Chaos in Greece: Unemployment Boom, Queues for Medicine
While pro-Nazi MP assaults colleague on live TV
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS — Ten days ahead of the June 17 election that will decide the country’s European future, chaos is spreading in Greece. The rate of unemployment has soared to 21.9% and income from tourism has slumped by 15%, as the streets become the setting for nightmarish scenes that would have been unthinkable a year ago. Long queues continue to form outside chemists, with people hoping to buy medicine that is increasingly difficult to find for those unable to pay the full price.
Foreign pharmaceutical companies (Roche, Bayer, Novartis and Sanofi) are said to have suspended deliveries as they await payment for medicine supplied in recent months, an outstanding bill of 600 million euros. Some claim that the drugs are in fact available but chemists are reluctant to hand them out for free because one of the main insurance bodies does not reimburse them. The lack of drugs in chemists is causing serious problems for diabetics and people with tumours in particular. In an effort to ease the problem, Kostas Lourantos, the president of the institute of chemists in Attica, has announced that he will open an account for the donations needed to buy expensive drugs that chemists have stopped supplying to people on the national insurance register (EOPPY), which is now on the brink of bankruptcy.
In the meantime, Greece’s statistical institute (Elstat) has today released its latest figures, which show that the unemployment rate in the country reached a new record high in March, rising to 21.9% from February’s figure of 21.7%. This means that more than a million people are now unemployed in the country, effectively one in five of the population. Among young people between the ages of 15 and 24, unemployment stands at 52.8%, with more than one in two people out of work, compared to 42% a year earlier. The number of unemployed between the ages of 25 and 34 has also risen significantly, jumping from 22.1% in March 2011 to 29.8%.
With election day drawing closer, tensions are rising, both socially and in particular in the political arena, as this morning’s incredible scenes during a political debate on live television, when Ilias Kasidiaris, the spokesperson for the pro-Nazi party Chrysi Avgi (which won a 6.97% share of the vote and 21 seats in Parliament in the elections of May 6), physically attacked two other members of parliament.
Following an altercation, Kasidiaris first threw a glass of water at Rena Dourou from the Coalition of the Radical Left (Syriza), before slapping and punching Liana Kanelli from the Greek Communist Party (KKE).
The attack was strongly condemned by the country’s President, Karolos Papoulias, and by all political forces, while the judiciary has issued an arrest warrant for Kasidiaris, who disappeared immediately after the incident.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
France Takes Another Step Towards Economic Suicide and Nativism. Where is the Conservative Alternative?
by Tim Stanley
The results of the first round of French parliamentary elections are depressing. They confirm the drift of France — and much of the European continent — towards economic self-destruction and virulent nativism. The whole European Union project now looks so bankrupt that I wonder if the UK’s withdrawal is enough. Is it possible physically to relocate the British Isles to the Pacific Ocean?
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Portugal: Under the Iron Thumb of the Troika
ABC Madrid
Fourteen months on, Portugal spends its days under the watchful eye of the IMF, the ECB and the European Commission, which have lent it the money to pay back its debts. As the lenders’ emissaries inside Portugal verify that the reforms are being pushed through, the people are calling for “more time, more money and better conditions”.
Pedro Rodríguez
When they talk about the “MoU” in Portugal they are not referring to their famous compatriot, the coach of Real Madrid. The MoU (“Memorandum of Understanding on specific economic policy conditionality”) is the final word over the economic lifeblood of this country of 10.6 million people, who when the calendar leafs over to April have a tendency towards radical changes.
In April 1974, the Carnation Revolution ushered in democracy. And in April 2011, following in the footsteps of Ireland and Greece, the Socialist government of Prime Minister Jose Socrates was forced to go to the European Union with a dramatic plea for help.
A month later, that help took the form of a bailout worth 78 billion euros — capital at an interest rate of about four percent, handed over in instalments and accompanied by a whole litany of deep and painful reforms. The fine print for sorting out the finances of Portugal, to let the country return to the markets by September 2013, lies in the hands of the troika made up of the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and European Central Bank, whose representatives periodically descend on Lisbon to audit the books.
“We’ve gone from the scissors to the saw”
One of those check-ups came just this week. It’s the fourth in the year that the Portuguese have been living “under the troika.” This type of audit of the commitments that have been met is carried out over two weeks by a squad of young technicians with laptops looking for figures, deadlines and documents. Meanwhile, three senior officials are in charge of contacts at the political level: Abebe Selassie (IMF), Jürgen Kröger (European Commission) and Rasmus Rüffer (ECB).
“In other countries they would have been greeted with protests at the airport, but our character is not like that; we’re not like you Spaniards” says sociologist Jorge de Sá, who for years has been taking monthly surveys of the changing views of the Portuguese public.
Nicolau Santos, economic journalist and deputy director of the prestigious weekly Expresso, speaks of a “quiet desperation” in the restrained protests in Portugal in a year that has seen the bailout, elections, a change of government and the forced adjustment. João Cantiga Esteves, one of the most informative economists on the Portuguese crisis, argues that there is a tacit social consensus that the troika is “a necessary aid, an opportunity” to push ahead with all the reforms that successive governments have failed to pull off.
This conformity does not mean that Portugal has not build up abundant reasons over the last year to sing the saddest of fados. Everyday life has been hit directly by “austeridade” and cuts dictated by the troika to lower the general government deficit, which had climbed above 9 percent of Portuguese GDP in 2010 and this year should get down to 4.5 percent. “We’ve gone from the scissors to the saw,” says an enviably polyglot young woman in Rossio Square in central Lisbon…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Unemployment in Cyprus Exceeds 10% in April
(ANSAmed) — NICOSIA, JUNE 4 — Unemployment in Cyprus in April 2012 reached 10.1%, up by 0.1% from March 2012, according to seasonally adjusted data released by Eurostat. Cyprus’ unemployment in men for April reached 10.9%, in women 9.2% whereas unemployment in youth (persons under 25 years) reached 28.5% (March figures). The unemployment rate in the Euro area remained stable at the historically high level of 11%. The EU-wide unemployment for April rose marginally to 10.3% (from 10.2% in March), which corresponds to 24.66 million unemployed persons, of which 17.40 million are coming from the Euro area member-states.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
CFR Ramping Up
In a recent article in the journal Foreign Relations, the prestigious, oft quoted journal of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, General Raymond T. Odierno lays out his ideas regarding what the military of the immediate future should look like, and what it should be doing.
Timely stuff, with Iraq and Afghanistan (maybe) winding down, and budgets under scrutiny. But some of what the General is suggesting borders on outright treason. First, though, a bit about the CFR, for those who are not familiar with it.
The Council on Foreign Relations was founded in 1921 by the likes of J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, Paul Warburg, Otto Kahn, Jacob Schiff, and the nefarious Colonel Edward M. House. These are the same people who were involved in creating the Federal Reserve. The CFR has been, and is, there to promote and institute world government and global monopolistic capitalism — aka, fascism. And they know that Americans don’t want what they are selling, either.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Frank Gaffney: Hold Obama Accountable
Suddenly, congressional leaders of both parties are demanding investigations into serial disclosures of national security secrets on President Obama’s watch. The truth of the matter is that we already know what we need to about these leaks. The question is: Will anybody do anything about it?
Of course, the leaks themselves are already out there — prominently featured, for example, on the front pages of the New York Times. We know of the compromise of techniques used to defend our country through cyberwarfare, drone attacks, covert operations and what turned out to be other nations’ successful penetration of terrorist cells.
We also know that, in every case, the leakers’ handiwork portrayed Barack Obama as a highly effective, decisive, muscular and hands-on Commander-in-Chief. Sadly, the President’s overall record shows him to have been anything but, hence the need to pump up his street creds as part of the reelection campaign…
| — Hat tip: CSP | [Return to headlines] |
Obama’s Sinister “Religion” — Racist Marxism Under a Faux Biblical Veneer
As we ready ourselves for the inevitable onslaught against Romney’s religion, we need to educate ourselves on Obama’s own beliefs, which are the most unusual of any candidate. Even taking Barack at his word, that he is a “Christian”, his beliefs are highly atypical of biblical Christianity. Barack, as an acolyte of Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s ideology, is really a follower of James Cone’s own racist and Marxist Black Liberation Theology. This is the subject of today’s essay.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
On Being “Green”
Obama administration has reclassified ordinary jobs as “green jobs” in order to prove that billions of taxpayer dollars have created green and eco-friendly jobs.
My late friend Henry Lamb opened my eyes to the fraud of UN Agenda 21 and the environmentalist proponents of sustainability’s “green” agenda. All of a sudden, everything around me became “green” and “sustainable” — ads, buses, trucks, cars, homes, flyers, construction materials, electronic billboards, gadgets, toys, shopping bags, stores, banks, the military, and companies. Businesses are ecological now and everything they do is “sustainable” for the Earth, whether that is true or not.
Nobody wants to live in a polluted area, no matter what political leanings he/she may have. Most Americans take good care of their environment and volunteer to clean pollution. We passed some good regulations years ago and we have cleaned up our act in many areas, giving new life to formerly abused habitats, reducing pollution drastically. However, all this faux “greening” around me is nauseating and so is the EPA.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Bans Women From Euro 2012 Screenings
Women in Iran are being banned from watching live public screenings of Euro 2012 football games because of an “inappropriate” environment where men could become rowdy, a deputy police commander said Sunday.
“It is an inappropriate situation when men and women watch football in (movie) theatres together,” said Bahman Kargar, Iran’s deputy police commander in charge of social affairs, according to the ISNA news agency.
“Men, while watching football, get excited and sometimes utter vulgar curses or tell dirty jokes,” he said. “It is not within the dignity of women to watch football with men. Women should thank the police” for the ban..
The Euro 2012 games underway in Poland and Ukraine are being aired on state television in football-mad Iran.
They are also being shown in movie theatres as a continuation of a practice that became popular for couples and families during the 2010 World Cup and the 2011 AFC Asian Cup.
Many among Iran’s hardline authorities and clerics favour segregation of the sexes and find the mingling of unrelated men and women to be corrupting.
Women have to use women-only swimming pools, beaches and parks across the Islamic republic. Women can travel in the back of public buses, or use women-only taxi cabs or cars on the metro.
All school classes, as well as some in universities, are segregated in Iran.
Women are also required by law to observe an Islamic dress code, with those improperly wearing their mandatory headscarves or dressed in “vulgar” attires being confronted by Iran’s so-called morality police.
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
UK: A Shameful Retreat by the British
by Jenny McCartney
As recent events have proved, ‘don’t get involved’ has become the mantra of our age.
It is one of the most agonising stories of what might have been: the case of the 22-year-old Nottingham law student who boarded the last bus home after a night out, found herself 20p short of the £5 fare, and spent eight minutes — documented on CCTV footage — pleading with the driver to let her on or wait while she went to a cash machine. He refused, and she had to disembark alone at 3am and telephone her mother to pick her up. In the intervening period she was abducted, raped and brutally beaten by a 19-year-old man, Joseph Moran.
[…]
[Reader comment by 1963Dalek on 11 June 2012 at 03:53 AM.]
“In the intervening period she was abducted, raped and brutally beaten by a 19-year-old man, Joseph Moran.”
And not just any old man but a paid up member of the enriching diversity. A fact which isnt supposed to matter but according to the brutal reality of crime statistics matters quite a lot.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Baroness Warsi and the ‘Extremist’
Baroness Warsi, the Conservative Party chairman, faces fresh questions over her business partner.
The peer is under investigation over her undeclared links to Abid Hussain, a relative by marriage with whom she is involved in a catering business. However, there were calls last week for the inquiry, ordered by David Cameron, the Prime Minister, to be widened after Mr Hussain admitted that he had been involved in Hizb ut-Tahrir, a radical Islamist party that the Conservatives had pledged to ban. In his first public statement, Mr Hussain said that he had attended its meetings, although he said he had never been a “member”, and had not told Lady Warsi about his involvement. She has previously said she was unaware of his activities. There were also questions over one of the trips to Pakistan by Lady Warsi on which she was accompanied by Mr Hussain. In February last year, she travelled to the country on government business and in the course of the trip opened the “Office for Overseas Pakistanis and British Nationals”, which she said “works with police forces across the UK and British consular services on issues such as forced marriage and kidnapping”. However, The Sunday Telegraph has established that the office is operated from the premises of an opposition party, whose British arm organised a protest against US policy when President Barack Obama visited Britain.
Last night, Michael Dugher, Labour’s shadow cabinet office minister, said Lady Warsi appeared to be mixing party and government business. The current investigation into Lady Warsi is being carried out by Sir Alex Allan, the Prime Minister’s adviser on the ministerial code, into the disclosure that company documents showed she was the majority shareholder in Rupert’s Recipes, a spice company whose other shareholder was Mr Hussain. She had not registered the holding with the House of Lords, whose rules say peers should declare any majority shareholdings. “These further revelations about the conduct of Baroness Warsi are extremely worrying,” Mr Dugher said. “Yet again, there seems to be a blurring of the lines between what constitutes proper official business and what is, in fact, party political activity with private associates. Labour will be asking urgent questions next week in Parliament, including of the Foreign Office. “What the baroness was doing with someone who has admitted his involvement with the extremist Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir also calls into question her judgment.”
Hizb ut-Tahrir has been accused of promoting racism and anti-Semitism, praising suicide bombers and urging Muslims to kill Jews. Before coming to power, Mr Cameron pledged to ban it but the plan was shelved after a Coalition review. The nature of Mr Hussain’s involvement in the radical party has already prompted questions over the extent of security vetting.
He has twice accompanied Lady Warsi on trips to Pakistan, and has also been pictured in the House of Lords at a reception for her. In the early 1990s, sources say, Mr Hussain joined Hizb ut-Tahrir and was nicknamed “Strapper” by other students because of his bulky frame. He lived for a time in one of its London houses, studying the radical form of Islam taught by its then leader Omar Bakri Mohammed, who is now banned from Britain. In 1995, Mr Hussain attended a party rally filmed in a BBC a documentary and was seen laughing and joking with others. Mr Hussain issued a statement through a lawyer last night which said he “has never been a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir”.
“In his mid-20s, which is to say more than 20 years ago, Mr Hussain attended Hizb ut-Tahrir meetings,” the statement said. “However, he often debated against their views and never became a member.” A former Hizb ut-Tahrir member, Ghaffar Hussain, who now works for the Quilliam Foundation, the anti-radicalisation organisation, said: “He [Mr Hussain ]acted as a key recruiter and propagandist for the groups in the late 90s. Hizb ut-Tahrir have a very idiosyncratic definition of the term ‘member’. Only the very senior and public activists call themselves ‘member’. This gives the junior activists and those who don’t want to be public about their involvement plausible deniability by claiming that they are not officially ‘members’.”
Mr Hussain’s brother is still a high-profile figure in Hizb ut-Tahrir, and is referred to as “Professor” Muhammad Nawaz Khan in videos and photographs on its website. Mr Hussain said last night he had not spoken to his brother in a decade. Mr Hussain’s presence on Lady Warsi’s trip in February last year to Lahore was disclosed by the Conservative chairman last week. He was present when she opened the “Office for Overseas Pakistanis and British Nationals”. The Foreign Office described the organisation last week as a “private initiative” and as a “charity” that “helps British nationals overseas”. However, The Sunday Telegraph has established that the organisation is run by a political party, the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), headed by a former Pakistan prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, and his brother, Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, the chief minister of the Punjab.
It is unclear whether Baroness Warsi knew the organisation appears to be political, rather than charitable. During the Lahore event, attended by Mr Sharif, Mr Hussain and Baroness Warsi were pictured with Anjum Chaudhary, the president of PML-N’s UK Youth Wing. Mr Chaudhary organised a protest outside Parliament in May last year against President Obama’s state visit. In the UK, the office, based in the party’s headquarters, in Romford, east London, is headed by the PML-N’s UK president, Zubair Gull, and shares several members of staff. Abid Hussain appears to be involved in the organisation, appearing in a number of photographs on its website. A Conservative Party spokesman said: “Sir Alex Allan is looking at Baroness Warsi’s business relationships and will provide advice on how they should be handled in future. “All relevant information regarding Baroness Warsi’s business interests will be available to Sir Alex.”
[JP note: Taqiyya in spades.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: David Cameron Left Daughter in Pub
David and Samantha Cameron left their eight-year-old daughter alone in a pub as they travelled home from Sunday lunch with friends, it emerged last night.
The Prime Minister, his wife and three children had enjoyed an afternoon meal with two other families at The Plough in Cadsden, Bucks, when they took their eye off their eldest daughter Nancy. When the family gathered their things and left Mr Cameron shared a car with his bodyguards while Samantha followed behind with son Elwen, six, and daughter Florence, 22 months. The Prime Minister thought Nancy was in the car with his wife, while Samantha thought she had jumped in with her father.. It was only when both cars pulled up to Chequers, two miles away, that they realised she was not there. A Downing Street source said the “distraught” parents rushed inside and telephoned the pub, where staff reassured them that their daughter had been found alone in the lavatory and was being looked after.
[…]
[Reader comment by spamshredder on 11 June 2012 at about 10am.]
These problem families can quite easily forget how many how many children they have got! Little Nancy probably enjoyed playing at “Landlord’s Daughter”, helping to serve the customers and operating the barbecue!
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Eleven Arrested During English Defence League Rally in Rochdale
Eleven men were arrested by police today during a rally by the English Defence League in Rochdale. More than 400 members of the far-right organisation gathered for around two hours outside the town hall. The majority were brought into the town centre on buses and coaches from a nearby retail park at 1pm. Many gathered outside pubs on Packer Street amid a heavy police presence before they were escorted by officers to a pen on the car park outside the town hall. Officers dealt with a handful of minor skirmishes as the group marched the short distance to the car park from Packer Street. Two fireworks, believed to be bangers, later exploded at the feet of crowds stood outside the pen near to the Post Office on The Esplanade. No one was injured.
Greater Manchester Police said eleven men were arrested on suspicion of various offences. Ten of those arrested were attending the EDL rally. An eleventh rrest was made at nearby Broadfield Park, where a ounter-demonstration and unity rally was held. Police dog handlers and mounted police were positioned around the demonstration zone. Chief Supt John O’Hare said the protest passed off peacefully and thanked the people of Rochdale. He said: “I would like to thank both the people of Rochdale and businesses in the town centre for their continued support, cooperation and understanding. Under difficult circumstances they have demonstrated great pride in their town and have shown that they trust the police to manage these events. GMP respects everyone’s right to a protest, but at the same time we have to balance this with the concerns of people in our local communities. We worked closely with the organisers of the protest, to ensure that the event could be managed in a safe manner.”
Coun Colin Lambert, leader of Rochdale council, said: “The police have done a fantastic job protecting the people of our borough and ensuring that today caused the minimum of disruption. I would like to thank the residents of this fantastic borough for continuing to demonstrate that people co-exist peacefully here and extreme, far-right views have no place. I am also proud of the support shown by our businesses, who continued to operate in challenging circumstances.”
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: EDL Demo in Town Centre
Around 200 of the anticipated 600 EDL members arrived in Rochdale today for a protest. Demonstrators began arriving in the town centre at lunch time — coaches bringing the EDL demonstrators into the town centre from meeting points at Sandbrook Park and Rochdale Train Station. The leader of the EDL, Tommy Robinson, was the main speaker. Mr Robinson said the EDL were in town to protest against “Muslim paedophiles” — referring to the men recently convicted of grooming and raping young local girls. Hundreds of police officers were involved in an operation to keep the peace, including the tactical aid unit, police dog handlers and police horses. The protest was relatively peaceful, although some fireworks were thrown and eleven people were arrested for public order offences. Greater Manchester Police’s Ch Supt John O’Hare said 11 arrests was “not uncommon for an event of that size”. He added: “I do think it is testament to the organisers themselves who worked with us to ensure the event passed off as peacefully as possible.”
[…]
[Reader comment by steviedj on 9 June 2012 at 22:51:06.]
So people protesting against disgraceful behaviour are idiots? You can’t have it both ways. Seems that some people are only prepared to tolerate those who agree with them. How better we all feel if Islamic spokesmen openly owned up to illicit behaviour among their communities rather than hiding under the banner of Islamophobia.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: It’s Counter-Attack Sunday. Tory Ministers Promise Action on the School Curriculum, Foreign Prisoners, Immigration and Troubled Families.
by Tim Montgomerie
You can’t read the Sunday papers without getting a strong sense that the Tory half of the Coalition is mounting something of a counter-attack. After months of being on the back foot a range of ministers appear to be fighting back…
George Osborne and the economy: Top of the pops is George Osborne with an article in The Sunday Telegraph in which he defends the Coalition’s economic record — arguing quite accurately that alongside Germany and the USA, Britain has become one of the world’s safe havens for investors — but that all of this is endangered by continuing turmoil and dither in the €urozone.
[…]
[Reader comment by William Blakes Ghost on 10 June 2012.]
Counter attack? Tinkering at the margins more like. Cameron and Clegg combined couldn’t inspire a bunch of trainspotters to visit Clapham Junction. This is a dull, impotent and increasingly irrelevent government.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Is the Guardian the Most Bigoted Paper in Britain?
The decision to give a platform to a leader of Jew-hating Hamas shows the Guardian is now wallowing in and drinking from the sewer of history. Read and be shocked
Which of these propositions do you think is correct; and can you identify a moral distinction between them?
The Guardian newspaper has just run an article by someone advocating that black people be returned to the status of slaves.
The Guardian newspaper has just run an article suggesting that landlords be allowed to put up notices saying that Irish people and dogs need not apply for housing.
The Guardian newspaper has just run an article by a political leader whose foundational charter advocates the murder of Jews and promotes conspiracy theories that would not have looked out of place in Nazi Germany.
No prizes for guessing that the third of those propositions is correct on a factual basis. The morality? It’s a race to the bottom.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Trial: Six Brierfield Men Accused of Sex Offences
SIX men from Brierfield are due to stand trial next week charged with sex offences against a teenage girl. Mohammed Imran Amjad (25), of Halifax Road; Haroon Mahmood (21), of John Street; Mohammed Suleman Farooq (22), of Berry Street; Omar Mazafer (21), of Halifax Road; Mohammed Zeeshan Amjad (24), of Halifax Road, and Shiraz Afzal (25), of Mansfield Crescent are all due to appear at Burnley Crown Court for trial on Monday. The men are accused of various sex offences against a girl who was aged 14 at the time. Offences are alleged to have occurred between January 1st, 2010 and September 30th, 2010 at an address in Sackville Street, Brierfield. The trial is expected to last four weeks.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Vatican: Gotti Tedeschi’s Dismissal Has Backfired Big Time
The method used to get rid of the Vatican bank’s former head have created an image of the Vatican divided by power struggles
Looking back at the flurry of events that have shaken the Vatican in recent weeks and the recent developments in the case of the Vatican bank’s former director, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, one had to admit that the Vatican could not have chosen a worse time to get rid of him. The banker’s dismissal — which was decided by the supervisory council, a board of laymen made up of a German, Ronaldo Hermann Schmitz, an American, Carl Anderson (the Knights of Columbus leader), an Italian, Antonio Maria Marocco and a Spaniard, Manuel Sotoserrano — was announced the day after Benedict XVI’s butler was arrested on charges of possessing confidential documents he was not authorised to.
The Cardinal Secretary of State, Tarcisio Bertone, had tried to mediate to remedy the rift within the Vatican bank (IOR), but in the end, the board of laymen decided to proceed anyway. In terms of media strategy, the decision to “dismiss” Gotti Tedeschi with such a harsh document that destroyed him both morally and professionally, which led to believe that he was also implicated in the document leak by Vatican poison pen letter writers, was not a wise one. Carl Anderson’s letter (which listed nine reasons for the no-confidence vote) was intended as an official response to the explanation Gotti Tedeschi had leaked beforehand, linking his abrupt removal to clashes over the anti-money laundering laws in force and the rescue of Milan’s Saint Raffaele hospital. That the IOR should intervene to explain the reasons for the no-confidence vote in Gotti Tedeschi was perfectly understandable. What was not was the fact that they did this by publishing an excessively harsh document, written in a style that was nothing like that typically used by the Holy See.
Gotti Tedeschi took a day or so to write a memorial which he planned to deliver to the Pope. His version of events is corroborated by letters, e-mails and other documents. As he left his house on Tuesday 5 June to go to Rome, the banker was stopped by Italian military police that had been sent by the Public Prosecution in Naples to search his home in connection with a corruption probe into defence technology group Finmeccanica. The Vatican bank letters were found and confiscated by the judges, who got the Public Prosecution in Rome involved. The result of all this was that the memorial that had been prepared for the Pope, ended up in someone else’s hands.
It is not known how explosive the banker’s reconstruction of events could be. What is certain, is that Gotti Tedeschi’s dismissal and especially the way in which took place has been grossly self-defeating. Once upon a time, an arrangement would have been reached and if this was not possible, then the possibility of an honourable exit would have been looked into. The Gotti Tedeschi saga may have no link whatsoever with the poison pen letter writer scandal and the no-confidence vote in Gotti Tedeschi could nothing to do with the clash of opinions on the anti-money laundering laws and Saint Raffaele hospital. But the end result is the exact opposite.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Serbia: Italian Businesses in Media Spat
Belgrade, 7 June (AKI) — Two Italian business giants on Thursday found themselves in the midst of a political media war between newly elected Serbian president Tomislav Nikolic and his predecessor Boris Tadic.
Nikolic, former ultranationalist, turned pro-European, defeated Tadic in May presidential election and his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) beat Tadic’s pro-European Democratic Party (DS) in parliamentary race.
But Tadic was on the verge of forming new government with the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) and most likely with pro-European Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the only parliamentary group which openly advocates independence of Kosovo declared by majority Albanians in 2008.
After consultations with Nikolic on new government on Wednesday, Tadic ignited bitter polemics by telling journalists that Italian steel giant “Danieli” and precision mechanics company “Baldieri” postponed their investments in Serbia because of Nikolic’s election victory.
“Danieli” signed a “memorandum of understanding” with Tadic’s government on 30 March, in the heat of the election campaign, to build a steel factory in western city of Sabac, worth 500 million euros.
Tadic, who based his campaign on attracting foreign investments and the creation of new jobs, said at the time the project would create over 1,000 jobs and generate annual exports exceeding one billion euros.
But “Danieli” this week bought Sisak steel plant in Croatia for 30 million euros, instead, Tadic said. “For Serbia it isn’t good that ‘Danieli’ two days ago bought Sisak steel works in Croatia and, of course, this has happened after the election”, he added.
In the unusually dirty campaign, Tadic has questioned the sincerity of Nikolic’s pro-European stands and said his election would be detrimental to foreign investments.
But Nikolic’s party quickly retorted that “memorandum of understanding” with “Danieli” was just an election trick and that the Italian giant never truly committed itself to the agreement.
“It is obvious that investors are by-passing Serbia because of the corruption level in our country,” SNS said in a statement, blaming Tadic’s democrats for the situation.
DS vice-president Jelena Trivan told media Nikolic has managed to “spoil relations with neighbors and the whole world”, since taking office last week. “It’s extremely unthinkable to think that such people could be a guarantee for investors,” she said.
Nikolic has been criticized by the international community and European Union officials for saying last weekend that a massacre of over 7,000 Muslims in Bosnian town of Srebrenica in 1995 was a “horrible crime”, but not genocide, as ruled by the International Court of Justice in 2008.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Hague Compares Syria to Bosnia. But a Big British Military Intervention Remains Unlikely
by Paul Goodman
The Foreign Secretary said yesterday that British military intervention in Syria “can’t be ruled out”. One would expect Mr Hague not to close down options — since he is cautious soul — but what followed can be read as more suggestive: he compared Syria to Bosnia, saying that the country “is looking more like Bosnia in the 1990s, being on the edge of a sectarian conflict in which neighbouring villages are attacking and killing each other. So I don’t think we can rule anything out”. As the Times (£) points out in its report this morning, Bosnia eventually saw a NATO bombing campaign of air strikes, the commitment of 12,000 British troops and the eventual installation of Paddy Ashdown as “the Viceroy of Bosnia” — or the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, as he was properly known. So was the Foreign Secretary hinting that he is willing to see Britain play a major part in a similar venture, following the Coalition’s military intervention in Libya?
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: British Journalist Says Rebels Set Him Up to Die in No Man’s Land
LONDON—A British journalist claims Syrian rebels set him up to die in no man’s land near the Lebanese border, saying Friday he believes they wanted to use his death at the hands of government forces to score propaganda points.
Channel 4 News’s chief correspondent Alex Thomson said the incident happened Monday in the Syrian town of Qusair, about half an hour’s drive from the battered city of Homs.
In a blog post published to Channel 4’s website and in an email exchange with the Associated Press, Thomson said he, his driver, a translator and two other journalists were trying to return to government lines when their rebel escort led them down what he described as a dead-end in the middle of a “free-fire zone.” A shot rang out, and he said their car made a series of panicky manoeuvres before retreating the way it came.
Thomson claimed that they weren’t led into no man’s land by mistake.
“I’m quite clear the rebels deliberately set us up to be shot by the Syrian army,” he wrote in the post, explaining that their deaths at the hands of President Bashar Assad’s forces would have drawn sympathy to the rebel cause. “Dead journos are bad for Damascus,” he said..
Thomson said he and his colleagues eventually managed to get back to the government side. He has since left Syria.
His account wasn’t possible to verify amid the chaos gripping Syria, but in an email he insisted that there was no other explanation for what happened.
“They said: ‘Go left.’ Road was totally blocked 50 yards ahead. They had to have known.”
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists calls Syria “the most dangerous place for journalists in the world,” saying that it has recorded the deaths of nine local and international reporters there since November.
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Troops and Rebels Clash Across Country
Activists are reporting that Syrian troops and helicopters are clashing with rebels in the central town of Rastan. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees are also reporting government shelling Monday in the central provinces of Homs and Hama, the southern region of Daraa, the northern province of Aleppo, suburbs of the capital Damascus and Deir el-Zour in the east.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Rebels Responsible for Houla Massacre
by John Rosenthal
It was, in the words of U.N. special envoy Kofi Annan, the “tipping point” in the Syria conflict: a savage massacre of over 90 people, predominantly women and children, for which the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad was immediately blamed by virtually the entirety of the Western media. Within days of the first reports of the Houla massacre, the U.S., France, Great Britain, Germany, and several other Western countries announced that they were expelling Syria’s ambassadors in protest.
But according to a new report in Germany’s leading daily, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), the Houla massacre was in fact committed by anti-Assad Sunni militants, and the bulk of the victims were member of the Alawi and Shia minorities, which have been largely supportive of Assad. For its account of the massacre, the report cites opponents of Assad, who, however, declined to have their names appear in print out of fear of reprisals from armed opposition groups. According to the article’s sources, the massacre occurred after rebel forces attacked three army-controlled roadblocks outside of Houla. The roadblocks had been set up to protect nearby Alawi majority villages from attacks by Sunni militias. The rebel attacks provoked a call for reinforcements by the besieged army units. Syrian army and rebel forces are reported to have engaged in battle for some 90 minutes, during which time “dozens of soldiers and rebels” were killed.
“According to eyewitness accounts,” the FAZ report continues,
the massacre occurred during this time. Those killed were almost exclusively from families belonging to Houla’s Alawi and Shia minorities. Over 90% of Houla’s population are Sunnis. Several dozen members of a family were slaughtered, which had converted from Sunni to Shia Islam. Members of the Shomaliya, an Alawi family, were also killed, as was the family of a Sunni member of the Syrian parliament who is regarded as a collaborator. Immediately following the massacre, the perpetrators are supposed to have filmed their victims and then presented them as Sunni victims in videos posted on the internet.
The FAZ report echoes eyewitness accounts collected from refugees from the Houla region by members of the Monastery of St. James in Qara, Syria. According to monastery sources cited by the Dutch Middle East expert Martin Janssen, armed rebels murdered “entire Alawi families” in the village of Taldo in the Houla region…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UAE: Islam is Against Black Magic
Dr Ali Ahmad Masha’el, Grand Mufti at the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowments in Dubai, said that the existence of black magic is a fact that no one can deny. “Islam is strongly against black magic, as it is forbidden to learn, teach or practice magic or go to a sorcerer.” He added that Islam also urged believers to stop sorcerers and punish them.
“Most people whom seek the help of sorcerers and voodoo practitioners have a weakened belief in God and are ignorant of the gravity of this sin,” he said. He said that if one suspects he or she has been harmed by black magic, one should not seek a sorcerer to undo the magic. Recitals of Quranic verses and prayers offer the best answer to such practices, he said.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
A Mosque Opened at the Bottom of Sulaiman-Too Mountain in Osh City, S. Kyrgyzstan
The Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev has participated in the opening ceremony of a mosque at the bottom of Sulaiman-Too Mountain in Osh city, the southern Kyrgyzstan.
According him, in 2008, he signed a decree on construction of a mosque at the behest of the then Governor of Osh province while staying in the office of Prime Minister. “A lot of water has flowed under the bridge for five years. There were people saying against the construction and they event urged to demolish the mosque. But thanking to God we have finished its construction,” said Almazbek Atambayev. He noted that Osh witnessed riots three times for recent 50 years. “Blood shed three times here below at the bottom of Sulaiman-Too Mountain. Word “Islam” means “peace”. We need peace and unity. We have to understand our nationality is Muslims. And do not divide by nationality. There were cases when people divided each other by ethnicity even in a mosque,” said the President. According to local authorities, around $1 million 200 thousand was spent on construction of the mosque whereof $600 thousand was given by investors from Saudi Arabia, the rest is money from the local budget. The mosque holds around 5 thousand of people and around 20 thousand of people can place outdoors.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Afghans Aim to Defuse Failed Suicide Bombers With Koran
(Reuters) — In a room full of would-be suicide bombers at a high security detention centre in the Afghan capital, an elderly cleric quietly reads out verses from the Koran, telling the young men the act of killing oneself is itself a crime in Islam. “You won’t go to paradise. Killing yourself and killing others is forbidden in Islam,” he tells the men sitting on chairs arranged in rows in the brightly lit room, and points to pages in the holy book. Some of them nod, others stare vacantly.
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[JP note: An exercise in futility.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim, Buddhist Mob Violence Threatens New Myanmar Image
(Reuters) — Northwest Myanmar was tense on Monday after sectarian violence engulfed its largest city at the weekend, with Reuters witnessing rival mobs of Muslims and Buddhists torching houses and police firing into the air to disperse crowds. At least eight people were killed and many wounded, authorities say, in the worst communal violence since a reformist government replaced a junta last year and vowed to forge unity in one of Asia’s most ethnically diverse countries. The fighting erupted on Friday in the Rakhine State town of Maungdaw, but has spread to the capital Sittwe and nearby villages, prompting the government to declare a state of emergency late on Sunday and impose a dawn-to-dusk curfew. Foreign aid workers have begun pulling out, aid sources said.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Nepal: Foreign Investment Down by 39%. Nepal on the Brink of Economic Collapse
Political instability, poor security and the ongoing strikes by trade unions among the main obstacles to economic development. From July 2011 to May 2012, investment fell from 715 million to just over 400.
Kathmandu (AsiaNews) — Foreign investment in Nepal has plummeted a huge 39%. This is shown by a study of the Ministry of Industry, which examined the economics of the country from July 2011 to May 2012. According to analysts, the government’s initiative to proclaim Bhattarai 2012 “Year of the investment” has failed to give confidence to business and society. They fear the climate of instability in the country, left without a real government after the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly on May 27 last and the likely resignation of Prime Minister Bhattarai.
Nepal is among the poorest and least developed countries of the world. About a quarter of the population lives below the poverty line and agriculture, the main source of income for about three quarters of the Nepalese, represents one third of GDP.
The Golchha Organization, a leading investment company in the country, active in local and foreign markets, says that among the causes of the decline of the economy are the excessive politicization of labour, lack of infrastructure and energy. Since the Maoists came to power in 2008, the Nepalese entrepreneurs have faced thousands of strikes in their companies, organized by unions linked to the Maoist party. This has discouraged the opening of new industries. Between July 2011 and May 2012, foreign companies have invested about 48 billion rupees (435 million) by opening 206 new businesses. Between 2010 and 2011 the figure amounted to 79 billion rupees (715 million euros), with news 220 industries.
Diwakar Golchha, deputy director of the organization, explains that the social instability and the great power of the Maoist unions threaten economic development and alienate investors. They prefer to support the services sector such as tourism, which has fewer risks than manufacturing or energy. In 2012, the service companies invested in 80 new projects worth 8 billion rupees (90 million). However, the energy sector, especially hydropower still attracts large capital and represents 47% of investments made in July 2011 and May 2012, but experts say the costs outweigh the potential gains in the short term. Although hydropower is the only energy source in Nepal, the state offers incentives to companies. To date, five dam projects are waiting to be completed.
According to K Kosshi Kush, President of Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce (Fncci), “future political scenarios will determine the country’s development.” If leaders fail to find a solution to the impasse and provide security for companies and society, we will have serious concerns”. Fearing a collapse of the economy in the coming months, even China and India, the main partners in trade with Kathmandu, use the tactic of ‘“wait and see.”
On May 27, the Constituent Assembly elected in 2008 was dissolved over a dispute between parties regarding the writing of the new Constitution, which still remains only a draft. For several days hundreds of protesters have been stationed in front of the palaces of the institutions to protest against the political class, accused of looking only to their own interests and not those of the population. Authorities fear new attacks on people and buildings linked to political power. To avoid riots and protests, the authorities have deployed thousands of police and soldiers in major cities across the country.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Sri Lanka: Abuse of Women Migrant Workers, Sri Lanka Blocks 600 Contracts With Foreign Agencies
Most are located in the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia. Ministry of Foreign Employment and Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (Slbfe) offering training courses to send skilled workers abroad. Compared to last year, migrant workers down by 40%.
Colombo (AsiaNews) — The Sri Lankan Bureau of Foreign Employment (Slbfe) has decided to terminate contracts with more than 600 employment agencies abroad (most of them in Saudi Arabia), to protect the rights of Sri Lankan migrants. The decision comes after incidents of abuse and discrimination against migrant workers, about 1.8 million people, 45% of whom are women. In addition, Dilan Perera, Minister for Foreign Employment, said it would organize training courses, to make the most qualified Sri Lankans seeking employment abroad.
The majority of workers who leave Sri Lanka in search of work, is employed as domestic workers, often victims of prejudice, abuse and torture. To avoid such a situation, for some time the Slbfe has initiated support programs and preparation for these women, already obtaining some results: last year, the number of women seeking work in the Middle East fell by 40%. Moreover, according to data compiled by the office, the number of skilled migrant workers has increased by 50%.
Contacted by AsiaNews about the reduction in the number of migrant women, some say they “appreciate” this new trend, because the country “should show the world that here we are educating capable and competent women.”
Already in 2011, the Slbfe had suspended contracts with 445 agencies, 166 of which in Saudi Arabia. In Sri Lanka, the debate about migrant workers — especially women — was inflamed when in June 2007 Rizana Nafeek was sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia for the alleged murder of a newborn child of the family she had gone to work for as maid at the age of 17.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UN Decides to Relocate Staff From Burma’s Rakhine State
The UN has decided to temporarily relocate non-essential staff in Burma’s Rakhine state, where tensions remain high after deadly unrest.
It said “serious disturbances” and the imposition of a state of emergency prompted the move, which is being implemented on a voluntary basis. Recent violence in troubled Rakhine state has left seven dead. Tensions flared after the murder of a Buddhist woman last month, followed by an attack on a bus carrying Muslims. The UN released a statement saying it had decided “to temporarily relocate, on a voluntary basis, non-essential international and national” UN staff, affiliated organisations and their families. It said it had requested “full government support for the safety and security of all UN and INGO staff and their families in Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Sittwe”, while they are relocated to the capital, Rangoon.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Attack on Christians in Nigeria, ‘Dead and Wounded’
(AGI) Maiduguri -There have been a new wave of attacks against Christians in northern Nigeria. A group of armed men opened fire in a church iin the north-east of the country, sowing panic amongst the worshippers and wounding or killing many of them witnesses report. A suicide bomber then exploded himself in front of a church in Jos. “Three armed men entered the Church yard and began to shoot at people outside before going into the principal building and continuing to shoot…many people were killed and wounded,” said one of the witnesses, Hamidu Wakawa, who was in the church in Biu Town in the state of Borno. Police have reported to have no information about the incursion.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Boko Haram Claims Bombings on Christians in Nigeria
(AGI) Maiduguri — The Islamic fundamentalist group Boko Haram has claimed the bombings against two Christian churches in Nigeria. The death toll so far is 3 killed and 41 injured. “We conducted the suicide bombing on the church in Jos and the other bombing against another church in Biu”, a self-proclaimed spokesman of Boko Haram declared in Maidiguri, explaining that the group “led these attacks to prove that the Nigerian security forces are wrong when they claim that we have been weakened by the military repression”. Two people were killed in Jos, where a suicide bomber blew himself up in a car just outside a church, local governor spokesman Pam Ayuba said.
Samson Bukar, president of the Christian Association of Nigeria, said that one person was killed in Biu and several more injured, one of whom very badly. CNN reports that the death toll has soared to eight.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Kenya: Anti-Shebab Minister Dies in Helicopter Crash
(AGI) Nairobi — Kenyan Internal Security Minister, George Saitoti was killed with a junior minister after a police helicopter crashed in the woods pn the outskirts of Nairobi. A close ally to President Mwai Kibaki, Saitoti was one of the government members most at risk from Somalian Al-Shebab Islamic extremists as he frequently visited the sites of attacks from the military in Kenya. The causes of the accident are still unclear. After serving as vice-president for Daniel Arap Moi, Saitoti was expected to be a presidential candidate in elections to be held in March next year.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Nigeria: Police: 366 Kidnappings, 140 Hostages Freed in 2011
(AGI) Kidnappings aimed at extortion are an almost daily occurrence in Nigeria, particularly in the south of the country, in the Niger Delta, where the footballer Christian Obodo has become the latest figure to be kidnapped. The latest report by Nigerian police shows that 366 kidnappings were reported in 2011, 140 of them resulting in hostages being freed. Franco Lamolinara, an engineer from the Piedmont region in northern Italy, was not so lucky. Lamolinara died on March 8 in a raid launched to free him after around 10 months in captivity. Another hostage, the Englishman Chris McManus, also died in the incident. Modesto Di Girolamo, an engineer from the Abruzzo region and the latest Italian to be kidnapped in Nigeria, was freed on June 1 after being held hostage for 5 days.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
New Immigration Clampdown Demands £20,000 Salary for Brits to Marry a Foreigner
British citizens who marry foreigners will have to earn at least £20,000 a year if they want to set up their family home in the UK under a new immigration clampdown.
The planned changes mean lower-paid Britons would be forced to emigrate if they wanted to live with a loved one from overseas. And if the foreign-born spouse had children, their British partner would have to earn £30,000 or more, depending on how many children they had.
They will also have to pass a strict new ‘combined attachment test’ to prove they share a genuine loyalty to Britain, not another country, and they will remain on probation for five years instead of the current two.
The proposals, to be announced by Home Secretary Theresa May, are expected to cut immigration, currently standing at 250,000 a year, by 25,000. They are designed primarily to combat claims that some foreigners are marrying Britons to take advantage of the UK’s generous welfare system.
Tory MPs last night welcomed the move, but Labour spokesman Chris Bryant said: ‘These new measures have more to do with Theresa May’s abject failure to live up to her promise to cut immigration than fairness.’
He claimed the idea was ‘poorly thought out’, adding: ‘It seems very unfair that a poor British man or woman can fall in love with someone from America or Thailand and be prevented from getting married and making a home here, while a rich person can.’
He said a better way to deal with the problem would be to insist that Britons who marry foreigners and settle here provide a bond worth ‘a substantial sum’. If the immigrant went on to claim benefits, the money would be deducted from the bond.
And immigration campaigners are expected to denounce the measures, claiming the new curbs would effectively give low-earning Britons who fall in love with foreigners the choice of indefinite ‘exile’ — or breaking up their family if they want to stay in the UK.
Ms May is also expected to confirm stringent English-speaking test for husbands, wives or partners of UK citizens applying to come to live in Britain on a family visa.
The new clampdown will not apply to partners from within the European Union, as they will continue to have the right to settle here.
A senior Government source said last night: ‘The welfare system has abused for years under Labour by people who marry Britons and within a short period are living off benefits.
‘In today’s climate, someone on £20,000 today could all too easily be earning nothing tomorrow. So simply relying on income as a measure may lead to the taxpayer still being exposed.’
‘There is little we can do to stop them claiming benefits but we can implement better controls on people who come here to marry in the first place. We are confident these moves will command widespread support from the public. Labour’s lamentable record on immigration is one of the main reasons they lost the election. We are going to put the system right.’
Ms May said earlier this year that it was obvious that British citizens and those settled here should be able to marry or enter into a civil partnership with whomever they choose.
But she added: ‘If they want to establish their family life in the UK, rather than overseas, then their spouse or partner must have a genuine attachment to the UK, be able to speak English, and integrate into our society, and they must not be a burden on the taxpayer. Families should be able to manage their own lives. If a British citizen or a person settled here cannot support their foreign spouse or partner they cannot expect the taxpayer to do it for them.’
She also plans to make it easier to deport illegal migrants or convicted foreign nationals.
At present they can use the European Convention on Human Rights to avoid being thrown out, claiming they have a ‘right to a family life’ here.
But in future, if they want to continue their family life they will have to take their British-based partner overseas.
The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants says an extension of the probationary period for foreign spouses could trap more women in violent marriages because of the fear of being deported if they complain.
Mr Bryant added: ‘At a time when our national finances are hard-stretched it is only fair that anyone wanting to bring someone new to this country should be able to prove that they will not be a burden on the State. But I worry that the Government will not achieve what it hopes with this measure, and that they have rejected options that could provide better protection for the taxpayer and be fairer too.
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Democratic Party: Law on Gay Common-Law Marriage Needed
(AGI) Rome-The leader of the PD party said that legislation is needed to protect the rights of homosexuals in common-law marriages. “It’s unacceptable that in Italy laws on common-law marriages between homosexuals to bring them out of the ‘Wild West’, conferring them with dignity and rights, are yet to be introduced,” Pierluigi Bersani stated in a message sent to the promoters of this year’s gay pride parade in Bologna. “In expressing the Democratic Party’s support of the national Pride, I first of all wish to say ‘thank you’; in a political and economic situation such as the current one it isn’t easy to fight and place civil rights back into the center of political debate,” he said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Global Wind Day
I’ll bet you didn’t know that June 15th is Global Wind Day. Wind is part of the Earth’s atmosphere and, depending on whether it is blowing gently or strongly, there isn’t a darn thing anyone can do about it. Except for measuring its velocity and direction, wind like clouds remains largely a mystery to meteorologists.
Not so for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Control, the people who brought you the global warming hoax, asserting that carbon dioxide, a gas on which all vegetation depends, was raising the global temperature—largely as the result of burning coal and oil as sources of energy.
The Earth, however, has been in a natural cooling cycle since 1998 and the advocates of “green energy” have been in a tailspin, a death spiral of an inadequate capacity to deliver electricity and the inability to compete with more reliable, affordable, and traditional energy sources.
Simply put, wind and solar energy is a fool’s dream and one that must be backed up by traditional energy sources at all times in the event the wind isn’t blowing or during the nighttime or if clouds obscure the sun, causing solar energy to cease producing electricity. Only an idiot would want to be dependent on wind or solar to provide a reliable source of electricity.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
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