Fiat to Pay U.S. $500 Million for Chrysler Stake
Turin, 3 June (AKI/Bloomberg) — Fiat SpA will pay 500 million dollars for the US government’s remaining 6 percent stake in Chrysler, ending the Treasury’s involvement in the automaker.
The US Treasury said it will receive an additional 60 million dollars as part of a deal for Fiat to acquire the government’s rights to buy a union trust fund’s stake in Chrysler. The Canadian government will get 15 million dollars from that part of the transaction, the Treasury has said in a statement.
With the new option to buy all of the Chrysler shares held by the United Auto Workers’ retiree health-care trust, chief executive officer Sergio Marchionne may not need to hold an initial public offering. As recently as this week he said an IPO was “still the easiest route” for the fund to sell its shares.
As Fiat takes a majority position, an IPO becomes less likely, said Maryann Keller, principal of a self-titled consulting firm in Stamford, Connecticut. Investors won’t be keen to buy stock in a company in which Fiat has a controlling position, she said.
“What would be the point of an IPO?” Keller said. “Why would anyone buy shares in a situation where you are perpetually a minority investor. In that situation, you would buy stock in Fiat, not Chrysler.”
The US government with this deal and previous loan repayments, interest and canceled commitments will have recovered 11.2 billion dollars of the 12.5 billion dollars it gave Chrysler in the bailout. The Treasury said it is unlikely to recover the remaining 1.3 billion dollars.
“As Treasury exits its investment in Chrysler, it’s clear that president Obama’s decision to stand behind and restructure this company was the right one,” Treasury secretary Timothy F. Geithner said in a statement.
Fiat boosted its holding in Chrysler to 46 percent last week after the U.S. carmaker repaid 7.6 billion dollars in US and Canadian government loans. The Turin, Italy-based company said it paid 1.3 billion dollars for the additional 16 percent stake.
The quick purchase of a majority stake in Chrysler shows how fast Marchionne has taken the Auburn Hills, Michigan-based carmaker from deep losses to a position where it could break even and succeed, Keller said.
“Sergio accomplished what many people thought was impossible,” Keller said. “He got great terms on the deal because no one believed it would work.”
Fiat said in a filing that it had enough cash on hand to buy the US’s stake and that it has rights to raise its stake beyond 70 percent.
Fiat gained a Chrysler holding as part of the US automaker’s government-backed restructuring in 2009. In exchange for sharing management and technology, as well as reaching operational milestones, Fiat receives as much as 35 percent of Chrysler without paying any cash. Marchionne has said he expects the final milestone to be reached by year’s end.
Marchionne is pushing Chrysler this year to raise its global sales by 32 percent to 2 million and turn an annual profit of 200 million dollars to 500 million dollars
Chrysler last month posted a first-quarter net profit of 116 million dollars, its first since bankruptcy, and global sales during that period increased by 18 percent.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: Protesters Take Over Finance Ministry as Athens Granted More Cash
Protesters took over the Finance Ministry building in Athens on Friday, hanging a giant banner from the roof calling for a general strike, as Greece wrapped up tough negotiations with international officials and succeeded in being granted the next multi-billion-euro installment from its bailout package.
About 200 protesters blockaded the entrance to the ministry from dawn, preventing employees from entering, the Associated Press reported. They hung a banner draping five floors in front of the building and took down the European Union flag from the top of the ministry.
The protest came as experts from the EU, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund, or IMF, were wrapping up a review of Greece’s implementation of economic reforms in return for 110 billion euros ($159.06 billion) in rescue loans from the EU and IMF.
The three bodies, known as the troika, decided in favor of granting Greece its fifth tranche, worth 12 billion euros, of bailout loans agreed last year.
The nearly month-long inspection of Greek finances by the troika concluded “positively” on Friday, the country’s Finance Ministry said, according to the Associated Press.
Greece has removed obstacles on foreigners willing to purchase real estate in border regions, according to Milliyet newspaper. The newspaper said Friday that those who are not a citizen of an EU country will also be able to buy property in the border regions of Greece, without receiving pre-authorization from the Defense Ministry. The approval for such sales will be given by local committees, Milliyet said.
Islands across Turkey’s Aegean shores are defined as within the “border region” of Greece, according to laws that regulate the purchase and sale of properties. Turkish citizens can now buy property in the islands, Milliyet reported.
Greece has so far received 53 billion euros from its rescue deal since it first started tapping into the international bailout package in May last year.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Recession Worries Driving ‘Over-25s’ To Smoke Says Study
Milan, 25 May (AKI) — Nearly 12 million Italians are smoking this year, 600,000 more than in 2010 and most ‘new recruits’ are people over 25 with worries caused by the recession, according to a survey published on Wednesday.
A total of 11.8 million people are smoking in 2011, a 5 percent rise from 2010, according to the survey carried out by the Doxa research agency for the anti-smoking body LILT ahead of the World No Tobacco Day on May 31.
A total of 22.7 percent of Italy’s population over the age of 15 now smokes, according the survey.
“The new smokers are not the under-25s, who have declined to 18.8 percent this year from 21.9 percent in 2010, but those over 25,” said the director of Italy’s Smoking Observatory, Piergiorgio Zuccaro, speaking at a presentation of the study in Milan.
“We think the economic crisis has led to this increase and that many of the new people smoking in 2011 are former smokers who have taken up tobacco again due to anxiety related to the recession,” he said.
Over a million more Italian males (6.5 million) are addicted to tobacco than women (5.3 million), according to the poll.
The number of smokers in Italy had been virtually stable in recent years, after a brief decline when tobacco was banned in all public places in January, 2005.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Moody’s Downgrades Ratings of 8 Greek Banks
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, JUNE 3 — Moody’s rating agency on Friday downgraded the deposit and senior debt ratings of eight Greek banks, following the recent downgrade of the Greek government debt rating by three notches to Caa1 from B1, with a negative outlook for all eight banks. More specifically, as ANA reports, it downgraded National Bank of Greece (NBG), Alpha Bank and Piraeus Bank to B3 from Ba3, Agricultural Bank (ATE) and Attica Bank to B3 from B1, and Emporiki Bank and General Bank of Greece (Geniki) to B1 from Baa3.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Gadahn Call for Gun Violence Merges With Obama’s “Under the Radar” Anti-Gun Agenda
Adam Pearlman, aka Adam Gadahn, has called for Muslims to fall on U.S. gun stores and gun shows, stock up on weapons, and start killing Americans. Pearlman’s remarks are contained in a video released on Friday.
“America is absolutely awash with easily obtainable firearms,” said Gadahn, who is also known as Azzam al-Amriki, or Azzam the American.
“You can go down to a gun show at the local convention center and come away with a fully automatic assault rifle without a background check and most likely without having to show an identification card.”
In fact, the federal government controls who owns fully automatic weapons. The federal government has also outlawed a number of semi-automatic weapons, which are classified as “assault weapons.”
Azzam al-Amriki has a very poor understanding of gun laws in the United States.
Sale of a firearm by a federally licensed dealer must be documented by a federal form 4473, which identifies and includes other information about the purchaser, and records the make, model, and serial number of the firearm. Sales to an individual of multiple handguns within a five-day period require dealer notification to the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Violations of dealer record keeping requirements are punishable by a penalty of up to $1,000 and a year in federal prison.
“Getting to these criminals [all Americans] isn’t as hard as you might think,” Pearlman said in his two hour video tape. “I mean, we’ve seen how a woman knocked the Pope to the floor during Christmas mass, and how Italian leader Berlusconi’s face was smashed during a public appearance. So it’s just a matter of entrusting the matter to Allah and choosing the right place, the right time and the right method.”
Gadahn’s call arrives as the Obama administration prepares to launch a concerted effort against gun ownership and the Second Amendment.
In April, Obama discussed his administration’s intentions concerning gun control with Jim and Sarah Brady, founders of the anti-gun group the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. “I just want you to know that we are working on it (gun control). We have to go through a few processes, but under the radar,” Obama told them.
Gadahn’s hyped threat will add impetus to the call by the government to further roll back the Second Amendment.
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Marching for Israel in NY
American friends: Some 30,000 people take over Fifth Avenue in show of support for Israel
WASHINGTON — Some 30,000 people gathered in New York City Sunday to show their support for the State of Israel, taking part in the 48th traditional march for the Jewish State.
Israeli flags were ubiquitous while Jewish and Israeli artists and comedians performed on stages across the city.
As part of the celebrations, the thousands of revelers marched through Fifth Avenue. The march was opened by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who was accompanied by Israel’s Minister of Information and Diaspora Yuli Edelstein, Israel’s US Ambassador Michael Oren, and Israel’s Consul General in New York Ido Aharoni. …
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Students Turn US Theatre Into Mosque
Saudi students studying a university in the northeastern US state of Pennsylvania have bought a large theater and turned it into a mosque that accommodates more than 500 people, a Saudi newspaper said on Sunday.
The 22 students from the Gulf kingdom decided to buy the mosque near the Pennsylvania university, where they study, after it was offered for sale through local newspapers, Alwatan Arabic language daily said.
“They bought the stage and turned it into a mosque, accommodating more than 500 Moslem worshippers…the mosque is now used by the Saudi students and other Moslems studying in the university or living in that state.”
The paper said nearly 700 Moslems from many countries live in the relatively small state of Pennsylvania, which has around 51 miles of coastline along the northeastern Lake Erie and 57 miles of shoreline along the Delaware Estuary.
“The mosque has a section for women…besides prayers, it is also used to offer lessons in Arabic and English on Islam to those who wish to enter the Islamic religion…after prayers, Moslems get free meals during the day and at night.”
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
Targeting ‘Terror’ Imam, Protesters Want Margate Mosque Shut Down
A South Florida imam and his Margate mosque will be the target of a street protest Tuesday night.
Izhar Khan, who has been called “a bright young star” by the president of the Masjid Jamaat al-Mumineed mosque, was arrested and charged last month with conspiracy to finance the Taliban in Pakistan. His father, also a South Florida imam, was also charged, along with two other family members.
Calling for the mosque’s closure, a coalition of patriot groups and pro-Israel demonstrators said they will protest outside the building at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
“Given the nature of the arrests, and given the fact that the president of the mosque, as well as other mosque goers, continue to support the Khans, we believe it is necessary and warranted that the U.S. government moves to shut down the mosque,” said Joe Kaufman, chairman of Americans Against Hate.
Danita Kilcullen, director of Tea Party Fort Lauderdale, said, “Local citizens are outraged. How can this mosque be allowed to remain open?”
The mosque is located at 3222 Holiday Springs Blvd., Margate.
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
Environmental Damage Closes Sardinia Military Firing Range
(AGI) Nuoro — An experimental 12 hectare Italian armed forces firing range in Sardinia has been closed for environmental reasons. A preliminary investigation judge, Murru, of Lanusei, following a request by the public prosecutor, Fiordalisi, has placed the entire Salto di Quirra facility, which is between the provinces of Nuoro and Ogliastra, under precautionary sequestration. Fiordalisi signed a temporary sequestration order, the first of its kind in Italy, of springs, waterways, water catchment and supplies to the town of Villaputzu and village of Quirra. The purpose is to investigate the environmental disaster and deaths of shepherds who used the area of the range.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Bean Sprouts Now Suspected in E. Coli Crisis
Bean sprouts have emerged as the new chief suspect in the hunt for the cause of the deadly E. coli bacteria outbreak, with health authorities issuing a fresh warning on Sunday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germans Work Less Than Southern Europeans, Study Says
Southern Europeans work more and longer than Germans, a study said, debunking recent comments made by Chancellor Angela Merkel that suggested workers in debt-mired Greece, Spain and Portugal are lazy.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Fincantieri Withdraws Cutbacks Plan
‘Hope this will ease tensions’ says CEO
(ANSA) — Rome, June 3 — Italian shipbuilding giant Fincantieri withdrew a contested cutbacks plan Friday in the face of opposition from workers and the government.
“I hope this will help ease tensions,” said Fincantieri CEO Giuseppe Bono, announcing that negotiations could now restart from scratch.
The government had been pressing the Trieste-based shipbuilder to scale back its restructuring project after massive worker opposition.
Protests across Italy earlier this week escalated into clashes in some cities and a number of protesters were hurt.
The plan envisaged 2,500 job cuts to help Fincantieri to cope with stiffer competition, from the Far East in particular.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Berlusconi’s Brother Indicted Over Wiretap Leak
Case regards ex opposition chief’s remarks on takeover bid
(ANSA) — Rome, June 3 — Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s brother Paolo has been indicted for the alleged illegal publication of a wiretap in conservative newspaper Il Giornale.
Paolo Berlusconi, who owns the daily, will stand trial on October 4 for allegedly receiving stolen goods and conspiring to reveal confidential material regarding an opposition politician’s remarks on a bid to take over an Italian bank.
In December prosecutors said the premier, who currently faces three corruption proceedings and a trial into allegations he paid to have sex with an underage prostitute, had no case to answer in the matter after he was initially put under investigation.
The wiretap in question recorded a conversation in 2005 between the head of the one-time opposition Democratic Left (DS) party, Piero Fassino, and Giovanni Consorte, the former chairman of Unipol, an association of insurers historically linked to the DS, Italy’s former Communist Party.
At the time Unipol came close to taking over the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL), one of Italy’s leading banks, and Fassino was recorded as saying “we have a bank!”.
Fassino, now Turin mayor, was widely criticised for the comment, especially among the rank and file of the DS, which has since turned into a slightly larger centre-left group, the Democratic Party.
Paolo Berlusconi was allegedly allowed to hear the tape, before it was even logged in as evidence, by Roberto Raffaelli, the head of the firm Research Control System (RCS) which had been contracted by investigators to make the wiretap.
Several weeks later Raffaelli and a businessman friend, Fabrizio Favata, allegedly went to Silvio Berlusconi’s private mansion in Arcore, outside Milan, and played it for the premier and, again, his brother before handing over a copy.
A transcript of the Fassino-Consorte conversation was published several days later in Il Giornale.
Favata is reported to have confirmed to investigators both the encounter in Arcore and the fact that Paolo Berlusconi had heard the tape weeks before at the offices of Il Giornale.
The probe was based on the assumption that the parties knew they were illegally obtaining the tape.
Paolo Berlusconi has also been charged with accepting money under false pretenses because he allegedly took some 560,000 euros from Favata, on Raffaelli’s behalf, and promised to help RCS win a contract in Romania.
Judges are considering plea-bargain requests by Raffaelli and another businessman involved in the case, Eugenio Petessi.
Favata has asked to have a fast-track trial after being arrested on extortion charges.
Investigators say he blackmailed Raffaelli for 300,000 euros by threatening to tell the press and police details on how the wiretap was leaked to Il Giornale.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Moroccan National Arrested in Pescara for Sexual Assault
(AGI) Pescara- A Moroccan national was arrested last night in Pescara by local police and charged with sexual assault and battery. Based on the report provided by police headquarters at approximately 11pm last night, the suspect allegedly attacked a passing woman on the street behind Pescara’s fish market. He purportedly made her get on the ground and climbed on top of her as she screamed.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Latest Sex Crime Claims Leave French Press Sceptical
A significant portion of the French press has bristled at recent accusations made by former Education Minister Luc Ferry that another French politician molested young boys in Morocco.
After the Dominique Strauss-Kahn attempted rape case and the charges of sexual harassment levelled at politician Georges Tron, yet another homegrown sex-and-politics scandal is splashed across front pages in France.
Earlier in the week, philosopher and former centre-right Education Minister Luc Ferry said on TV that he had been informed by senior French officials that a fellow former minister (whom he did not name) had once been caught in an “orgy with little boys” in Marrakech. But if the French press has in recent weeks been shining a light on accounts of male chauvinism in France’s political class, several journalists have bristled at the latest accusations, which they say are unfounded and amount to “tarnishing the Republic’s image”.
A stringent French law protecting an individual’s right to privacy has prevented the French press from speculating about which politician Ferry may have been alluding to. But weekly magazine L’Express reported that former Culture Minister Jack Lang was considering filing a lawsuit for slander. The article mentions that Lang’s sexuality has long been the subject of rumours (that were furthermore examined in a 2005 profile of Lang published in the magazine).
‘Democracy left shaking’
Meanwhile, it was Ferry whom left-wing daily Libération put in the hotseat, publishing his photo on the newspaper’s front page Thursday and topping it with a scathing headline: “Dirty Ferry”. The lead article in the paper qualified Ferry’s accusations as “noise, buzz, nothingness”, while the editorial characterised him as a “brash brat” whose allegations were “vague and incomprehensible”.
Regional newspapers around France were just as biting. A daily from the east, l’Est Républicain, asserted that even if the allegations turned out to be true, “it wasn’t in front of a camera that [Ferry] should have thrown his revelations on the table”. If the allegations are false, the editorial posits, Ferry perhaps “only wanted to have people talking about him”.
A southwestern paper, Dépêche du Midi, also came down hard on Ferry, labelling the philosopher a “bogus Voltaire” and a “vulgar snitch”. The publication denounced what it termed a larger “DSK syndrome” that has “possessed the political class and the media with a frenzy that clouds even the most reasonable spirits”.
Le Journal de la Haute-Marne, a newspaper from north-eastern France, offered a broader, somewhat more mournful take on the matter, suggesting that the latest talk of a sex crime in the French political world posed a danger for French society. “The air is becoming unbreatheable….and it is democracy that is left shaking”, the editorial read.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Merkel’s Nuclear Stance Ruffles Conservative Feathers
Members of Germany’s governing coalition criticised Chancellor Angela Merkel’s support for a phase-out of nuclear power by 2022, calling the policy a “mistake” and accusing the CDU leader of weakening her party’s political profile.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Muslims Contribute to German Society, Church Gathering Told
Dresden, Germany, June 3 (ENInews)—Islam is part of a modern, changing Germany and necessary to develop a vibrant society, President Christian Wulff said in a panel discussion on 2 June at the ecumenical gathering called the Kirchentag.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Portugal/Spain: Iberian Socialism in Crisis
(ANSAmed) — LISBON — After seven years of undisputed supremacy, the “new” Iberian socialism of the “young wolves” Zapatero and Socrates today looks to be in crisis. After the humbling suffered by Spain’s PSOE party at the local elections of May 22, and the subsequent announcement that Prime Minister Zapatero would stand down in 10 months, the Socialist Party (PS) of the Portuguese Prime Minister, José Socrates, appears close to the end of the road, with polls suggesting that Sunday’s general election will be won by the centre-right.
Early elections are being held in the country following Socrates’ resignation in April, amid a mood of extreme crisis. After Greece and Ireland, Portugal has also been forced to request a financial bail-out from the EU and IMF in order to avoid bankruptcy, receiving 78 billion euros in aid in exchange for acceptance of a severe restructuring plan that includes the loss of part of the country’s sovereignty. The winner of Sunday’s election will have little room for manoeuvre. Measures imposed by Brussels and Washington will need to be applied to the letter and will severely hit the poorest country in western Europe, which has already suffered significant belt-tightening measures launched by the socialist government in the last year in an attempt to reduce the country’s deficit. Portugal’s three main political parties, the PS, the PSD led by Pedro Passos Coelho, the favourite in the polls ahead of the weekend’s election, and the CDS of Paulo Portas, who is likely to be Coelho’s government ally, have already accepted the “Caudine Forks” imposed by the EU and the IMF. The two left-wing parties, Jeronimo da Sousa’s communist-green party (CDU) and Francisco Louca’s post-Trotskyist Bloco de Esquerda party (BE), who together won around 20% of the vote at the country’s last general election, have disassociated, complaining of a “diktat” by banks and markets. In the latest survey, published today by the newspaper Diario de Noticias some 4 days before the election, the PSD has 36% of the vote according to voter intentions, ahead of Socrates’s PS (31%) and the CDS (11%). CDU and BE would receive 8% and 7% of the vote respectively.
Together, the two centre-right parties are on 47%, with projections giving them an absolute majority of between 115 and 130 out of the 230 seats in Lisbon’ single-house Parliament. Uncertainty still surrounds the election, though, with one in five voters still undecided. There is likely to be particular suspense in the north of Portugal, the poorest part of the country and the area hardest hit by the financial crisis. In Porto, Braga, Viana do Castelo and Viseu, around twenty seats could be wrestled from the PS by the PSD. In this light, all of the main party leaders have said that they will travel to the north in the final hours of campaigning.
If no clear centre-right majority were to emerge, the only road open to country would be a “great coalition” or central block consisting of the PSD and the PS, or the PSD, PS and CDS. This possibility is favoured by Portugal’s head of state, President Anibal Cavaco Silva, as the most solid way of leading the country out of crisis. But Passos Coelho and Portas have ruled out the possibility of a post-election agreement with the Socialists if Socrates, whom they accuse of dragging the country to the brink of disaster and to the EU-IMF bail-out, remains at the head of his party. Like Zapatero, whose popularity is at an all-time low in Spain, and who will leave office before March’s general election, Socrates, the other “young wolf” of Iberian socialism who has been Prime Minister since 2005, could also have to step down.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: ‘Franco Was Not a Dictator’, Storm in Academia
(ANSAmed) — MADRID — Francisco Franco? An “intelligent and moderate” man, also “courageous and a Catholic” who led an “authoritarian but not totalitarian” regime, in other words, not a dictator: it was the socialist prime minister of the Spanish Republic Negrin who led “a practically dictatorial government”, defeated in the blood bath of the Civil War by Franco himself.
Many Spaniards had a jolt in reading these words on the brand new “Biographic Dictionary”, a monumental work (50 volumes, the first 25 presented to King Juan Carlos) of the Real Academia of history of Madrid. A work financed by the government of the socialist premier Jose’ Luis Zapatero with six million euro and which reads history in a surprisingly new and nostalgic-Franchist key. The work has unleashed a wave of controversy.
The left has asked the government to report in Parliament.
Catalan senator Joan Saura asked for “the immediate withdrawal” of the Dictionary, being inspired by “Spanish fascist ideas”.
The ministers of Education Angel Gabilondo and of Culture Angeles Gonzales-Sinde asked the Academia to correct “non objective” chapters. But the president of historians Gonzaleo Anes y Alvarez, Marquis of Castrillon replied negatively: “We shall correct nothing”. The press revolted: “this is a grotesque attempt at pseudo-history, like Stalin’s strategy of misshaping the past” accused Publico.
Franco’s biography was the alarm bell. The “generalisimo” who led the 1936 golpe against the Republic, massacred thousands of republicans in the Civil War and then led the dictatorship until his death in 1975, is described as a merely “authoritarian” Statesman. But his biography was overseen by historian Luis Suarez, close to the Franco Foundation, president of the Valle de los Caidos Confraternity, Franco’s Mausoleum. The chapter on Franco does not use the word ‘dictator’, it has no room for the atrocities committed during the Civil War and for executions carried out during the dictatorship. But this is not the only surreal biography of people of that era. The last republican government of socialist Negrin is defined as “practically a dictatorship”. According to the Dictionary Franchist general Carlos Asensio Cabanillas took part in 1936 to the “Glorious Military Uprising, to Save Spain”, in other words Franco’s putsch, whose militia is defined as “national forces”. Besides, the Dictionary explains that Cabanillas took over Almendralejo in Extremadura from the republican army, “where he stayed so as to normalise the life of the city”. A ‘normalisation’ points out El Pais quoting British historian Paul Preston, that took place thus: “over a thousand people, of which 100 women, were shot.
Before that many of the women were also raped”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spain Holds Moroccan for ‘Recruiting Children for Terrorism’
Police in Spain’s Canary Islands Wednesday arrested a Moroccan suspected of “recruiting children for terrorist purposes”, the interior ministry said. Imad El Mouahhid, 25, also had “links with members of terrorist organisations currently serving sentences in Morocco,” it said in a statement. The suspect was detained in the town of San Bartolome de Tirajana on the island of Gran Canaria as part of Operation Quixote which is investigating people “involved in the recruitment and the proselytizing of jihad.” The suspect was “proselytizing and advocating terrorism through the recruitment of children for terrorist purposes and the development and distribution of different materials,” the ministry said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Switzerland: Calmy-Rey Criticises Italian Blacklisting
Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey has criticised Italy for keeping Switzerland on a blacklist of tax havens during a visit to Rome.
In a meeting with Premier Silvio Berlusconi, Calmy-Rey expressed “incomprehension” that despite the countries’ strong relations, a continuing tax disagreement was becoming worse.
“The presence of Switzerland on Italian blacklists is unacceptable and harms the economic ties and mutual investments between our two countries,” she told Berlusconi.
She later said there was a common political will for constructive discussions to take place to resolve their financial problems. Such talks needed to begin quickly, she added.
Commercial trade between the countries totaled SFr34 billion ($40 billion) in 2010 and 500,000 Italians currently live in Switzerland, according to the Swiss government.
The bilateral talks also touched on energy issues and Switzerland’s participation in World Expo Milan 2015, as well as the Arab Spring, the current Libyan crisis and migration from North Africa.
On Thursday Calmy-Rey was due to attend celebrations of the 150th anniversary of Italian unification in Rome.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The Szeklers Have Come to Brussels
România libera Bucharest
The Hungarian minority region in Romania is to open an office in Brussels. Bucharest sees the move as a Hungarian provocation, the daily Romania Libera as merely an example of European regions wanting more money and more autonomy.
Sabina Fati
The Hungarians in Romania want territorial autonomy, and because they cannot get it from the Romanians, they will take what they can, and as they can, through Brussels.
The opening in Brussels of an office symbolically baptised “Székelyland,” through which the inhabitants of the departments of Covasna, Harghita and Mures could move more quickly and more easily to gain access to European funds, has reopened the case of “miorita” concerns [a reference to an old Romanian pastoral ballad, The Little Ewe, which has specific references to the Romanian identity].
Since 1919 the Romanian political elite has been distressed at regular intervals by the idea of ??losing Transylvania through the influence of Budapest on this province, which was modernised under the last Habsburgs at the same time as the rest of Central Europe, and through the ability of the Romanian Magyars to broadcast their pleas beyond the borders of the country. The “Székelyland” office in Brussels, set up through the efforts of Pastor László Töke’s [Vice-President of the European Parliament] is not “useless for the EU and a gratuitous provocation,” as suggested by the former Foreign Minister Cristian Diaconescu. Nor is it “an unprecedented attack on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Romania”, as declared — in a panic — by the Liberal MEP Ramona Manescu. Rather, it is a dual solution: practical and emotional.
László Töke’s, the architect of the lobbying bureau in the European capital, is trying in particular through this innovation to attract to his side the Magyars in Transylvania by showing them that they can reap benefits not just by stretching out a hand to Bucharest, as the UDMR [Democratic Union of Magyars of Romania, member of the governing coalition] have been doing, but also by opening roads to the institutions of Brussels. In the next election Töke’s wants to take the reins of a new formation, the Popular Party of Magyars of Transylvania, which will compete with the UDMR.
Stereotypes and historically outdated prejudices
László Töke’s is sketching out for the Magyars in Transylvania a map of possibilities that goes beyond the two power centres, Bucharest and Budapest, to which the Hungarian minority has usually looked for favours. The Székelyland office in Brussels is lodged in the House of Hungarian Regions for reasons more of economy than politics, but the snuggling up under the wings of Budapest has rekindled feelings of fear, frustration and anxiety among Romanians.
The Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi is expressing on behalf of the government the traditional fear of Hungary — as if Budapest really could get its hands on chunks of Transylvania. Romania “is not shocked for nothing,” said the chief diplomat, arguing that the designation of a “Székelyland” would be “a process by which a popular name is wrongly portrayed as the identifying name of a region.” The leaders of the PSD (Social Democratic Party) and PNL (National Liberal Party) also want to “stand up against” the separatist intentions of Magyars within the Romanian Parliament, as they have done in the past. But neither they, nor the Minister of Foreign Affairs, can explain how the Székelyland office undermines the integrity of Romania. President Traian Basescu takes a “dim view” of this approach, yet recognises that there are no “political consequences” and that it just shows “an element of lack of consideration for the Constitution and for Romanians.”
The sensitivity of the Romanian leaders to the ideas of the inhabitants of the Székely province, who want more money to come back into their counties, neglected for years by the administration in Bucharest, shows that the political elite remains a slave to certain stereotypes and historically outdated prejudices. Viewed from abroad, the exaggerated response of Romania’s politicians to latent dangers can be interpreted as insecurity: a large state, member of the EU and NATO, frightened by the imperialist history of its neighbour.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Airline Sacks Staff Who Sent ‘Taliban’ Donkey Sex Porn Clip to ENTIRE Gatwick Airport it Department
Virgin Atlantic has sacked four workers based at Gatwick Airport for circulating a video clip that claims to show a Taliban fighter having sex with a donkey.
The footage they emailed is believed to have been filmed by American special forces in Afghanistan and has become an internet hit.
It bore the caption: ‘What the Taliban do when they are not making improvised explosive devices.’
Managers at the West Sussex airport became aware of what was going on when turnaround co-ordinator David Armstrong accidentally sent the clip to the airline’s ENTIRE IT department, according to the Sunday Mirror.
Management warned Mr Armstrong and three others that they may have broken the law by contravening the Obscene Publications Act.
They were sacked in April for gross misconduct but have lodged claims for unfair dismissal, claiming that it was common practice for more senior Virgin staff to circulate pornography via email.
The tabloid newspaper says a source at Gatwick told it: ‘To sack these people was well over the top.’
A spokesman for Virgin Atlantic said that the claimants were dismissed for serious breaches of company IT policy.’
The video is expected to be shown at an employment tribunal due to hear the four men’s appeal on Monday, June 6.
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Theresa May Takes Action on Student Islamic Fanatics
TACKLING Islamic extremism on Britain’s university campuses will form a major plank of a new anti-radicalisation strategy, Home Secretary Theresa May will announce this week.
She will also reveal a new emphasis on combating non- violent extremism and on curbing the influence of hate preachers when she makes her statement to MPs, most likely on Tuesday.
It will be the result of a long-awaited review into the Government’s counter-terror strategy titled Prevent, which began under Labour. It has since been criticised for wasting money and handing cash to groups that peddle hatred of the West.
Ministers have become increasingly concerned by the number of students being radicalised on British campuses.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who tried to blow up a jet in Detroit on Christmas Day 2009, had been a student at University College London and Roshonara Choudhry, who stabbed MP Stephen Timms in May last year, is thought to have become radicalised while studying at King’s College, London.
An Education Department source said university staff would receive training in how to profile student radicals, adding: “Experts from MI6 have gone in for years but will be doing more hands-on support in the terror hot spots.
“Lonely students, far from home, are thought to be particularly at risk of radicalisation and targeting by extremist Islamic groups. They are to be encouraged to join societies and buddy schemes.” A senior police source said the Government had designated areas of the country as hot spots of extremism.
Funding for such Prevent projects will be awarded on the basis of a Whitehall tiering system. Areas in top tier hot spots such as Luton, parts of Birmingham and east London, will have access to the greatest funds.
Those in the second tier will get money for training, while the third tier, such as Gloucestershire and other areas largely untouched by radicals, will get basic advice through leafleting.
However, critics fear the fine detail in the strategy may have been diluted by rows within the Government. Education Secretary Michael Gove is known to want a clampdown on non-violent extremism and he also had the backing of Home Office Security Minister Dame Pauline Neville-Jones.
However, she resigned last month amid speculation of disagreements with her boss, Ms May, over whether to talk to self-elected Muslim spokesmen.
Ms May, meanwhile, has been having her arm twisted by senior civil servant Charles Farr, head of the Home Office’s security and counter-terrorism branch.
He is said to favour dialogue with non-violent extremists to stop them becoming violent.
A senior Home Office source denied the rows. The source said non-violent extremists would be targeted but individuals or groups would not be named.
James Brandon, of the Quilliam Foundation counter terrorism think tank, said: “Unless they define what extremism is and who’s promoting it, how are they going to tackle it?”
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
What Will a Nuclear-Free Germany Cost?
Merkel’s plan to exchange nuclear reactors for offshore wind farms and a stronger grid could cost more than expected.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Wife of Bulgarian Nationalist Leader: Mosque Clash is Victory of Democracy
The incident in front of the downtown Sofia mosque is a victory of democracy, Kapka Siderova, wife of the leader of the Bulgarian far-right, nationalist Ataka party, Volen Siderov, says.
On May 20, Ataka supporters, led by Siderov, shocked Bulgaria as its rally protesting against the use of loudspeakers by the mosque in downtown Sofia got out of hand, and activists of Ataka assaulted praying Muslims in front of the mosque.
The incident has had wider repercussions, all the way from Bulgarians flocking to lay flowers at the mosque as a sign of apology, to the start of investigation of Ataka for stirring ethnic and religious hatred and the consolidation of the voters of the Bulgarian ethnic Turkish party DPS (Movement for Rights and Freedoms).
In a Sunday interview for the TV channel bTV, Siderova said the “so-called clash was a way to earn the right to not be exposed to the wail of the Imam.” She insisted the boundaries of tolerance have not been overstepped because there was no fighting, just some pushing, adding things like this happen everywhere and all the time, giving as an example the visit of US President, George W. Bush, in Brussels when demonstrators threw eggs at him.
According to Siderova, precisely the mosque event led to fulfilling some of the long-standing requests to turn the loudspeakers down and not having Muslims pray on the sidewalk.
“I saw for yet another time the face of betrayal — the ugly, snapping faces of people motivated only by money, not a cause,” the Nationalist’s spouse commented on the recent decision of three Ataka Members of the Parliament to leave the party, denying they have been forced to get large loans and sign promissory notes, as they claim.
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
Bosnian Musical Ensemble Celebrates Istanbul’s Conquest
The choir’s founder and arts director, Mehmet Bajraktarevic, said he was very proud to be in Istanbul for such an important occasion.
The Sultan Mehmed Fatih Ensemble, a Sarajevo-based choir, was at Istanbul’s historic Aya Irini Museum on May 29 to mark the 558th anniversary of the conquest of Istanbul by the Ottomans in 1453, marking the end of the Byzantine era. The choir performed a number of Ilahis, or Muslim hymns, during the concert, which was organized by Turkey’s state-owned Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT).
The choir’s founder and arts director, Mehmet Bajraktarevic, said he was very proud to be in Istanbul for such an important occasion. “During my 35-year career, I’ve directed many concerts throughout Europe, but this is the most significant task that I have been given. I am honored that Sultan Mehmed Fatih was chosen to perform at Aya Irini on such an important day in history. This is by far the ‘trophy of my career’,” he said, adding that he was delighted to have been invited to perform at Aya Irini by TRT.
The performance at Aya Irini marked Sultan Mehmed Fatih’s ninth appearance in Turkey in seven years. “We are always excited to perform in Turkey. We are respected here, and our talent is recognized. While in our own country, Bosnia, people are not interested in our choir, or our Ilahis. It saddens me, but it is a harsh reality,” Bajraktarevic said ruefully.
The choir director also shared information on the background of the choir. Formed in 2004, the ensemble is made up of nine pedagogues and 100 vocalists of varying age groups. “Sultan Mehmed Fatih has two generations of vocalists. We even have a mother and a daughter singing together,” Bajraktarevic said.
The choir was invited to perform on the anniversary of Istanbul’s conquest, after the general director of TRT, Ibrahim Sahin, discovered the ensemble at a concert during a random visit to Bosnia. The ensemble is made up of different choirs from Bosnia and Turkey such as the Choir Dzulistan from Novi Pazar, Serbia. The ensemble’s popular repertoire consists of songs in several different languages, including Persian, Turkish, Bosnian and Arabic, with a unique blend of Western and Balkan influences and traditions.
Cihan news agency
| — Hat tip: 1389AD | [Return to headlines] |
Algeria: Growing State Efforts for Street Kids
(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, MAY 30 — It is a little-known but increasing phenomenon in North Africa, and one that governments are trying to remedy. Street children suffering family problems or difficulties in adapting to their environment are leaving home, fully aware that they will lead a live of privation, on the fringes of society and of legality. The Algerian government is one of the most active in this sector and has launched a programme for the recovery or reinsertion into family life of these “street kids”, with fairly encouraging results. Last year, throughout the country, over 3,000 minors in dangerous physical or psychological conditions were “taken off the streets” and 2,279 returned to their families.
The figure comes from the Commissioner Kheira Messaoudene, who is in charge of the national office of protection of children, a judiciary police body that also deals with cases of juvenile delinquency.
The age of the youths fleeing the family home goes from 10 to 18 but the most common group is adolescents aged between 13 and 16, with a significant prevalence of boys but also a worrying proportion of girls.
The scheme to take the children off the streets is carried out with direct contact with the youngsters involved, by placing them in specialised centres that try to determine the causes of their trouble and try to eliminate them. But the adolescents concerned are often impervious to any attempts at dialogue, giving false names and addresses and sometimes completely made up information abut their parents.
In Algeria, the scheme is also producing positive results in 2011. In the first four months of the year, 1,040 minors (including 346 girls) were identified and “registered” as living in poverty, with 790 (255 girls) already reunited with their parents, thanks to procedures that are always kept as straightforward as possible, so as to allow a prompt return to the family home when this is considered the best solution. As a result, says Kheira Messaoudene, temporary centres have also been set up to give minors a place to stay when their protection is deemed the most urgent requirement, a move that can then be followed up with a gradual course of reintegration within the family.
The Algerian judicial police has also taken steps, an official says, setting up “brigades” throughout the country whose task of protecting children has been aided by special training courses on working with young offenders and how to treat children in both psychological and physical danger. As well as policing and prevention, there is also the issue of contact with the child at risk, who must be provided with the right social and psychological support by able staff.
However, says Kheira Messaoudene, this is a problem that must be tackled by the whole of Algerian society in order to help such a fragile social group.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Algeria: Closed Protestant Churches; Minister, No Repression
(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, JUNE 3 — The decision to close protestant places of worship in the Algerian province of Bejaia was based on administrative irregularities and was not meant to repress religions other than the Islam. This specification was made yesterday by the Algerian Interior Minister, Daho Ould Kablia, quoted by APS. His statement follows the controversy sparked in the past days by the decision of the province’s authorities to close several protestant churches in the province. The Minister specified that the churches had been closed because some of them had been opened without the necessary authorisation. Religion in Algeria is regulated by a clear legal context, Ould Kablia added.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Cemetery in Tripoli Attacked, Considerable Damage
(AGI) Rome — Unknown people caused considerable damage in the Italian cemetery in Tripoli, but didn’t enter the ossuaries. It was denounced by the president of the Association of Italians Repatriated from Libya (AIRL), Giovanna Ortu, who said the attackers may be supporters of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.
Slogans against NATO and the allies’ bombings in Libya were found on several walls as well as threatening messages, such as “Next time, we’re going to burn everything down”. The cemetery keeper’s home was destroyed as were the offices, while the chapel located at the centre of the cemetery was desecrated.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Libya, Tunisia: Red Cross and Medenine Region Call for Help
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, 1 JUN — The Tunisian Red Cross and the Regional Committees for Protection of the Revolution in the Medenine region hosting over 1200 Libyan families has raised an alarm fro the drop in availability of first necessity goods for the refugees.
To date, say the people in charge of the organisations, quoted by Tap, the food necessities have been covered thanks to the generosity of the Tunisians and of the local NGOs. Now, several weeks after the beginning of the Libyan crisis, the situation is worsening. The Tunisian Red Cross and the Regional Committees for Protection of the Revolution are asking specifically for the aid of other international organisations to send goods such as flour, oil, potatoes and rice to Medenine. The situation is nevertheless held to be under control, in spite of the disengagement of the International Red Cross.
As far as sanitary assistance is concerned, there are about 500 Libyans in the area needing weekly attention, almost all of which is done in private structures. Help has been asked to international organisations for health issues too. The Unhcr (UN’s agency for refugees) has promised funds for about 250 thousand euros for the acquisition of medical drugs.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Woman Who Reported Rape Expelled From Qatar
(ANSAmed) — WASHINGTON, JUNE 2 — Iman Obeidi, the 30-year-old woman who told foreign journalists in Tripoli that she was raped by a group of soldiers, has been expelled from Qatar, where she had been staying for less than a month. According to sources in the UN and the American Administration, Iman Obeidi was boarded onto a military plane headed to Benghazi, the ‘capital’ of the anti-regime rebellion, where she is now located. She did not want to return to Libya, saying that she fears for her life. In the first week of May she managed to flee to Tunisia thanks to the help of an officer in Gaddafi’s forces. With the help of the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC), she was able to make it to Qatar. The reason that she left Libya is unknown. In March, Iman Obeidi’s story became well-known when she burst into a hotel where foreign journalists were staying in Tripoli, saying that she was kidnapped and raped by a group of soldiers. Stopped by security personnel, she was dragged away by several officials in a scene captured by cameramen present onsite. Initially she was passed off as having mental problems, but then the truth emerged as to why she was arrested. Subsequently, the government in Tripoli announced that the woman was free again and that five people were taken into custody for the reports of sexual violence that she had made.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: NATO Raids Rock Tripoli, UN Denounces War Crimes
NATO air raids shook Tripoli Thursday as the U.N. denounced crimes against humanity and war crimes during fighting between Moammar Gadhafi’s forces and rebels seeking to topple the Libyan strongman.
Libya’s rebel leadership meanwhile welcomed the defection of former oil minister Shukri Ghanem and urged other regime officials to follow suit.
A series of six blasts at around 12:35 am (2235 GMT Wednesday) were followed by several more a few minutes later in the Libyan capital, the target of intensive NATO air raids in the past few weeks, an AFP correspondent reported.
In its latest operational update released on Thursday, NATO said its jets had bombed a vehicle store and surface-to-air missile launcher in the vicinity of Tripoli. Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said Tuesday that NATO air raids on Libya had killed 718 civilians and wounded 4,067 since they were unleashed on March 19 and up to May 26, but NATO said there was nothing to verify the claim.
A commission of inquiry set up by the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva accused Gadhafi’s regime of carrying out systematic attacks on the population, saying that it committed not only crimes against humanity but also war crimes.
While it found fewer reports of violations by the opposition, the commission also said rebel forces committed acts that constituted war crimes.
The commission has “reached the conclusion that crimes against humanity and war crimes have been committed by the government forces of Libya,” it said in a statement. “The commission received fewer reports of facts which would amount to the commission of international crimes by opposition forces, however, it did find some acts which would constitute war crimes.”
The 47-member U.N. Human Rights Council set up the investigation into suspected crimes against humanity in February after Gadhafi’s regime dispatched Libya’s army and air force to fire on civilians.
Ex-oil minister Ghanem announced in Rome on Wednesday that he had left Libya to join the rebellion and “fight for a democratic state.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian 12 Dead in Attempts to Cross Into Israel
Syrian TV reported 12 “Palestinian” Syrian Arabs dead Sunday afternoon as the Arabs attempted to provoke Israel on the anniversary of its victory over their armies in 1967.
The IDF and rioters were reported to be playing a cat-and-mouse game since the morning hours, with about 1,000 Arabs standing on ridges near Quneitra and Majdal Shams. Occasionally, dozens of Arabs ran toward the border fence and tried to break through it, then ran back when they came under fire.
An anti-tank mine was reported to have exploded in an area that was teeming with rioters. The detonation may have been set off by a fire that was caused by a burning tire. Syrian and Israeli fire trucks cooperated in putting out the blaze.
The IDF honored a Red Cross request in the afternoon to hold its fire in order to allow the Red Cross to evacuate wounded rioters.
Lebanon prevented rioting on its border with Israel, an IDF spokesman noted, but Syria did not do the same. Syria is believed to be encouraging clashes with the IDF, as part of an effort to draw attention away from the slaughter of Syrian protesters by security forces loyal to President Bashar Assad.
| — Hat tip: Jewish Odysseus | [Return to headlines] |
Thousands of Israelis March in Favour of Palestinian State
(AGI) Tel Aviv — Thousands of people took to the streets in Tel Aviv to protest the occupation of the Palestinian Territories.
As the 44th anniversary of the Six-Day War approaches, thousands of Israeli citizens took to the streets in Tel Aviv to protest against the occupation of the Palestinian Territories as a result of that war, and called for the creation of a “Palestinian State” within the 1967 borders, which, they say, would be “in Israel’s own interest”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia: Work Reforms: Visas of Maximum Six Years
(ANSAmed) — DUBAI, MAY 30 — The maximum duration of visas for professionals in Saudi Arabia will be six years, according to the country’s new employment reforms. The Employment Minister, Adel Al Faqih, announced the measures in the daily Al Watan newspaper.
Around eight million foreign workers, out of a total population of some 28 million, currently reside in the kingdom, the large majority of which (around 6 million) work in the private sector.
The attempt to impose a ceiling on work visas is not new in countries belonging to the Gulf Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Oman), where there has previously been talk of a “humanitarian bomb alert”. However, measures studied to control the dependence on foreign workers have always been countered by the urgent needs of the countries in question, which are unable to count on a qualified professional workforce and are limited by resistance from business communities.
The new Saudi reform being examined, which is based on ten “programmes” aims to tighten the net around the vast areas of undeclared work and to improve the market rules, favouring “Saudi-isation” and the competitiveness of Saudis in both the public and private sectors.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia to Build 16 Nuclear Reactors by 2030
(ANSAmed) — DUBAI, JUNE 1 — Saudi Arabia, the largest exporter of oil in the world, is also concerned about its energy supply, so much so that the country intends to build 16 nuclear reactors by 2030 for a cost of over 100 billion dollars, reports a Saudi daily.
“We are planning on building the first 2 reactors in 10 years,” said Abdul Ghani bin Melaibari, the coordinator of the largest scientific research programme into nuclear and renewable energy in the country, while speaking to Arab News. “After this, each year we will complete another 2 until we have 16 in 2030.” After the incident at the nuclear reactor in Fukishima in Japan, widespread concern and scepticism towards nuclear energy has grown, but the countries in the Gulf Region, which are large producers of oil, are among the few that intend to invest into nuclear energy. The cost of each reactor should be around 7 billion dollars and Saudi Arabia intends to use nuclear energy to meet 20% of its national power demand.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Opposition Demand Fall of Regime and Trial for Assad
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, JUNE 1 — Syrian opposition figures gathered in Turkey’s coastal city of Antalya on Wednesday for the “Conference for Change in Syria”, and called for the fall of Assad regime and trial of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in The Hague as Anatolia news agency reports. Syrian opposition conference opened at a hotel with Syrian national anthem and a minute of silence for Syrians who were killed in protests that started weeks ago. Participants read out messages of unity, saying a broad spectrum of Syrian opposition groups, such as Kurds, Arabs, Muslims, Christians, tribes and Muslim Brotherhood were in attendance in Antalya. Highlighting the need for the fall of Baathist regime in Syria, which they described as “dictatorship”, speakers of the conference said the general amnesty issued on Tuesday by Assad government for all members of opposition movements was an overdue step. Syrian opposition groups said more than 1,000 Syrians have been killed and tens of thousands have been arrested in government’s crackdown on nationwide protests. Meanwhile, a pro-Assad group protested the conference. A 137-member group, which wanted to walk to the Falez Hotel where the conference is taking place, wore t-shirts with the name “Syria” printed in the back and “Bashar” printed in the front.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
US Quietly Expanding Defense Ties With Saudis
Thursday, May 19, 2011
WASHINGTON — The Associated Press
Defense Secretary Robert Gates (L) US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia James Smith (C) and Maj Gen Robert Catalanotti walk across the tarmac in Riyadh. AP photo.
Despite their deepening political divide, the United States and Saudi Arabia are quietly expanding defense ties on a vast scale, led by a little-known project to develop an elite force to protect the kingdom’s oil riches and future nuclear sites.
The U.S. also is in discussions with Saudi Arabia to create an air and missile defense system with far greater capability against the regional rival the Saudis fear most, Iran. And it is with Iran mainly in mind that the Saudis are pressing ahead with a historic $60 billion arms deal that will provide dozens of new U.S.-built F-15 combat aircraft likely to ensure Saudi air superiority over Iran for years.
Together these moves amount to a historic expansion of a 66-year-old relationship that is built on America’s oil appetite, sustained by Saudi reliance on U.S. military reach and deepened by a shared worry about the threat of al-Qaeda and the ambitions of Iran.
All of this is happening despite the Saudi government’s anger at Washington’s response to uprisings across the Arab world, especially its abandonment of Hosni Mubarak, the deposed Egyptian president who was a longtime Saudi and U.S. ally. The Obama administration is eager to ease this tension as it faces the prospect of an escalating confrontation with Iran over its nuclear program.
Saudi Arabia is central to American policy in the Middle East. It is a key player in the Arab-Israeli peace process that President Barack Obama has so far failed to advance, and it is vital to U.S. energy security, with Saudi Arabia ranking as the third-largest source of U.S. oil imports. It also figures prominently in U.S. efforts to undercut Islamic extremism and promote democracy.
The forging of closer U.S.-Saudi military ties is so sensitive, particularly in Saudi Arabia, that the Pentagon and the State Department declined requests for on-the-record comment and U.S. officials rejected a request for an interview with the two-star Army general, Robert G. Catalanotti, who manages the project to build a “facilities security force” to protect the Saudis’ network of oil installations and other critical infrastructure.
The Saudi Embassy in Washington did not respond to two written requests for comment. Details about the elite force were learned from interviews with U.S. officials speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of Saudi security concerns, as well as in interviews with private analysts and public statements by former U.S. officials.
The special security force is expected to grow to at least 35,000 members, trained and equipped by U.S. personnel as part of a multiagency effort that includes staff from the Justice Department, Energy Department and Pentagon. It is overseen by the U.S. Central Command.
The force’s main mission is to protect vital oil infrastructure, but its scope is wider. A formerly secret State Department cable released by the WikiLeaks website described the mission as protecting “Saudi energy production facilities, desalination plants and future civil nuclear reactors.”
The cable dated Oct. 29, 2008, and released by WikiLeaks in December said the Saudis agreed to a U.S. recommendation to create the program after they received an Energy Department briefing on the vulnerability of certain oil facilities.
The program apparently got under way in 2009 or 2010, but it is not clear how much of the new force is operating. The Saudis’ security worries were heightened by a failed al-Qaida car bombing in February 2006 of the Abqaiq oil processing facility, one of the largest in the world. The State Department cable said a subsequent U.S. assessment of Abqaiq security standards determined that it remained “highly vulnerable to other types of sophisticated terrorist attacks.” That warning was conveyed to top Saudi officials on Oct. 27, 2008.
“The Saudis remain highly concerned about the vulnerability of their energy production facilities,” the cable said. “They recognize many of their energy facilities remain at risk from al-Qaeda and other terrorists who seek to disrupt the global economy.”
One U.S. official said the Saudi force’s mission might be expanded to include protection of embassies and other diplomatic buildings, as well as research and academic installations. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the diplomatic sensitivity of the issue.
The newly established specialized force is separate from the regular Saudi military and is also distinct from Saudi Arabian National Guard, an internal security force whose mission is to protect the royal family and the Muslim holy places of Mecca and Medina. The U.S. has had a training and advising role with the regular Saudi military since 1953 and began advising the National Guard in 1973.
The new arrangement is based on a May 2008 deal signed by then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef. That same month the U.S. and Saudi Arabia also signed an understanding on civil nuclear energy cooperation in which Washington agreed to help the Saudis develop nuclear energy for use in medicine, industry and power generation.
In October 2008, Ford Fraker, then the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, called the facilities security force program “probably the single biggest initiative for the U.S.-Saudi relationship” and said the value of contracts associated with the program could reach tens of billions of dollars.
Christopher Blanchard, a Middle East policy analyst at the Congressional Research Service, said the arrangement is important on multiple levels. “The noteworthy thing is that it’s such a sensitive area,” he said in an interview. “It’s probably the most sensitive area for the Saudis, in the sense that those facilities are the lifeblood of the kingdom.”
“It’s not only about defending against a single military threat like Iran but also an expression, politically and symbolically, of a U.S. commitment to Saudi Arabia’s long-term security,” he added. “It’s about seeing the U.S.-Saudi relationship into the next generation.”
The U.S. had dozens of combat aircraft based in Saudi Arabia from 1991 to 2003. When the planes departed, the U.S. turned over a highly sophisticated air operations center it had built in the desert south of Riyadh.
The U.S.-Saudi relationship has been rocked by a series of setbacks, including the 9/11 attacks in which 15 of the 19 hijackers turned out to be Saudis. Saudi Arabia also is the birthplace of Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaida leader killed by U.S. Navy SEALs on May 2 in Pakistan, and Saudis remain active in al-Qaida in Afghanistan. U.S. officials said this month a Saudi considered the No. 1 terrorist target in eastern Afghanistan, Abu Hafs al-Najdi, was killed in an airstrike. They said he helped organize al-Qaida finances.
Even so, Saudi Arabia has become one of Washington’s most valued counterterrorism partners. It also is a top client for U.S. arms. When Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited Riyadh in April, he reaffirmed U.S. intentions to proceed with the deal announced last fall to sell up to $60 billion in weaponry, including 84 F-15s and the upgrading of 70 existing Saudi F-15s.
U.S. officials said the arms deal might be expanded to include naval ships and possibly more advanced air and missile defense systems. The Saudis want to upgrade their Patriot air defenses to the latest U.S. version, which can knock down short-range ballistic missiles in flight. And they have expressed interest in a more capable system designed to defend against higher-flying, medium-range missiles.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Malaysia’s “Obedient Wives” Anger Rights Groups
(Reuters Life!) — A Malaysian group urging wives to avoid marital problems by fulfilling their husbands’ sexual desires like prostitutes has angered politicians and women’s rights groups, the New Straits Times reported on Sunday.
The Obedient Wives Club, which was set up by a group of Muslim women, said domestic violence, infidelity and prostitution stemmed from a lack of belief in God and a failure of women to satisfy their husbands.
The club’s president, Rohaya Mohamed, said it was open to women of all religions and would conduct seminars on how to be a good wife as well as offer marriage counseling.
“A man married to a woman who is as good or better than a prostitute in bed has no reason to stray. Rather than allowing him to sin, a woman must do all she can to ensure his desires are met,” Rohaya told the newspaper.
Females outnumber males in Malaysian higher education institutions, comprising 65 percent of the intake at public universities last year, according to government data.
But rights groups say women are still often victims of gender bias, and have protested what they considered the club’s demeaning portrayal of women as a cause of social problems.
“Abusive men often use women’s behavior as a sick justification, but in the end, their actions are their responsibility,” said Ratna Osman, acting executive director at rights group Sisters-in-Islam.
“To hinge fidelity, domestic violence and the fulfillment of a husband’s responsibilities purely on a wife’s capacity to be obedient, stimulate sexual arousal … is not only demeaning to wives, but to husbands as well,” said Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Jalil.
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
Change in Russia’s Far East: China’s Growing Interests in Siberia
There are just 6 million Russians left on the Siberian side of the border with China. Ninety million Chinese, backed by a voracious economy, live on the other side. China’s influence in Russia’s far east is growing rapidly and Siberia has become the raw material supplier to Beijing’s economic miracle.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Group Offends Some Christians With Jesus Ads
“Jesus: A prophet of Islam” states the provocative tagline in a “public awareness” advertising campaign launched by a Muslim group in Australia’s largest city.
The group, calling itself Mypeace, says its aim is to inform, not offend — but offend it has, with one Catholic bishop calling the assertion about Jesus “a direct assault on Christian beliefs.”
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
Alabama Governor Weighs Approval of Arizona-Style Crackdown on Illegal Immigrants
The governor of Alabama is taking the weekend to decide whether he will sign an Arizona-style bill into law to crack down on illegal immigrants.
If Gov. Robert Bentley gives his stamp of approval to the controversial legislation, the American Civil Liberties Union has vowed to challenge it in court.
“It’s an outrageous throwback to the pre-civil rights era and we call on Governor Bentley to veto this deeply misguided bill,” Cecillia Wang, director of the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, said Friday. “The Alabama Legislature has invited rank discrimination into people’s everyday lives,”
The bill, passed by the Alabama Legislature on Thursday night, makes it a crime for a person to be in the state without a valid federal registration or other proof of legal presence.
Like the Arizona law, the bill allows police in a traffic stop to detain anyone without legal papers if the officers have “reasonable suspicion” that they may be present illegally and research by the officers can’t turn up any records. “Reasonable suspicion” could include acting nervously or having a tag that doesn’t match vehicle registration records, sponsors of the bill said.
It would also be a crime for an illegal immigrant to apply for work. The bill requires all Alabama businesses to use the federal E-Verify system to check the legal status of new employees, although businesses with 25 or fewer employees could get the state Department of Homeland Security to do it for them. A business caught twice for knowingly hiring an illegal immigrant would lose its business license.
The bill also makes it a crime to transport or harbor illegal immigrants and it prevents cities from passing laws to protect illegal immigrants in their cities.
The bill sailed through the Legislature on votes of 67-29 in the House and 25-7 in the Senate.
Support came from Republicans and some white Democrats, while black Democrats led the opposition.
“This is an Arizona bill with an Alabama twist,” said the sponsor, House Republican leader Micky Hammon.
Republican Sen. Scott Beason, who helped write the legislation, said it’s designed to take jobs away from illegal immigrants and give them to legal residents. “This is a jobs bill,” he said.
Democratic Sen. Linda Coleman predicted it would lead to discrimination. But Beason said, “You can’t just stop someone because of how they look.”
Bentley’s communications director, Rebekak Mason, said he will spend the weekend reviewing the long, complicated bill before deciding what action to take, but “having a strong illegal immigration bill has been a top priority for the governor.”
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Makes Migrant Deal With Tunisia
Italy and Tunisia have struck a deal to choke off the flood of Tunisians heading to Italian shores, with Rome agreeing to give short-term residency papers to 20,000 illegal migrants but intent on deporting new arrivals.
Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni told reporters that the measures would allow Italy “to turn off the faucet” on illegal immigration. Maroni, a key member of the anti-immigrant Northern League ally in Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s coalition, spoke in the Tunisian capital, Tunis, after wrapping up two days of talks to nail down an agreement.
Under the accord, Maroni said Italy would supply Tunisia’s security forces with the “assistance and means,” to stop the flourishing smuggling rings which have seen thousands cram into rickety fishing boats for the nighttime crossing to Lampedusa, a tiny Italian island close to Tunisia’s coast.
Most of the migrants — who pay as much as €1,000 ($1,400) for the journey, convinced it will bring them a better life — say they aim to eventually reach France or another European country to find jobs or family and don’t intend staying in Italy.
Sky TG 24 TV, reporting from Tunis, said Berlusconi’s Cabinet on Wednesday will approve a decree allowing the 20,000 Tunisians already in Italy to receive residence permits good for six months.
Some in Berlusconi’s government has been pushing for such permits, arguing that once Tunisians get them, they can use the document to cross the border into France under provisions of Europe’s Schengen visa-free treaty. French police have rebuffed hundreds of Tunisians in recent days at the border with Italy.
Many of the Tunisians at the French border had fled from holding camps Italy set up on the mainland to contain migrants transferred from Lampedusa, which had run out of space and shelter.
Details of the accord weren’t immediately unveiled, but both sides said the deal provided for deportations in the future. Sky said any Tunisians arriving illegally after the Cabinet passes the decree would immediately be deported back home, raising the specter of mass deportations.
But Tunisian Interior Ministry spokesman Neji Zari told The Associated Press in Tunisia late Tuesday that there had been disagreement over deportations, including on how many, and that Tunis opposes any collective sending back of the migrants.
Tunisia has insisted on “respect for the rights of immigrants, their dignity and the need for them to be well treated,” Zari said. Most of the 22,000 migrants who have arrived on Italian shores since January are young Tunisian men who fled during political upheaval in their homeland.
Maroni has said since the crisis began that few of them would be eligible for political asylum, and only a very small number are reported to have applied for it.
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
Merkel Defends Policy to Deport North African Economic Migrants
As the EU continues to feel intense migratory pressure from political upheaval in Arab countries, the chancellor says Germany will accept only those asylums seekers who face political persecution at home.
Chancellor Angela Merkel defended a government policy to deport economic migrants from North Africa in a speech at this year’s Protestant Church Day in Dresden.
Addressing the audience at the gathering on Saturday, June 4, Merkel said that on humanitarian grounds Germany would accept refugees arriving from countries where there was evidence of political persecution — such as Syria, Lebanon and Yemen.
However, the chancellor said the country had no responsibility for those arriving from countries such as Tunisia — where a ruling dictatorship had been toppled.
“That cannot be the way,” she said.
Tens of thousands of migrants from North Africa have sought to enter the EU following a wave of popular uprisings in Arab countries that has already toppled two long-term leaders. Many of them are economic migrants who do not qualify to stay in the EU.
Shared responsibility
Merkel stressed that all EU countries had to share equally the responsibility of taking in qualified asylum seekers. According to the chancellor, Germany had accepted some 50,000 asylum seekers in the past year, while Italy welcomed only 6,000 in the same period.
“We have fulfilled our duty, other EU countries must do the same,” Merkel said.
Italy has been under fire recently for issuing permits to North African migrants to travel to other EU states, the move being widely seen as an attempt to move refugees on to other countries.
Italy has complained that the EU has not given it sufficient support to deal with an influx of refugees mainly arriving via the Italian island of Lampedusa, just 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the Tunisian mainland. The exodus grew amid the chaos that followed the toppling of Tunisian leader Zine el Abidine Ben Ali in January.
Prosecution of Christians
In her Dresden speech, the chancellor also hit out at discrimination against Christians around the world.
Merkel said it was unacceptable that people should be disadvantaged and persecuted for their belief. She stressed the need for states to observe the UN Charter on Human Rights.
“As Christians, we extend the hand of friendship to all other religions, for a dialogue with them,” Merkel said. “However, we also expect that what is taken for granted for us at home should also be the case for all other Christians in all the countries of the world.”
In addition, the chancellor called on the UN to put stronger emphasis on environmental protection by creating an independent body of similar status to the World Health Organization to take responsibility for green issues.
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
Female Couple Flout French Same-Sex Marriage Ban
Two women succeeded in dodging France’s same-sex marriage ban to say “I do” on Saturday — because one of the happy couple is still, legally, a man.
Stephanie Nicot, 59, wed 27-year-old partner Elise in a town hall ceremony in Nancy in eastern France in what is said to be the first marriage of its kind in the country.
Stephanie, formerly Stephane, had sex reassignment surgery to become a woman but has refused to lodge documents, as required by French law, to also have her gender changed on the population register.
“It’s a symbol for millions of gays and lesbians who would like to have the same rights,” Nicot said of her marriage.
“It’s the first marriage in France of its kind,” Nancy’s deputy mayor Laurent Henart told AFP.
The newly-weds later joined around 2,000 members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community for a march in the city.
The only regret voiced by one of the guests was that the marriage official “called Stephanie by her old, male name.”
There are between 40,000 and 50,000 transsexual and transgender people living in France, according to support groups.
The French constitutional court in January upheld the country’s gay marriage ban, saying it was in keeping with the constitution.
The court made the ruling in response to a bid by a lesbian couple, who have four children, to marry after spending 10 years in a PACS, or civil union.
Several of France’s European Union fellow member states, including Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands, have legalised homosexual marriage.
Guess who is still “legally” a man
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“
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
Pope in Croatia: Secularism Leads to Family Break-Up
(AGI) Zagreb- “In modern society, especially in Europe, secularism is spreading and pushing God out of people’s lives”.
Pope Benedict XVI claims this brand of secularism is increasingly leading to the “break-up of families”. In this morning’s homily at the Zagreb hippodrome for the celebration of Croatia’s national Catholic family day, the Pope stated that it is urgent that we “assert the intangibility of human life from conception to its natural end, and the unique and irreplaceable value of the family institution based on marriage”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
TV Executives Admit in Taped Interviews That Hollywood Pushes a Liberal Agenda (Exclusive Video)
In clips that will hit the Internet to promote a new book, producers including “Friends” co-creator Marta Kauffman and “House” creator David Shore say Hollywood discriminates against and belittles conservatives. Some of TV’s top executives from the past four decades may have gotten more than they bargained for when they agreed to be interviewed for a politically charged book that was released Tuesday, because video of their controversial remarks will soon be hitting the Internet. The book makes the case that TV industry executives, writers and producers use their clout to advance a liberal political agenda. The author bases his thesis on, among other things, 39 taped interviews that he’ll roll out piecemeal during the next three weeks.
In one video, Friends co-creator Marta Kauffman says that when she cast Candace Gingrich-Jones, half-sister of Republican former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, as the minister of a lesbian wedding, “There was a bit of ‘
you’ in it to the right wing.” Kauffman also acknowledges she “put together a staff of mostly liberal people,” which is another major point of Shapiro’s book: that conservatives aren’t welcome in Hollywood. Maybe that’s because they’re “idiots” and have “medieval minds.” At least that’s what Soap and Golden Girls creator Susan Harris thinks of TV’s conservative critics.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
My Husband’s YouTube Account Was Just Suspended for Posting Anti-Jihadist Videos — But Here’s the Good News
As I’ve been saying for years:
The world doesn’t need a new conservative news site — it needs a conservative YouTube that won’t pull “controversial” videos.
Finally, the folks at well-known Media Research Center have invested heavily in the creation of such a service.
MRCTV.org has just launched, so I’d advise patience with any glitches.
If MRCTV.org lives up to its vow not to pull videos, the people behind it deserve our support.
Arnie is setting up an account over there now. I hope you’ll check out the entire site.
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
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