Asia: Threats to World Economy Grow
Unemployment and public debt in the US; Euro burdened by Greece, Portugal and Ireland; Japan in a recession because of the tsunami and Fukushima disaster, China’s banks burdened by loans and a real estate bubble are all signs, according to Nouriel Roubini that the world’s economy is in for a rough ride by 2013. Others predict a collapse in shares that could knock out the world’s monetary system.
Hong Kong (AsiaNews) — A fiscal “storm” in the United States, European debt restructuring, a slowdown in China, and stagnation in Japan may converge to have a really bad impact on the global economy, New York University Prof Nouriel Roubini said.
These factors might combine to stunt growth from 2013, Roubini said in an interview in Singapore. Other possible outcomes are “anaemic but OK” global growth or an “optimistic” scenario in which expansion improves.
Roubini is among the analysts who predicted the global financial crisis of 2007-2009. For him, the aforementioned factors are bloating public and private debt.
US unemployment rate rose to 9.1 percent in May, a sign that the global economy is losing steam. At the same time, the US government is still running over a trillion-dollar budget deficit this year, putting growth at risk.
In Europe, restructuring the debt of Greece, Ireland and Portugal is weighing heavily on the economy, as the war against Gaddafi is becoming costlier.
Japan’s economy, the world’s third largest, slid into a recession last quarter, after it was hit in March by an earthquake and a tsunami, which led the Fukushima nuclear crisis.
Tokyo is spending an initial 4 trillion yen (US$ 50 billion) to clean up from the disaster, estimated to have caused as much as 25 trillion yen in economic damage.
China is not doing well either as it faces slower growth, higher inflation and a real estate bubble. According to Roubini, massive non-performing loan problem in China’s banking system and a massive amount of overcapacity is going to lead to a hard landing.
For the New York-based economist, everything points to a perfect storm in 2013. Other analysts told AsiaNews that world shares should instead “start to decline in July and collapse in the fall.”
This, plus some local war, might wipe out the world economic and monetary systems.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Economist Condemns US Credit Rating Companies
Thomas Straubhaar, a leading German economist, is calling for the “violent overthrow” of US-based credit-rating companies, which can deeply influence the financial future of the countries they rate. The director of the Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI) told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung on Thursday the agencies were anachronisms from the 1990s, which US regulators had “imposed” on European and other nations. Straubhaar’s tough words came as Europeans expressed frustration with credit rating company Standard & Poor’s after it lowered Greece’s credit rating to junk bond status, putting it on par with countries like Pakistan.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EFSF Prepares Bond Sale to Aid Portugal
The European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF) launched a bond issue on Wednesday to raise five billion euros ($7.6 billion) for crisis-hit Portugal, two market sources told AFP. The fund, the main bailout mechanism for the 17-nation monetary union at the heart of Europe, said on Friday that it was organising two offers in the coming weeks to help Portugal as part of a joint EU-IMF rescue plan. The first sale will be for ten years and is to raise five billion euros. A second offer for three billion euros with a five-year maturity will take place before the summer holidays, the fund said. In its successful first issuance in January, the EFSF raised five billion euros ($6.8 billion) to help Ireland with bids totalling nearly nine times the amount on offer. Meanwhile on Wednesday Portugal announced it raised one billion euros in short term debt at lower interest rates than recent similar operations.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU Urges Bailout Compromise as Greek Crises Deepens
European leaders on Thursday urged a compromise be found on a second bailout for Greece as time ran short to avoid a default and the government in Athens plunged into political disarray.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greek Prime Minister to Shuffle Cabinet, Seek Vote of Confidence
The Greek prime minister says he will form a new government and seek a vote of confidence in parliament. Earlier, George Papandreou offered to resign, if it would help get a tough austerity package through parliament.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Just How Serious is the Greek Debt Problem?
The situation is serious, experts agree. “This is a major crisis not only for the eurozone but for the world financial system,” said Falko Fecht, a professor of economic and banking policy at the Wiesbaden-based European Business School (EBS). “Even though the outstanding debt of Greece is small as seen from a global perspective, it has the potential to trigger quite severe contagion effects that have the potential to bring down large parts of the global financial system again and lead to an eruption very similar to Lehman Brothers,” Fecht told Deutsche Welle.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Major’ Tax Evasion Probe in Rome
Police arrest 45 people
(ANSA) — Rome, June 14 — Rome police on Tuesday arrested 45 people in what was described as a “major” probe into tax evasion in the Italian capital.
Among those detained were the well-known head of the Rome branch of influential retail association Confcommercio, Cesare Pambianchi, and one of Rome’s top accountants, Carlo Mazzeri.
Pambianchi, 75, is a former head of the chamber of commerce of both Rome and the region surrounding it, Lazio.
Police said the suspects allegedly dodged taxes by moving abroad the assets of companies on the brink of collapse.
About a half of those detained were taken to jail while the other half were put under house arrest, police said. As well as tax evasion, they are accused of a range of financial offences including money laundering, fraudulent bankruptcy, issuing false invoices and embezzlement.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
‘Meaningful Probability’ of a China Hard Landing
China faces a “meaningful probability” of a hard economic landing and the euro zone is storing up problems for the future by not tackling the debt crisis head on, said Nouriel Roubini, the economist who predicted the global financial crisis.
He said U.S. Treasury prices, which have risen sharply as investors sought a safe haven from the euro area debt crisis and worries about a slowdown in the global economy, were fairly valued although he was cautious about U.S. equities.
New York-based Roubini is closely followed by Wall Street because he predicted the U.S. housing meltdown that precipitated the global downturn.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Row Over Greek Aid: Merkel’s Hard Line Annoys European Partners
Berlin’s insistence on involving private creditors in a new Greek bailout has made Germany unpopular with some of its European partners, including the ECB. Hopes are high that Friday’s summit between Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy will lead to a breakthrough. But if she backs down, Merkel risks losing domestic support.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘The Greek Situation Has Reached a Dead End’
A crumbling government, protests on the streets of Athens and ongoing European disagreement on another bailout package: Greece’s debt crisis is on the verge of spiralling out of control. German commentators say that the country’s politicians have failed their people.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tough New Rules for Big Swiss Banks
Swiss legislators have moved to drastically toughen capital requirements on big banks Credit Suisse and UBS amid concerns their failure in a crisis could drag down the Alpine country’s economy.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
DARPA Lays Out Tech for 100-Year Starship Program
A Pentagon effort to enable a human journey to the stars within 100 years aims to enlist the brainpower of science fiction writers, ethicists and researchers. This new call for ideas covers innovations such as faster than light travel and life-sustaining technologies as well as questions about who gets chosen for the starship crew and what happens if alien life turns up at the end of the journey. This latest step for the $1 million 100-Year Starship Study would lead up to a space technology conference scheduled to take place in Orlando, Fla., from Sept. 30 through Oct. 2. The new call for papers differs from a past request for proposals about setting up the organization that would lead the charge into the future of interstellar travel. But the joint project between the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and NASA still represents the earliest stages for considering how to create a starship. The required technologies may seem as distant now as the technologies needed to send humans to the moon seemed back in 1865, when science fiction writer Jules Verne wrote the book “From the Earth to the Moon.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Obama ‘Needs Permission From Congress for Mission’
Washington, 16 June (AKI/Bloomberg) — American president Barack Obama’s explanation of why he can continue the US mission in Libya without lawmakers’ approval didn’t immediately satisfy critics in Congress, and legal scholars were divided over how the law should be interpreted.
The administration said Wednesday in a 32-page unclassified report sent to Congress that US military involvement in the Libya campaign led by the Nato doesn’t need congressional authorization because the US forces are providing primarily a support role and aren’t engaged in combat with hostile forces.
The report was released after House Speaker John Boehner wrote to Obama, saying that without congressional backing, the mission would violate the War Powers Resolution of 1973 as of 19 June. Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck said the Ohio Republican would review the report and indicated that it didn’t satisfy all the questions Boehner has raised.
“The creative arguments made by the White House raise a number of questions that must be further explored,” Buck said.
Congressional authorization isn’t required, the report said, because US military operations in Libya are distinct from the kind of “hostilities” the resolution is meant to address. For example, it says, the US role doesn’t involve sustained fighting, active exchange of fire with hostile forces or ground troops.
“US forces are playing a constrained and supporting role in a multinational coalition, whose operations are both legitimated by and limited to the terms of a United Nations Security Council Resolution that authorizes the use of force solely to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under attack or threat of attack and to enforce a no-fly zone and an arms embargo,” the report said.
Robert F. Turner, a law professor and associate director of the Center for National Security Law at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, said there is “absolutely no question in my mind” that Obama’s position is justified and that there was a long history of US involvement in military actions without congressional approval.
“If US combat forces are not engaged in combat operations, then the War Powers Resolution doesn’t apply,” he said.
Turner also said he believes that the War Powers Resolution is unconstitutional — although Obama’s lawyers are not making that argument.
Matthew C. Waxman, an associate professor at Columbia Law School in New York and a former official in President George W. Bush’s administration, agreed that the resolution’s constitutionality is open to debate. Even so, he said Obama’s position “is likely to be highly contentious,” given how essential the US role is in the Nato campaign.
“One might point out that the United States is contributing the vast bulk of support operations, without which Nato’s Libya operations would almost certainly cease,” he said. “And the objectives of this campaign are now quite broad, seeming to include knocking out the Libyan leadership, so one could also quite plausibly characterize these operations as major ones.”
The report comes as Republicans and some Democrats are challenging the continuation of the mission, spurred by what lawmakers have described as a combination of war fatigue, perplexity over the strategic purpose of the US mission in Libya and Obama’s failure to consult Congress on it.
Boehner told Obama in a letter 14 June that without congressional authorization, the War Powers Resolution of 1973 requires a cessation of US military involvement and withdrawal of forces as of 90 days after the start of a conflict — June 19, in this case. That includes 60 days plus a 30-day extension.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Michigan: Eagle Sale to Islamic Center Draws Fire
The Farmington school board voted 7-0 early Wednesday morning to sell the closed Eagle Elementary School on 14 Mile to the Islamic Cultural Center in Franklin, after a vocal and emotional public hearing.
There were protesters and supporters of the $1.1 million purchase. Protesters cited the lack of citizen input and notification of the sale; some claimed the organization is anti-Semitic.
But board members — who were also visibly emotional — said they saw no reason not to approve the sale.
“I haven’t heard evidence to persuade me that there is good cause not to proceed with the matter,” said school board President Howard Wallach, who used his gavel several times when members of the audience called out comments and interrupted speakers.
“I think it is in the best interest of the children and I think it meets our financial responsibilities,” said board member Priscilla Brouillette.
DISAPPOINTING BEHAVIOR
Board members also said they were upset with behavior and bigotry they saw during the hearing.
Wallach said that the district tries to model good behavior for children.
“Unfortunately, tonight we did not do a good job of modeling that behavior,” he said.
“I grieve much of what has transpired tonight because everyone here has worked so hard to be a welcoming, loving community,” said Brouillette.
Mohammed Malik of Farmington Hills said that while he does not belong to the center, he finds it “sad” that people oppose it because the buyer is Muslim.
“It disturbs me when people come up with the argument ‘Don’t sell it to Muslims,’“ he said. “I know it is fear, unfortunately, because of what some Muslims have done.”
He said he understands concerns, but hopes the center will serve to help people understand one another better.
“As communities grow, we need to be educated about one another,” he said.
Dr. Nabil Suliman, a Livonia internist who belongs to the Unity Center in Bloomfield Hills, said that “if you want to know who is on the (Islamic Cultural Association),” it is people like him.
“I am on the ICA, my kids, my family,” said Suliman, of West Bloomfield. “I have lived here since 1992.”
He said his four children have been raised in the community and are Muslim American.
“Their friends are Jews, Christians, Muslims. They are part of the fabric of the community,” he said.
“The purpose is basically to have a community center for our kids,” he said of the site.
REQUEST TO TABLE
Bradley Scobel, who is in real estate, said his company would have been interested in buying the property had they known about it.
He said if they tabled the item and issued requests for proposals to buy the property, they would probably get more offers to choose from.
Attorney Steven Reifman of Farmington Hills said should the sale be approved, there would be a lawsuit. He formed a coalition to oppose the sale, and is also head of the neighboring Olde Franklin Towne Homeowners Association, neighboring the property.
Board member Sheilah Clay said as an African American, she knows what discrimination is.
“Where does the discrimination stop?” she asked. “It’s based on fear and ignorance, and not knowing.”
Her comments prompted a couple residents to leave the room, with one woman saying she didn’t need to be lectured to.
“This is not who we are in the community,” said board member Karen Bolsen of intolerance toward diversity.
She said that when she was growing up in Farmington Hills, there were comments about Jewish people who moved into her neighborhood.
“Some of the things that you said … are some of the same things they said of Jews.”
Afterwards, Phil Mintz of Farmington Hills, and an alumnus of Eagle, said he was offended by some of the board comments.
“We should not be put down for opposing the issue,” he said. “Just because we feel like we feel about the procedure doesn’t make us all racist.”
[more at link]
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
Obama’s Law Enforcement Out of Control, Say Americans
“ATF agents have shared chilling accounts of being ordered to stand down as criminals in Arizona walked away with guns headed for Mexican drug cartels,” said Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House committee investigating the government snafu.
“With the clinical precision of a lab experiment, the Justice Department kept records of weapons they let walk and the crime scenes where they next appeared. To the agents’ shock, preventing loss of life was not the primary concern,” said Congressman Issa.
[…]
According to Baker, highlights of the Congressional report include:
- The supervisor of Operation Fast and Furious was “jovial, if not, not giddy but just delighted about” walked guns showing up at crime scenes in Mexico according to an ATF agent.
- Another ATF agent told the committee about a prediction he made a year ago that “someone was going to die” and that the gun-walking operation would be the subject of a Congressional investigation.
- The shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords created a “state of panic” within the group conducting the operation as they initially feared a “walked” gun might have been used.
- One Operation Fast and Furious Agent: “I cannot see anyone who has one iota of concern for human life being okay with this …”
- An ATF agent predicted to committee investigators that more deaths will occur as a result of Operation Fast and Furious.
- Multiple agents told the committee that continued assertions by Department of Justice Officials that guns were not knowingly “walked” and that DOJ tried to stop their transport to Mexico are clearly untruthful.
While President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder denied knowledge of the operation, according to law enforcement sources, the rationale for the operation that went awry was that Attorney General Holder and his staff at the Justice Department wanted to show proof of his, and other Obama administration officials’, statements that the majority of firearms used by Mexican drug cartels originated in the United States and are smuggled into that drug war-torn country.
“The aim [was] to use the violence and death south of the border to take away Americans’ Second Amendment rights to own and bear arms,“ said former police officer Edie Aguino.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Rep. Peter King: ‘Morons’ Attack Islamist Hearings
Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, says there “is no doubt” that fanatical Islamists are trying to radicalize American prison inmates. And he castigated the “vacuous morons” at The New York Times and elsewhere who contend that his hearings are politically incorrect.
The Republican New York congressman made the comments on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” today, the day after he convened the second in a set of hearings into the radical Islamist threat in the United States.
“We’ve had a number of cases where they’ve gone on from prison to a post-prison radicalization and then to carry out attempted jihad,” King said. “This shouldn’t even be debatable: There’s no doubt it’s there — we could have a question about the extent of it, we could have a question about how far we should go as far as dealing with it.”
King noted that he received considerable criticism after the first hearings in March.
“When I see critics coming up like CAIR [Council on American-Islamic Relations] and other groups attacking me for holding these hearings, I would be derelict if I didn’t have these hearings,” King said. “This is a real issue — it’s there — it’s something to be concerned about.
“And I just found going back to the first hearing, you had those vacuous morons at The New York Times attacking me in four editorials and two front-page stories, and you had the Council on American-Islamic Relations, you had the media going apoplectic,” he said. “And the fact is: I will stand by every word that came out of that hearing — they were fair, they were decisive, and they were absolutely necessary.
“As chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, I have no alternative,” King said. “I’m not going to back down to political correctness.”
King was asked what anecdotal evidence prompted him to schedule the hearing on radicalization in U.S. prisons. He responded that law enforcement officials had informed him that some radical Muslim chaplains were coercing prison inmates.
“Virtually any prison official you talk to — in this case we had the officials there . . . describing how vital it is that we stop this radicalization,” he said. “Part of the problem is that there is no way of vetting — there is really systematic way at vetting who Muslim chaplains are going to be.”
King stressed that moderate Islam has been a guiding force in prisoner rehabilitation over the years, despite the radical elements.
“Many young men — especially African-American men — have turned their lives around by being converted to Islam,” he said. “So it’s not the conversion to Islam, it’s the radical type of Islam that is being carried out.”
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
Senators Want China to Assist Probe of Counterfeit Weapons Parts
By Bill Gertz
China’s government is refusing to assist Senate investigators probing Chinese firms that are selling counterfeit parts that have been found in high-tech U.S. weapons systems, the leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Tuesday.
Committee Chairman Carl Levin, Michigan Democrat, and Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, told reporters that a panel investigation revealed that U.S. defense contractors and government agencies traced the sources of most fake defense parts to Shenzhen, in Guangdong province near Hong Kong.
China has rejected requests for committee staff to visit Shenzhen as part of the probe, Mr. Levin said, noting that investigators are meeting with U.S. officials in Hong Kong to seek help.
“The Chinese have said, well, even if this could be arranged, there would have to be a Chinese official present during the interviews,” Mr. Levin said. “That is a non-starter, somebody looking at our staff while they’re interviewing people who are relevant to an investigation.”
Trade in counterfeit parts “takes place openly in that city and in that province,” Mr. Levin said.
Mr. McCain said he hopes the Chinese will assist in the staff investigation.
A report by the Government Accountability Office published in March 2010 stated that the global supplier network used by the Pentagon provides 4 million parts worth $94 billion.
The parts include fasteners used on aircraft, missile guidance electronics, materials used in body armor and engine mounts.
“Counterfeit parts have the potential to cause a serious disruption to DoD supply chains, delay ongoing missions, and even affect the integrity of weapon systems,” the report said.
It noted that the problem is not limited to weapons systems but includes the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Energy Department, along with private-sector producers of software, commercial aviation, automotive parts and consumer electronics and “can threaten the safety of consumers.”
Mr. Levin said counterfeit parts that have “infiltrated” the defense supply chain include microprocessors bought by the Air Force for F-15 operational flight-control computers. Counterfeit microcircuits also were found on hardware of the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency.
“In January of 2010, the Commerce Department published the results of a survey of almost 400 companies and organizations in the Department of Defense’s supply chain,” Mr. Levin said.
“Those who were surveyed overwhelmingly cited China as the country suspected of being the source of the counterfeit electronic parts.”
Dale Meyerrose, a specialist with Harris Cyber Integrated Solutions, said the senators’ concerns are justified because threats to critical infrastructure from compromised supply chains are serious and endanger national security and public safety.
“Motivations behind these threats range from the criminally opportunistic driven by profit and greed to state-sponsored seeking an asymmetric advantage over our oft
Chinese officials this month criticized pending U.S. legislation that would continue a ban on Chinese military companies from bidding on U.S. weapons programs…
| — Hat tip: DS | [Return to headlines] |
Alasdair Palmer: A Unified Europe Will be Great News for the Eurocrats
The only people who will benefit from a united Europe are its politicians, says Alasdair Palmer.
Last week saw some depressingly familiar stories from the EU: officials travelling separately on private jets while lecturing the world on the need to cut CO2 emissions; MEPs demanding to increase the budget and proposing new taxes in order to achieve greater “harmony” between EU states, despite the cuts being made across the continent.
Most EU politicians, just like most EU policies, lack legitimacy and they know it. So when Tony Blair insisted last week that Europe needs an “elected president”, he was giving voice to the deep-seated belief of nearly every official involved in the pan-European political bureaucracy that greater unity is better for everyone.
Never mind that “the project” lacks popular support. Even the fact that the voters now voice concerns about (for instance) open borders between members of the EU has no effect whatever on the Eurocrats’ conviction that there can only be one direction of travel: towards ever closer union within the EU, and therefore towards the ultimate obliteration of the nation state.
What is the basis of this view that the nation state will and must be superseded by European authorities? It boils down to the seemingly innocuous claim made by Mr Blair last week that it is “sensible for European nations to combine together, and to use their collective weight in order to achieve influence”. The question of how the entity formed by “combining together” comes to have any legitimate political authority over and above that of the nation states which make it up is never answered.
There is one very obvious reason for that deafening silence: individual nations and their elected assemblies are seen by the people of those nations as the only institutions for making laws that they themselves have endorsed. Electing a European president will not change this. It will merely give a spurious democratic veneer to the unification project — when, in fact, the effect will be to erode the only connection between the way laws are made and the will of the people. The legislation that emerges from Brussels has no such connection. But it’s what the unifying project has been built on.
I can appreciate that greater European union has benefits for the continent’s politicians, who get their hands on the delightful baubles of office: motorcades, private jets, fawning officials and the intoxicating sense of power. But what does it do for the rest of us?
The enthusiasts claim that a united Europe will be a powerful Europe, able to negotiate better deals on trade and security. Free trade between nations has large benefits, but achieving it does not require anything more than co-operation between individual nation states. It certainly does not need the replacement of the nation state by a supra-national bureaucracy.
And the idea that a unified Europe will be better equipped to defend the security and values of its people is fantasy. “Europe” has all the trappings that go with a unified defence policy: a defence bureaucracy, a foreign office and a foreign minister. The operation in Libya is endorsed by the EU. But as Robert Gates, the retiring US Secretary of Defence, noted last week, European countries are incapable of organising it. The bombing campaign has “required a major augmentation of targeting specialists, mainly from the US, to do the job”. After a campaign lasting 11 weeks, European nations “are beginning to run short of munitions, requiring the US, once more, to make up the difference”. That has happened because too many European countries want the benefits of military co-operation, but aren’t willing to share its risks and costs: they want a free ride.
This is, in a way, reassuring, because it shows how the unification project founders on the rock of national self-interest. It suggests that at heart, it is nothing more than a way of making Eurocrats feel important. But the tragedy is that their self-aggrandisement may still end up destroying our democracy.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Barcelona “Indignados” Are Heavily Criticised for Violent Behaviour
By: ThinkSpain , Thursday, June 16, 2011
The Barcelona “indignados” were today involved in violent incidents, insults and attacks on deputies outside Parliament, actions that have resulted in sharp criticism from politicians, but also from their own 15-M protest movement. Helicopters had to be used this morning to get the President of the Generalitat, Artur Mas, and other MPs and councillors into parliament. One group of “indignados” attacked the blind CiU deputy, Josep Maria Llop, and tried to snatch his dog to prevent him from reaching Parliament.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Battisti: Lula Cancels Italy Trip Amid Fears of Protests
(AGI) San Paolo -Ex-president Lula will cancel his visit to Italy amid fears of demonstrations over Cesare Battisti’s extradition. The on-line daily “Folha de Sao Paulo e Agora” reported that Brazil’s former president, Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva has cancelled his planned visit for the end of the month due to fears of protests tied to the decision not to extradite Battisti. Lula had planned to participate in a FAO agricultural seminar the 24th of June to support the Brazilian candidate for the directorship of the organization.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Fighting Internet Threats: Germany Arms Itself for Cyber War
The German government is responding to an increase in Internet threats with a new Cyber Defense Center in Bonn, which opens Thursday. Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich is seeking to create better safety standards and defenses for both the private and public sector. If necessary, he says he may consider new laws. In recent weeks, major hacker attacks have been perpetrated against the International Monetary Fund as well as United States defense giant Lockheed Martin, with the threat of important classified national information falling into the hands of criminals.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Sports Clubs Seek to Attract Young Muslim Women
Although many top German athletes come from immigrant families, very few Muslim girls and women in Germany play sports. Many parents see Western sports culture as a threat and keep their daughters away from coed athletic clubs. But some forward-thinking initiatives show how young female Muslims can be encouraged to take part in sports — and how it can change their lives.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany-Danish Customs Row Rumbles on After Talks
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle has underlined Berlin’s objections to Danish plans for permanent customs checks at their internal EU border, after talks with his Danish counterpart.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hadrian’s Buildings Catch the Sun
The Emperor’s country estate is aligned to meet the solstices.
Hadrian’s villa 30 kilometres east of Rome was a place where the Roman Emperor could relax in marble baths and forget about the burdens of power. But he could never completely lose track of time, says Marina De Franceschini, an Italian archaeologist who believes that some of the villa’s buildings are aligned so as to produce sunlight effects for the seasons. For centuries, scholars have thought that the more than 30 buildings at Hadrian’s palatial country estate were oriented more or less randomly. But De Franceschini says that during the summer solstice, blades of light pierce two of the villa’s buildings.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ikea Attacks in Europe: Still No Suspects in Mysterious Bombing Series
A string of attacks on European IKEA stores have left company officials and police baffled. The latest scare occurred in the German city Kiel on Wednesday, just five days after the minor explosion of an incendiary device at one of the Swedish retailer’s stores in Dresden.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Berlusconi’s Popularity Reaches New Low, Says Poll
Support for PM at 29%
(ANSA) — Rome, June 15 — Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi suffered a fresh blow on Wednesday with the release of a new poll showing his popularity has fallen to a new low.
According to the poll conducted by Ipr Marketing for the left-leaning daily, La Repubblica, support for Berlusconi fell two points in the past two months to 29% and from 40% in January.
For the first time the number of people who have little or no faith in the prime minister has reached 60%.
His government continued to perform badly in the poll with only 23% declaring their support — the same as in April — while 61% said they had little or no faith in the ruling coalition.
The Ipr poll came after Berlusconi suffered a devastating blow in four nationwide referendums which were rejected at the weekend with a strong turnout of 57% of eligible voters.
The referendums included two for the privatisation of water, one for the reintroduction of nuclear energy and one that would give the premier the right to a ‘legitimate impediment’ to skip trials which he is currently facing.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Brunetta Denies Attacking Temporary Workers
(AGI) Rome — The Minister for State Affairs, Renato Brunetta denied in a statement that he is angry with temporary workers.
He specified that his anger is addressed at intentional offenders who, “having nothing better to do, systematically interrupt conferences and debates, insulting all those present and ensuring they film their own bravado using a mobile phone to then send the video to friendly newspapers.” .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Berlusconi ‘Due to Sign Deed’ To Buy Beach Villa on Troubled Island
Rome, 16 June (AKI) — Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is due to sign the deed to purchase a villa on the southern Italian island Lampedusa where tens-of-thousands of illegal immigrants have arrived this year, according to Bernardino De Rubeis, mayor of Lampedusa.
During a meeting on Wednesday with the billionaire premiere at his Rome residence on Wednesday, Berlusconi said he will sign the deed to purchase the villa on 28 June, De Rubeis said. The price was not immediately known.
Lampedusa is closer to Tunisia than Italy making it the most convenient location to enter Italy for tens of thousands of migrants who have made the trip this year after setting sail from North Africa.
The 20-square-kilometre island’s reputation as a vacation paradise has been damaged by televised images of an overflowing migrant detention centre and hundreds of African’s sleeping rough and wandering the streets. Summer tourist traffic has reportedly slowed to a trickle.
During a March visit Berlusconi made a public relations pitch for the troubled island, pledging to build a golf course and declaring his intention to purchase a villa on the island with around 6,000 residents.
Now it appears that Berlusconi will add the white beach-front Greek-style house named “Two Palms” to his collection of vacation properties including a home on the Caribbean island of Antigua, one on Italy’s island of Sardinia and a sprawling Lake Como villa, near Milan in Italy’s north.
According to an Italian real estate web site, the house can sleep eight people, is set back from the scenic bay of Cala Francese, and has two palm trees.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Mullah Krekar: I Fight the West From My Apartment in Oslo
Via VG (1, 2):
In an interview to an Iraqi al-Qaeda channel, Mullah Krekar spoke of his life and activities in Norway. The interview was published June 10th, and was posted on various Jihadist websites…
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands Demand Countries Cooperate on Aliens Return
THE HAGUE, 16/06/11 — The Netherlands is threatening to withdraw subsidies to developing countries which do not cooperate constructively on the return of aliens.
The Netherlands has earmarked 9 million euros a year for helping developing countries with migration policy and development. “If a developing country does not cooperate, this could have consequences for the bilateral partnership and the development relationship with the government of that country,” according to the cabinet.
“Ex-asylum seekers who do not return voluntarily can be forcibly deported. It is then important that the country of origin cooperates on this by providing replacement travel documents.”
The cabinet also wants to support rejected asylum-seekers who are returning to their country independently in building up a new life. “This can be with money or with, for example, training or help with finding work.”
For single, underage aliens who are returning, there must be a good relief service in their country. “The Netherlands wants to work with other European countries at creating adequate reception places in countries of origin and at tracing family members of the underage aliens.”
The European Union has earmarked 179 million euros for migration policy and development in developing countries for the 2011-2013 period. “The Netherlands will urge that money also remains available after 2013 to help developing countries here. But constructive partnership must also be a condition for the EU for bilateral development cooperation via the budget of the government of that country.”
The Netherlands also wants to strengthen the reception and protection of refugees in their own region, along with the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). “This could involve emergency aid for the initial reception (for example, in refugee camps) and sustainable development aid to improve the economic situation of the refugees and the recipient countries.”
Additionally, the Netherlands will continue to offer assistance to countries of origin for the drawing up and implementation of migration policy and increasing the positive contribution of migration to development. “This partnership is not restricted to the 15 partner countries; all developing countries can be eligible for it.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
New Challenge for Europe, Support and Dialogue
The EU’s High Representative for Foreign Policy, Catherine Ashton, was forced to draw the same conclusions. Indeed, on May 25, she mooted the idea for a new and ambitious form of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). The new strategy is based on “more funds in exchange for more reforms”, in other words greater financial instruments coming at a price of greater responsibility. On top of the 5.7 billion euros already provided for the 2011-2013 period, further financing worth 1.24 billion euros have been transferred from other existing resources and will be made available to support the ENP. The European Council has also accepted Ashton’s proposal to raise to the sum of billion euros the loans provided by the European Investment Bank for countries on the southern shores of the Mediterranean over the same period.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norway: Krekar Claims Islam Will Win
Norway’s most controversial refugee, Mullah Krekar, told an Oslo newspaper on Monday that there’s a war going on between “the West” and Islam. He said he’s sure that Islam will win, and he also had praise for suspected terrorist leader Osama bin Laden.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Bildu Continues to Gain Control of Basque Institutions
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, JUNE 14 — Bildu, a separatist and Leftist political coalition from the Basque region, continues to call for control over the local institutions in the Basque region of Guipuzcoa. Yesterday it staged a sit-in at the local chamber for the ninth legislature, which elected Lohitzune Txarola of Bildu as President, the second step toward control of the major local institutions. The executive leg of the chamber will see all political parties represented in line with the support garnered at the last local elections on May 22. The Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), according to the media, had to withdraw from the executive after a split with the Basque Socialist Party (PSE) and the formation of a national front with Bildu. Last Saturday the latter won 59 constituencies in Guipuzcoa — 101 in all in the Basque Country- including San Sebastian, which was until yesterday historically the Socialist bedrock. Bildu will now also be in charge of Guipuzcoa’s local municipalities, with 22 representatives, compared to the PNV’s 14, the PSE’s 10, the PP’s 4 and Ararar’s single representative.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Olof Palme’s Grave Desecrated by Vandals
The grave of murdered Swedish prime minister Olof Palme, gunned down on a Stockholm sidewalk 25 years ago, has been vandalised with graffiti, it was discovered on Thursday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Anglo-Saxon Invasion: Britain is More Germanic Than it Thinks
How Germanic is Great Britain really? Archeologists and geneticists have unveiled surprising revelations about the historical origins of people in the modern United Kingdom — many of whom have ancestors who once crossed the North Sea.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Authoritarian Islam — What is to be Done?
by Martin Bright
I must say I am nervous about writing for a blog called Conservative Voices. I don’t consider myself a conservative voice and I am certainly not a Conservative voice. But then I seem to be able to write on a regular basis for the Jewish community without being Jewish…
I recently wrote a post for my Spectator blog giving a cautious welcome to the government’s new Prevent counter-terrorism strategy Full Text at the Spectator. It has been a long time coming, but it puts the government firmly on the right side of the argument. I still remain cheered by the fact that there is now a degree of consensus on the centre ground of British politics about the dangers of authoritarian Islam.
But I remain troubled by the degree to which the totalitarian ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood and its south Asian partner has entered the mainstream. Although the self-appointed representatives of Muslim Britain will not have the ear of ministers, they are far from neutralised. Indeed, it is possible to argue that the Islamists of East London Mosque, Islamic Forum Europe and the Federation of Islamic Student Societies are becoming an increasingly strident. And now there is an Islamist mayor of Tower Hamlets in East London it is difficult to overstate the seriousness of the situation.
So what should we do?
I’ve taken a look at the recommendations from the Policy Exchange pamphlet I wrote in 2006 to see if anything has moved on in five years.
1. A full public inquiry into the events of 7/7
There has since been an inquest into the deaths on 7th July 2005. This is not the same thing as a public inquiry but it has done much to help explain how four young British men came to commit mass murder in central London. No one can remain complacent about the threat of home-grown terrorism. We now understand that the separatist ideology of radical Islam is not something that can be easily separated from violent terrorism. It was a key component of the new Prevent strategy that extremism, not just violent extremism should be the target of counter-terrorism. .
2. A Royal Commission into British Muslim integration
It perhaps wouldn’t require a full-blown Royal Commission, but I still believe we need to mark how seriously we take the problem of segregation. It is now a decade since the Cantle Report into race riots in Burnley, Oldham and Bradford. I’m not sure we have reached a greater level of sophistication or knowledge in this area.
3. Revival of the Extremism Task Force
This was largely seen as a cosmetic measure after the events of 7/7. I now think this would be a nightmare on a practical level. It would be impossible to please everyone with the makeup of the task force and there would be inevitable fallout if any of the “gatekeeper” organisations were not invited. For some time, I have thought the Prime Minister should have a small council of experts from the Muslim communities or even a single trusted adviser.
4. The Home Office to take the lead on Muslim engagement and community cohesion.
I now think I was mistaken on this point. What matters is the political determination of the politician who holds the responsibility not the department in which they serve. Ruth Kelly and Hazel Blears provided important leadership from the Communities Department. The problem with the present government is that no one is really taking the lead in this area.
5. An end to the Government’s policy of “engagement for engagement’s sake” with the Muslim Council of Britain.
It took a while to get the message across but it is now well established that government ministers should be very wary before sitting down with the MCB. This is a huge improvement on the days when this self-appointed body dominated Whitehall discussions on Islam.
In the end I wonder whether central government can really intervene to improve social cohesion. The irony is that its the one area of policy where the electorate absolutely insists on action.
[JP note: 2006 pamphlet “When Progressives Treat with Reactionaries: The British State’s flirtation with radical Islam” issuu.com/ufuq.de/docs/islamism_in_gb ]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Girl of 15 ‘Sold Off to Chip Shop Workers by Gang for £100 Petrol Money’
A married man sold a 15-year-old girl to restaurant workers for sex so he could buy petrol to get home, a court heard yesterday.
Tanveer Ahmed, known as ‘T’ to the young children he groomed, arranged for three men to have sex with the youngster for £100, the court was told.
He pocketed the cash to put fuel in his car and pay off gambling debts.
The 39-year-old is one of nine Asian men on trial for 55 separate charges — which include trafficking, grooming and rape — against teenage girls aged 13 to 16 between 2007 and 2009.
Stafford Crown Court heard that the men, six of them married and one a grandfather, groomed their vulnerable victims before selling them to other men for sex.
The seven teenage girls, all from Telford, Shropshire, were said to have been ‘enticed and ensnared’ into a destructive world by offers of drugs, alcohol and top-ups on their mobile phones.
The girls ‘believed themselves to be loved and in love with some of the men’ but were described by their abusers as ‘******* slags’ behind their backs, the court was told.
The jury heard the 15-year-old ‘pimped out’ by Ahmed fell pregnant by one of the men she was sold to, but he continued to prostitute her. She kept the baby.
Deborah Gould, prosecuting, told the jury that Ahmed targeted the girl by establishing a sexual relationship with her.
He then began to sell her to workers at pubs, restaurants and fish and chip shops to fund his gambling habit.
The girl later told police he supplied her with drugs and alcohol, adding that she had sex with him ‘lots of times’ at locations including his aunt’s home.
Later she was ‘sold’ to three staff from a Bengali restaurant so Ahmed could get petrol money.
Miss Gould said: ‘After the men finished work T [Ahmed] drove them to a flat above a fish and chip shop in Madeley. Each of the men had sex with her.
‘She received none of the money, but the girl believed that Ahmed had made about £100 from selling her. She heard them sorting out the price for her and saw the money being handed over.’
In the summer of 2009, Mohammed Islam Choudhrey, 52, known as Terry, had sex with her while she was ‘paralytic, felt dizzy and unable to move’, the court heard.
The jury was told that the girl ‘felt dirty for having sex with Terry because he was so old’, but she continued to meet Choudhrey who took her on his deliveries for a fast food shop.
Miss Gould said that she performed sex acts on Choudhrey who would buy her food, cannabis and alcohol and also bought her two mobile phones.
The court also heard details of the alleged rape of a 13-year-old girl who was drawn into the world of Ahdel Ali, 23.
Miss Gould told the jury that the youngster felt neglected as her parents spent a lot of time with one of her siblings who was ill and needed hospital care.
Her alleged abuser Ali, known by the Western nickname Eddie, came from a traditional Pakistani background and was destined for an arranged Islamic marriage.
Miss Gould said: ‘Eddie deliberately identified and then targeted this girl who was young, naïve and vulnerable.
‘What possible interest could a 20-year-old working man, a man in a traditional Pakistani household destined for a pre-arranged marriage to a chosen bride… have in a 13-year-old schoolgirl?
‘Their lives, cultural backgrounds, ages and interests were wholly incompatible.’
The court was told that she had fallen for Ali. Miss Gould added: ‘[The alleged victim] described vividly how vulnerable she was at this time: she thought she was in love with Eddie and she wanted some love at that time of her life, to feel that someone cared for her and she thought, because he was showing her affection, it was real.’
Almost a year later, the court heard she was allegedly raped again by one of Ali’s associates, Mohammed Ali Sultan.
Miss Gould said Ali Sultan had picked up the teenager in his blue Golf car and asked her to perform a sex act on him around September 2008.
When she refused it was claimed he slapped her across the face before raping her in a layby.
Following the alleged attack it was claimed Ali Sultan called her a ‘dirty little slag’ before taking her back to a row of shops and leaving her there.
Ali Sultan is also accused of sexual activity with another 15-year-old girl.
One of her friends allegedly told police that they were sneaked into a house by the back entrance when the offence was supposed to have occurred because ‘Asians can’t hang around with white people’.
The court also heard further details about Mohammed Younis and Abdul Rouf who are both accused of using their homes as brothels.
Miss Gould said: ‘Their premises were being used in effect as brothels, places where men could have sex out of sight with young females.
‘The provision of those venues acted as an incitement to such girls to provide sexual services for payments of some kind.’
Miss Gould said they ‘do not value themselves and… have no expectation that they will be valued by others.’
She added: ‘When they receive attention from others, particularly what they see as exotic older males with money and cars, they soak it up, believing themselves to be the objects of genuine emotions and affections.’
On one occasion, after Ahdel Ali had slept with the 13-year-old in his car, he told her that his wife lived just behind a nearby fence, the court heard.
Brothers Ahdel and Mubarek Ali were alleged to have been the main players in the gang, facilitating contact between the young girls and the men who would go on to become their abusers, the court heard.
One of the girls was allegedly told by another victim that Ahdel Ali had filmed them having sex and was showing it to other people.
The men on trial are Ahdel Ali, Mubarek Ali, Mohammed Ali Sultan, 24, Tanveer Ahmed, Mahroof Khan, 33, Noshad Hussain, 21, Mohammed Islam Choudhrey, 52, Mohammed Younis, 59, and Abdul Rouf.
They deny all charges. The trial continues.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
UK: MCB Lies About Recipt of Government Funding
[…]
[Reader’s comment]
DCook 15 June 2011, 4:26 pm
Dear Government,
I represent a group of people who believe that ants are sacred and that Gwanji, a revered Ant Prophet from 700AD was the true recipient of The Message from The Aphid Lord. Unfortunately, our followers are getting a bit pissed-off and who knows, they may resort to a bit of random Formic Aciding of people on the transport system.
For the bargain price of £65,000 pa I think we can Prevent this from happening and bring our followers back to the nest, so to speak.
Yours,
Adam Ant — High Priest.
[JP note: Adam Ant was an influential, British, 1970s pop star.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Suspected Anthrax ‘Attack’ On Finsbury Park Mosque
A package containing a suspicious white powder, an anti-Islamic message and offensive pictures of Muslim women was posted to the Imam of the mosque, in St Thomas’s Road, Finsbury Park, on Thursday.
Harmless
Staff called the police, who closed Rock Street and the mosque, leaving 150 people who turned up for prayers out on the street. After testing the substance, police found it to be harmless.
Mohammed Kozbar, manager of the mosque, said: “The letter was addressed to Imam Ahmad Saad, who opened it. He was very scared because he saw the white powder, like anyone would be in that situation.
“Police closed the mosque for about four hours, and kept all the staff inside to test them for Anthrax.
“We are all very disturbed by this because it comes so close to our fourth annual open day on June 26.”
The mosque was the victim of another attack in July last year when vandals stuck a pig’s head on the gates outside.
Mr Kozbar said: “Even though they were on CCTV, they were never caught, but this is more serious because people’s lives could have been at risk and hopefully the police will get to the bottom of it this time.
“Whoever sent the package is trying to isolate the community and undo all our hard work. I would like to show them round the mosques and show them the good work we do.”
A police spokesman confirmed cordons were put in place amid concerns over a suspicious package, and admitted it could be linked to other incidents, including one in Redbridge the following day.
He said: “We are investigating malicious communications sent to a number of addresses in London and other parts of the UK. “The inquiry relates to suspicious but non-hazardous packages sent to mosques.”
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
UK: The Summer: Autumn, Winter of Discontent
The Times, 14 June 2011
“Unions prepare ground for wave upon wave of strikes,” headlines The Times, after Unison, the country’s largest public sector union, announced that 1.2 million of its members were “on the road to industrial action”. The strikes against the government’s pension changes, job, pay and service cuts will be biggest in a generation, affecting councils, the National Health Service (NHS) and schools, the London daily writes. Under PM David Cameron’s Big Society, which seeks to dismantle the role of the big state, some 500,000 local authority posts will be eliminated over the next three years, as will 600,000 other private sector jobs, according to Unison. The union also says that more than 66,000 council jobs have already vanished, with an additional 172,000 at the risk of being cut. The first massive day of action is pencilled for June 30, with a ballot for more action in July. “Ministers are drawing up emergency plans to protect hospital services amid fears that doctors will join”, The Times notes.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Frattini: Gaddafi Resists Because He Has Money
(AGI) Vatican City — Frattini said that Gaddafi’s bloody regime has not yet fallen due to the huge sum of money at its disposal. Foreign Minister, Franco Frattini was speaking this afternoon at the presentation of the Rimini meeting which was held at the Italian embassy to the Holy See. He stated that the Gaddafi regime hasn’t fallen both for the particularly bloody nature of its leader and the immense quantity of money available to it. According to Frattini, in Libya, “too many people are pushing to abandon the country, leaving it in the hands of Gaddafi.” ..
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Team of Experts, Risk of Islamic Terrorism Increases
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, JUNE 14 — A delegation of international experts in the field of defence and terrorism warned against the “Islamist risk” in Libya following a three week long mission in Tripoli and eastern Libya.
Within the Libyan transitional council, as stated by the researchers in a report published at the end of the visit, “the true democrats are only a minority, and they must coexist with the former supporters of colonel Gaddafi, with the supporters of the monarchy and with the advocates of the instauration of a radical Islam”. The team of experts, led by Eric Denece’, the director of the French research centre on intelligence, also emphasised that “Libya is the only country of the ‘Arab spring’ where the risk of Islamic fundamentalism is increasing”, and pointed out that Cyrenaica is the “region of the Arab world that sent the largest number of Jihadists to fight the Americans in Iraq”.
The report also stated that intelligence services “are very concerned about what happened to the weapons looted by the rebels in Libyan arsenals”, and especially about certain surface to air missiles that could have ended up in the hands of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim). The experts explained that “Thanks to the arrival of the weapons, Aqim is strengthening its arsenal and increasing the threat that it poses to the States of the region”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Leptis Magna at Risk, Gaddafi Troops Among the Ruins
(ANSAmed) — LONDON, JUNE 14 — One of the archaeological wonders of the world, the ruins of Leptis Magna, are at risk because pro-Gaddafi troops have occupied the ancient Roman city as a base for their operations, Libyan rebel sources told The Times. One of the commanders in Misrata, Abu Mohammad, said that pro-Gaddafi forces “are hiding” among the ruins at Leptis and have moved Grad missiles and ammunition into the centre protected by the World Heritage Fund in order to avoid NATO bombings. “There are at least five Grad missile launcher trucks, rockets and artillery among the ruins. They know that NATO will never destroy that area,” said Mohammed. Leptis is 25km from Zlitan, considered to be the target of a new rebel offensive in the coming days. It is one of the most spectacular Roman cities in the Mediterranean and it was the birth place of the Emperor Septimius Severus.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
NATO Checks British Commitment to Libya Mission
The head of NATO paid a visit to London to discuss the future of the mission in Libya. The talks come amid reports that NATO is beginning to realize that airstrikes alone are unlikely to bring down the Gadhafi regime.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Russia and China Criticise West Over Handling of Libya
(AGI) Moscow — There has been renewed criticism for the West from Russia and China over Nato military operations in Libya.
The Russian President, Dmitri Medvedev, and his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, met in Moscow today and have issued a joint statement calling for strict compliance with and full observance of UN Security Council Resolutions Nos. 1970 and 1973, which set the embargo and imposed the ‘no-fly zone’ on Moammar Ghaddafi’s regime.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Israel Warns That it Will Forcibly Stop Another Flotilla
TEL AVIV — Israel made clear on Thursday that if a new flotilla of pro-Palestinian activists sought to break its naval blockade of Gaza like the one a year ago when its commandos killed nine people, the Israeli military would use force again, including by boarding the ships and confronting the activists.
“We will do anything we have to do to prevent a boat from breaking the blockade,” a top naval official said in a briefing for foreign journalists. “If there is the same violence against our forces on board, there is a pretty good chance there will be injuries.” The naval official spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with Israeli military rules.
The military’s chief spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, made a similar point on Israel Radio on Thursday, saying the army would stop any ship from entering Gaza, adding, “There is an unequivocal directive from the government to enforce the naval blockade that is recognized by international law, and we will not allow it to be broken.”
The statements seemed part of a heightened effort to stop another flotilla and to pre-emptively explain Israel’s position if violence ensues.
Groups of Palestinian advocates in chartered vessels are scheduled to depart from a number of European ports this month and assemble into a flotilla heading toward Gaza to both challenge Israel’s blockade and commemorate the deaths of a year ago.
Among those expected to participate is an American vessel with several dozen passengers including the writer Alice Walker and an 86-year-old whose parents died in the Holocaust.
It remained unclear whether the ship on which last year’s deaths occurred, the Mavi Marmara of Turkey, would join the flotilla as originally planned, because of a combination of insurance difficulties and political pressure. Israel, widely condemned for the operation, said that the ship a year ago had been dominated by a group of extremists who created the confrontations that resulted in the deaths.
A number of world leaders, including Ban Ki-moon, secretary general of the United Nations, Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, and Ahmet Davutoglu, the foreign minister of Turkey, have urged the flotilla organizers to abandon their plans or to wait and see how Gaza fares under recent changes in Egyptian and Israeli policies…
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch Diplomats Kidnapped in Lebanon
The defence attaché and his assistant from the Dutch embassy in Damascus were briefly kidnapped two weeks ago near Baalbeck in Lebanon. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague confirmed the incident to World Service Thursday. The group was working on a pre-arranged observation meeting. According to the Lebanese Central News Agency, the defence attaché was taken to Syria by armed men in a vehicle with tinted windows and no license plates. When the Dutch attaché identified himself to Syrian authorities, he and his assistant were immediately released.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU Mulls Toughening Sanctions on Syria
The European Union on Thursday began work to toughen sanctions against Syria, looking at adding firms and individuals to a list of allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad already hit by sanctions.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Europe Doesn’t Have the Firepower
Libération Paris
Now that they are involved in Libya, Europeans have discovered that they do not have the means to achieve their ambitions. And without the backing of military means, EU diplomacy will not be credible in a strategic region for Europe. This is the logic behind the need for common defence programmes.
Bernard Guetta
It was an American who spilled the beans. The reason why a majority of European countries are not participating in air support operations for the Libyan uprising is not because they disagree in principle with this strategy, but as US Defence Secretary Robert Gates recently pointed out, because their military budgets are too limited.
What the boss of the Pentagon said was true, but it was not the whole truth. Not only do many EU countries lack any real military capacity — they have relied on America since the beginning of the Cold War, and the disappearance of the Soviet threat has only led them to further reduce their military spending — but even the major European powers, even Paris and London, have only a very limited capacity to project military force.
France and Great Britain have the firepower to take charge of the Libyan operation, but as they are already committed elsewhere, and in particular in Afghanistan, they are hampered by dwindling stocks of munitions and a lack of men and equipment at a time when these problems will certainly be made worse by budgetary difficulties.
No doubt this news is likely to solicit a chorus of approval from those Europeans who believe that their countries have no business being involved in Kabul, Misrata or Abidjan. But if we look beyond the debate on the legitimacy of these military campaigns, it is clear that any power that deprives itself of military means is condemned to accept that it will have no political existence.
The United States is no longer willing to fund European defence
To be heard and carry weight in the international arena, it must have the necessary capacity to take action or react to events, and there are two reasons why this is particularly true for the European Union at the start of the 21st century.
The first of these is that even those Europeans who believed that military dependence on the United States was the best means of guaranteeing cohesion among the western powers were obliged to revise their position when the Americans did not lift a finger to provide support for Georgia in its conflict with Russia. In August 2008, the most Atlanticist Europeans suddenly discovered that America was prepared to prioritise the stabilisation of its relations with Moscow over one of its most faithful European allies and assert its own interest to the detriment of a solidarity that Europe had believed to be unshakable.
As a result, even Poland embraced the idea of a common European foreign and defence policy and this development was all the more timely inasmuch as it was immediately followed by the crash on Wall Street. Having already decided that it was not going to allow a minor European conflict to undermine its international interests, America was obliged to inject so much public money into measures to rescue its economy that even the Pentagon had to participate in the drive to shore up federal finances.
The United States is no longer willing to fund European defence, and there is hardly any reason to expect that this will change anytime soon. That was the perfectly explicit sense of Robert Gates’ message, which is already evident in the Americans’ deliberate strategy of leaving Europeans in the front line in Libya. Now that they have been forced to shoulder most of the burden of this operation, European states must be aware that they will have to increase military spending, especially in the context of the Arab Spring and a prolonged period of instability in a region that extends from Rabat to Sana’a.
Austerity likely to create significant political tension virtually everywhere
No one knows what the outcome of the Syrian regime’s bloody excesses will be, but the certainty is that it will have a chain of consequences for the rest of the region, and the same can be said for the fall of Gaddafi, which will herald radical change in the North African political landscape as soon as it happens. All of this is taking place within a stone’s throw of Europe which can not remain indifferent or expect not to be affected.
This is the second reason why European states can no longer ignore the need for spending on defence. However, at a time when budgets have been cut to the bone in most EU countries, and austerity measures, which have become unbearable in Greece, are likely to create significant political tension virtually everywhere, any plan that involves diverting funds from education, health care or municipal spending to the armed forces is simply out of the question. The only way for European states to increase their military capacity is to share resources and develop common programmes.
Great Britain and France have already begun to do this. In spite of its Atlanticism, even Great Britain has understood the need for such a step — and it is one that will also be necessary in fields other than defence. The countries of the EU will have to share resources and push for greater harmonisation of policies in every field. This is the lesson that we should learn from the remarks made by Robert Gates.
Translated from the French by Mark McGovern
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
French Minister Urges Patience in Lebanon Kidnapping Case
France is committed to helping Estonia free its seven citizens kidnapped in Lebanon but patience is required to solve the sensitive case, France’s European affairs minister said Thursday in Tallinn. “France as the country that knows Lebanon better than any other country in Europe has assisted and is assisting Estonia with all the means we have in the Lebanon kidnapping case,” minister Laurent Wauquiez told reporters. “It might take time until it ends, but we do our best to help to free Estonians,” Wauquiez assured, speaking in English. Like the Estonian leaders he met Thursday, Wauquiez wore a yellow ribbon which in Estonia has come to symbolize hope that the men kidnapped in Lebanon on March 23 will come home.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Gulf States: Next Step: Nationalise Workforce
(ANSAmed) — DUBAI, JUNE 14 — Promote a larger citizen presence in the workforce of each country will become a constitutional duty for the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) currently swamped in foreign workers, employees and professional men that effectively did much to contribute to the construction of those very same countries, but who also represent a massive demographic shift which in the end made its impact felt on the geography of employment.
The policies to nationalise workforces will take different forms in each of the oil monarchies, as explained by Saqr Gobash, president of the 28th session of the GCC ministers of labour that was held in Geneva, along with the conference of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
The group, which comprises Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Oman, despite managing 45% of the world’s oil reserves and ranked among the world’s richest nations, is based on a foreign workforce of more than 15 million (on a total population of 38 million) and reports an unemployment rate among citizens that is nearing emergency levels. In Saudi Arabia, the largest GCC economy, foreign workers represent almost 50% of the workforce, and the Saudi unemployment rate is close to 30%. In the United Arab Emirates, the second largest economy in the region, foreign workers amount up to 90% (as in Qatar) and unemployment rates 13%. Estimates which analysts of the sector expect will double over the next decade unless drastic measures are introduced. The real challenge, in addition to that of creating industrial and economic centres to absorb surplus employment, is that of reviewing education systems to allow them to train generations capable of meeting the demands of the market and, then, nationalise it. But despite unanimous agreement and conclusions, there is no shortage of contradictions. Bahrain complains about the human bomb and calls for major cuts to foreign workers, Kuwait is studying absorption thresholds and amendments to the ‘sponsorship’ system, Saudi Arabia recently presented a programme of “rewards and sanctions” for private sector enterprises that hire Saudi people. The United Arab Emirates are instead encouraging ‘emirisation’ but remain well aware of the gap that still has to be bridged between market demands (and the country’s smooth operation) and the level of professional skills of the new generations of the Emirates and Qatar, bucking the trend, with multimillion contracts related to the 2021 World Cup event that lies just around the corner, instead just reviewed its visa system to encourage and facilitate the stay of foreign labour.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Successfully Launches Satellite Into Orbit
Iran increased its presence in space on Wednesday with the successful launch of a new satellite.
Israel is concerned that Tehran’s space program is cover for the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that could carry nuclear warheads.
The Islamic Republic’s Arabic language Al- Alam television channel reported that a satellite called Rasad 1, “observation” in Farsi, was launched aboard an improved satellite launch vehicle and will be used for transmitting images and weather forecasts.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
MENA: Report: Child Labour, 13 Million Arab Children
(ANSAmed) — ROME, JUNE 15 — Child labour is a phenomenon that dates back to the Industrial Revolution in the 19th Century, but which is still a dramatic problem in today’s world. There are 270 million children worldwide who are being exploited by these practices, and 13 million in the Arab World alone, according to a study by the Arab Thought Foundation. According to the association, the problem of child labour is associated with three factors: customs and traditions, poverty and economic and social systems. In almost all developing countries, child labour is seen as a ‘traditional’ activity and is even viewed as something that is healthy for children because it contributes to the development of their personality and represents a form of income for their families. Poverty, according to the study, is directly associated with ‘irregular’ economic systems in developing countries, which absorb the majority of marginalised workers. Children work in this section of the economy for extremely low wages and receive no social or health programmes from the state. According to ATF, child labourers account for 36.1% of agricultural workers in Tunisia, 59% in Morocco, 26% in Algeria and 45% in Egypt. The child labour sector in the agricultural industry is of similar dimensions in Syria and Jordan, while the percentage rises sharply in Sudan, Iraq and Yemen. This percentage drops significantly in the countries of the Gulf Region. The annual report from the ILO (International Labour Organisation) in 2010 mentions significant ground made in the fight against child labour. But the global economic recession, according to the report, risks cancelling out these victories due to rising poverty to varying extents, even in wealthy countries. The number of child labourers on a global level dropped between 2004 and 2008 from 222 to 215 million children (3%), according to the ILO report “Accelerating Action Against Child Labour”. This decline, underlined the report, is unsatisfactory, especially when considering that the number of male workers aged 5-14 has increased by 7%, while this figure for males aged 15-17 has increased by 20% from 52 million in 2006 to 62 million in 2010. According to a study conducted by the Lebanese Labour Ministry, the number of children active on the labour market totals over 40,000. An extremely high figure considering that the population in Lebanon is about 4 million. According to a study conducted by UNICEF in 2006, the percentage of child labour for children ages 5 to 14 in Syria amounts to 4% of the total workforce in the country. This percentage soared after the arrival of a large number of Iraqi refugees. Out of a population of 11 million in Yemen, the number of children active on the labour market, according to a study conducted by American organisation CHF International, amounts to 5 million. Three million of these children do not go to school, while the other 2 million work and study. Eighty percent of these children have difficult and risky jobs, while 60% have jobs involving the use of dangerous machines. Many parents in Yemen illegally send their children to work in Saudi Arabia where they can guarantee their family a monthly stipend of 400 dollars, double the average employee’s salary in the country.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
NATO to Help Arab Revolts ‘Blossom’ — Rasmussen
NATO is ready to help the so-called Arab Spring revolts to “well and truly blossom”, the secretary general of the alliance, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said Thursday. “The changes we have seen in North Africa and the Middle East were unexpected,” he said in a speech to Spain’s Senate entitled “NATO and the Mediterranean: the changes ahead.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Yemen: WSJ: CIA Ready to Attack Al Qaeda With Drones
(ANSAmed) — WASHINGTON, JUNE 14 — The Cia is preparing a secret programme to launch drone attacks in order to kill Al Qaeda militants that are still active in Yemen.
The report was posted on the Wall Street Journal website, which reasserted how for months in Yemen there have been demonstrations against the government, an armed uprising that also tried to kill the president. This programme of secret interventions is meant to increase the USA’s penetration capabilities and represents a further step to counter the terrorist threat of Al Qeada men who used Yemen to organise many of the latest attempted attacks on American soil.
Lastly, Yemen is where American born religious man Anwar al-Awlaki is living. US intelligence services have long seen him as one of the main leaders of the new structure of the terrorist group following the death of Bin Laden.
In recent days the New York Times reported that the US Army increased air raids over Yemen, including with drones, against alleged Al Qaeda militants.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
France Says Sale of Warships to Russia ‘Imminent’
The signing of a contract for France to sell four Mistral-class aircraft carriers to Russia is “imminent,” a French defence ministry spokesman said Thursday. The comment by deputy spokesman Philippe Ponties came ahead of a visit by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to the Le Bourget air show in Paris, which opens on Monday. “I do not know where or when but I can confirm that the signing is imminent,” Ponties told reporters.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia: Jakarta: Abu Bakar Baasyir Gets 15 Years. He Reacts”Verdict Contrary to Shariah”
The judges condemned him for having financed a terrorist training centre. The prosecutor had requested life imprisonment. For the extremist leader it is an “ unacceptable verdict,” because it is against “Islamic law”. It was a centre for the “deepening of faith.” Tight security for fear of attacks
Jakarta (AsiaNews) — “This verdict is unacceptable, that’s why I strongly oppose the ruling.” These are the first words of the Indonesian Islamic leader Abu Bakar Baasyir, 72, after being sentenced to 15 years in prison, imposed this morning by the judges of the District Court of South Jakarta. He added that he was “cornered and criminalized” for actions that “I never committed” and warned: “This verdict is contrary to Sharia — Islamic law — and I can not accept it because to me it is against the law”.
This morning in Indonesia the trial of the controversial Islamic leader, accused of having provided funds to terrorist groups in Aceh, linked to al-Qaeda ended. He has always pleaded not guilty and accused the United States and its allies of using him as a scapegoat. In the past, Bashir has already been sentenced to 2 years and 6 months for the Bali bombings, which in 2002 killed at least 202 foreign tourists and injured hundreds of people. He served 26 months in prison before leaving on good behaviour.
Thousands of Bashir supporters were expected to turn up for the sentencing, especially from Surak, Central Java, where the pesantren (Islamic educational institute) run by Bashir is located. The trial in court took place under tight security for fear of bombings. Abu Bakar Baasyir remained cold and distant, but at the same time staunchly defended his ideas on the Shariah. He rejected the sentence imposed by the court to 15 years imprisonment.
The court was presided over by Chief Justice Herry Swantoro, members of civil society and movements against violence, together with local journalists and international media attended the trial.
The court imposed a far more lenient sentence than the request for life imprisonment put forward by the prosecutor during the final indictment. However, the Islamic leader’s lawyers confirmed that they will be appealing against the sentence. Among the most serious criminal charges, are those that claim Baasyir led and financed a training centre for fundamentalists in Aceh province.
Baasyir says that the center is only a place to “deepen the practice of faith,” renamed according to Islamic terminology i’dad o ibadah. And, in his opinion, “this is not an act of terrorism”. For the judges, however, he collected at least 1.9 billion Indonesian rupiahs (about 220 thousand dollars) to finance the terrorist group Jamaah Anshorut Tauhid (Jat). Several members of Islamic fundamentalist groups passed through the centre, including Dulmatin — alias Yahyah Ibrahim or Joko Pitono — who was killed in a raid of the Indonesian anti-terrorist squad in March 2010 (see AsiaNews, 09/03/2010 Three die in anti-terror raid, one masterminded Bali massacre).
Finally, the court ruled that the plan to create a paramilitary training center for young terrorists, involved high ranking members of Jat, the movement of Baasyir, including the likes of Lutfi Haidaroh, alias Ubaid or Abu Tholut, and Muzayyin, aka Mustaqim.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Western Media ‘Not Appreciated by Pakistani Govt’
Paris, 15 June (AKI) — The threat to Pakistan’s free press in the wake of the murder of Adnkronos International (AKI) reporter Syed Saleem Shahzad “comes primarily from the principle centres of power or the secret service and anti-Western religious movements, said Anne-Isabelle Tollet, Pakistan correspondent for France 24.
Tollet spoke to AKI on the day of journalist sit-ins outside Pakistan’s national and local parliaments to demand an independent and effective investigation Shahzad’s murder and an end to such killings.
The international media views Pakistan primarily in terms of terrorism, she said. “This is not appreciated by the Pakistani government.”
“For this reason it is increasingly more difficult for Western journalists to work freely in Pakistan without becoming a target,” said Tollet.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Radical Indonesian Cleric Who Ran Terror Camp ‘Targeting Tourists’ Jailed for 15 Years
Radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir was sentenced today to 15 years in prison for helping to organize and fund a jihadi training camp that brought together terrorists from almost every known Indonesian extremist group.
The masterminds behind the camp in a remote area of westernmost Aceh province were allegedly intending to carry out attacks on foreigners and assassinations of moderate Muslim leaders such as Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
The sentence was announced amid high security at a Jakarta court where hundreds of Bashir supporters gathered, some carrying small placards emblazoned with ‘Don’t play around, free Abu Bakar Bashir.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Brand New Satellite Pictures of Chinese Ghost Cities
China plans to build 20 cities a year for the next 20 years. The unacknowledged problem is finding buyers for those hundreds of millions of new homes. Last year we published images of ghost cities based on a report from Forensic Asia Limited. This week we asked analyst Gillem Tulloch what has happened in the past six months. “China built more of them,” Tulloch said. “China consumes more steel, iron ore and cement per capita than any industrial nation in history. It’s all going to railways that will never make money, roads that no one drives on and cities that no one lives in.”
“It’s like walking into a forest of skyscrapers, but they’re all empty,” he said of Chenggong. Tulloch described a recent visit to a fishing village near Hong Kong, where new apartments are selling for up to $80,000. “People there were joking that no one in Denaya could afford to live there,” he said. If these apartments sell at all, it is to speculators.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
China’s “Born in the USA” Frenzy
Giving birth to a child abroad is not a privilege reserved to the stars and the very wealthy. An increasing number of expectant middle-class parents also fancy giving their children passports that they can feel proud of. “The return on investment is higher than robbing a bank,” the consultancy agent tells women such as Liu. When Chinese children are born in America, they automatically become U.S. citizens. Once they reach 21, their parents will be able to apply for green cards and emigrate.
Those who would prefer a closer destination can go to Hong Kong, whose passport gives access to more than 120 countries without the need of a visa. Advantages include the fact that children will receive bilingual education (which will give them a foothold in the international world), and the fact that they will also enjoy the preferential policies for going to Chinese universities.
After consulting quite a few agencies for expectant mothers, Liu Li chose a reputable one. Airplane tickets, fees for labor, pre- and post-delivery care cost her roughly 20,000. Since most airlines refuse to accept women passengers who are more than 32 weeks pregnant, Liu Li set off for America when she was six months pregnant and then checked into a Chinese birthing center in California.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
EU Urged to Press China in Rights Dialogue
China and the European Union on Thursday opened their regular dialogue on human rights amid a nationwide clampdown on dissent, with activists calling on the EU to be firm with Beijing.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Lead Poisoning in China: The Hidden Scourge
On a chilly evening early last month, a mob of more than 200 people gathered in this tiny eastern China village at the entrance to the Zhejiang Haijiu Battery Factory, a maker of lead-acid batteries for motorcycles and electric bikes. They shouldered through an outer brick wall, swept into the factory office and, in an outpouring of pure fury, smashed the cabinets, desks and computers inside.
Han Tiantian, 3, of Mengxi Village, China, has more than four times China’s allowable blood lead level. Her mother, Wen Yuni, and father, Han Zongyuan, have both worked in a battery factory.
News had spread that workers and villagers had been poisoned by lead emissions from the factory, which had operated for six years despite flagrant environmental violations. But the truth was even worse: 233 adults and 99 children were ultimately found to have concentrations of lead in their blood, up to seven times the level deemed safe by the Chinese government.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Xeroxed Village: Chinese Secretly Copy Austrian UNESCO Town
An idyllic Austrian village has apparently impressed Chinese architects so much that they have decided to copy it in their own country. But the townspeople living in the UNESCO World Heritage site are unhappy about the plans.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Catholic Hits Islamic Chair
A CATHOLIC scholar of Islam has attacked the new chair of Islamic studies at the Australian Catholic University’s Melbourne campus.
Father Paul Stenhouse suggested ACU had been naive in establishing the new Fethullah Gulen chair in the study of Islam and Muslim-Catholic relations, named for a Turkish Sufi leader now living in the US.
In last month’s edition of Quadrant Father Stenhouse said Gulen was a disciple of another Sufi leader, Said Nursi, and alleged Nursi’s goal was Islamic supremacy.
“Is one being over-cautious in recommending prudence on the part of Catholic and other Christian, Jewish and non-Islamic bodies generally, when they are invited to give moral support to, and to engage formally and publicly in dialogue with (Sufi) groups promoting the teachings of Said Nursi and his disciple Fethullah Gulen?” Father Stenhouse asked.
But another scholar of Islam, Monash University professor Greg Barton, who has also made a special study of Gulen, has dismissed Father Stenhouse’s objections.
Dismissing the article as poorly written and “not particularly well-argued”, Professor Barton said the Gulen movement was marked by the commitment of its members to work hard, live modestly and to serve others, which often meant donating money to worthy causes, such as education and interfaith initiatives.
“Father Stenhouse conflates this quiescent Sufism with some of the rare examples of Sufi militantism,” Professor Barton said. “For the most part, Sufis are accommodationists rather than confrontational.”
“(The Gulen movement) is the antithesis of Islamist movements.”
Father Stenhouse used quotes from sermons by Gulen, including this one: “You must move in the arteries of the system, without anyone noticing your existence, until you reach all the power centres, until the conditions are ripe.” The launch of the chair was supported by Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart and attended by Victorian Governor David de Kretser.
The non-profit Australian Intercultural Society has made the first donation of five instalments of $586,000 to fund the initiative. The first chairman is Turkish scholar Ismail Albayrak, from Sakarya University’s divinity school.
According to AIS spokesman Orhan Cicek, about half the money came from the Australian Turkish community and the rest from overseas donations through AIS contacts.
AIS was established in 2000 by Australian Muslims devoted to interfaith work and to giving second and third-generation Australian Muslims a sound education in the faith.
Cicek said Gulen, who was granted a private audience with pope John Paul II at the Vatican in 1998, was an inspirational figure. “In the Muslim world he is like the Dalai Lama or Nelson Mandela,” Mr Cicek said. He said the chair was not set up to spread the views of Gulen and as far as he knew Dr Albayrak was not a follower.
ACU pro vice-chancellor Gabrielle McMullen was unavailable for comment yesterday and Dr Albayrak could not be reached.
| — Hat tip: Nilk | [Return to headlines] |
Somalia’s Piracy Problem: Robbery on the High Seas Too Lucrative to Refuse
There are hundreds of pirates serving time in prisons in northern Somalia. But for every one arrested, there are several people willing to fill the gap. A visit to a pirate jail reveals that, despite the risks, many Somalis are still being drawn to the sea by dreams of ransom, revenge and repute.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Algerian Coast Guard Stops Illegal Immigrants
(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, JUNE 15 — In two separate operations, Algerian Coast Guard units stationed in Ghazaouet have stopped 22 people who had been trying to reach the Spanish coastline in a clandestine manner. In the first operation, a Zodiac rubber dinghy was stopped carrying 12 people from El Koudia, not far from Tlemcen. The boat was stopped off Rechgoun. The second seacraft, stopped off Sidi Youcha, was a tiny polyester boat on which ten people from the Ghazaouet region were planning on braving the sea. In line with Algerian law, all 22 illegal immigrants were arrested and will be appearing before the state prosecutor of the Ghazaouet court.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Fudging Migrant Issue
There was a lot of commotion on a flight from Brussels to Budapest on Thursday when a 26 year old Afghan refugee was being taken by Belgian police to Hungary.
Two sat either side of the man on the back row of seats on the plane while one lent over him from the row of seats in front. Another stood in the isle while a fifth policeman explained to the rest of the passengers why there was such a lot of noise coming from the rear.
“Under the Dublin Convention we are returning him to Hungary, the first country in the EU he entered, to have his refugee request dealt with there. We have tried three times to get him to return voluntarily but he would not. So now we have to take him there.
“This is his last chance to draw attention to himself so this is why he is making so much noise. We are sorry”, the young police officer explained.
“Oh my God. Oh my God”, the voice, hoarse from repeating his mantra, continued in English from the back of the plane, occasionally adding “my head, my head”. We were pretty sure the police would not get too heavy handed with him. A few years ago an African woman died when they tried to stifle her cries by putting a cushion over her head, in a similar situation on a deportation flight.
It is sad that the name of Dublin has been given to this hideous EU fudge of how to deal with immigrants into Europe since it was agreed during an Irish presidency. It has not worked of course, and neither has any of the other half-baked decisions because no country in Europe wants poor foreigners. Having abolished borders under Schengen they want to retain them in relation to migrants.
The revolutions in North Africa and the craziness of Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi and France’s Nicolas Sarkozy could just bring the whole issue to the boil finally.
The Italian island of Lampadusa and other islands closer to Africa than Europe are traditional landing place for would be refugees from north Africa. Though strangely enough the Italians actually host fewer refugees and immigrants than most other EU countries when all the figures are added up.
But Mr Berlusconi, never letting principles or prejudices stand in the way, did a deal with Libya’s continuing leader Muammar Gaddafi that he would warehouse any Africans trying to cross into Europe. This is despite the fact that Libya has never signed a UN convention on rights or protections of refugees and does not have a government office to deal with the issue.
Mr Berlusconi came to a similar deal with Tunisia last week to block future departures and agree to give six-month residency permits to more than 20,000 migrants — which would give them the right to free travel to all the EU’s Schengen countries.
Since Tunisia is a former French colony, the Italians got France to agree to grant the Tunisians economic aid, and take part in joint sea and air patrols to turn back the tide of refugees. But of course the boats continued to come, some of them sinking with loss of life, others carrying exhausted people of all ages from all over Africa.
Speaking French and with strong links with France, the Tunisians are leaving Italy for their former colonial masters. But Mr Sarkozy has said the Tunisians can only stay if they can prove they can support themselves and have valid documents.
He said he will tighten border controls and French police have refused entry to Tunisians despite the fact that they are holding Italian residency permits — a breach of Schengen rules.
EU justice and foreign ministers will discuss this latest crisis today and tomorrow when they meet in Luxembourg. Their only response so far is to beef up Frontex, the tiny external border agency, to patrol the Mediterranean.
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
Italy and Libyan Rebels to Sign Migrant Agreement
(AGI) Rome — The Italian government will sign an agreement, “probably on Friday” with Libya’s Transitional National Council to return Libyan migrants who landed in Italy. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi released the news during a press conference in parliament.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Immigrants to be Held in Centres for Up to 18 Months
(AGI) Rome — Interior Minister Roberto Maroni has said illegal immigrants arriving in Italy and awaiting deportation will be held in special centre for up to 18 months, as established by the decree approved today by the cabinet. Maroni explained that the holding period has been increased from six to 18 months, and will be implemented through guarantee procedures applied by Justices of Peace.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Libya-Italy: By Boat to Lampedusa and a New Life
LAMPEDUSA, 16 June 2011 (IRIN) — When Sonny Johnson left Tripoli for the Italian island Lampedusa in a wooden fishing boat, he feared he might never set foot on dry land again. But for Johnson, from a small village in eastern Sierra Leone, it was worth the risk.
“I had been working in Tripoli for four years, after travelling there overland from Freetown [Sierra Leone capital],” he told IRIN shortly after arriving on the island. “I had a well-paid job, but when the situation broke down in Libya, I started to suffer abuse because I was African. I started to get tired in my soul. Then I knew I had to leave, and I decided to try to come by boat.
“On the boat, nobody talked about where we were going,” he said. “I don’t think anyone wanted to jinx our arrival. We talked about other things, like family and football. All we knew was that we were going to Italy.”
Johnson left on a boat with 110 other migrants, among them several women and children, at 4am on 11 June. After being tracked by Lampedusa’s coastguards, the boat was escorted into port at midday the following day. “The sea was a little bit rough,” he said. “But I believed we would arrive.”
Johnson paid US$800. The boat captains are usually also migrants who have paid a slightly reduced rate to agents who ask them to operate the boats. Often they have limited experience at sea and are treated like the other migrants. The boats are often impounded and a “boat graveyard” is appearing by the port.
There is also a small museum on Lampedusa where local artists have turned belongings that were previously owned by migrants — shoes, korans, photos, letters, fuel containers, life jackets — into an art collection.
Lampedusa’s sandy shores have been a landing point for migrants from North Africa for centuries. But the island was overwhelmed by a surge of more than 30,000 migrants between February and April this year. Aid workers based on the island say the situation, although difficult, has since improved.
“Lampedusa’s two processing centres are crowded but the situation is not critical,” said Barbara Molinario, spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Lampedusa. “But logistically it is difficult when we receive large influxes.”
In the 10 days prior to 12 June, Lampedusa had received no boats from North Africa, but on 12 June UNHCR registered 1,500 migrants in seven boats during a 12-hour period.
As each boat arrived at the port, anxious smiles were clearly visible on the faces of the migrants. Some dropped to their knees and prayed on the edge of the dock. “There is a kind of euphoria,” said Johnson. “We cannot believe we have arrived.”
But arriving on Lampedusa is only the first step in a registration process that can take up to one month. Of this week’s 1,500 new arrivals, 1,000 departed on 12 June after undergoing registration by Italian immigration officials and police.
“The two processing centres on Lampedusa are quite small and people need to be identified by police in a short period of time,” said Molinario. “For the migrants, that usually means long waiting hours. It can be quite harsh for them when they have to wait for an entire day to shower and change their clothes, after coming by sea all the way from Libya.”
Migrants are first processed by Italian police at Lampedusa’s two centres and are given hot meals, access to showers and beds. A designated ferry then transports migrants from Lampedusa to Sicily several times a week. Next, they are allocated to holding centres in places such as Mineo, Naples or Bari, where it takes 7-30 days to receive a six-month visa.
[more at link]
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
The Migrants Risking Death to Break Into Britain
It was about two years ago. I was returning from a weekend trip to France and found myself in a long queue of traffic on a dual carriageway just outside the port of Calais.
There right in front of us were dozens of young men walking between the vehicles and opening the backs of trucks to clamber inside.
They were evidently mostly Afghans, taking advantage of the fact the traffic was moving slowly to try anything to sneak a ride into the UK.
All this less than 30 miles from Kent.
For me, any thoughts of disapproval at the unruly behaviour I was witnessing evaporated at the sight of a teenage boy cowering dangerously at the top of a lorry driver’s cab under the back canopy. He was not a trouble-maker. He was obviously petrified but still so desperate to get on to a car ferry to Britain, he was going to take the risk.
Better life
I felt like stopping the car to ask him why. What journey had he taken to get here and where did he think it might end? What is so good about our country that people would go to such lengths?
It was largely the vivid memory of that scene which made me eager to be involved in Panorama’s examination of the economic migrants who risk everything to try and reach Britain illegally.
It is a chance to tell the migration story from the point of view of those trying to get into our country, rather than those of us lucky enough to be here already.
[more at link]
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
The Netherlands Allows Syrian Asylum Seekers
Asylum seekers from Syria may stay in the Netherlands temporarily, announced Minister for Immigration and Asylum Gerd Leers Thursday. Rejected asylum seekers who have not yet returned to their homeland may also stay in the country for the time being. Leers made his decision in response to reports of continued unrest in Syria. It is difficult to assess the political and security situation in the country, he said. Thus, the Immigration and Naturalisation Service will temporarily refrain from deciding on Syrian asylum applications.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Human Right to Sponge Off UK: 3,200 Criminals, Failed Asylum Seekers and Benefit Tourists Can’t be Kicked Out Because of Right to Family Life
Human rights law is demolishing every aspect of Britain’s immigration controls, Government papers reveal.
Every year, more than 3,200 foreign criminals, failed asylum seekers and EU ‘benefit tourists’ are using Labour’s Human Rights Act to thwart Home Office attempts to remove migrants — or stop them arriving in the first place.
The majority of cases are using the controversial Article 8, ‘the right to a private or family life’.
Ministers are so alarmed that they are planning a potentially explosive review of the ‘family life’ defence, which critics say is widely abused.
There has been a series of shocking cases of foreign killers and other criminals cheating deportation.
But the first Home Office audit of the full impact of the Human Rights Act has revealed it is sabotaging almost every part of the immigration system.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee Likens Islamic Radicals to ‘Christian Militants’ In U.S.
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D.-Texas) likened “Christian militants” to Islamic radicals in a hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday, suggesting they posed a comparable threat to the rule of law in the United States.
At the same hearing, a witness told the committee that the conversion of U.S. prison inmates to radical Islam is an “evolving threat” to national security.
Michael Downing, the head of counter-terrorism and special operations at the Los Angeles Police Department, was one of three witnesses who testified at the hearing on Muslim radicalization called by Rep. Peter King, a New York Republican.
But Democrats on the committee condemned the proceedings as “racist” because of its focus on Muslims. They said the hearing should focus on broader issues, including gangs, unfair sentencing practices that target young black men, and other extremists, including white supremacists.
King rebuffed those criticisms, telling Democrats that they controlled the Homeland Security Committee for four years, yet they did not call one hearing on any of the issues they claimed should be part of Wednesday’s hearing.
“Suddenly this issue emerges when we start talking about Muslim radicalization,” King said. “The purpose of this committee is to combat Islamic terrorism because that is the terrorist threat to this country,” King said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Van Impe Ministry Abandons TBN in Clash Over Islam
Network turned back episode that challenged leaders over ‘apostasy’
A Christian ministry’s decision to expose as “false teachers” several celebrity ministers it believes are corrupting biblical teachings has prompted a rift, with Jack Van Impe Ministries dropping plans to work in the future with Trinity Broadcasting Network, where it has broadcast for more than two decades.
“I Will Not Be Silenced! I will not allow anyone to tell me what I can and cannot preach,” Van Impe said in a statement when TBN would not allow his program to air.
“When I see heretical teaching leading to apostasy, I will speak out,” he said. “The Bible says ‘All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:’ (II Timothy 3:16). The Apostle Paul also gives instructions in Titus 1:9-11, 13 ‘Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers … Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake…Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith.’“
[…]
The dispute arose over the issue of advocating for “Chrislam” and other efforts that are designed to find “common ground” between Christians and Muslims. TBN declined to air one of Van Impe’s programs that contained sharp criticisms of leaders such as Rick Warren of “The Purpose Driven Life” fame and Robert Schuller.
The dispute erupted just last week, when Van Impe’s ministry planned to air sharp criticism of Christians who say they want to “reach out” by incorporating beliefs or practices of Islam into their Christian organizations.
According to the broadcast, “Chrislam is a term that may be used more often among apostate churches.”
Such Islamic and evangelical Christian leaders, the report explained, are working to find a way to promote “common beliefs the two religions supposedly share.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A New Path for Al-Qaida: Zawahiri Confirmed as Bin Laden’s Successor
It is now official: Ayman al-Zawahiri is the new leader of al-Qaida. The uncharismatic surgeon from Egypt is hardly a carbon copy of Osama bin Laden. But the terror network seems interested in testing new strategies.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Breeding With Neanderthals Helped Humans Go Global
WHEN the first modern humans left Africa they were ill-equipped to cope with unfamiliar diseases. But by interbreeding with the local hominins, it seems they picked up genes that protected them and helped them eventually spread across the planet. The publication of the Neanderthal genome last year offered proof that Homo sapiens bred with Neanderthals after leaving Africa. There is also evidence that suggests they enjoyed intimate relations with other hominins including the Denisovans, a species identified last year from a Siberian fossil.
But what wasn’t known is whether the interbreeding made any difference to their evolution. To find out Peter Parham of Stanford University in California took a closer look at the genes they picked up along the way. He focused on human leukocyte antigens (HLAs), a family of about 200 genes that is essential to our immune system. It also contains some of the most variable human genes: hundreds of versions — or alleles — exist of each gene in the population, allowing our bodies to react to a huge number of disease-causing agents and adapt to new ones.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Twisted Structure Preserved Dinosaur Proteins
Collagen coils might have kept Tyrannosaurus molecules safe from harm for millions of years.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
2 comments:
EVERYONE should read the article called 'The Anglo-Saxon Invasion: Britain Is More Germanic than It Thinks' to see the coming future of indigenous Brits - ISLAMIC SLAVERY - just substitute the word Muslim for Anglo-Saxon.
Same reason: disarmed soft rich target population.
Same result: disarmed soft rich target population is overwhelmed and enslaved by armed aggressive multitude of hard poor invaders.
As I read the article, only 200,000 invaders were able to PERMANENTLY conquer and enslave one million indigenous Brits....
Perhaps the EDL should be forwarding the following information to all of their local police forces - BEFORE they become Islamicized and further used against the local population.
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