4 million kronor ($641,444) required in order to finalise the sale. The organisation is hoping to be able to do so within a year’s time and issued a call for donations.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Six Suspected Islamic Militants Arrested in Paris: Police
PARIS — French police rounded up six suspected Islamist militants in raids in Paris and its suburbs, police said on Tuesday, as France tightened security in the wake of the death of Osama bin Laden.
Interior Minister Claude Gueant had said Monday that France had no concrete evidence of a specific attack being planned, but said security forces were in a heightened state of vigilance over the Jihadist threat.
The arrests were made on Monday in Paris and two of its largely-immigrant suburbs: Stains, where searches continued, and Garges-les-Gonesse, officials close to the inquiry told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The raids were carried out by the DCRI police intelligence service as part of an probe into an Islamist network alleged to have recruited militants in France and sent them to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
French officials told AFP recently that investigators suspect some of these fighters may have recently returned from the battlefield to France.
“On the day after the death of Osama bin Laden I ordered reinforced vigilance,” Gueant told reporters on Monday at a joint news conference in Paris with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
Paris residents have noticed a larger than normal security presence around tourist attractions and transport hubs in recent days, but Gueant said he had not ordered an increase in the terror alert level.
France’s security status has been at the second highest level, “Red” or “probable threat”, since 2005, when Islamist suicide bombers struck London and triggered fears of more attacks on neighbouring European capitals.
In 2008, officials reinforced security measures but stopped short of moving to the highest threat level, “scarlet” or “specific threat”, which would trigger draconian security measures and the closure of potential targets.
French forces are fighting in Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led coalition battling Taliban guerrillas and Bin Laden’s al-Qaida network has repeatedly threatened to carry out attacks against French citizens and interests.
al-Qaida’s North African offshoot, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, has kidnapped several French citizens in recent years, some of whom have been ransomed and some killed. Four nuclear workers are still being held.
On April 28 bombers attacked a popular tourist cafe in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh, killing 17 people including eight French tourists.
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Criminals Who Spend Longer Behind Bars Are Less Likely to Reoffend
Prisoners who spend longer behind bars are less likely to return to crime when they are let out, a report revealed last night.
Reoffending rates fell sharply when criminals were sentenced to up to four years instead of just one or two, a Ministry of Justice study found.
The report will reignite the row about whether ‘prison works’. Defenders of tougher sentences said the study — the first of its kind — showed prison had a powerful ‘deterrent effect’.
Criminals jailed for between two and four years have lower reoffending rates than those given sentences of between one and two years, figures showed today
Dr David Green, director of the Civitas think-tank said: ‘This seems to show that for people who merit prison, the longer you keep them there the better.
As well as protecting the public while they are there, there is also a deterrent effect on release.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Ken Livingstone: My Brilliant Career
by Andrew Gilligan
Ken Livingstone revamped his campaign website this week, removing some of those unpopular promises he’s had to dump (like bringing back the western extension of the congestion charge) and putting up lots of pictures of London suburbs and him meeting white people. Just like the pics, much of the rest of the site is a backhanded acknowledgment of Livingstone’s weaknesses. There is an attempt to restore some of that long-lost cuddliness with “ten things you may not know about Ken” — such as the fact that the great man has lent his name to a coffee shop on an Indian boat jetty. A rickety structure above some rather dirty water — how very appropriate!
My favourite bit, though, is his list of achievements as mayor. Of course, some of the achievements are real, some of them are his doing and a few of them are even both. The congestion charge and the provision of more buses fall into this last category, though passenger use of the network started to revive in 1993, long before Ken turned up.
Rather more of Ken’s proclaimed achievements, though, are either untrue or are the work, wholly or mainly, of other people. He claims credit, for instance, for the introduction of the Oyster card. Although the system debuted after he became mayor, and many people do credit him with it, it was actually ordered and paid for by central government — in 1998, two years before the mayoralty was created.
Police numbers — another claimed achievement — did rise under Ken’s mayoralty, but the increase was very largely the consequence of national policies and Home Office money. In early 2008, for instance, Ken claimed that his budget that year would “provide an extra 1,000 police for London” (press release 30.1.08) and spoke of his part of the council tax “funding an additional 1,000 police officers in the coming year” (speech and press release 19.2.08). In fact, every single one of the extra officers was paid for not from the City Hall budget or Ken’s part of the council tax, but by the Home Office and the London boroughs.
Under Ken, average bus fares were not, as he claims, “held level in real terms over eight years.” According to the Department for Transport, average London bus fares rose by 6.3% in real terms, or 39.4% in actual terms, over those years (and would have risen by at least 17.9% in real terms were it not for Ken’s cynical gesture in cutting the fares a few months before the election, something he secretly planned to reverse as soon as safely re-elected.)
There was not “near-doubling in the numbers cycling.” There was an 83% rise in cyclists passing 29 sample points along main roads, but a 50% rise in cycling in London overall, from 300,000 to 450,000 bike journeys a day, much in line with the rise in use of the rest of the transport system. The claim of the “biggest transport investment programme since the Second World War” is preposterous. Only two relatively small London new rail projects were authorised and delivered in Ken’s time: the DLR extension to Woolwich Arsenal via City Airport and the upgrade of the East London Line, with its short extension to Dalston and Highbury. In the years prior to the mayoralty, by contrast (and mostly thanks to the horrible, evil Tories) we got the core DLR itself; its extensions to Bank, Beckton and Lewisham; Thameslink; the Heathrow Express; the Jubilee Line extension; and the Croydon Tramlink. After years of dithering under Labour, and despite a deathbed conversion a few months before the election, it is also the Tories who are paying for Crossrail.
Ken’s claims to have been “backing lesbian and gay rights” also ring a little hollow in the light of his embrace, and continued defence, of Yusuf al-Qaradawi and other Islamist homophobic bigots. And some other achievements — that wonderful oil deal with Venezuela, for instance, and the brilliant record of the now-defunct London Development Agency — are unaccountably missing from the roll of triumph.
In 2008, for the Standard, I did a piece analysing some of Ken’s false claims about his stupendous record. He’s still repeating some of those false claims — but interestingly, several others he used to make, about huge rises in affordable housing, dramatic falls in crime and so on, are nowhere to be found in this latest list. The truth is that Ken had two important and worthwhile achievements — the buses and the original central London congestion charge — both of which came in the first three years of his mayoralty. The remaining five years saw a gradual atrophy into silliness, arrogance and gesture politics of the Hugo Chavez/ Lee Jasper variety.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Woman Died From Brain Virus After Doctors Dismissed Her as ‘Depressed Because She Didn’t Have a Baby’
A young woman suffering from a rare brain virus died after being told she was merely depressed because she had not had a baby, an inquest heard.
Jane Harrop, 30, was admitted to hospital in February last year with severe pains in her head and neck but staff told her she was merely suffering a migraine.
Two days later, Jane, from Birmingham, died as a result of a rare virus which had been ravaging her brain and spinal cord for at least two months.
Jane’s devastated family are now hoping for answers after she was allegedly ‘given drugs to shut her up and left in a corner to die’.
Her husband Dean, 29, said doctors repeatedly failed to spot the virus that was killing her and did not transfer her to a specialist brain ward at a nearby hospital because there were no beds available.
An inquest at Birmingham Coroner’s Court heard Jane had been suffering from violent headaches and had complained to her GP nine times over the previous seven months.
She was prescribed anti-depressants and was not referred for tests before eventually she collapsed while out on a walk in Sutton Park on February 11.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Algeria: Semolina Shortage, Price Rises Feared
(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, MAY 10 — People in Algeria are concerned about the current shortage of semolina, one of the base ingredients in the country’s cooking. The situation has been denounced by consumers, dealers and importers. The shortage is a consequence of agitation on the international markets. People fear that prices may rise on the occasion of Ramadan, newspaper Le Temps d’Algerie reports. Today a kilo of semolina costs 90 dinars (just under one euro), but people are concerned about an increase around Ramadan up to 200 dinars per kilo (almost 2 euros).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Amr Moussa’s Vision for Egypt
Amr Moussa, the longtime secretary-general of the Arab League, spoke in Cairo with The Post’s Lally Weymouth last weekend about his intention to seek the presidency of Egypt.
Q. The U.S. has shared a strategic vision with Egypt. Is that going to continue?
A. It depends on the strategic vision. In a time of major change, strategy should be revisited. Old angles should be reviewed. In as much as the relations between Egypt and the U.S. should continue to be solid, the changes in the Arab world should be taken into consideration.
What does that mean?
On the positive side [the countries will continue] with cooperation, with understanding, with consultations. But bear in mind that democracy is emerging. It will not be a matter of a telephone call to one person that will give the answer: yes or no.
Officials in Washington are concerned about the change in Egypt’s relationship with Iran.
Iran is not the natural enemy of Arabs, and it shouldn’t be. We have a lot to gain by peaceful relations — or less tense relations — with Iran.
The U.S. is focused on the nuclear issue.
The nuclear issue in the Middle East means Israel and then Iran.
If you become president would you keep the [peace] treaty with Israel?
The treaty is a treaty. For us, the treaty has been signed and it is for peace, but it depends also on the other side. .?.?. If you asked me what kind of relations between the Arab world and Israel I would like to see, I would say that the Arab position — of which Egypt is a party — rests on the Arab initiative of 2002.
Are you worried about how well the secular groups here in Egypt are going to do in the upcoming parliamentary election?
Presidential elections should have preceded the parliamentary elections, and a new civilian president should have been elected in order for him to preside over and lead the work to draft a new constitution and establish the framework of a new republic.
Then should come the parliamentary elections.
It was the Supreme Military Council that decided to have the parliamentary elections first?
It was the amendments to the constitution, which were approved [in a referendum] by the majority over those who opposed it, like myself and others. I firmly believe that presidential elections should precede parliamentary elections.
What did the Military Council say to that?
Until now it is [planning] the parliamentary elections, but I believe we have enough time to perhaps reconsider.
So the Supreme Military Council might reconsider [the election schedule]?
Yes, the Supreme Council has the sovereignty and is running Egypt.
Many political groups seem very disorganized.
That’s why they should be given more time in order for the next parliamentary elections to reflect the real elements of society.
Do you share the concern that if the election were held in September the Muslim Brotherhood would win?
They could or could not. There are other parties who are accelerating the pace to prepare themselves, but I don’t think those forces will have enough time to find a room for themselves in the parliament.
Are you worried about the sectarian violence in Egypt — the violence between the Salafis and Copts?
All those negative events are the result of the mismanagement of society and of the country under the previous regime. Egypt as an enlightened society should not have this sectarian strife.
Some claim that the old security services stirred up the Salafis.
The fact is that we do have a problem. I am sure that the majority of the population of Egypt would not like to see such a conflict based on religion or on sect.
When you look back at the old regime, what do you think was the main problem?
The most flagrant violation was the issue of succession. .?.?. Had there been no revolution in January, it would have happened in May or June, when the regime would have announced the candidacy of [Hosni] Mubarak’s son Gamal. Nobody would have accepted that.
What do you think the power of the president should be as compared to the parliament in the new Egypt?
I believe that in the first three or four terms, a presidential system is needed rather than a purely parliamentary system — but I mean presidential-
parliamentary like your system, based on democracy. People here confuse this with dictatorship. Mubarak was a dictator, not part of a presidential system.
Was Mubarak corrupt?
The prosecutor general will take that into serious consideration and tell the people of Egypt what happened.
Are you in favor of prosecuting Mr. Mubarak?
Any accusation will have to be investigated.
Going back to U.S.—Egyptian relations, how will they change?
Egypt conducted its relations in the region in a way that the people did not accept. Egyptian-Arab relations is one thing; the Palestinian question is another. .?.?.
Blocking Gaza and enforcing the siege along Gaza — people didn’t like that. We should have insisted and used Egyptian-Israeli relations to try and undo and put an end to the siege that caused a lot of suffering to the people of Gaza. The whole world has said exactly what I am saying — that the siege has to come to an end. The old regime was not of the same view.
Now you have brought Hamas to Cairo…
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Incitement to Attack Copts on Internet, 10 Arrests
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, MAY 10 — Ten people have been arrested on suspicion of posting a video on the internet calling for attacks against Copts and the burning down of the church in Embaba, the area of Cairo in which 12 people died on Saturday night during violent religious clashes.
Security sources say that investigations are still ongoing over a possible link between the new arrests and events in Embaba.
Legal sources have announced that the lawyer for the Muslim Brotherhood, Gamal Tagel Din, has appealed against the chief prosecutor’s office, asking for all websites inciting inter-religious violence in Egypt to be banned.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Libya Clashes Displace 750k, UN Says
(AGI) New York — According to UN Humanitarian Affairs undersecretary-general, Valerie Amos, 750k have been displaced by conflict. Out of that total, 5,000 are massed along Libya’s border with Egypt. Amos went on to assess that the collapse in the country’s infrastructure, as well as currency and fuel shortages are seriously testing the population’s resilience.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Bishop of Tripoli: Libyans Are Fleeing the War. Hundreds of Thousands of Refugees
Apostolic Vicar of Tripoli warns the population is afraid and wants to escape. The call for an immediate ceasefire and the opening of negotiations. Today, meeting between Vatican Secretary of State and the Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini to discuss the situation in North Africa and the Middle East.
Tripoli (AsiaNews) — “The Libyans are afraid, every day thousands of people leave for Egypt and Tunisia, where refugee camps have been set up. Yesterday more than 30 thousand people fled to Tunisia alone”, , Mgr. Giovanni Innocenzo Martinelli, Apostolic Vicar of Tripoli tells AsiaNews. According to the prelate, after the meeting of the Contact Group for Libya last May 5, the situation has not changed, “people are afraid and want to leave.” Since the beginning of Odyssey Dawn over 600 thousand Libyans, who have fled across the borders.
The prelate spoke to AsiaNews only hours after a series of NATO air strikes that have caused incalculable damage. “We still hearthe airplanes passing over the city and dropping bombs in the surrounding areas — says Martinelli — but for the moment there has been no direct bombing in Tripoli.” The prelate once again calls on NATO to immediately sign a ceasefire and open negotiations with the Libyan government, before the situation reaches an irreversible point.
Despite the hardships caused by the war — gasoline and food rationing — the life of the small Catholic community in the capital continues. “Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday — says the bishop — many still faithful take part in the services, especially the Philippines and sub-Saharan Africans, who are a great testimony of faith and charity in this difficult time.”
Today in the Vatican, Cardinal. Bertone, Holy See Secretary of State, the Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini and other members of the Vatican Secretariat of State, will meet to discuss the crisis in North Africa and the Middle East. (S.C.)
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Libyan Sources, 4 Kids Hurt in NATO Strike on Tripoli
(ANSAmed) — TRIPOLI, MAY 10 — Four children were reportedly injured due to a NATO air strike last night on Tripoli, report Libyan officials. They were allegedly hit by fragments of glass following explosions in the attack. “Two of the children,” said an official, “were seriously injured and are in the intensive care unit at the hospital.” According to witnesses cited by Reuters, five explosions were heard during the night in Tripoli that can be linked to a possible NATO attack in which missiles were fired on Muammar Gaddafi’s compound. A journalist from AFP confirmed that several aircrafts conducted a series of violent air strikes on the capital during the night, a few hours after other witnesses had reported two explosions near the offices of the Libyan state-run news agency.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
NATO Libya Mission to End Only When Objectives Achieved
(AGI) Naples — General Gabellini has said NATO operations in Libya will end “only when its three military objectives are achieved”. These objectives are the cessation of al threats against civilians, the regime’s armed forces withdraw to their bases and full access for all humanitarian aid. Brigadier General Claudio Gabellini, responsible for planning NATO’s Unified Protector operations in Libya, was answering recent statements on how long the mission might last. General Gabellini expressed the hope that objectives would be achieved “as quickly as possible,” and guaranteed that the situation on the ground “is improving every day.” .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Arab League Chief: Hamas Not a Terror Group
Amr Moussa tells Washington Post, ‘The view that Hamas is a terrorist organization is a view that pertains to a minority of countries, not a majority’
WASHINGTON — Arab League Secretary-General and one of Egypt’s leading presidential candidates Amr Moussa does not believe Hamas is a terrorist organization.
In an interview with the Washington Post, Moussa said: “The view that Hamas is a terrorist organization is a view that pertains to a minority of countries, not a majority. Being a terrorist is not a stigma forever.”
The former Egyptian foreign minister also said Israel should be pressured into lifting the Gaza blockade and stressed that Egypt must improve its relations with Tehran. The issue of Iran’s nuclear program is separate from Israel’s nuclear program, he said.
Iran is not the natural enemy of Arabs, and it shouldn’t be. We have a lot to gain by peaceful relations — or less tense relations — with Iran,” he said. “The nuclear issue in the Middle East means Israel and then Iran.”
Moussa endorsed relations with the US based on the changing reality in Egypt which take into consideration the Egyptian people’s views.
Referring to the peace treaty with Israel, Moussa said he seeks relations between the Arab world and Jerusalem based on the 2002 Arab peace initiative.
He accused ousted President Hosni Mubarak of unjustly separating Egypt’s relations with the Arab world from the Palestinian issue. “Egypt conducted its relations in the region in a way that the people did not accept. Egyptian-Arab relations is one thing; the Palestinian question is another.”
He further added: “Blocking Gaza and enforcing the siege along Gaza — people didn’t like that. We should have insisted and used Egyptian-Israeli relations to try and undo and put an end to the siege that caused a lot of suffering to the people of Gaza.”
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
Bahrain: Iranian Press: Oil Wells Must be Hit
(ANSAmed) — ROME, MAY 10 — “It is of vital importance to hit Bahrain’s and Saudi Arabia’s oil wells”, according to Mustafa Malakutian, political science teacher at the university of Tehran and one of the most important theorists of the Iranian revolutionary guards. In a speech broadcast on Raja News, which is very close to President Mahmoud Ahmadinijad, the theorist turns to Iran’s allies in Bahrain and asks them to use military resistance methods against the government of Bahrain and the Peninsula shield force, claiming that this is the only way to reach the goals. Referring the need for a direct intervention by Iran in Bahrain, Malakutian responded: “We don’t have to carry out a direct military intervention, but we must apply the Lebanese Hezbollah model in Bahrain by training a military resistance that can target the presence of the Saudis and Gulf countries in Bahrain”. Hitting oil wells, the theorist explained, will get the West’s temper up, which as a consequence will put more pressure on the governments of Manama and Riyadh. This pressure will also allow us to reach our strategic goals. The statements of the Iranian theorist confirm, according to security sources in Bahrain quoted by the Al Arabiya website, the involvement of the Lebanese party Hezbollah in the recent uprising in Manama.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Bin Laden: Fight Breaks Out in Kuwaiti Mosque Over Bin Laden Prayer
Kuwait City, 10 May (AKI) — Police had to intervene when a fight broke out in a Kuwait City mosque when an imam asked worshippers to pray for late Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.
Fists started to fly during Monday’s evening prayers when some worshippers protested after the imam asked them to take part in a ceremony to commemorate Bin Laden, according to Kuwaiti television channel Al-Watan, which broadcast images of the scuffle.
Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan on 2 May during a raid by American special forces.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Oman: Uprisings: Protest Degenerates, 6 Arrested
(ANSAmed) — DUBAI, MAY 10 — The protest involving one hundred unemployed young people in Oman that began on Sunday with demonstrators shouting “Where are the jobs?” ended with six arrests and degenerated into attacks on private and public property, including the municipal hall in Jalan Bani Bu Ali, a town located 190km north of the capital city Muscat where the disorders took place, reported the local press this morning. The protests for more greater democracy in Oman’s institutions and for economic reforms to provide more job opportunities started in February, and left two people dead in the early weeks. In the middle of March, Sultan Qaboos bin Said ordered a government reshuffle and the creation of at least 50,000 jobs in order to ease tensions. Thirty thousand unemployed people have already found work in the public sector, but, accused the protestors in Jalan, these jobs were given in the big cities, while the rural areas and small towns were completely ignored.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Heavy Shooting in Damascus Suburb, Witness
(ANSAmed) — AMMAN, MAY 10 — Heavy shooting has been heard today in the southern Damascus suburb of Mouadhamiya, where protests against the government of President Bashar Al Assad have been stepped up, a witness has reported.
“I tried to enter Mouadhamiya on the main road, but there were dozens of armed soldiers pushing the cars back,” said the witness, who was in the area at 13:00 (12:00 Italian time).
Mouadhamiya is on the road that leads towards the Golan Heights.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Internet Crackdown, Activists Release New Videos
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, MAY 10 — The Syrian regime is stepping up its crackdown on telephone and internet communication in a number of cities across the country, though DSL connections are still active, at least in the main cities, with activists continuing to post amateur video footage on social networking sites.
Contacted by telephone by ANSA, some Damascus residents said that the internet 3G service, which is managed by SyriaTel (owned by the cousin of President Assad) and MTN had been down since last Friday, but the few people with DSL subscriptions are continuing to send and receive messages.
“Some people have complained that they cannot access Facebook or use Skype,” said one Damascus resident, denying reports that internet is blocked throughout Syria.
For the last two weeks, though, the southern region of Deraa has been filled with army tanks and telephone and internet connections remain blocked. This is also the case in Banias, which has been cut off since last Saturday, and whole areas of Homs, north of Damascus, as well as some areas of the capital such as Mouadhamiya and Duma.
Youtube channels entitled “ShamsNN” and “Ugarit”, which are managed by Syrian activists, are continuing to post amateur video footage. Today alone, Ugarit has uploaded 13 videos, with ShamsNN posting 24.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Press: Assad’s Wife Has Fled to UK
(ANSAmed) — LONDON, MAY 10 — The wife of the Syrian president Bashar al Assad is reported to have fled to the United Kingdom, a sign being interpreted by the media as proof that her husband’s regime is about to come crashing down.
Asma Assad, who is 35, was born in London and worked in the City before marrying the current President. She is thought to have sought refuge with the couple’s three children in a luxury house in London or in one of the nearby counties. Mrs. Assad is thought to be paying the rent and the bills with part of the billions of pounds that her husband is said to have transferred abroad, according to today’s Daily Mail.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Catholic Church Officials Pull ‘Osama Bin Laden Memorial Mass’ After Online Hoax
Irish church officials have been left red-faced after announcing plans for an Osama bin Laden memorial Mass.
Howth parish in Dublin yesterday hastily withdrew an online newsletter advertising plans to dedicate a Mass to the man credited with masterminding the 9/11 attacks on New York’s twin towers.
The newsletter had stated the Mass would be held at 10am this Thursday in the Church of the Assumption in memory of “Osama bin Laden (recently deceased)”.
Church officials removed the online notice after being alerted by the public.
A spokeswoman for the Catholic press office confirmed there will not be a Mass in honour of the former al-Qa’ida leader.
“It is not really clear what happened,” she said, adding the incident may have been the result of “a mistake or a hoax or a prank”.
Requests to have a Mass said in memory of a deceased relative or friend are made to parish offices every day and it is possible a prank request was made and somehow included in the parish newsletter, she added.
Meanwhile, an Irish sitcom writer has found himself the subject of unlikely speculation about Bin Laden’s taste in TV.
Internet rumours suggested that videos of a TV series written by Graham Linehan were found in Bin Laden’s Pakistani hideout after he was killed there last week.
But Linehan, who is best known for co-writing ‘Father Ted’, fuelled much of the speculation himself.
He had put out an online appeal to try and confirm whether a copy of ‘The IT Crowd’ was found during the raid by US forces.
However, he later said that it was not his show Bin Laden was watching, but rather the US comedy ‘The Big Bang Theory’.
| — Hat tip: Belfast Boy | [Return to headlines] |
Evidence Mounts Pakistan Was Protecting Bin Laden
Compound surrounded by other ISI intelligence interests
The Abbotabad, Pakistan, compound and surrounding area where U.S. Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden last week previously had been used by Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence Service Directorate, or ISI, as a safe house, well-informed sources have said in a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin
The confirmation increases the likelihood that his presence not only was known by the government ISI, but also that there was a level of protection being provided, possibly including that from the highest political levels of the Pakistani government, according to the sources.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: The Problem, The Solution
by Srdja Trifkovic
The most significant fact to emerge from the killing of Osama Bin Laden is that Pakistan’s military intelligence service (ISI) had been sheltering him for years. This confirms what we have been warning for the best part of the past decade: that Pakistan is an irredeemably flawed entity, unable to turn itself into a stable polity or a benign global presence. It needs to be quarantined and its disintegration along its many ethnic-tribal fault lines actively encouraged.
It is indicative of a long-overdue onset of realism in Washington that the U.S.. decided not to inform the government in Islamabad of the raid until after it happened. White House’s John Brennan openly admitted there had been concern that Pakistani forces would deploy to counter the US team conducting the operation. He also stated the obvious: that it was “inconceivable that Bin Laden did not have a support system” in Pakistan. Brennan could have added that on far too many occasions critical intelligence the U.S. shared with the Pakistani authorities has been passed on to those who should be the last to know, including a timely tip on the pending cruise missile attack on OBL’s camp in Afghanistan in 1998.
The ISI claim that OBL’s compound has been “off the radar screen” since being raided while it was under construction in 2003 is ridiculous. The old Urdu proverb, “The darkness is deepest under the lamp,” does not apply. The fortress-style villa worthy of Pablo Escobar, surrounded by 20ft walls, a hundred yards from the main entrance to Pakistan’s West Point, across the street from a police station — in the midst of what is effectively a police state! — evaded scrutiny because it was designated off limits by those in authority. (A retired Pakistani Brigadier General admitted that much in a BBC World Service interview on May 3.) General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, chief of army staff, needs to be asked whose war he is fighting, and why should the U.S. continue to supply him with billions of dollars worth of hardware and direct aid. The questions are uncomfortable. “Everyone says nobody knew of Osama bin Laden’s presence in Abbottabad,” the Financial Times commentator notes, but this only raised fresh questions:…
| — Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic | [Return to headlines] |
Osama Bin Laden Raid: Pakistan Hints China Wants a Peek at Secret Helicopter
Pakistani officials said today they’re interested in studying the remains of the U.S.’s secret stealth-modified helicopter abandoned during the Navy SEAL raid of Osama bin Laden’s compound, and suggested the Chinese are as well.
The U.S. has already asked the Pakistanis for the helicopter wreckage back, but one Pakistani official told ABC News the Chinese were also “very interested” in seeing the remains. Another official said, “We might let them [the Chinese] take a look.”
A U.S. official said he did not know if the Pakistanis had offered a peek to the Chinese, but said he would be “shocked” if the Chinese hadn’t already been given access to the damaged aircraft.
The chopper, which aviation experts believe to be a highly classified modified version of a Blackhawk helicopter, clipped a wall during the operation that took down the al Qaeda leader, the White House said. The U.S. Navy SEALs that rode in on the bird attempted to destroy it after abandoning it on the ground, but a significant portion of the tail section survived the explosion. In the days after the raid, the tail section and other pieces of debris — including a mysterious cloth-like covering that the local children found entertaining to play with — were photographed being hauled away from the crash site by tractor.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Feds: Don’t Screen Students for Immigration Status
In Georgia, state lawmakers considered legislation this year that could have run counter to the warning.
House Bill 296 would have required the state Board of Education to tally the expenditures, by school district, for illegal immigrants in kindergarten through 12th grade. That information would have been published on the state board’s website. But in accordance with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Plyler v. Doe, the state Board of Education’s rules prohibit school officials from inquiring about the legal status of students.
Supporters of tougher immigration legislation in Georgia have argued that the state needs to take action because illegal immigrants are burdening taxpayer-funded resources here, such as schools, hospitals and prisons.
The U.S. Justice and Education departments cited the 1982 Plyler v. Doe decision, which says school districts must educate children regardless of their legal status, in the warning they sent Friday.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Libyan Migrants’ Boat Deaths to be Investigated by Council of Europe
by Jack Shenker
Human rights body demands inquiry into failure of European military units to save 61 migrants on boat fleeing Libya
Europe’s paramount human rights body, the Council of Europe, has called for an inquiry into the deaths of 61 migrants in the Mediterranean, claiming an apparent failure of military units to rescue them marked a “dark day” for the continent. Mevlüt Çavusoglu, president of the council’s parliamentary assembly, demanded an “immediate and comprehensive inquiry” into the fate of the migrants’ boat which ran into trouble in late March en route to the Italian island of Lampedusa.
Yesterday, the Guardian reported that the boat encountered a number of European military units including a helicopter and an aircraft carrier after losing fuel and drifting, but no rescue attempt was made and most of the 72 people on board eventually died of thirst and hunger. “If this grave accusation is true — that, despite the alarm being raised, and despite the fact that this boat, fleeing Libya, had been located by armed forces operating in the Mediterranean, no attempt was made to rescue the 72 passengers aboard, then it is a dark day for Europe as a whole,” Çavusoglu declared. “I call for an immediate and comprehensive inquiry into the circumstances of the deaths of the 61 people who perished, including babies, children and women who — one by one — died of starvation and thirst while Europe looked on,” he added.
Çavusoglu’s intervention came as news emerged of another migrant boat which sank last Friday, according to the UN’s refugee agency. Up to 600 were on board the overcrowded vessel as it fled the Libyan capital, Tripoli. Witnesses who left on another boat shortly afterwards reported seeing remnants of the ship and the bodies of passengers in the sea. The International Organisation for Migration, which has staff on Lampedusa, said it had spoken to a Somali woman who lost her four-month-old baby in the tragedy, and said that it was unclear how many passengers had managed to swim to safety. According to testimony collected by UNHCR workers in Lampedusa, migrants on the second boat setting sail from Tripoli attempted to disembark when they saw the first boat sink, but were prevented from doing so by armed men.
The UNHCR has insisted that more communication is needed between coastguards, military and commercial ships to minimise migrant deaths at sea. “We need to take heed of a situation that is very much evolving. We have to cooperate much more closely,” said a spokesperson, Laura Boldrini, adding that ships should not wait for a problem to arise before attempting to help migrant boats. “Rescue should be automatic, without waiting for the boat to break apart or the engine to stop running,” she said.
Following the Guardian report into the plight of the migrant boat left to drift in the Mediterranean after suffering mechanical problems, Nato rejected suggestions that any of its units were involved in apparently ignoring the vessel. Officials pointed out that the Charles De Gaulle, a French aircraft carrier identified as having possibly encountered the boat, was not under direct Nato command at the time — although it was involved in the Nato-led operations in Libya. “Nato vessels are fully aware of their responsibilities with regard to international maritime law regarding safety of life at sea,” said a spokesman.
French defence officials denied that any of their ships were involved. “The [Charles De Gaulle] was never less than 200km (160 miles) from the Libyan coast,” read a statement. “It is therefore not possible that it could have crossed the path of this drifting vessel which came from the Misrata region. If this was the case, it would have obviously come to the rescue of these people, in some way or another.” In 2010, the statement added, French naval vessels intercepted around 40 refugee boats and came to the assistance of more than 800 people.
Campaigners believe that calls for European ships to be more active in assisting migrants are now becoming more urgent. “All of these migrant boats are incredibly overcrowded and these are desperate people,” said Professor Niels Frenzen, a refugee law specialist at the University of Southern California. “Given the hundreds of deaths we know about — and many more we probably aren’t aware of — any migrant boat that’s being observed right now is by definition a vessel that is in distress, and one which needs rescue.” Frenzen added that with Nato, the EU border agency Frontex, national coastguards and other unilateral forces all operating simultaneously in the Mediterranean, there was an “incredible mess of overlapping missions and jurisdictional confusion over the boundaries of different search and rescue regions”. We’ve got this incredible concentration of ships and aircraft in that sea, many of which are there under security council resolution 1973 [which authorises military operations in Libya], the primary purpose of which is to protect civilian life,” he said.
The UN refugee agency issued a warning for all vessels to keep an eye out for unseaworthy migrant boats in the Mediterranean.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: NATO Launches Probe Into Claims 61 Migrants Died at Sea Despite SOS
Brussels, 10 May (AKI) — Nato is probing claims by a British newspaper that it ignored SOS messages from a boat adrift in the Mediterranean with scores of African migrants on board, 61 of whom died of hunger and thirst, including babies.
“We are looking into the allegations of the Guardian. I hope to have a reaction soon,” Nato spokeswoman Carmen Romero was cited as telling Reuters news agency.
“Nato vessels are fully aware of their responsibilities with regard to international maritime law on safety of lives at sea.”
She was referring to a Guardian newspaper report on Sunday claiming that a boat which set sail for Italy’s southern Lampedusa island from the Libyan capital, Tripoli, ran out of fuel and drifted for 16 days in the Mediterranean before they were rescued despite alerting Italian coastguard via a satellite phone call to an Eritrean priest in Rome, Moses Zerai.
Meanwhile 61 migrants perished at sea and another passenger after the boat washed up on a Libyan beach. Twenty were women and two were small children including a one-year-old baby, both of whom died, the Guardian reported.
The passengers were Ethiopians, Nigerians, Eritreans, Ghanaians and Sudanese. Just ten survived the ordeal, while the rest died of hunger and thirst, the Guardian said.
They are also said to have made contact with an army helicopter and Nato warship but no attempt was seemingly made to rescue the boat, the Guardian said.
The Guardian report cited witness testimony from survivors, Zerai and other individuals who were in contact with the passengers during the doomed voyage.
An army helicopter came reportedly flew over the vessel, lowered some food and water to passengers and told them to remain in position until a rescue boat arrived—and flew off but no boat came, the paper reported.
No boat ever arrived and no country has yet admitted sending the helicopter that made contact with the migrant boat.
The Guardian estimated that on March 29 or 30, the vessel drifted near a Nato aircraft carrier and, according to survivor accounts, two jets took off from the ship and flew low over the migrant boat while passengers waited to be rescued—but “no help was forthcoming,” said the paper.
After conducting research, the Guardian said the aircraft carrier was most probably the French Charles de Gaulle, which was operating in the Mediterranean. The carrier was part of an international operation off Libya but not under Nato’s command.
French naval authorities initially denied the carrier was in the area at that time, but after being shown news reports indicating this was untrue, a spokesman declined to comment, the Guardian said.
Nato, which is coordinating the UN-mandated military operation to protect civilians in Libya, initially said it had not logged any distress calls from the boat and had no records of the incident.
Many hundreds immigrants from North Africa have died in their attempt to reach Italy.
In April alone, over 800 migrants who set sail from Libya never reached Europe and are presumed dead.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Ready to Roll Out New Amnesty Carpet for Illegals
Amnesty or bust. Though not using those words, that’s expected to be the message President Barack Obama will deliver in the border town of El Paso, Texas, on Tuesday.
Obama, according to unofficial reports, will argue that his administration has tightened America’s borders and stepped up deportations, and that it is time for Congress to enact a “path to citizenship” for at least some of the estimated 11 million illegal aliens in this country.
Wary congressional Republicans and even a few Democrats say that “path to citizenship” means “amnesty,” and they’re not willing to go down that road again. Previous amnesty programs, which effectively rewarded lawbreakers, simply enticed more illegals to enter the country.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Says Border is Secure Enough to Begin Legalization
Facing a political gridlock that has doomed immigration legislation for years, President Obama, making his first visit to the border since taking office, turned to activists and immigrant-rights supporters across the country Tuesday and said it’s now up to them to force Congress to act.
From more Border Patrol agents to a border fence to falling crime rates, Mr. Obama said he has checked border security off the to-do list, and that it’s time for Republicans to come to the table and discuss legalizing illegal immigrants — an issue that has stalled since 2007, when it failed in a dramatic bipartisan filibuster on the Senate floor. Mr. Obama failed to get an immigration overhaul through Congress in his first two years in office, when Democrats controlled both the House and Senate.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Retired General Warns of ‘Rush’ To End ‘Don’t Ask’
The newly retired commander of Army forces in the Pacific says the Obama administration’s “rush to repeal” the ban on openly gay men and women serving in the military “is moving way too fast” and risks damaging the armed forces’ fighting ability.
Lt. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon, who retired May 1 after 35 years in the Army, told The Washington Times that he is concerned that repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy will cause problems with morale and mean the military will be less ready and able to fight.
“There’s no question in my mind that this is driven by politics and not military necessity,” he said. “Pushing this kind of social agenda in the military, especially during a time of war, is not appropriate. We’re taking a great risk.
“The risk is a breakdown in morale and unit cohesion,” he added, referring to the bond that warriors share on the front lines. “Everyone has to have total confidence in each other” in combat, he said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
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