A Controversial Paragon: Europe Shudders at Germany’s New-Found Power
Many across Europe resent Germany’s influence in the current euro crisis.
Germany, admired and envied for its economic success, has become a model for Europe in the debt crisis. The Continent is becoming more German as countries get serious about fiscal discipline. But the nation’s new dominance is also stirring resentment, and old anti-German sentiments are returning. By SPIEGEL Staff
A French tricolor fluttering on a video screen provides the grand backdrop for Nicolas Sarkozy, who is about to take to the stage to talk sabout the euro crisis. The flag is huge, almost as if the organizers were attempting to allay any doubts that the speaker really is the French president rather than a mere emissary of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
When Sarkozy appeared in front of his supporters in Toulon last Thursday, he spoke of the “fear that France could lose control of its own destiny.” His dramatic words were an appeal to French national pride, but his response to those fears was anything other than nationalist: “France and Germany have decided to unite their fate,” he announced. So-called “convergence” — greater alignment of the two countries — was the only way out of the crisis.
There is no doubt which country wants to align itself with which. Later that day, one of his advisers said Sarkozy wanted “supply-oriented economic policies and debt reduction modeled on those of Gerhard Schröder,” Merkel’s predecessor. In his speech, the president even announced a “jobs summit” between employers and unions just like the one initiated by then-Chancellor Schröder six years ago.
The very next day the French daily newspaper Libération ran an article under the headline “A President Modeled on the Germans,” which claimed “If you closed your eyes, you could hear Merkel speaking” during Sarkozy’s speech.
During a televised interview back in early November, Sarkozy uttered almost unimaginable words for a French president: “All my efforts are directed towards adapting France to a system that works. The German system.”…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Anxious Greeks Emptying Their Bank Accounts
Many Greeks are draining their savings accounts because they are out of work, face rising taxes or are afraid the country will be forced to leave the euro zone. By withdrawing money, they are forcing banks to scale back their lending — and are inadvertently making the recession even worse.
Georgios Provopoulos, the governor of the central bank of Greece, is a man of statistics, and they speak a clear language. “In September and October, savings and time deposits fell by a further 13 to 14 billion euros. In the first 10 days of November the decline continued on a large scale,” he recently told the economic affairs committee of the Greek parliament.
With disarming honesty, the central banker explained to the lawmakers why the Greek economy isn’t managing to recover from a recession that has gone on for three years now: “Our banking system lacks the scope to finance growth.”
He means that the outflow of funds from Greek bank accounts has been accelerating rapidly. At the start of 2010, savings and time deposits held by private households in Greece totalled €237.7 billion — by the end of 2011, they had fallen by €49 billion. Since then, the decline has been gaining momentum. Savings fell by a further €5.4 billion in September and by an estimated €8.5 billion in October — the biggest monthly outflow of funds since the start of the debt crisis in late 2009.
The raid on bank accounts stems from deep uncertainty in Greek households which culminated in early November during the political turmoil that followed the announcement by then-Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou of a referendum on the second Greek bailout package.
Papandreou withdrew the plan and stepped down following an outcry among other European leaders against the referendum, and a new government was formed on Nov. 11 under former central banker Loukas Papademos. That appears to have slowed the drop in bank savings, at least for the time being…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Barroso: EU Leaders Must Guarantee Euro’s Irreversibility
(AGI) Marseille — “Tonight I expect Government leaders to tell us not what they can’t do but what they can do. Underlying the crisis there is a problem of confidence and credibility. We must all do everything to save the Euro and all together show the Euro is irreversible”. The comment was made by the President of the EU Commission Jose’ Barroso, on arriving at the EPP’s XX Congress in Marseille. In view of tonight’s European Council meeting in Brussels, Barroso reiterated: “That’s why we need more discipline, more convergence and that’s why we support all efforts to ensure this strengthened governance. We must show together we will do everything to guarantee the euro is irreversible”, he said. Today’s Marseille EPP Congress will also be attended by many leaders who will be sitting around the table of tonight’s European Council meeting in Brussels, starting with Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
‘Big Bang Approach’ Needed: OECD Report Questions Greece’s Ability to Reform
The need for deep structural reforms in Greece is well-known. But a new OECD report indicates that Athens may be incapable of such far-reaching changes. Ministries don’t communicate, officials don’t keep records and oversight is virtually nonexistent. The only thing that might help, it says, is a “big bang.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
E.C.B. Cuts Rates for Second Month in a Row
The European Central Bank cut its benchmark interest rate for the second month in a row Thursday, undoing rate increases made earlier this year in response to slowing growth and increasing signs of a credit crunch.
The E.C.B. cut its key rate to 1 percent from 1.25 percent, as expected, returning it to the record low level that had prevailed from 2009 until earlier this year.
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EC Delegation Continues Review of Cyprus Economy
(ANSAmed) — NICOSIA, DECEMBER 8 — A delegation on economic issues of the European Commission met Wednesday with House President Yiannakis Omirou, focusing on the austerity measures the Republic of Cyprus is taking in order to tackle the economic crisis. The delegation held contacts with Ministers of the Government on Tuesday. Speaking to the media after the meeting, as Famagusta Gazette reports today, Omirou said that the delegation is visiting Cyprus in order to assess the economic situation and evaluate the measures taken by Cyprus in order to deal with the international crisis and particularly the crisis in the Eurozone. “I have passed on all the information on the measures that have been taken in the past and also the measures decided last week in the meeting at the Presidential Palace. I told them that all the political parties have agreed on the basic measures that will be included in the bills that will presented before the House in the next days,” Omirou said. The House President said the delegation expressed their views about the measures ought to be taken for the budget deficit and the public debt. He also said that the members of the delegation haven’t expressed any disagreement over the measures taken already. Omirou added that they haven’t touched upon the possibility of Cyprus entering the European Stability Mechanism. Amid the continuing financial crisis and the weak growth of the Cypriot economy, projected at a mere 0.2% GDP in 2012, the government introduced a series of austerity measures that would enable Cyprus to meet its medium term commitments to the EU and particularly for a budget deficit of 2.8% GDP in 2012 and a zero deficit by 2014.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Fear of Inflation Grows as Faith in Euro Falls
Fear of inflation is growing in Germany as people lose their faith in the euro, with a third of those questioned for an opinion poll having little or no trust in the currency and nearly half are worried about where to put their savings. The share of Germans scared of inflation has risen from 37 percent this spring to 46 percent in November, according to the survey conducted by the TNS research institute for Allianz Bank. And 45 percent of the more than 2,000 people asked for the poll, said they were no longer sure what to do with their savings.
While shares and funds continued to lose popularity, property and pensions were more favoured, while just over half those asked said they still had money in savings accounts. Around a third of respondents said they had no or little confidence in the stability of the euro, while a third said they still trusted it and another third had some faith left in the currency. The poll comes on the eve of a crucial meeting of European leaders desperate to work out how to tackle the continent’s sovereign debt crisis, which threatens to sink the euro and do deep damage to economies.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: Bank Interest Rates Are Soaring
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, DECEMBER 8 — Greek market is on the verge of a credit crunch as liquidity is close to drying up and banks are paying dearly to hold on to deposits, as daily Kathimerini reports today. Bank of Greece data on the course of interest rates in October showed the average rate of deferred accounts was 4.50%, while the benchmark rate of the European Central Bank stands at 1.25% and the three-month Euribor is at 1.4%. In the last couple of years, BoG suggested, the cost of money has more than doubled, from 2.10% in 2009. Greece’s average rate is the second highest in the eurozone after Portugal’s (4.57%) and ahead of Cyprus (4.15%). However, while Portuguese account holders are showing confidence in their banking system, Greeks are continuing to withdraw deposits that now add up to less than 180 billion euros, against 244 billion in December 2009. Loan rates have also soared, as they have climbed from 4.70% at the end of 2009 to 6.85% in October for loans of up to 1 million euros.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Iceland’s Toxic Legacy: Mountains of Debt Temper Hopes Despite Recovery
Three years after going bankrupt, Iceland has defied predictions by getting its finances back under control. But mountains of private debt have left thousands hopeless and skeptical of any salvation that could come from joining the European Union and adopting the euro.
The man supposedly to blame for the whole mess is wearing a checkered jacket and keeping his head low. Geir Haarde was Iceland’s prime minister when it suffered a near-death experience almost three years ago. In the space of a few days, the country’s three largest banks collapsed, the value of the krona nosedived and the country was on the verge of national bankruptcy.
The former premier is now the first politician in all of Europe who will stand trial for the financial disaster. Iceland’s 1905 constitution makes it possible to convict political figures of a crime if they did not act — or did not act quickly enough — in a situation posing a danger to the state. Haarde could face up to two years in prison.
“Of course, from today’s perspective,” Haarde says, “I would have done a few things differently back then.” He is not even able to maintain his own office anymore. Instead, friends have set him up with an office in a law firm and are bankrolling his legal expenses.
“I’m everyone’s scapegoat, and yet I committed no crimes,” Haarde says. “On the contrary, we rescued Iceland back then — and we did so without the taxpayers having to pick up the banks’ tab.”
Aiming for a Better Future
As bitter as he sounds, Haarde also has proof to back up his claim. Iceland has returned to the international money market in record time. This summer, the government issued bonds for the first time since the crisis. Iceland’s budget deficit is at 2.7 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP). The unemployment rate has fallen to roughly 6 percent, the Icelandic economy is expected to grow by 2.2 percent this year, and the krona is relatively stable, with inflation at 2.7 percent.
Nevertheless, tens of thousands of Icelanders are still deeply in debt — and will be paying for the excesses of the boom years for decades to come.
Now the coalition government in Reykjavik, made up of the Social Democratic Alliance and the Left-Green Movement, is trying to get past the trauma of the collapse once and for all. It wants to join the European Union and, despite the euro crisis, introduce the common currency as soon as possible…
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
IMF Concludes Article IV Consultation With Turkey
Turkish growth is expected to slow to 2% in 2012
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, DECEMBER 8 — The International Monetary Fund has said it had concluded an annual review of Turkey’s economy in the context of the Article IV consultation. In a statement posted on its website, as Anatolia news agency reports today, the IMF said the Turkish economy had continued to grow strongly through the first half of 2011, however, growth was expected to slow sharply to 2% in 2012 due to weaker capital inflows. “The current account deficit widened sharply to near 10% of GDP. Inflation is rising quickly, reflecting pass-through from a large nominal depreciation since late 2010, numerous tax and regulated-price increases, and underpinned by tight domestic supply conditions, and is forecast to reach 9.5% at end 2011,” the statement said. While the headline fiscal balance continued to improve and the public debt-to-GDP ratio was declining, fiscal performance had been supported by benign economic conditions at home and abroad, the statement added. IMF said Turkey’s policy responses were insufficient to prevent the development of a large current account deficit and high inflation, adding that monetary policy had shifted to an unconventional mix of reserve requirements, the interest rate corridor, and the policy rate, which had failed to demonstrated it could deliver price- or financial-stability. “Growth is expected to slow sharply to 2% in 2012 due to weaker capital inflows, reflecting in part concerns about Turkey’s large current account deficit. More limited foreign financing would constrain the current account deficit to about 8% of GDP and compresses imports,” the statement said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Motorists First to Feel Pinch of Austerity Measures
Gas prices highest in Europe
(ANSA) — Rome, December 7 — A nationwide tax hike on gasoline went into effect Wednesday as part of the government’s 30-billion-euro ‘Save Italy’ austerity package, making the cost of gasoline in Italy the highest in Europe. The average price of a liter of gasoline rose almost 10 cents to 1.708 euros, nearly 18% higher than the start of the year.
“We spend 27.4% more than Spain, 14.6% more than France and 13.9% more than Germany,” said Carlo Pileri, chairman of Italian consumer association ADOC. “We’ve even surpassed the Netherlands, which used to be the most expensive. Today their petrol costs 9.5% less than ours”.
ADOC says that Italian drivers have had to spend an extra 750 euros in 2011 after a record five tax hike over the course of the year. The latest fuel tax was the first measure from the new budget package to go into effect.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Standard & Poor’s Cuts Finmeccanica Rating
Risk profile worsens with lower profits
(ANSA) — Rome, December 5 — Standard & Poor’s on Monday cut its credit rating for the Italian defence and aerospace giant Finmeccanica from BBB to BBB-, with a negative outlook.
In a statement released by the company, it said the decision reflected Finmeccanica’s worsening risk profile as a “result of lower profits and the restructure of several divisions”.
On Thursday the chairman of Finmeccanica, Pier Francesco Guarguaglini, resigned following Prime Minister Mario Monti’s call for the state-controlled company to swiftly address a corruption probe involving company executives.
Chief Executive Giuseppe Orsi was appointed as chairman after Guarguaglini resigned at a board meeting.
Guarguaglini is under investigation over accusations Finmeccanica managers were involved in the issue of false invoices and the creation of slush funds to bribe politicians.
He and his wife Marina Grossi, the head of a Finmeccanica division, have both denied any wrongdoing. The Italian Treasury owns almost of a third of the company.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Geithner Backs Monti: Says U.S. Has Faith in Italy
Italian premier hopeful budget package will be approved soon
(see related story on meeting with Geithner) (ANSA) — Milan, December 8 — United States Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said America backed Italian Premier Mario Monti’s efforts to lift his country out of its debt crisis.
“I brought our support for the premier and the country for the efforts being made,” Geithner said after meeting Monti before the Italian prime minister travels to Brussels for a major summit of European Union leaders in Brussels on the eurozone crisis.
“Mario Monti has a great deal of credibility in Europe and around the world”. Monti presented a tough package of measures on Sunday that aims to restore market confidence in Italy’s ability to put its public finances in order and start slashing a debt mountain that amounts to around 120% of GDP.
Geithner praised Monti’s “strong programme of economic reforms” and said he was sure that “Italy will return to growth in the future, not just in Europe, but also in the rest of the world”.
For his part, Monti said he was hopeful his package would be approved by parliament soon.
He said he had talked to Geithner about possible measures for tighter fiscal union and amendments to EU treaties to provide “comfort to the eurozone” as well as “financial firewall” mechanisms to protect countries from coming under fire on the markets. The pair also discussed the role the International Monetary Fund can have in solving the eurozone crisis. Monti announced that he will meet US President Barack Obama at the White House in January for talks on the crisis, although a date has not yet been set. photo: United States Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Italian Premier Mario Monti (right).
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Juncker: Germans Think They Are the Only Ones With Virtue
(AGI) Berlin — Euro Group President Jean Claude Juncker takes a stab at Germany a few hours before the opening of the EU summit. “Germans think they are the only ones with virtue” Juncker said in an interview with the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung. “I often found it strange that Germany felt as if it were surrounded by deficit sinners”, Mr Juncker was quoted telling the newspaper. “In the last three years there were between 9 and 11 eurozone countries with lower public deficits than Germany.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Monti to Meet Geithner Ahead of EU Summit
Leaders to look at new measures in Brussels
(ANSA) — Brussels, December 7 — Italian Premier Mario Monti will meet US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for talks in Milan on Thursday before attending a major summit of European Union leaders in Brussels.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the head of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, were also expected to meet before the 27 European leaders gather to discuss measures to contain Europe’s debt crisis.
The leaders of France and Germany on Wednesday signalled plans to press eurozone countries to have common corporate and financial transaction taxes.
Their proposal was reportedly made in a letter to European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, ahead of the EU summit.
It will be the first time Prime Minister Monti has met European leaders since announcing his 30-billion euro emergency package in Rome on Sunday.
On late Wednesday he joined President Giorgio Napolitano at the premiere of Don Giovanni at Milan’s famous La Scala opera house to mark the opening of the 2011-2012 season.
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Netherlands: MPs Get Tough on Public Sector Executive Pay, Ban Bonuses
Executives at semi-public sector organisations such as housing corporations and hospitals will soon no longer be eligible for bonuses now that parliament has backed a Labour party motion calling for a ban.
The PvdA believes extras which are paid for by the taxpayer are ‘inappropriate’, MP Pierre Heijnen is quoted as saying.
‘Managers who want to work in the public sector don’t need to be given extra money to do their best to deliver as good a service as possible,’ he said.
Controls
Tuesday night’s vote was the latest in a long line of efforts to introduce formal controls on public sector salaries following disquiet about large pay packages in some sectors.
MPs also voted in favour of a PvdA proposal to limit the pay of supervisory board chairmen at public sector organisations to 7.5% of the average executive pay package, while ordinary members will have a 5% limit.
In addition, heathcare institutions and ‘good causes’ will no longer be able to pay executives more than the prime minister — the so-called Balkenende standard, named after the previous PM, Jan Peter Balkenende.
For most public sector jobs, an informal limit equivalent to the prime minister’s salary of €190,000 is already standard.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Accord on Pensions in Physically-Demanding Professions
THE HAGUE, 07/12/11 — Social Affairs Minister Henk Kamp is softening the financial consequences for people who earn less than 1.5 times the statutory minimum wage and stop work when they are 65 after 2020.
The state pension (AOW) age will go up to 66 years in 2020. People will still be able to stop work when they are 65 but they will then have 6.5 percent per year docked from their AOW payment. From summer 2025, when the AOW age will go up to 67, this cut will double to 13 percent.
Labour (PvdA) wanted to soften these cuts for physically-demanding professions. Kamp did not want this, partly because he foresaw problems on the definition of such professions. But he has now reached an agreement with the biggest opposition party after all.
Instead of the definition of heavy work, the minster has opted for an income ceiling. This will be 150 percent of the statutory minimum wange, currently around 27,500 euros per year gross.
People who earn less than 150 percent of the minimum wage will be able to fiscally attractively save a maximum of 17,400 euros to stop work at age 65. Their loss of income should as a result remain limited to a maximum of 3 percent, instead of 13 percent, for stopping work two years earlier.
It had already been decided to allocate a work bonus of up to 8,400 euros to all employees aged between 61 and 64, coming into effect from 2013. Additionally, the prospect of a supplementary work bonus totalling 1,200 euros has already been held out for older employees aged between 61 and 64 on a low income. This scheme will start in 2020.
Kamp is now raising this supplementary work bonus to a maximum of 8,450 euros. He is also advancing the initial date when this comes into effect to the person’s 58th birthday. This bonus applies to employees with an income close to the minimum wage, and declines to the degree in which people earn more, stopping at an income of about 150 percent of the minimum wage.
The costs of the supplementary work bonus for the government are estimated at around 125 million euros. The PvdA is pleased. The cabinet wants to keep the opposition party happy because in certain areas including the euro crisis, it is dependent on PvdA support.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Boxer Khan Could be Muslim ‘Ambassador’: Promoter
WASHINGTON — Britain’s Amir Khan, a talented world boxing champion on an eight-fight win streak, could also play an important role in combating anti-Muslim prejudice, according to his US promoter. “He has the character and the background to unite the cultures very well,” said Golden Boy Promotions chief executive officer Richard Schaefer. “He has what it takes to be that ambassador, to unify countries and people.” Khan, 26-1 with 18 knockouts, will defend his World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation light-welterweight titles in Washington on Saturday against hometown hero Lamont Peterson, 29-1-1 with 15 knockouts. Khan, who turns 25 on Thursday, took the gamble of fighting in his rival’s hometown after a visit to the US capital in September as a special guest of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. During that visit, the Englishman of Pakistani heritage took part in a dinner paying tribute to Muslim athletes to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan. “It was a big thing to be invited by the secretary of state,” Khan said. “It was a tremendous honor when you think of how many Muslims there are in the world and how many big sports stars there are. It was an opportunity to send out some good messages, for people to respect who we are. I’ve never been shy of speaking about my religion.”
Schaefer and Golden Boy boss Oscar de la Hoya are pushing Khan to the next level in boxing, with a likely rise to the welterweight division in 2012 setting up a potential showdown with unbeaten US star Floyd Mayweather. But Schaefer would not be surprised to see Khan follow the path of Filipino star Manny Pacquiao, a member of Congress in his homeland who has aspirations of one day serving as president. “He might not be like Manny, running for president, but I think he has a tremendous future in politics as well,” Schaefer said.
“That (Clinton’s invitation) shows he is being recognized at the highest level to be such an ambassador.” Khan, who took a lightweight silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics, works alongside Pacquiao at times in trainer Freddie Roach’s Los Angeles gymnasium. But so far, he says the political urge has not hit him. “I’m a normal guy. I’m going to stay away from politics,” Khan said. “There is a lot of stuff happening in the Middle East and Pakistan, but I don’t want to get into it too much. I like helping people, doing charitable work, making things better.” Khan has given to charity, helping raise $125,000 for “Islam Help” in September to bring food, water and medicine to needy areas in drought-stricken East Africa.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Campus Police Officer, 2nd Person Killed at Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech officials said a police officer and another person were shot and killed on the school’s campus today, prompting a university lockdown.
A campuswide alert told students and faculty to stay inside and lock doors and for visitors to stay away. Authorities still were seeking a suspect. By 3 p.m., the university was still stressing that reports of additional suspicious activity were unsubstantiated, but people should remain vigilant because the shooter had not been located.
A university statement, released about 2 p.m., said the incident started shortly after noon when a campus police officer stopped a vehicle during a routine traffic stop in the Coliseum parking lot near McComas Hall.
The officer was shot and killed. Witnesses said the shooter fled on foot toward the Cage, a parking lot near Duck Pond Drive. At that parking lot, a second person, also dead, was found.
The suspect was described as a white male wearing gray sweat pants, a gray hat with neon green brim, a maroon hoodie and backpack.
As sirens blared, heavily armed police officers were seen running through the area around the roundabout at the end of Washington Street, and officers searched cars around the Cage. At the Coliseum, what appeared to be a body was covered with a cloth in a taped-off area of the parking lot. Officers there told a dozen student-age onlookers to leave for their own safety.
The campus was swarming Thursday with heavily armed officers walking around campus. Caravans of SWAT vehicles and other police cars with emergency lights flashing patrolled nearby. Students hunkered down in buildings.
Various alerts were sent out to students and the university is sending updates about every 30 minutes, regardless of whether they have any new information, school spokesman Mark Owczarski said.
“We deployed them all, and we deployed them immediately to get the word out,” he said.
“A lot of people, especially toward the beginning were scared,” Brumfield said. “A lot of people are loosening up now. I guess we’re just waiting it out, waiting for it to be over,” said Jared Brumfield, a 19-year-old freshman from Culpeper, who was locked in the Squires Student Center since around 1:30 p.m.
Students were scarce and police dogs were being used in the search for the gunman. Officials were reporting that the Virginia State Police had been called to take the lead in the investigation.
Students reported on Twitter that shots were being heard around campus, but university officials later reported that those cases had been investigated and were unfounded…
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Planet-Hunting Telescope Needs Four More Years to Complete Mission, Scientists Say
The Kepler space telescope will be unable to achieve all of its mission goals unless NASA doubles the mission’s length, say scientists working with the prolific planet-hunting instrument. Funding for Kepler is slated to run out in November 2012. The Kepler team wants to keep the telescope running through 2016 or so.
“The task at hand is to spread this news to our colleagues so that they will recognize that if Kepler doesn’t get an extended mission, exoplanet science is going to suffer a setback of decades,” Natalie Batalha, deputy leader of the Kepler science team here at NASA’s Ames Research Center, said Monday (Dec. 5). In its 2 1/2 years of operation to date, the telescope has found about 30 confirmed alien planets and has discovered nearly 2,300 other candidates, most of which will likely be confirmed eventually, researchers say.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Senate Republicans Block Obama Pick to Lead Consumer Panel
The Senate blocked President Obama’s nominee to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, as filibustering Republicans who oppose the very powers of the new agency successfully challenged one of the administration’s main responses to the financial crisis.
The nomination of Richard Cordray was rejected after Democrats failed to achieve the 60 votes they needed to move his nomination forward. The vote was 53 yes, 45 no.
Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, said his party had made clear for months that it would not approve a leader for the watchdog consumer agency until the law that established it was amended.
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US Threatens Swiss With Return to Visas: Report
Washington is putting pressure on Bern to allow it direct access to certain police records where fingerprints and DNA profiles are stored, according to a Swiss media report. If Switzerland does not meet the American demands by June 2012, the US government will reintroduce a visa requirement for Swiss citizens travelling to the United States, reports the Tages Anzeiger newspaper. This means that the 340,000 Swiss who travel annually to the US would have to visit the US Embassy in person to request a visa and pay a fee of 130 francs ($140).
Bern has so far resisted signing on to Washington’s Preventing and Combating Serious Crime (PSCS) agreement, a move that would give the Swiss citizens continued access to the US visa waiver programme, ESTA. The programme currently enables Swiss citizens to enter the US using only their biometric passports, which became mandatory in 2010. ESTA was implemented to combat terrorism after the September 11th 2001 attacks.
If Switzerland accepts the conditions imposed by the United States, US authorities will be allowed direct computer access to Swiss police databases containing fingerprint details and DNA profiles. Furthermore, US investigators could ask Switzerland to hand over the names, ages, passport numbers and criminal records of anybody suspected of terrorism-related crimes, Tages Anzeiger reports. Critics fear that this data might not be protected once it reaches the US.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
VT Issues All-Clear to Shaken Students Hours After 2 Die; Gunman’s Fate Unclear
BLACKSBURG (AP) — A gunman walked into a parking lot and killed a Virginia Tech police officer who was conducting a traffic stop on campus Thursday, state police said.
Sgt. Robert Carpentieri said it appeared that the shooter was not in the car that had been pulled over. The sergeant said another officer later spotted a second person in a different parking lot who was alive at the time. That person, a white man, later died of a gunshot wound.
Police would not say during a Thursday afternoon news conference whether the second dead person was the gunman who killed the officer. However, a law enforcement official who had knowledge of the case and spoke on condition of anonymity told The Associated Press that the gunman was believed to be dead.
Virginia Tech officials said on the school’s website that a weapon was recovered near the second body found on campus. School officials also said there was no longer an active threat Thursday afternoon and that normal activities could resume.
Investigators were interviewing the person who was pulled over Thursday. Carpentieri also said he couldn’t say exactly how many people were involved.
The officer had served on the campus police force for four years. State police were still investigating whether he had been specifically targeted.
The officer’s shooting prompted a lockdown that lasted for hours.
5:20 p.m.
The Collegiate Times campus newspaper reports that there’ll be a vigil at 8 p.m. at the memorial to the 33 students killed in the 2007 mass shooting at the school.
4:50 p.m.
Authorities speaking in a press conference say they can’t confirm reports that the second body found was that of the gunman. They did say that after that body was found there were no additional reports of shots or verified sightings of a guman after that body was found.
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Belgium: ‘I Got Used to Being Called a Dirty Jew’
What happens when a Jewish girl from Belgium is brutally attacked by Muslim schoolmates ? Police fail to handle incident, while school and politicians turn a blind eye. Yedioth Ahronoth correspondent meets Oceane Sluijzer, whose assault has shocked Europe’s Jewish communities
BRUSSELS — Her blue eyes still look empty, her blond hair hides the heavy strokes she received. For 10 days, 13-year-old Oceane Sluijzer didn’t leave her house, terrified, afraid to go out.
The fear to walk on the street on her own still paralyzes her, ever since that Friday, about two weeks ago, when five girls of Muslim descent, her schoolmates, humiliated her in public and assaulted her.
“Dirty Jew — go to your country,” they told her, grabbing her hair and slamming her head against their knees. Then they just left her there, at the sports center, not far from the school, while those who witnessed the incident quickly ran away.
Oceane is not alone. Camilla, 16, studies in the European school, considered the most prestigious in Brussels, where children of European representatives are sent to. She recently decided to leave the educational institution and move to the Jewish school after being harassed over her opinions and support for Israel.
But it seems that in Belgium of 2011, the law authorities, government and educational system have already given up. Complete disregard is apparently the way Belgians respond to anti-Semitic attacks these days.
“The police suggested that I keep quiet about the incident. They asked me, ‘Don’t say that it’s anti-Semitism,’“ Oceane reveals. “They even suggested that I avoid going to the hospital.”
According to her father, Dan, “The police said they would collect the five girls’ testimonies and settle for that. If they attack her again in the future, they promised to act differently. The police wanted to bury this affair as soon as possible.”
The educational system’s response was similar. Oceane returned home that day and didn’t leave her house for the next 10 days, but no one at the school even bothered to check on her. Her schoolmates disappeared too.
“A week later, the principal called and asked me to visit his office with Oceane’s mother,” the father says. “He said he had decided to suspend the girls’ leader. I informed him that my daughter would not be returning to a school which is incapable of protecting her. As far as he was concerned, it was enough. It was the ideal solution.”…
| — Hat tip: J-PD | [Return to headlines] |
EU Opposition Hits Record High in Norway
A record four out of five Norwegians, or 79.8 percent, are opposed to their country hypothetically joining the European Union, currently embattled in the euro crisis, a public opinion poll showed on Tuesday.
Only 12.6 percent of the 1,000 people surveyed last week said they were in favour of joining the 27-member bloc, while 7.6 percent were undecided, according to the poll conducted by the Sentio institute and published in the daily Nationen.
Opposition to EU membership has never been as high in Sentio’s surveys of the oil-rich Scandinavian country, which has twice rejected membership in referendums in 1972 and 1994.
“It is difficult to imagine anything other than that it is linked to the crisis,” a senior official at the employers’ organisation Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise, Peter Haas Brubakk, told Nationen.
“In addition, no party nor public figure is currently talking about Norwegian EU membership as being an important issue,” he added.
The centre-left government coalition in power is divided on the question and has put the issue on the back burner.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Europe’s New Right-Wing Radicals Focuses on Islamophobia Instead of White Supremacy
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — As daylight broke on June 4, worshippers found a mosque in southern Denmark defaced with drawings of the Prophet Muhammad and slogans urging Muslims to “go home.”
In late October, a dismembered pig was buried on the planned construction site of a planned mosque on the outskirts of Copenhagen.
Both acts were the work of the Danish Defence League, a year-old far-right group that claims it’s not opposed to foreigners in general, just Muslims.
“We are not racists. We are not Nazis,” insists Bo Vilbrand, the group’s 24-year-old spokesman. As if to prove his point he says the Danish Defence League welcomes blacks and Jews.
The group and its larger English forebear represent a new crop of right-wing radicals who don’t fit the mold of the boot-stomping, Jew-hating neo-Nazis. This movement claims its fight is against Islam, and uses crusader symbols instead of swastikas. It frames its mission as a cultural struggle, although opponents say it is little more than old-fashioned xenophobia hiding beneath anti-Islamic rhetoric.
European authorities were just starting to consider the far-right, anti-Muslim movement’s potential for violence when Norwegian militant Anders Behring Breivik took it to unimaginable extremes on July 22, massacring 77 people in the name of an anti-Islamic revolution.
“Oslo was an eye-opener,” says Hajo Funke, an expert on European right-wing extremism at the Free University Berlin.
Norway’s PST security service highlighted the rise of the anti-Islamic groups in its annual threat assessment in March, although chief analyst Jon Fitje says the movement in many ways remains uncharted.
“There seems to be many people who share Breivik’s general views, even though they of course condemn his actions,” Fitje told The Associated Press. “But we don’t know much about this. And we don’t know how much we should know about it,” because PST is not allowed to register people based on their political views.
Anti-Muslim sentiment in Europe is nothing new. Since the 9/11 terror attacks in the U.S. it has boosted anti-immigration political parties from Scandinavia to France. However, it started taking a more radical form in recent years, mostly online, but also with small groups organizing street protests against a perceived Islamization of Europe.
In France, the anti-Muslim Bloc Identitaire has emerged as one of the loudest voices on the extreme right fringes.
A key development came in 2009 with the creation of the English Defence League, which claims to be peaceful but whose anti-Muslim protests have ended in clashes with police and left-wing demonstrators. Two years after counting about 50 members, the group boasts its ranks have swollen to 10,000, though authorities say its fluid nature makes it hard to measure.
What is clear is that hundreds of people, including soccer hooligans, have turned up for the EDL’s protests, and European police agency Europol in 2010 said its quick rise had raised the profile of right-wing extremism in Britain.
The EDL has spawned offshoots across northern Europe, with varying success. Most are Facebook groups only. A handful of people showed up for a Norwegian Defence League rally in April, and a Dutch version was disbanded earlier this year…
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Flemish Party Calls for Remigration of Turks
The Vlaams Belang party of Belgium, a right-wing political party that aims for an independent Flanders, has started a campaign of remigration in order to convince those immigrants who do not adapt to Flemish society to return home. The Turkish motto of the campaign the Flemish party has been conducting is “Emirdað’ýn sana intiyacý var,” (Emirdað needs you), while the general motto addressing all immigrants is “Return happily to your home country.” Fliers carrying the mottos have been distributed to thousands in Flanders.
Three party members from Ghent, Flanders’ third biggest city, who are in Turkey to introduce the campaign, talked on Tuesday with Volkan Bozkurt, president of the Foreign Affairs Commission in Parliament, and Mehmet Tekelioðlu, president of Parliament’s EU Integration Committee, as well as with some deputies from the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
Members of the Vlaams Belang party will tomorrow travel to Emirdað, where the major portion of the immigrants in the city of Ghent emigrated from, and will have a talk on Thursday with Cengiz Pala, the mayor of Emirdað, who they talked with in Belgium in October. The group also plans to visit some villages in Emirdað.
Johan Deckmyn, who is one of the group members and a member of parliament in Flanders, said at a press conference held in Ankara on Wednesday they are in favor of remigration of immigrants who cannot integrate in society in Flanders. “If Turks don’t want to re-migrate, they should integrate into our society,” he stated. Asserting that they were not anti-Turkish or racist in any way, Deckmyn has complained that there are too many immigrants in Flanders and that the immigrants do not integrate into Flemish society. “A lot of Turks in Ghent have problems adapting and learning the language. There are Turks who have been living in Flanders for thirty years and don’t speak Flemish,” he complained.
Deckmyn also noted that Turks in Flanders have been complaining about Roma arriving in large numbers from Bulgaria and Romania in recent years, the newcomers being criticized for not adapting to the ways of the local society.
The Vlaams Belang party, which has 15 percent of the vote in Flanders, believes incentives should be offered to those who decide voluntarily to return to their home country and is in favor of the creation of a “fund for voluntary return. The party thinks those who would agree to re-migrate could also make use of the funds of the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The right-wing party was criticized early this year by Turkish authorities for having prepared an election banner on which a drawing of red sheep with Turkish and Moroccan flags is kicked out of the European Union by a white sheep that represents the EU.
The right-wing party, which calls itself “Euro-critical,” is in favor of a confederate Europe and against the membership of Turkey in the EU; their conception of Europe is based mainly on geography and Christianity. The party prefers to see Turkey as a privileged partner in economy and defense. The immigrants are believed to constitute 10-15 per cent of the total population of Belgium, which also feels the pressure of economic difficulties covering most of Europe. There are approximately 200,000 Turks living there.
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
Imam Who Backs Child Marriage Should be Banned From Holland: MPs
MPs on Tuesday called for a controversial imam, or Muslim religious leader, to be banned from the Netherlands because of his support for the marriage of young girls.
Mohamed al-Maghraoui caused a storm in Morocco in 2008 when he published a fatwa — or religious edict — saying it is acceptable for girls to marry at the age of nine. He is due to attend a five-day conference later this month to celebrate the opening of an extension to the As Soennah mosque in The Hague.
PvdA MP Kadija Arib called on the authorities to refuse a visa to Al-Maghraoui, a call echoed by other MPs from across the political spectrum. ‘He should not be welcome,’ VVD MP Pim van Strien is quoted as saying.
Closure
Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-Islam PVV, said the mosque should be closed down if Al-Maghraoui is allowed to speak.
However, Tofik Dibi, a parliamentarian for the left-wing green party GroenLinks, said the visit should go ahead. ‘His visit is an opportunity for free-thinking Muslims to break through this sort of man’s position of power,’ Dibi said.
‘It is encouraging to see how many Muslim-Dutch people are giving this man the cold shoulder rather than a warm welcome on social media websites,’ the MP told news agency ANP.
Radical
According to the Volkskrant, the mosque itself has been at the centre of controversy for carrying out Muslim marriages and giving a platform to radical preaching.
Al-Maghraoui’s fatwa led to the Moroccan authorities closing down his schools. He eventually fled to Saudi Arabia. The fatwa was also condemned by Moroccan religious leaders.
Al-Maghraoui justified the marriage of nine year old girls by referring to Mohammed consummating his marriage to Aisha when she was that age.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Is New Moroccan Government Inciting Muslims in Spain?
by Soeren Kern
Some 3,000 Muslim immigrants took to the streets in near Barcelona to protest recent cuts in social welfare benefits.
The protest, which took place on December 5 in the industrial city of Terrassa, about 30 kilometers from Barcelona, was organized and attended by Moroccan immigrants.
The size and spontaneity of the demonstration caught local officials by surprise — they had been expecting no more than 300 demonstrators — and reflects the growing assertiveness of Muslim immigrants in the northeastern region of Catalonia.
The protest could confirm the fears of Spanish intelligence agencies that the new Islamist government in Morocco may attempt to incite Moroccan immigrants in Spain to organize demonstrations, in an effort to force Spain’s new conservative prime minister, who takes office on December 22, to resolve a series of longstanding disputes between the two countries.
The starting point for the demonstration was the heavily Muslim neighborhood of Ca N’Anglada, which is located in downtown Terrassa. The demonstrators then made their way through the city center to the municipal social security office.
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic Cleric Bans Women From Touching Bananas, Cucumbers for Sexual Resemblance
An Islamic cleric residing in Europe said that women should not be close to bananas or cucumbers, in order to avoid any “sexual thoughts.” The unnamed sheikh, who was featured in an article on el-Senousa news, was quoted saying that if women wish to eat these food items, a third party, preferably a male related to them such as their a father or husband, should cut the items into small pieces and serve. He said that these fruits and vegetables “resemble the male penis” and hence could arouse women or “make them think of sex.”
He also added carrots and zucchini to the list of forbidden foods for women. The sheikh was asked how to “control” women when they are out shopping for groceries and if holding these items at the market would be bad for them. The cleric answered saying this matter is between them and God. Answering another question about what to do if women in the family like these foods, the sheikh advised the interviewer to take the food and cut it for them in a hidden place so they cannot see it.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Radicals Disrupt Islam Debate in Amsterdam
The Islamists threatened and spat on Ms Manji. Tofik Dibi, who accompanied Ms Manji to the police station where she filed a report, said that “the disruption of the debate shows that even in the Netherlands it is necessary to continue the debate on a free and moderate Islam.” Eventually, the police were called in to remove the protestors. A police spokesperson later said that two of the 22 men involved were arrested, one for making threats and one for insulting police. Irshad Manji, a known critic of Islam, is the author of The Islam Dilemma. On the current affairs programme Pauw en Witteman she said she had experienced her share of fierce opposition but that she had never before seen anything like this.
The Islamists, who also threw raw eggs, demanded that the debate participants leave the stage; the debaters refused. Mr Dibi later tweeted that the debate “about a promising new generation of Muslims” was later continued at the request of Ms Manji. Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders tweeted: “Dibi does not deserve eggs from radical Muslims or disruption of the meeting. He must be able to say what he wants.”
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Norway Islamist Calls for New US Terror Attacks
Norway’s Progress Party has called for the immediate arrest of Mullah Krekar after the firebrand jihadist spoke of the need for renewed terrorist attacks on the United States. he Norway-based extremist made the comments in an interview with Finland’s MTV3. He also claimed that Islam “will control the entire world” within the next 20 years. More than a decade on from the devastating terrorist attacks that left almost 3,000 Americans dead, Krekar said:
“They have learned nothing from the 9/11 attacks. That’s why they need two more attacks. It’s the only way the Americans will understand that we [Muslims] are people and not animals or slaves.” Morten Ørsal Johansen, immigration policy spokesman for the populist Progress Party, said the remarks merited placing Krekar under arrest. “We have just passed a new law stating that anybody who poses a threat to basic national interests may be subject to arrest. There’s no doubt that Krekar should now be apprehended,” he told newspaper VG. Krekar, the co-founder of Islamist militant group Ansar al-Islam, moved to Norway as a refugee from northern Iraq in 1991.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norway Killer Pores Over Love Letters
Confessed mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik has begun sifting through the hundreds of letters he has received since the July 22nd attacks that left 77 dead. Police said the right-wing extremist had received 200 to 300 letters since he was jailed after the deadly killing spree. “He’s having the letters delivered to him once we’re gone through them,” police lawyer Christian Hatlo told broadcaster TV2.
Breivik has received two batches of letters since the recent loosening of restrictions on his contact with the outside world. The letters include a number of bills, TV2 reports, but the broadcaster also learned that the perpetrator of the July massacre had begun reading through the many love letters and hate mail he has received from Norway and abroad.
Postal and visitation restrictions mean the police are authorized to examine his letters in advance and remove any that may be deemed harmful to the ongoing investigation. But while much of the correspondence is of a threatening nature, Brevik also has his share of romantic admirers, as well as would-be pen friends offering religious redemption, TV2 reports. Starting on Monday, Breivik will also be permitted to watch television, listen to the radio, and read newspapers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: ‘Give Police Access to Snoop Agency Intel’
Swedish law enforcement agencies should have access to signals intelligence gathered by the National Defence Radio Establishment (Försvarets radioanstalt, FRA) to help combat terrorism, the ministry of justice proposed on Thursday. According to the measure, both Sweden’s National Bureau of Investigation (Rikskriminalpolisen) and security service Säpo would have “limited” access to information collected by Sweden’s main signals intelligence agency.
Justice minister Beatrice Ask called the proposed changes “minimalistic”, but has nevertheless invited the Social Democrats into discussions over the measure. Säpo has previously been able to use signals intelligence from FRA, but the security service’s ability to do so came to a halt with the 2009 passage of a controversial wiretapping law, which gave FRA permission to monitor telephone and internet traffic that crosses Sweden’s borders.
The government later launched an inquiry into how the law could be amended to provide Säpo with additional tools to combat terrorism. Säpo has consistently pointed out that their work is hampered by not being able to have access to signals intelligence.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Euroscepticism at Record High: Poll
Close to nine out of ten Swedes are keen to remain outside the eurozone and retain the krona, according to a new poll published on Tuesday in the wake of renewed problems afflicting the European single currency.
A total of 87.6 percent of the 1,000 people questioned said they wanted to keep the krona while only 9.7 percent wanted to adopt the euro and 2.7 percent were undecided, the Skop polling institute said.
“Swedish confidence in the euro has never been as low as in Skop’s November survey” conducted from October 28 to November 20, the institute said.
“Support for the euro has been in a downward trend the past two years,” Skop analyst Oerjan Hultaaker said, noting that “the question is now whether the euro has become a totally impossible political project in Sweden forever.”
“Something dramatic must happen for Swedes to say ‘yes’ to the euro in the future. It probably won’t be enough for it to become a stable currency again,” he said.
Sweden, a country of about nine million inhabitants, has been a European Union member since 1995 but rejected joining the eurozone in a referendum in September 2003.
Unlike Denmark and Britain however, Sweden has not negotiated any opt-outs enabling it to formally remain outside the eurozone.
And while Swedes appear happy to keep their krona, an editorialist in paper of reference Dagens Nyheter suggested Tuesday that being a euro-outsider could pose problems.
Sweden “for the time being is sliding ever further from the centre of the (European) Union,” Annika Ström Melin wrote.
“Why would anyone listen to Sweden,” she asked, noting that the country’s “outsider status is self-imposed but nonetheless regrettable.”
“Countries that are outside (the eurozone) can’t really protest when those who share the same currency meet to discuss how to resolve the problems,” she said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
EU-Serbia: Terzi: Italy Believes in Granting Candidate Status
We continue to work ahead of tomorrow’s Euro Council
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, DECEMBER 8 — Italy believes that “the timetable for Serbia should be respected and the country should be granted the status of candidate country,” according to the Foreign Minister, Giulio Terzi, who has been speaking in Brussels. Ahead of tomorrow’s EU summit, where a decision will be taken, Italy will continue “to operate and to hold talks”. Terzi said that “Belgrade knows that it can count on our resolute and honest friendship”, adding that Italy “has been deeply affected” by clashes in the north of Kosovo. Terzi expressed Italy’s solidarity with NATO and KFOR soldiers, but said that “we do not believe that the Belgrade government should be held responsible for this episode, as they immediately condemned the incidents as unacceptable”. The position of the Serbian President, Boris Tadic, “has been very convincing”. The Minister added that “Tadic certainly cannot intervene and send police forces to the south of Serbia”.
Some EU countries, however, “see in the developments some lack of clarity from Belgrade and, as a result, it is likely that there will be some resistance within the EU Council for the ratification of the diplomatic course” towards Serbia’s granting of candidate status. Italy, meanwhile, is to continue its efforts to overcome such resistance.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood’s Tactics of Deception
Preliminary results of the recent Egyptian elections indicate that the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) of Egypt is likely to dominate the next Egyptian parliament and will create the new Egyptian constitution. Some see the MB as a moderate Islamic group that can fit with real democracy while others see them as radicals. Evaluating how such an organization works, its behavior, and its tactics is pivotal to understanding and accordingly dealing with them. Whilst it is fair to say that at the individual level, several members of this group are likely to be less corrupt than many former government officials during the Mubarak regime, it is also fair to say that many in the MB of Egypt are professionals in using deceptive tactics and that their true agenda will be clear only when they come to power. The flag of the MB shows the word “Waaedo” in Arabic underneath the swords. This word means “to prepare and plan” which gives an indication of the process of thinking of this group. The word “Waaedo” in Arabic is well known to be a direct quote from and a reminder of the following verse in the Koran. Koran Al-Anfal 8:60: Against them (enemies of Islam) prepare “Waaedo” your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into (the hearts of) the enemies, of Allah and your enemies, and others besides, whom ye may not know, but whom Allah doth know. Whatever ye shall spend in the cause of Allah, shall be repaid unto you, and ye shall not be treated unjustly.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
The Earthquake in the Arab and Islamic World
Is UK Foreign Secretary William Hague still hymning the brave new dawn of democracy in Egypt? The Daily Telegraph reported this morning:
‘To the dismay of the secular liberal forces behind February’s overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak, Islamist parties dominated the first phase of the Egyptian election, according to provisional results. The Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, as expected, emerged with the largest share with 36.6 per cent of the vote. Defying expectations, the far more fundamentalist al-eNour — the “Party of Light” — emerged in second place with 24.4 per cent. It is backed by Egypt’s growing community of Salafists, adherents of one of the most puritanical strains of Islam. With the moderately Islamist al-Wesat winning 4.3 per cent of the vote, religious parties are just shy of a two-thirds majority that would give them the power to draft a new constitution without reference to secular rivals, which made a poor showing. The rise of al-Nour has caused particular alarm among liberals. Their leaders openly espouse the introduction of the harshest interpretation of Islamic law. They call for women to be segregated and veiled, the ban of alcohol, the stoning of adulterers and the amputation of the hands of thieves.’
You don’t say. Well folks, you read it here first months ago.
It is hard to overstate the extent to which the UK and US governments have helped bring about the very opposite of what they declared they were promoting in Egypt. They helped oust Mubarak, a leader who was not only explicitly useful to the west but who had kept down the Muslim Brotherhood, on the crassly idiotic grounds that the ‘Arab spring’ revolt there would usher in democracy. What they have helped bring about instead is the now almost certain installation of a hyper-Islamist government. In domestic terms, its near-guaranteed tyrannical and medieval subjugation of the Egyptian people to the dictates of fanatical Islam will doubtless make them look back on the hated Mubarak regime as a relative golden age of freedom. As far as the rest of the world is concerned it means that, thanks to the UK and US, a huge Arab country which helped keep anti-western forces at bay will now be (notwithstanding its bankruptcy and the fact that it cannot even feed its own people) at the forefront of those forces. What a legacy Obama and Cameron have bequeathed to the world: subjugation and the grand jihad.
The radicalisation of Egypt is taking place, however, against the backdrop of a wider ferment in the region whose ultimate outcome cannot at present be discerned. In Syria, Assad seems doomed. What follows once he departs the stage there will most likely be civil war in Syria — but with the capacity to escalate rapidly into a full-blown regional sectarian conflict. For Syria’s backers, Shi-ite Iran, will be desperate to stop the ascendancy of Sunni Islam in Syria. What may develop, therefore, is a regional war between, on one side, the Shia of Iran, Iraq and perhaps those in Saudi Arabia too against on the other side the Sunni bloc including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco (whose newly elected regimes are in fact Islamist wolves in democratic sheep’s clothing) and the Gulf States. In other words, the Sunni Islamists who are at war with the free world will be at war with the Shia Islamists who are at war with the free world. So what does all this mean for the free world? If its enemies are fighting each other, will the threat to the west diminish — or increase?
The question is of course unanswerable — too many unknown unknowns, as someone once said, not to mention all the known unknowns.
Meanwhile, Iran may be on the brink of making its first false move in a long while. The unexplained explosions at its military installations, one of which almost completely destroyed its missile testing facility near Tehran along with a slew of top officials, appear to be driving the regime nuts — as they are doubtless intended to do. As Lee Smith writes, the destabilisation of the regime caused by these explosions, the paranoia induced by the suspicion that America and/or Israel have managed to infiltrate these programmes so effectively they can destroy them, may provoke the regime into making the first open move in a war which will eventually bring it down.
Hold on to your hats.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia: Rached Ghannouchi: The FP [Foreign Policy] Interview
“I think the Muslim Brotherhood [in Egypt] should govern by coalition that includes the people from secular parties and the Copts.” That was the advice which Rached Ghannouchi, President of Tunisia’s el-Nahda Party, offered his Egyptian Islamist counterparts during an interview with the editors of the Middle East Channel last Thursday. He warned pointedly against repeating the mistakes of Algeria when, as he put it, “the Islamists won 80 percent of the vote but they completely ignored the influential minority of secularists, of the army, of the business community. So they did a coup d’etat against the democratic process and Algeria is still suffering from that.” Avoiding a replay of that catastrophe weighs heavily on Ghannouchi and his party.
Ghannouchi was in Washington at the invitation of Foreign Policy, after being named one of its Top 100 Global Thinkers. He took full advantage of the opportunity to visit the United States for the first time in twenty years, appearing at a wide range of think tanks including the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and meeting with a range of U.S. government officials, journalists, and policy analysts. He had warm praise for the Obama administration as “supportive of the Arab Spring,” and described the new willingness in the United States to talk about a more positive relationship between democracy and Islam, and between Americans and the Islamic world, as a very important new development. His reception in Washington is a sign of the times, as the United States struggles to adapt to the reality of Islamist electoral success and Islamist parties struggle to reassure those who fear their ascent while delivering on their own programs.
[….]
[JP note: Of course he had warm praise for the Obama administration’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood. Read here for a more informed view of Ghannouchi http://cifwatch.com/2011/10/25/guardians-jonathan-steele-accuses-tunisian-muslims-who-oppose-radical-islam-of-islamophobia/ ]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
EIB: 120 Mln to Desalination Plant in Israel
Expected capacity is of 100 mln cubic meters per year
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, DECEMBER 08 — The European Investment Bank, the EU’s long-term financing institution, today announces the signing of a EUR 120 million finance contract relating to the design and construction of a seawater desalination plant using reverse osmosis technology in Ashdod, Israel.
The contract has been signed with Bank Hapoalim, which will on-lend the funds to Ashdod Desalination Ltd, a fully owned subsidiary of Mekorot Development and Enterprise Ltd. The project will serve to substantially increase the availability of water resources in a water-scarce region through the construction of a plant with a production capacity of 100 million m3 per year, so enhancing the sustainability of Israel’s water sector. The expansion of desalination technology will have a direct impact on people’s daily lives: the blending of desalinated water with fresh potable water from the national water carrier system will improve the quality of water delivered to consumers by reducing hardness and concentrations of salts, nitrates and boron. It will ultimately result in markedly reduced water abstraction and thus the prevention of saline water intrusion into aquifers.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
MK: Lower the Mosque Noise, People Have the Right to Sleep
The government will discuss a law that would require mosques to temper the prayer announcements made by muezzins at Islamic prayer times.
The Ministerial Law Committee on Sunday will discuss a law proposed by MK Anastasia Michaeli that would require mosques to temper the prayer announcements made by muezzins at Islamic prayer times. While most members of Michaeli’s Yisrael Beiteinu party support the law, it is not clear that most of the other factions in the coalition do. Many government officials, including Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, have expressed opposition, fearing the reaction of Arabs to the law. At issue, for the most part, is the early morning call to prayer, the Fajr, which is called at least a quarter hour before sunrise, when most people are still sleeping. Many Israelis have complained about the call to prayer, which is often broadcast very loudly with the help of speakers and amplifiers, especially in cities with large Arab populations like Jerusalem.
Environment Minister Gilad Erdan, who has made fighting noise pollution a priority, is a strong supporter of the bill. In recent weeks, Upper Nazareth Mayor Shimon Gappaso and Afula Deputy Mayor Boris Yudis have pressed Erdan to initiate laws against noise pollution, and have attempted to recruit MKs to their cause as well. Michaeli, who is sympathetic to their cause, drafted the bill that the Committee will discuss Sunday. “No one is against freedom of religion,” Michaeli said. “But along with freedom of religion must come environmental awareness, and consideration of others. When families, the elderly, small children, and working people who need their rest are forced to wake up in the early hours of the morning because of the muezzin’s call, we are talking about a clear violation of the law. People who live near mosques need not suffer, and coexistence cannot be a reason for damaging the quality of life,” she said. Michaeli said that she had gotten firsthand complaints about the extent of the problem from friends who live in the Ganei Aviv neighborhood of Lod, a middle class development of villas and cottages. Residents there have complained for years of the problem, she said. “It is everyone’s right to pray, but it is also everyone’s right to sleep well, and to enjoy peace and quiet in their homes,” she said.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Putin Accuses US of Supporting Russian Election Rigging
(AGI) Moscow — Putin has lashed out against the United States, denouncing Washington in his first public comment on the protests. The Russian Premier accused the US of having deliberately provoked the protests in Russia against the outcome of the elections, saying that the polls were rigged.
The Premier’s own party, United Russia, won the elections, but with a sharply reduced majority.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia: Villagers Hide From Security Forces
Jakarta, 7 Dec. (AKI/Jakarta Post) — About 500 inhabitants of Indonesia’s Dagouto village in Paniai Regency, Papua, have opted to leave their homes and seek refuge following the deployment of 150 security officers to their area, Paniai tribe council chief John Gobai said Wednesday.
“Our people have become refugees at Uwatawogi Hall in Enarotali, Paniai, for several weeks. They are now afraid they may not be able to celebrate Christmas at home,” John told reporters at the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM).
John, along with four other Paniai people, was at the commission to complain about the presence of police officers in the area, which they said “exacerbated the security situation.”
The National Police has increased its numbers of personnel in the regency following several deadly shootings, reportedly claiming the lives of eight traditional miners working on the Degeuwo River, near Dagouto, last month.
Later reports revised the number of victims to only one villager.
A former lawmaker who is also a Paniai patron, Ruben Gobai, said the situation in the Dagouto area had returned to normal, and that the presence of Mobile Police Brigade officers was unnecessary.
Komnas HAM commissioner Ridha Saleh said his team would ask National Police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo for clarification of the deployment of police personnel to the Dagouto area.
“The government has repeatedly pledges not to use a security approach to address issues in Papua. But this may have been empty rhetoric,” Ridha said.
Violence has been escalating in Papua since the Third Papuan People’s Congress was held from Oct. 16-19 in Abepura, Jayapura, when police and military officers forcefully dispersed the event, seizing both organizers and participants of the congress, and shooting and injuring countless congress participants in what was largely described as a completely unnecessary display of police brutality and violence.
Numerous unidentified gunmen shooting civilians in Papua have been reported in the past two months, with dozens, including four police officers, being killed.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Thai King Makes Rare Public Appearance
BANGKOK: Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej took a break from hospital Monday to make a rare public appearance in Bangkok on his 84th birthday, a national holiday.
The king, accompanied by other members of the royal family, left Siriraj Hospital in a wheelchair amid shouts of “Long live the King” from well-wishers who had waited for hours to get a glimpse of their monarch.
Sitting in a Volkswagen van, accompanied by his wife Queen Sirikit, the king was driven slowly through the old parts of the city, past thousands of people waving the yellow flag of the monarchy and the red, white and blue national flag.
King Bhumibol was admitted to hospital on September 19, 2009 with a fever. He has taken up permanent residence in Siriraj Hospital since, performing his duties as head of state from the hospital’s 16th floor, which has been transformed into a royal office.
The king last appeared in public on his 83rd birthday.
| — Hat tip: Wally Ballou | [Return to headlines] |
Australia: Plan for Minto Mosque Changed to a Craft Centre
THE Muslim group that tried to build a mosque on environmentally protected land in Minto has not given up hope. But they say the studio they now want to put there is just for crafts, not religious gatherings. “There’s no relationship between our previous plan and this development,” said a spokesman for the Australian Muslim Welfare Centre, Anisul Afsar. When they bought the Eagleview Road lot they intended to build a mosque, multi-purpose hall, Islamic education centre, women’s activity centre, library, sports centre, gym, playground and car park. But Mr Afsar said the council told them the site was not zoned for a religious centre so they have submitted a development application to put a single-storey studio on the site. The 170-square-metre studio would be used by a private tenant who makes Bangladeshi cultural handicrafts. But the group hopes the property will be rezoned in the next few years to allow for a mosque to be built. “We had a discussion with the council to see if there’s a possibility of rezoning in this area but I don’t know how long that could take,” Mr Afsar said. Campbelltown Council general manager Paul Tosi said there were no plans before the council to rezone the property. “The land that this application is a subject of is zoned ‘environmental protection’ and under the zoning religious institutions and industries are prohibited with the special exception of craft industries,” he said. Mr Afsar said their religious meetings were held at the PCYC centre and at Sarah Redfern High School hall.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Newly Elected New Zealand MP Calls for Ban on Veil
The New Zeland press has been covering the political philosophy of Richard Prosser, one of the eight New Zealand First candidates elected to parliament in the recent elections.
In addition to bringing back military service and arming taxi drivers (“His views sound like those of a redneck to me”, the director of the Taxi Federation responds) Prosser proposes a ban on the “burqa”. His message to veiled Muslim women is: “This is my culture and my country, not yours. Get some respect and conform.”
[JP note: Sounds like a Gates of Vienna type of fulla — good on him, or whatever it is they say down there … by Jingles, Kiwis?]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Ghana: Ursula Goes Mad! … Over Her’s ‘Lover’s’ Sacrilege
Tuesday’s edition of Metro’s TV ‘Good Morning Ghana’ hosted by Randy Abbey was brought to an abrupt end by an unruly behavior displayed by the parliamentary candidate on the ticket of the New Patriotic party (NPP) for Ablekuma South, Ursula Owusu who was a rather a late comer guest on the live show. The woman who is alleged to be sharing Akufo-Addo with his (Akufo-Addo) wife apparently lost self control, and went for the jugular of members of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) for commenting on the alleged pissing against a mosque in the Damongo in the Northern part of Ghana by Akufo-Addo. It is reported that the NPP flagbearer, Nana Akufo-Addo on Wednesday, November 30, 2011, committed the sacrileges by standing flatfooted and urinating onto a Mosque wall.
According to the report Akufo-Addo who had it tough controlling his bladder which was filled with voltic purified water walked straight to a Mosque nearby to the Damongo Chief’s Palace after he was prevented from using the Palace for a urine place, unzipped his trousers and started pouring out his accumulated water with ease. Many of those who were present were reported to have been livid, shocked to the marrow of their bone that the NPP flagbearer could so desecrate at Islamic holy place of worship. An argument immediately ensued among those gathered there with some of his supporters opining that he acted out of the pressure to relieve himself since his bladder was full. Others, however, thought that his action was unpardonable, especially coming a couple of months after he showed contempt for Islam and Muslims by choosing Id-Ul-Adha, an Islamic holiday to release his policy statement”, they reportedly suggested.
The woman nick named the Vovuzula is the country’s political scene sparked off her uncontrollable insulting mouth when a member of the Government Communications Team, Benjamin Akyena Brentuo revisited the alleged abomination committed by Akufo Addo. Referring to members of the NDC with unpalatable words which are unprintable forced the host of the programme who could not bear the insulting tongue of Ursula Owusu to bring the programme to a premature end. But that was not enough to scare her as she continued to rage on with her insults and refused to respect the host capacity as moderator of the show despite several attempts to bring her to order.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
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