Frank Gaffney: Doing in Defense
At this writing, many details of the debt ceiling deal wrangled out over the weekend remain fuzzy. One thing is clear, unfortunately: The national security of the United States is going to suffer greatly.
That will be so no matter how much is taken out of the defense budget as a result of the not-so-grand bargain struck by congressional leaders. If approved by both houses, it would reportedly cut $350 billion from “security” spending as part of a first tranche of deficit-reduction. Then, the Pentagon (and possibly the Homeland Security and State Department budgets) will be wacked by as much as half of the $1.5 trillion more that an as-yet undesignated congressional “super-committee” is supposed to come up with by Thanksgiving.
Put simply, these initiatives will treat national and homeland security as a bill-payer for deficit reduction.
The trouble is that — even if no further reductions were made in the spending allocated to defending our people and interests around the world — we will see ominous reductions in the capabilities needed to meet those vital responsibilities. That will be because of the more than $400 billion already cut from our national security investments over the past few years.
The warnings of what will befall our military and country as a result are beginning to accumulate. President Obama’s first defense secretary, Robert Gates, put down repeated markers as he headed for the door to the effect that we risked once again “hollowing out” the armed forces if anything like the sorts of cuts Mr. Obama has proposed ($400 billion), let alone those called for by others (up to $1 trillion), are forthcoming…
| — Hat tip: CSP | [Return to headlines] |
Record-Busting U.S. Spending on the United Nations
by Claudia Rosett
While President Obama exhorts American taxpayers to tighten their belts, and the U.S. flirts with default, the United Nations is setting new records for spending American money. The White House’s Office of Management and Budget has produced its latest report, required by Congress, on U.S. contributions to the UN. For the 2010 fiscal year, the U.S. bankrolled the UN to the tune of $7.69 billion. As the Heritage Foundation’s Brett Schaefer notes, that’s a “staggering 21 percent increase over FY2009.”It’s also more than double the $3.539 which U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, in testimony this April to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, implied was the rough amount of U.S. annual spending on the UN.
The rise in U.S. contributions reflects soaring UN budgets over the past decade, to which the U.S. has been the biggest contributor. The exact percentage of UN activity funded by the U.S. varies, depending on which part of the UN we’re talking about. But browsing the OMB report can give you a pretty good idea of how big a hunk of the UN tab is bankrolled by American taxpayers. Scroll down in the report to page 2, where you can discover that the U.S. in fiscal 2010 bankrolled 27.3% of all UN peacekeeping, 22% of the regular budget, 33.6% of the World Food Program, and 26.5% of the budget of the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA)…
| — Hat tip: AA | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Wilders Accuses Left of Demonising Him Over Norway Shootings
Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-Islam party PVV, has accused left-wing politicians of a witch hunt by trying to implicate him and his ideas in the Norwegian mass shootings of 10 days ago.
In an interview with the Telegraaf, Wilders says the left is out to demonise him by trying to connect him to shootings.
Various politicians and commentators have said that Wilders’ anti-Islam speeches and his constant referrals to the ‘left-wing elite’ have helped create the climate in which Anders Breivik acted.
Islam-huggers
‘The truth has to be told because Islam-huggers like [Job] Cohen of the Party of the Arabs [Labour party] caused the problems and have repeatedly ignored them,’ Wilders said. ‘I would say to Cohen and the rest of the left in the Netherlands: it is not my words, but your silence about the dangers of Islam which has the negative influences.’
In a statement last week, Wilders condemned the actions of Breivik as those of a psychopath and a lunatic.
Breivik made at least 30 mentions of Wilders and his anti-Islam PVV party in the 1,500-page manifesto he circulated after the bloodbath and said Wilders was a person he really wanted to meet.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Minister Admits to Keeping Quiet About Part of Greek Deal
Finance minister Jan Kees de Jager has sent a briefing to MPs explaining why he had kept quiet about part of the latest EU rescue package for Greece because of fears about the financial markets reaction.
The omission concerns a temporary guarantee from eurozone countries to the European central bank. This guarantee would be needed if Greece is hit by a selective default and the central bank can no longer accept Greek state debt as surety, the minister says.
‘This temporary guarantee to the ECB for as long as the ‘rating event’ lasts will free the ECB from possible risks in the case of Greek banks being unable to pay back ECB loans which are supported by state debt,’ De Jager wrote.
Barroso
The minister said he had paid ‘limited attention’ to the guarantee in his briefing of July 25 because of concerns about the reaction of the financial markets. Commission chairman Manuel Barroso, European council chairman Herman van Rompuy and other EU leaders had taken the same line, he said.
The exact size of the guarantee still has to be worked out, but the NRC puts it at €35bn.
This is the second time there has been government misinformation about the size of the rescue deal for Greece. Prime minister Mark Rutte insisted the total package was €109bn, including €50bn from the banks, but this turned out later to be wrong.
The briefing document is on the Financieele Dagblad website
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Ramadan: 71% French Muslims Observe Rules, Number Rising
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, AUGUST 1 — The number of Muslims in France who respect the Ramadan fast is growing, young people most of all. Ramadan started today at dawn. A survey carried out by Ifop and published by La Croix daily suggests that 71% of them stay off food all day during the holy month. This figure is 10 points higher than it was in 1989, the year in which the first poll on the question was carried out in France.
Based on the Ifop survey, 9% go without food for a few days only, and 20% of Muslims in France do not fast at all. The same survey shows that the Ramadan is strictly observed by 73% of men and 68% of women. The most diligent group consists of people between the age of 18 and 24 and people over the age of 55 (73% participation in both cases). The number of people who go to mosque for Friday prayer is also rising: 25% in 2011 against 16% in 1989. France counts around 2,000 mosques and Muslim places of worship, but most visitors are men: in fact 84% of women say they never go to mosque on Friday.
This year the proportion of Muslims who consider themselves to be believers and observant (41%) is larger than those who say they are only believers (34%).
France, where the Islam is the second religion after Catholicism, hosts the largest Muslim community in Europe.
According to Ifop 5.8% of the French population are Muslims, 3.5 million in total, though often higher numbers are mentioned, between 5 and 6 million.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: East London Mosque Bags Itself a Bishop
The Islamists of East London, led by their flagship the East London Mosque, have been loudly condemning a proposed march by the English Defence League through Tower Hamlets on September 3. Actually, of course, they are thrilled. The EDL is wrong in so many ways — look at this video for how one of its previous marches, in Leicester, ended — but not least because they hand their supposed enemies, Muslim radicals, the perfect way to build support and legitimacy. The Islamists’ attempts to blame the EDL for the Norway massacre are perhaps a bit of a stretch — but who could dispute that the EDL are a racist rabble? Who could possibly object to campaigning against them?
The mosque has duly placed itself at the head of a campaign to resist the march — called, with beautiful irony, “One Tower Hamlets — No Place for Hate.” I think they must mean “No Place for Hate — Apart From The East London Mosque.” The mosque, as we have frequently reported, has hosted literally dozens of racist, terrorist, homophobic, misogynistic, anti-Semitic and Islamic supremacist preachers, and continues to do so, despite its lies to the contrary. It is controlled by an Islamic supremacist group, the Islamic Forum of Europe. The East London Mosque, in short, is a far greater source of hate in Tower Hamlets than whatever handful of yobs the EDL manages to ship in for a few hours in September.
Most of the campaign’s supporters appear to be the usual suspects: the mosque, its front organisations and their fellow-travellers and useful idiots. There’s the IFE’s Azad Ali — the man whose contribution to the fight against hatred includes calling for British troops to be killed, and who stated (not realising he was being secretly filmed): “Democracy, if it means not implementing the sharia, of course no-one agrees with that.”
There’s Mohammed Rabbani, head of the IFE youth wing, whose belief in inter-community harmony is so deep that he teaches his young recruits: “Our goal is to create the True Believer, to then mobilize these believers into an organized force for change who will carry out da’wah [preaching], hisbah [enforcement of Islamic law] and jihad. This will lead to social change and iqamatud-deen [an Islamic social, economic and political order.]”
And there are those Ken Livingstone/ Lee Jasper creations, One Society Many Cultures and Unite Against Fascism (Jasper’s typically measured intervention in the Norway killings story yesterday was to compare Boris Johnson to Anders Behring Breivik.)
But amid this dreadful crew there are a couple of people from legitimate and untainted organisations, notably the Church. The new bishop of Stepney, Rt Rev Adrian Newman, will speak at a “No Place for Hate” pre-rally at the East London Mosque on Friday, his first public engagement since taking office. The Bishop is the mosque’s most important recruit so far to what appears to be its new strategy of legitimisation. After they were thoroughly exposed by this newspaper and Channel 4, the mosque and IFE have realised that they can no longer simply rely on lies and empty threats of legal action to see off their critics.
They have therefore embarked on a policy of creating stand-alone campaigns which no-one can on the face of it object to, and involving non-extremists in those campaigns to lend themselves a sheen of respectability. Another such campaign, the IFE’s “My Neighbours Project,” aiming to foster neighbourliness, was launched last week and managed to snare Rushanara Ali MP. No doubt soon we will see IFE-sponsored groups to promote motherhood and the eating of apple pie. I say the Church is untainted — but if it starts mixing with people like Azad Ali that won’t last long. There are plenty of far more representative Muslim groups to work with. By all means protest against racism, bishop. But don’t do it through the East London Mosque — you’re in danger of making yourself look ridiculous
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Hundreds Mark Norway Massacre With Flowers in Call to Ban EDL March Through East End
Hundreds of protesters stood in silence at a rally in East London last night with raised flowers to remember the 76 people killed in the Norway massacre by the self-confessed bomber Anders Behring.
The rally, calling for the Home Secretary to ban a proposed march by the English Defence League through Whitechapel, came at the end of a day when a delegation led by the Mayor of Tower Hamlets and the new Bishop of Stepney met the Norwegian ambassador and signed the Book of Condolence. “I know the dangers of extremism has been in your minds in the aftermath of the horrors committed in Norway,” Mayor Lutfur Rahman told the 300-strong rally. “I know your heart will have been moved by the grieving of the Norwegian people.
“So I was proud and saddened to go to the Norwegian embassy with faith and community leaders to offer condolences and solidarity from the people of Tower Hamlets.”
He has written to Theresa May urging police to use their powers to stop the EDL coming to Whitechapel, adding yet more weight to calls for a ban from MPs, councillors, London Assembly figures and church leaders. Norwegian trade unionists flew to London from Oslo to speak at the rally staged at London Muslim Centre along the Whitechapel Road—where the EDL plan to march on September 3. The Bishop of Stepney, the Rt Rev Adrian Newman, in his first public engagement since his inauguration last Friday—ironically on the day of the Oslo massacre—was cheered when he told the rally: “I’ve already been criticised for standing shoulder to shoulder against fascism. But I stand with the people of the East End—this is no place for hate.”
The East End United alliance which organised last night’s gathering plan their own march and rally on September 3 to counter the EDL march on the same day, to be staged at Weavers Field in Bethnal Green. Tower Hamlets Interfaith Forum’s chairman Alan Green, parish priest at Bethnal Green, told the East London Advertiser: “It will have the language of protest to show the EDL they’re not wanted here. “We don’t want others setting up a separate demo—we have to show solidarity, a united East End against fascism and hate.”
Last night’s packed gathering heard from 35 speakers from the Jewish, Muslim, Christian and other faith communities, as well as MP Jeremy Corbyn and former London mayor Ken Livingstone. Speakers also included a veteran of the 1936 ‘Battle of Cable Street’, former Stepney councillor Max Levitas (pictured), now aged 96, who received a standing ovation when he spoke of how the East End came together to keep out Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts 75 years ago. History had called on the East End once again, he urged, to keep out fascists today.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Gaddafi’s Troops Gets Control of a Strategic Village
(AGI)Josh -Troops loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi got back in control of Josh,a village strategically located at the foot of the western Nafusa mountains. Yesterday the rebels had claimed the village but after two hours of figthing, they were forced to retreat. Loyalists and rebel forces have been fighting fiercely in the Nafusa mountains since the beginning of the revolution.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Ramadan: Mufti Against Minister, Close Cafes & Restaurants
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, AUGUST 1 — During Ramadan, which began today, cafe’s and restaurants are to stay closed, according to Mufti of the Republic Sheikh Othman Batikh, who launched an appeal in this regard last night on ‘Al Wataniya 1’ network. This position, however, is at odds with that of Minister for Religious Affairs Laroussi Mizouni, who, noting Tunisia’s traditions in terms of tolerance and the right to diversity, gave the owners the freedom to choose.
Most café and restaurant owners, at least from what was seen today in downtown Tunis and in the city’s outskirts (including tourist destinations) complied with the Mufti’s appeal. The latter stated that tourists (of whom there are very few this year) can benefit fully from their hotel services.
In the meantime, according to Ansa news agency, several Italians temporarily residing in Tunis and neighbouring areas for the summer, seeing the way things are looking, decided to pack their bags and go home to wait out the first post-revolution Ramadan.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Caroline Glick: The Media Revolutionaries
Last Monday Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz gave an interview to Channel 2’s news anchor Yonit Levy during the prime-time news broadcast. Levy began the interview with a revealing “question.”
Oozing professional probity, Levy said, “I assume you came here armed with wonderful data about the drop in unemployment and rising economic growth, but I want to ask you, Mr. Steinitz if for all your data you’ve forgotten the people, you’ve forgotten an entire class of working people who can’t live?”
Not that she has an opinion.
Levy’s question encapsulates the pathology of the Israeli media and the public discourse it engenders. In the case at hand, it is true that the facts show Israel has never been economically better off. But how about “the people”?…
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq: Kirkuk: Christians Give 320 Kg in Medical Drugs, Mgr Sako Offers His Wishes for Ramadan
Together with priests and lay people, the archbishop visits a local medical facility. The medical drugs he brought will be distributed among the city’s many hospitals. The director thanks the prelate for an initiative that will “strengthen trust in our Christian brothers”. The prelate publishes a letter for the sacred month of fasting and praying. “We join you in prayer to God,” he writes, “that he may give us peace and stability.”
Kirkuk (AsiaNews) — Mgr Louis Sako, archbishop of Kirkuk, and a group of priests and lay people visited a medical facility (pictured) for Ramadan. On behalf of the city’s Christian community, they brought more than 300 kilograms of medical drugs for local hospitals. The prelate also referred to the Muslim holy month, a time of fasting and prayers, in an open letter to the community. “We join you in prayer to God,” Mgr Sako wrote, “that he may give us peace and stability.”
A group of young French Catholics had brought the drugs during their visit to the city on 23 July as a token of their “solidarity” (see Joseph Mahmoud, “A group of ten French Catholics to accompany 20 Iraqis from Kirkuk to WYD,” in AsiaNews 25 July 2011).
The head of the medical facility, director Sadik Umar Rassoul, thanked the Kirkuk’s Chaldean Church for all initiatives that improve peaceful coexistence and “strengthen trust in our Christian brothers”. The drugs “are a significant token of their [Christian] charity without exception,” he said.
Following an annual tradition, Mgr Sako issued a letter to Muslims for the start of Ramadan. Speaking to his “Muslim brothers”, he noted that “hot weather” will make “your fast even more meritorious” (according to tradition, Muslims cannot eat or drink from dawn till dusk).
“Let us hope that fasting and prayers will soften everyone’s heart and that forgiveness, love and the fight for peace will prevail over revenge,” the archbishop added.
The prelate also cited the Blessed John Paul II who, on a visit to Turkey on 29 July 1979 at the start of his pontificate, urged Christians and Muslims to begin a “new phase of history” and protect “moral principles”, which are the “principles of peace and freedom”.
In concluding, Mgr Sako again urged Kirkuk Christians to join Muslims “in prayer, calling on God to give us peace and stability”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia: “Madam Al Qaeda” Trial Started
(ANSAmed) — ROME, AUGUST 1 — The charges read by the chief prosecutor of Saudi Arabia to a woman, nicknamed “Madam Al Qaeda” by the local press, include hosting and funding members of the Saudi branch of Al Qaeda, possession of weapons, forgery of identity documents and participation in demonstrations with the intent of creating chaos. It is the first trial against a woman for membership of a terrorist organisation and, the London-based newspaper Assharq Al Awsat reports, the trial regards a group of Al Qaeda cells that includes 112 others who were arrested in March 2010.
The woman, whose name is not mentioned in the press, is considered by Said Asshahry, number two of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, to be the most dangerous of the Saudi organisation.
The trial was opened yesterday in the coast city of Jeddah, together with the 30th hearing of the group of Al Qaeda cells the local press calls the Sara stopover group. The group was given this name because its members used to come together in the parking area with that name as well as in the offices of one of the suspects. There they reportedly planned how to seize power in Saudi Arabia by creating chaos, carrying out terrorist attacks and forming a political group The other charges made against Madam Al Qaeda is coordinating the recruitment of aspiring fighters and giving them forged identity documents. The woman, present in court with several relatives, listened to the charges that were read at the trial’s first hearing. The tribunal has granted her one month time to prepare her defence.
The judge has also granted the request made by one of the woman’s two lawyers to allow her relatives to be present at the next hearing as well. He also decided to grant her request not to allow the media to cover the trial, respecting the privacy of Madam Al Qaeda, who is called “the preaching sister” by the other members. But everybody is anxiously waiting to hear what the woman will say about the secrets of Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, the local media report. At first, the local press underlines, the organisation had doubts about allowing a woman to join. These doubts have certainly vanished because the leadership of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula announced 20 days after the woman’s arrest that the organisation regrets the fate of the “preaching sister”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia: Divorce Banned During Ramadan in Kateef
(ANSAmed) — ROME, AUGUST 1 — The local religious authority for the province of Kateef, in the north eastern part of the kingdom, has banned divorce during the month of Ramadan fasting, which began today, as the latter is meant to facilitate reconciliation among spouses.
“Allowing divorce during the month of Ramadan will not be possible”, Mohammed Al Jirani, a judge at the religious authority, told ‘Al Quds Al Arabi’ newspaper.
According to the judge, the body is convinced that the ban will help diminish separations, giving those with the intention to separate “more time to think”.
The judge highlighted that “some divorce cases, divorce being the worst of things allowed within the Muslim religion could end with the two people making up during Ramadan. This month, prayer activities which bring peace to the human being will increase”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Assad Praises Military Amid Violent Crackdown
Damascus, 1 Aug. (AKI) — Syrian president Bashar al-Assad on Monday praised his country’s military for “foiling the enemies” of Syria, national news agency Sana reported, following Sunday’s killing of around 140 people in a crackdown on protests by security forces.
In an address to mark the 66th anniversary of the founding of the Syrian army, Assad said the troops ‘proved their loyalty to the people, country and creed.”
“Its efforts and sacrifices will be admired,” he was cited as saying, adding that “these sacrifices succeeded in foiling the enemies of the country and ending sedition, preserving Syria.”
Syria routinely reports that the military has been righting an uprising by terrorists and armed gangs.
“The army was a model of commitment to the nation’s causes and a defender of its rights, proving to be an impregnable fortress foiling the dreams and suspect plans of enemies,” Assad said in Monday’s speech.
Meanwhile, Syrian troops on Monday continued to shell the city of Hama for the second day, the Associated Press reported, citing Syrian activists.
More than 140 people were killed in Hama on Monday during an assault by Syrian security forces.
Tens-of-thousands of people died in Hama in 1982 when Assad’s late father and predecessor crushed the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood movement in that city.
More than 1,600 people have been killed in the crackdown to put down anti-government protests that began in March.
Foreign journalists and independent human rights organisations are banned from Syria making it difficult to confirm reports.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Gov’t Picks Gendarmerie Commander as Next Top Soldier
The government appointed Gendarmerie Forces Commander Gen. Necdet Özel late Friday as the land forces commander.
Hours after the country’s entire military echelon, including the Chief of the General Staff, resigned from their posts in a reaction to civilian rulers, the government appointed Gendarmerie Forces Commander Gen. Necdet Özel late Friday as the land forces commander, in a move to end the crisis as swiftly as possible.
Özel is likely to become the country’s top soldier over the weekend as well.
Özel was the only commander who did not accompany Chief of General Staff Gen. Isik Kosaner in his resignation. After Kosaner and the land, air and navy commanders quit their posts Friday afternoon, Özel met with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Prime Ministry. After the meeting, the pair went to the Presidency to meet with President Abdullah Gül to discuss the developments and formulate a solution to the crisis.
According to Turkish law, chiefs of the General Staff are appointed from among force commanders by the president upon the request of the prime minister. To be eligible for appointment, Özel was first appointed as land forces commander late Friday. Özel’s appointment as chief of the General Staff, meanwhile, is likely to be announced in the Official Gazette over the weekend.
The government’s aim was to fill the emptied seats over the weekend so as to hold the Supreme Military Council, or YAS, meeting Monday. The council meets annually between Aug.1 and 4 to decide on the promotions of high-ranking officers to key posts.
After his appointment as chief of the General Staff, Özel will likely propose military figures to be appointed as the new forces commanders in time for Monday’s YAS meetings.
The tension between the government and the military has deepened with the continual arrests of senior military officers on charges of having links with alleged terror organizations that allegedly aimed to topple the government. The government insisted that these officers be forced to retire, causing fury among the top military brass. The most senior of the jailed group is four-star Gen. Bilgin Balanli, head of Turkey’s military academies, who had been in line to become air force commander this year. He was detained in May.
In his farewell message to the military, Kosaner made it clear that his resignation was the result of this campaign. He read a very emotional text to dozens of senior officers at the military headquarters containing indirect accusations against civilian officials.
Underlining that 173 on-duty and 77 retired military officials were behind bars on charges he described as incompatible with the universal principles of law, Kosaner complained that government officials had not found a solution to the problem.
“Along with losing their freedom, 14 general-admirals and 58 colonels lost their right to be evaluated in the upcoming Supreme Military Council and were punished beforehand even though there have been no definitive judicial decisions against them,” he said.
Emphasizing that the smear campaign against the military was attempting to portray it as a criminal gang through one-sided media coverage, Kosaner said there was no room left for him to do his duty and protect his personnel’s rights against the smear campaign.
Kosaner also complained of government officials’ ignorance in listening to the military’s appeals.
Who will be the new force commanders?
Necdet Özel’s appointment as the acting chief of General Staff cleared the way for the government to convene the Supreme Military Council, or YAS, meeting as scheduled on Monday. All eyes, therefore, have turned on who will be the new forces commander.
According to unconfirmed information, Fleet Cmdr. Adm. Murat Bilgel will become the new Naval Forces commander. Lt. Gen. Mehmet Erten, meanwhile, has the chance of being appointed as the Air Forces commander as he is the only four-star general eligible for the post. Gen. Bilgin Balanli, who was expected to take this post, has been under arrest since May and has lost his chance of becoming a top commander. Erten is expected to be promoted to the status of full general before assuming his post as the force commander.
Following Özel’s promotion as the chief of General Staff, YAS will have to select two full generals for the positions of land and gendarmerie forces commander. For the ground forces, there are four alternatives. One of Gen. Saldiray Berk, commander of the EDOK, a key military educational and doctrinal unit; Vice Chief of General Staff Gen. Aslan Güner; 1st Army Commander Gen. Hayri Kivrikoglu; and chief of staff at the Land Forces, Cmdr. Gen. Bekir Kalyoncu, could become the Land Forces commander.
The government, however, will likely try to force Berk to retire due to an ongoing case against him. As for Güner, it is speculated that the Presidency is against his appointment to the position. He could be posted to another position, but a lower-ranking officer’s appointment to the position of Land Forces commander would likely convince him to resign from the military.
Kivrikoglu’s situation is also complicated. He is the nephew of a former chief of General Staff, Hüseyin Kivrikoglu, who fought against political Islamist movements in Turkey; Hayri Kivrikoglu also hit headlines when he did not attend a welcoming ceremony for President Abdullah Gul when he was serving in northern Cyprus.
For the gendarmerie forces, Servet Yörük and Yalçin Ataman are the two strongest candidates. Both were promoted to the rank of full general last year.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Beyoglu Bar Owners: Patrons Protest Removal of Outdoor Tables
A group of Beyoglu bar owners and patrons staged a demonstration Saturday in Istanbul to protest against recent municipal patrol raids to remove outdoor tables and chairs in the area.
Bar owners and patrons gathered in Mis Sokak in Beyoglu and placed large cushions on the street, on which they sat and enjoyed their drinks.
Singer Aydogan Topal, who performs at different venues in Beyoglu, made a statement on behalf of the group and said the removal of the tables was affecting everyone who makes a living from the service business.
“It doesn’t seem logical to implement this regulation when there are such high unemployment rates in our country. Tables were removed without any prior notice. We must make our voices heard. We will not allow our rights and means of living to be taken from us,” Topal said.
The group then traversed the entire street, dancing the horon — a fast-paced folk dance from the Black Sea region — before ending their protest.
Customers sitting at nearby bars and cafes supported the group with applause and whistles.
Restaurant owners have said members of the municipal patrol acted extremely rudely and abused restaurant owners and customers as they removed outdoor tables and chairs over in Beyoglu’s Cihangir, Asmalimescit and Galata neighborhoods on July 25.
A documentary on Asmalimescit
A recent documentary reveals “the good, the bad and the ugly” faces of Istanbul in one of the most popular neighborhoods, Asmalimescit. The film was created by students from Istanbul Bilgi University’s Media and Communication Systems Master Program.
The documentary, called “Asmalimescit, free from here to there,” focuses on the importance of the area for Istanbul’s economy and entertainment culture. The film includes locals complaining about the rudeness of a high number of bars owners.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
India to Pay Iranian Oil by Sidestepping UN Sanctions
India imports 400,000 barrels of Iranian oil every day. Payments had been blocked in December following UN sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme. Following lengthy negotiations, the two sides find a way for payments to flow again.
New Delhi (AsiaNews/Agencies) — Iran and India have resolved a payment dispute that was threatening to halt Iranian oil exports to India, which are crucial to New Delhi, because Indian payments had been halted in December by UN sanctions against Iran over the latter’s nuclear programme.
“Following bilateral negotiations, the two sides agreed to settle the outstanding bills as soon as possible,” Ahmed Qalebani head of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) was quoted as saying by the Iranian Oil Ministry website Shana.
Payments will be made in two parts, with the first settled in the coming days.
India, which is Iran’s second most important customer, imports 400,000 barrels of crude per day from Iran, 12 per cent of its oil needs, and exports food, electronic equipment and steel to the Islamic republic.
The Reserve Bank of India halted Indian oil payments to Iran after a Hamburg-based Iranian-German bank faced sanctions last year and was unable to transfer money to Iran.
Sanctions do not ban oil purchases, but make it hard on bank transactions.
Iran does not accept payments in rupees and, in view of the situation, had threatened to stop supply oil as of 1 August.
NIOC’s Deputy Managing Director for International Affairs Mohsen Ghamsari noted that Iran had no problem in transferring oil payments from China, which imports 400,000 barrels a day.
Oil analysts believe Iran cannot afford to cut supplies to India or China despite payment difficulties, partly because it may quickly lose to its main rival Saudi Arabia.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
China Blames Pakistan-Trained Militants for Attack
BEIJING — China on Monday blamed Muslim extremists trained in Pakistan for an attack that killed six civilians in one of the most troubled ethnic regions where police later fatally shot five suspects.
Sunday’s attack raised the death toll from weekend violence in the Silk Road city of Kashgar in China’s far west to 18.
Kashgar is in Xinijang region, which has been tense since nearly 200 people were killed in fighting between Uighurs and Han Chinese in 2009 in Urumqi, the regional capital.
Kashgar’s city government said in a statement that an initial investigation showed members of the group behind Sunday’s attack had trained in making explosives and firearms in neighboring Pakistan in camps belonging to the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a banned militant organization advocating independence for Xinjiang.
The statement on the city government’s website did not offer any proof. China says the group is allied with al-Qaida…
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
Tony Abbott ‘Out of Step’ As British PM David Cameron Backs Tax
LABOR has leapt on a letter from British Prime Minister David Cameron to Julia Gillard backing the carbon tax to attack Tony Abbott as being “out of step with just about everyone around the world” on climate change.
But the Opposition Leader hit back yesterday, dismissing the government’s use of Mr Cameron’s letter as a “cultural cringe to the old country”.
Divisions over rival advertising campaigns by supporters and opponents of the carbon tax deepened yesterday as economist Andrew Stoeckel from the Australian National University warned that the government’s carbon tax model could send production overseas for little environmental gain.
The political row came as the volatile mix of local forces arrayed against the Prime Minister was on display in Sydney yesterday when the first march against the carbon tax was held in the CBD.
About 1500 marchers waved banners that ranged from mainstream climate scepticism to claims of a communist conspiracy and depictions of Ms Gillard as a Nazi.
Also in attendance were hardline anti-immigration groups the Australian Protectionist Party and the Australian Defence League.
The marchers demanded an immediate election, amid chants of “No carbon tax” and “Ditch the witch”. Organiser Jacques Laxale, from the Consumers and Taxpayers Association, said he was “overwhelmed” by the numbers.
Mr Cameron wrote to Ms Gillard saying her government’s climate change announcement sent a “strong and clear signal that Australia is determined to make its contribution to address this challenge” and it would add momentum to taking action on climate change.
Climate Change Minister Greg Combet said the letter had “come out of the blue” but the British government had announced intentions to cut emissions by half by the end of the next decade.
“So the UK government certainly doesn’t have any questions about the climate science like Tony Abbott has. And also the UK government respects the advice of scientists and economists, unlike Tony Abbott, who goes around attacking both,” Mr Combet told ABC TV’s Insiders.
| — Hat tip: Nilk | [Return to headlines] |
Asylum Seekers Clash With Police Outside Sicily’s Crotone
(AGI) Crotone — A revolt has broke out at migrant holding facilities in Sant’Anna, halfway between Crotone and Isola Capo Rizzuto. The rioting was in protest at what asylum seekers at the centre deemed as being deliberate delays in handling their applications. Several dozen among those staying at the facility pelted police with bottles and stones, then proceeded to set up makeshift barricades in the middle of a main thoroughfare (state motorway 106). Police reinforcements were called in and the clashes endured for hours, with one policeman suffering head wounds and several asylum seekers suffering minor injury.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Party of 53 Tunisians Land in Lampedusa
(AGI) Palermo — Lampedusa has been party a new wave of migrant landings, hours after a boat landed with 25 dead onboard. The boat arrived carrying 53 people, all of whom declared to be Tunisian nationals. The boat was spotted by the Coast Guard just miles off the coast of the island.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Thirty-Five Injured When Migrant Protest Turns Into Riot
Bari, 1 Aug. (AKI) — Around 35 people were injured Monday in southern Italy when people held in a migrant detention camp near the city of Bar staged a protest that turned into a riot.
Some 100 migrants demonstrated to get their passports returned with visas to stay in Italy by blocking a rail line and state road. The protest turned violent when riot police were sent in to break up the demonstration and the migrants pelted them with stones.
Other detainees armed with iron rods set fire to furniture at the camp in the Puglia region.
Twenty police and 15 migrants were injured in the incident.
Separately, the bodies of 25 migrants were found Sunday in the hold of a vessel that set sail from Libya for the Italian island of Lampedusa.
More than 40,000 illegal immigrants have arrived on the island since popular uprisings broke out in North Africa early this year. Thousands of the arrivals have been transferred to detention camps in Sicily and on the Italian mainland.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Twenty-Five Corpses Found Aboard Migrant Boat
Lampedusa, 1 Aug. (AKI) — Twenty-five bodies have been discovered by Italy’s coast guard aboard a boat transporting migrants to the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa near Tunisia.
The body’s, all belonging to males from sub-Saharan African, were found late Sunday when the coast guard inspected the vessel that set sail from Libya carrying 271 people, including 6 women and 21 children.
A doctor belonging to the team that examined the bodies said they most likely died from asphyxiation from gas coming from the boat’s motor.
“They were dead for at least 48 hours,” the doctor told Adnkronos in an interview. “The heat and the place they were packed together accelerated the bodies’ decomposition,” according to the doctor, Pietro Bartolo.
Since the unrest that has hit North Africa this year, over 40,000 migrants have reached Lampedusa, whose sole detention centre can hold a maximum of 850 people.
After a surge of Tunisian arrivals in early 2011 following the unrest in the North African country that toppled longtime leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali from power, most migrants now reaching Lampedusa and nearby islands have embarked in Libya.
Most hail from sub-Saharan Africa and are more likely to gain political asylum than Tunisians, who are considered economic migrants.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
