Crisis Damage Like a War, Say Italy’s Employers
Recession is hitting ‘vital parts’, prosperity down 10%
(ANSA) — Rome, June 28 — The economic damage being caused by the ongoing financial crisis is comparable with that provoked by a war, Italy’s industrial employers’ confederation Confindustria said on Thursday.
“Even though we are not at war, the economic damage caused up to now by the crisis is equivalent to a conflict and the most vital, precious parts of Italy’s economic system are being hit,” said a report by Confindustria’s study centre.
It said Italians will have lost a tenth of their prosperity by the end of next year because of the economic crisis.
“In 2013 Italy will find itself with a level of prosperity, measured in per capita gross domestic product, that is on average 10% lower than in 2007 (before the start of the crisis),” read the report. The report added that this loss would be “difficult to recover without incisive reforms that put the country back on track for growth of over 2%”.
It also said that 1.276 million jobs had been lost between the start of the crisis in 2008 and the beginning of this year and added that this figure is set to rise to 1.482 million by the end of 2013. Unemployment will climb to 10.9% by the end of this year, Confindustria forecast.
And while stressing that Italy’s public finances have improved “markedly” following Premier Mario Monti’s austerity package of tax hikes and spending cuts, it said the country is not on course to meet the government’s target of balancing the budget next year. The report said that the public deficit will be 1.6% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2013. It said the deficit will be 2.6% of GDP this year because the recession will have a negative impact on the public finances. The government said the 2013 deficit would be 0.1% of GDP when it presented the austerity package in December but subsequently revised the forecast to 0.5% while stressing that this would still technically be a balanced budget as it falls within EU limits. Confindustria added that the tax hikes will take Italy’s tax burden up to 54.2% in 2012 and 54.6% in 2013.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
ECB Banksters Introduce New Concept: Negative Interest Rates
It’s a sure sign fractional reserve banking is on the rocks. It looks like European Central Bank President Mario Draghi will cut ECB interest rates below zero.
In other words, instead of realizing a return by holding money in a bank — albeit at a miniscule 0.25% as the Fed currently does — the ECB will charge institutional customers to use their money.
Go figure.
But here’s the logic, according to Bloomberg:
If the deposit rate was cut to zero or lower, it would discourage banks from parking excess liquidity with the ECB overnight, potentially prompting them to lend the cash instead. Almost 800 billion euros ($1 trillion) is being deposited with the ECB each day.
On the other hand, a deposit rate cut could hurt banks’ profitability by lowering money-market rates, potentially hampering credit supply to companies and households and reducing banks’ incentive to lend to other financial institutions.
In fact, the blood sucking vampire squid — otherwise known as Goldman Sachs — admits this scheme is nothing more than smoke and mirrors designed to boost short term confidence. “By demonstrating its willingness to play a part in sustaining the euro, the ECB may hope to boost confidence in the current fragile environment,” Goldman explains.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Eugenics, Stimulus and Chaos
More tax payers were created, wages were suppressed, marriage was deferred or destroyed and babies were not born. Those born were damaged by divorce and the public school industry of management and conditioning. As children dwindled in number content disappeared from schools and public discourse, other forms of hunger and deficit. The media culture, harbinger of the ‘information age’ (garbage in, garbage out) immersed life in a storm of imagery, illusion and delusion: lifestyles replaced life. Art became a ‘pack rat’s’ tower of junk, mockingly thrust in the face of everyone and awarded ‘genius grants.’
[…]
The over-stimulated society is a culture of sterility and death. It is hollow: it gives the lie to the “sustainability” about which sensitive types are endlessly twittering, cued though few of them know it by the Directorate which delights to see its puppets traipsing like zombies toward Donkey Island. Faces are displaced by Facebook, true knowledge by information technology, and the ‘Constitutional right to privacy’ has by logic brought forth a culture of total transparency as identity fails before identity theft. The West ends as it began, in identity theft and false values. The flag is waved ever more frenziedly in highly scripted ceremonies by those who once spit on it and the term ‘freedom’ barely disguises an authoritarian cult sliding toward the total coverage of a global petrifact. Soon whatever is not forbidden will be mandatory. The financial corollary of hate crimes, speech crimes, ‘racial profiling’ and ‘harassment’ are currency controls and government mandates to purchase ‘insurance’ and ration coupons.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: Young Engineers Look for Work Abroad
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, JUNE 21 — Four in 10 graduates from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) are looking for work abroad, according to a survey conducted for a conference on job prospects for civil engineers, which is due to take place in the capital Thursday as daily Kathimerini reports. Some 600 NTUA graduates were questioned as part of the survey. The results show that 42% of respondents said they were already looking for work abroad, a development that experts attribute to the collapse of the construction industry in Greece. “They are asking for Greek engineers in large numbers in France and Germany,” the NTUA’s vice rector of academic affairs, Tonia Moropoulou, told Kathimeriniri. “They have an advantage in that they study for five years. There is more demand for graduates who have studied for five years; they earn a higher salary too.” Moropoulou underlined that employment opportunities for engineers in Greece had become severely limited over the last few years as a result of the sharp decline in building activity.
Almost 160,000 jobs have been lost in the construction sector during the crisis. About 400,000 people were involved in the sector in 2008, but this has dropped to 242,000, which is lower than the number of Greeks working in the construction industry in 1998. About 6,500 jobs are being lost in the sector each month.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Greek Cypriot President Puts Blame on Greece
(ANSAmed) — NICOSIA, JUNE 25 — Greek Cyprus President Demetris Christofias on blamed yesterday the island’s economic troubles on Greece’s woes and insisted that reforms by his government would check a growing public deficit. “The economy of (Greek) Cyprus continues to have healthy foundations despite the problems, distortions and inequalities accumulated over the years,” the Communist politician told Greek To Vima weekly in an interview. Greek Cyprus takes over the European Union’s rotating presidency on July 1. Estimates are that it needs around 4.0 billion euros to prop up its banks and help narrow the budget deficit, which widened last year to double the EU ceiling of three percent of gross domestic product (GDP). “Cyprus is not facing the prospect of entering (a rescue) mechanism because of the fiscal state of the economy but because of the need to recapitalise Cypriot banks which have important exposure to the Greek economy,” Christofias said. “In every downgrade of the Cypriot economy the exposure of our banks to Greece is portrayed as the main cause,” he said. Christofias said reforms already undertaken would bring the deficit to “around 3%” from 6.5% in 2011, with the aim of trimming it further to “as close to 2.5% as possible.” Cyprus will ask Russia for a loan of up to 5.0 billion euros this week and then request aid from eurozone partners for its ailing banks, an EU diplomat said Wednesday.
The crisis-hit Greek Cyprus will “first try to get a bilateral loan from Russia,” said the diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. Cyprus would then probably request eurozone aid for its banks next week along the lines of an offer made to Spain, he said. The government is already committed to underwriting a 1.8 billion euro capital issue for the island’s worst exposed institution — Marfin Popular Bank — to recapitalize against the Greek debt crisis.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Monti Wins Fight for EU Help With Borrowing Costs
Italy and Spain can get rescue funds to support bonds
(ANSA) — Brussels, June 29 — Italian Premier Mario Monti and his Spanish counterpart Mariano Rajoy won their battle to have European Union rescue funds used to reduce their borrowing costs when necessary at a crunch summit on the eurozone crisis on Friday.
Italy has seen its borrowing costs rise in recent months, even though it has introduced structural economic reforms and taken measures to restore health to its public finances, because of fears it is vulnerable to contagion from other countries in the middle of the crisis.
Monti and Rajoy had threatened not to back an agreement for a 120-billion-euro package to stoke growth in Europe unless German Chancellor Angela Merkel dropped her opposition to the proposal. Under the deal, which was clinched in the early hours of Friday following lengthy talks that started on Thursday afternoon, it will be possible for countries that respect EU budget rules to request that rescue funds be used to buy their bonds, thus easing pressure on them.
A country requesting bond support would have to sign an agreement outlining their policy commitments, but they would not be obliged to undertake extra austerity measures or economic reforms.
The summit also agreed to create a single supervisory body for eurozone banks, which is seen as the first step towards a European banking union.
Earlier this month the EU agreed to lend Spain up to 100 billion euros to support its struggling banks.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spain Headed for Heavy Cuts to Medicines
Healthcare reform calls for contribution even for retirees
(ANSAmed) — MADRID — Spain’s healthcare system is tightening its belt. Beginning on July 1, Spaniards will have to pay the full price of 456 widely-used medicines which had up until now been covered by public funds. This was reported by Spanish media today, with El Pais carrying the news on its front page. Healthcare Minister Ana Mato said that the aim was to save the 440 million euros necessary to keep public funding for therapies required for serious illnesses. Among the medicines struck off the publicly-funded list are ones such as antibiotics for coughing, hemorrhoid treatment, anti-herpes creams, and laxatives. The reform also calls for most retirees with free access to medicine to have to pay an average of 10% of the medicine for the first time
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The Way Banking Used to be
In the “good old days,” commercial banks made loans from the deposits customers placed in checking and savings accounts (and certificates of deposit, etc.). The general consensus was that if you loaned only 70 percent of deposits, you would always have enough cash on hand to deal with the daily needs of people who needed cash. That consensus proved to be true. Other transactions — like clearing checks so people could pay their bills — was a computer transaction that could be cleared at the end of the month. Daily cash wasn’t absolutely necessary for that function.
Regulations were strict and they were enforced… those last three words are key to understanding one of the major reasons for our current financial mess. Today, regulations are not enforced. That is especially true during times the government wants to implement new regulatory controls. They ignore the regulations that are on the books and when things fall apart they demand new regulations be created. Why do they do this? In my opinion, they use this ruse when they need to cover something up… need to pass new regulations that will prevent the public from finding an error or an unlawful action taken — I believe that the Dodd Frank Bill was passed to cover up unlawful foreclosures and all of the actions taken that made foreclosures possible in the first place. Or, like the time the Federal Reserve gave its permission for investment banks to join with commercial banks on Wall Street when the Fed had absolutely no authority over the investment banking community and legally could not take such an action. When they passed legislation to allow the Fed to do what it had done six months earlier, they grandfathered the law to the date of the occurrence.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: We Were Betrayed by Our ‘Trusted Adviser’: 28,000 Small Firms Fell Victim to Another Cynical Bank Fiddle
Britain’s banking giants were yesterday found guilty of a systematic exploitation of up to 28,000 small businesses which has left many facing bankruptcy.
On another day of shame for the banks, the Financial Services Authority accused the big four — Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC and Lloyds — of ‘serious failings’.
Since 2001, the banks have ruthlessly mis-sold complex loan deals to entrepreneurs who did not understand what they were doing, the City regulator said.
Many small businesses who wanted to take out a loan were told they could only get one if they also took out an ‘interest rate swap agreement’.
They were told it would protect them against interest rate fluctuations. If the rate rose, the bank would compensate them. But, when the base rate fell to an historic low of 0.5 per cent, they had to pay compensation to the bank. This landed the firms with crippling costs they could never have budgeted for.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
American Muslims Stone Christians in Dearborn, Michigan
This extremely disturbing video shows what happened when a group of Christians tried merely to hold up signs about Christianity at the 2012 Dearborn, Michigan Arab Festival. The Christians were viciously attacked, verbally and physically, and ultimately stoned (see 9:30 minutes into the video).
Despite the U.S. Constitution that guarantees freedom of religion, the police, who studiously ignored the mob violence, asked the sign-holders to leave saying they were “endangering the public.” No police action was taken against the mob.
Despite losing two similar Freedom of Speech lawsuits in the past (one of which cost the City of Dearborn $100,000), the city refused to protect the sign-holders’ constitutional rights, claiming lack of manpower. According to the police chief, two police officiers would have been needed to protect the Christians. The chief said this would be impossible, since there was a big crowd to watch. Ironically, there was no violence or threat of violence (hence no need for police presence or protection) at any other location at the festival except where the Christians were holding their signs.
At the end of the video, you will see the police threaten to arrest the Christians (who, incidentally, never retaliated at the mob). After the Christians leave with a police convoy as an escort, their car is stopped and 12 officers appear to question and possibly arrest them.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
American Christians Cursed and Violently Assaulted by American Muslims
In a disturbing video that the Paulding County Republican Examiner received this morning via the United West organization revealed Christians holding signs all the while being physically attacked at the 2012 Dearborn, Michigan Arab Festival. They were assaulted with bottles, eggs, crates, stones, and other objects while police stood by and made no arrests or intervened.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Audio: Chrislam — Do Christians and Muslims Really Worship the Same God?
Bill Salus and Eric Barger met for the first time recently while sharing a platform together at the Midnight Cry Prophecy Conference hosted by Dean Myers at the Harbor of Hope Church in Clairsville Ohio. This meeting took place on April 20, 2012. Bill was fascinated by Eric’s teaching on the Emergent Church, and its offshoot sick-twisted-sister called Chrislam, which is an attempt by some Christian leaders to join Christianity and Islam at the hip. In this two part installment of Prophecy Update Radio, Bill and Eric analyze Chrislam and alert the listeners to its hidden dangers.
Some of the questions addressed are:
- WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GOD OF THE BIBLE, JEHOVAH / AND THE GOD OF THE KORAN (ALLAH)?
- ISN’T THE KORAN RIDDLED WITH NUMEROUS MISREPRENTATIONS?
- HOW DOES ISLAM VIEW CHRIST?
- WHO IS INVOLVED IN THE CHRISLAM MOVEMENT?
- WHAT IS THE UNDERLYING MOTIVES FOR ATTEMPTING TO MERGE CHRISTIANITY WITH ISLAM?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
CPUSA Says Re-Electing Obama is “Absolutely Essential”
A writer for the Communist Party USA says that “…re-electing Obama is absolutely essential,” and warns that “divisions among Democrats and a potential wave of bad economic news can combine to threaten President Obama’s reelection.”
Marxist John Case, who writes for various CPUSA publications, has written a piece, “The danger of a Romney election [1],” for the party publication People’s World, which warns that “Re-electing Obama is not sufficient to bring economic recovery or even relief to our people. Only a different class configuration in political power can do necessary minimum reforms to give us a chance. But re-electing Obama is absolutely essential. Now is not the time for hand washing the complexities and tactics away—or failing to triage the most critical questions from those that are less critical. We cannot win everything at once!”
In reality, the CPUSA’s endorsement of Obama for a second term is not surprising. Various CPUSA officials, including Jarvis Tyner and Joelle Fishman, have openly expressed support for the U.S. President and his agenda.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
DeMint: ‘Obamacare’ Still Unconstitutional — States Should Refuse to Implement it
Today, U.S. Senator DeMint (R-South Carolina) made the following statement:
“The Supreme Court may have failed to stop this government takeover of health care, but the American people will not. Since the day this law was rammed through Congress, the American people have demanded repeal, and today’s ruling doesn’t make Obamacare any less dangerous to our nation’s health. Freedom-loving Americans are disappointed, but we cannot be discouraged.
“The President’s health care law must be fully repealed as all of its promises have proven false. We were told it was not a tax hike, but this ruling confirms it is an unprecedented and enormous tax on the poor and middle class Americans. President Obama needs to explain why he is enacting this middle class tax hike over the objections of the American people during the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression.
“We were told it would lower health costs, but health care premiums are exploding. We were told that Americans could keep their personal health plans, but millions will now lose it. We were told it would improve our economy, but it is now the largest obstacle to employers hiring new workers.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Elderly to be Euthanized Under Obamacare?
If Britain’s socialist healthcare system is a benchmark for what we can expect from Obamacare, hundreds of thousands of elderly patients face being euthanized through “assisted death” techniques designed to cut costs.
The idea that “death panels” would be introduced through Obamacare as a means of rationing healthcare was discussed during an Aspen Institute conference in 2010 when Bill Gates argued that money should not be spent on treating the elderly.
During a question and answer session, Gates implied that elderly patients undergoing expensive health care treatments should be killed and the money spent elsewhere.
Gates said there was a “lack of willingness” to consider the question of choosing between “spending a million dollars on that last three months of life for that patient” or laying off ten teachers.
“But that’s called the death panel and you’re not supposed to have that discussion,” added Gates.
However, Britain’s socialist healthcare system under the NHS has gone light years beyond death panels and actually introduced a method of “care” that actually has the intended effect of euthanizing patients.
In a recent exposé, Patrick Pullicino, a consultant neurologist for East Kent Hospitals and professor of clinical neurosciences at the University of Kent, revealed that of the 450,000 patients who die annually under the care of the NHS, 130,000 of them were on the Liverpool Care Pathway [aka starvation death.]
Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP) is a process whereby a doctor identifies a patient who is likely to die and that patient is then heavily sedated while treatment is withdrawn, “including the provision of water and nourishment by tube.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Merck Vaccine Fraud Exposed by Two Merck Virologists; Company Faked Mumps Vaccine Efficacy Results for Over a Decade, Says Lawsuit
(NaturalNews) Breaking news: According to two Merck scientists who filed a False Claims Act complaint in 2010 — a complaint which has just now been unsealed — vaccine manufacturer Merck knowingly falsified its mumps vaccine test data, spiked blood samples with animal antibodies, sold a vaccine that actually promoted mumps and measles outbreaks, and ripped off governments and consumers who bought the vaccine thinking it was “95% effective.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pedestrian Thrown in Jail for 12 Hours for Holding Up Sign Warning Drivers of Speed Trap
A woman in Houston, Texas, was arrested and jailed for 12 hours after she held up a make-shift sign to warn drivers about a speed trap.
Natalie Plummer was officially charged with walking in the roadway — jaywalking, essentially — though she says the police officers who arrested her were just angry that she had tipped off speeders.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Police: Teaneck Man Pulled Gun on Neighbor for Farting
Teaneck, NJ .An elderly man was arrested Monday night after a neighbor’s fart allegedly drove him to threaten him with a gun, police said.
Daniel Collins, 72, had been involved in an ongoing dispute with the unidentified neighbor for some time, Det. Lt. Andrew McGurr told NJ.com. The neighbor told officers that Collins pointed a revolver at him in the vestibule of their apartment building at 694 Cedar Lane at around 9:25 p.m.
Collins said he confronted the man after hearing him pass gas in front of his apartment door, but denied threatening him with a gun. He consented to a search, and officers recovered a .32 caliber revolver from his vehicle.
He was arrested and charged with aggravated assault, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, unlawful possession of a firearm and making terroristic threats.
He was released after being processed, McGurr said.
| — Hat tip: McR | [Return to headlines] |
Report of Investigation Fast & Furious: The Path to the White House
April 2009 CLAIM: Barack Obama, Eric Holder & Hillary Clinton publicly claim 90% of guns in Mexico come from U.S. Obama orders Holder to assess U.S. gun sales. The objective of Operation Fast & Furious was to substantiate these false claims, to enact stronger GUN CONTROL and attack Second Amendment rights.
See Full Report (PDF)
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Pelican Brief With a Twist
It is the stated goal of both the communists and the Islamic terrorists to destroy the free, representative republic known as the United States of America. Perhaps more appropriate, to turn the nation into a communist country or see the flag of Islam flying over the White House and all of America, a step toward the oppression of global governance. Read the Communist goals that were read into the Congressional Record in 1963, and look how many of those objectives have already been accomplished and implemented. Is that a conspiracy theory? I contend that anyone with reasonable sensibilities would agree that the objectives and their implementation is based in fact.
With regard to Islam, look at the charter of the Muslim Brotherhood, and note that the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated the U.S. State Department much like the Communists in the McCarthy era. Ten years after 9/11, we now have Islamic representatives influencing and dictating security to the Department of Homeland Security. Could this be purely oversight? I don’t think so.
Note that the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) is fully backing a second term of Barack Obama, further calling it “imperative” that he is reelected. During Obama’s first term, we’ve seen some of the most overt Marxist and Communist leaning initiatives launched by Obama, with nary a peep from our elected officials on either side of the aisle. How is that possible?
[…]
I contend that our country is filled with enemies of the rule of law, the U.S. Constitution, who are working against the principles on which our once proud country stood. If you cannot see the changes, you can certainly feel them. If you cannot feel them, then it is my contention that your moral compass needs to be recalibrated.
The Republican-Democrat, right-left paradigm touted by so many television and radio mouthpieces is essentially dead. It has been replaced with an Oligarchy, a nation of powerbrokers, “kleptocrats,” and “banksters.” Most leaders of America have succumbed to greed and power.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
TSA Deliberately Recruiting, Hiring Sociopaths and Pedophiles, Says Whistleblower
According to “Rob,” a TSA supervisor-turned-whistleblower, in an interview with the Alex Jones Show, the agency’s brass is directing staff to hire degenerates — people with criminal records who have exhibited violent tendencies and psychopathic behavior.
How do you like air travel now?
During the interview, Rob talked about his job, which entailed filing reports on TSA screeners who did not follow agency procedures. He said he was alarmed by the fact that the agency was hiring a number of criminals who he said exhibited the behavior of “psychopaths.”
“We have a program in the state of Rhode Island where we take prisoners who are out for non-violent drug offenses and everything else — basically sociopaths — and we’re sending them to a ten-day course and getting them in uniform checking out people,” the whistleblower said.
He noted that people who presented themselves very professionally were often passed over in favor of applicants who had spent time in jail and who had megalomaniacal, power-trip tendencies.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Turn in Your Guns at Your Local Church
Last weekend, the Chicago Police Department collaborated with over 20 local churches in a giant effort to encourage Chicagoans “to get guns out of their homes.” WBBM News Radio has the story. “Using the lure of $100 gift cards, the Chicago Police Department is encouraging people to get guns out of their homes and turn them in this Saturday, during the annual gun turn-in program.”
The news report goes on to say, “[T]he Police Department is partnering with 20 churches.
First Deputy Supt. Alfonza Wysinger says anyone who turns in a real gun will get a $100 gift card. Replicas and BB guns are worth $10.
[…]
But I particularly enjoyed a few of the comments that readers posted to the online report:
One guy wrote, “Gun thieves will be lined up for blocks.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Army Develops Tesla-Style Lightning Bolt to Destroy Enemy Vehicle
The United States Army’s team of scientists are busy at work developing a device that will shoot lightning bolts down laser beams to destroy its target.
And they are doing it with gusto — announcing their work with a hearty: ‘Soldiers and science fiction fans, you’re welcome.’
The Laser-Induced Plasma Channel, or LIPC, is designed to take out targets that conduct electricity better than the air or ground that surrounds them.
And the research is a lot of work, but as George Fischer, lead scientist on the project, said: ‘We never got tired of the lightning bolts zapping our (simulated) targets.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Voter Fraud, What Voter Fraud? Attorney General Holder and Libdems Deny Existence
In a January 26, 2012 column, “Ballot Box Zombies”, Deroy Murdock, National Review Online contributing editor and nationally syndicated columnist with the Scripps Howard News Service states in that online publication, “Liberals love to laugh off voter fraud.
Murdock continued, ‘But the recent news is not so funny’, explaining how easily anybody can vote for dead American citizens; and it was found that in some cases, the total ballots cast exceeded the winning margins confirming the need for voters to prove their identity by means of photo ID, just as they are required to do on many occasions any other day by other seemingly less critical situations, I have experienced, as simple as cashing a check at the local bank.
And he was right, because a young investigative journalist named James O’Keefe sent his organization, Project Veritas, to rock-solid and normally scandal-free New Hampshire during its primary voting season earlier this year.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Happy Canada Day as Canadian Government Subsidizes Anti-Troop Video
The best gift the Canadian government can give Canadians is to defund and defang treasonous groups sucking on the public teat.
It’s Canada Day here in the liberty-loving Land of the Maple Leaf and Canada Day 2012 has been stained by the release of a video celebrating the slaughter of Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan while portraying the Taliban as heroes.
Thanks to National Post investigative journalist Stuart Bell, news of Montreal rapper Manu Militari’s video release came before Canada Day’s fireworks displays in thousands of cities and towns.
That’s the video, but ‘Manu ‘Militari’ staged the release of the allbum song “L’Attente” the video celebrates for the 11th anniversary of September 11, 2001.
“While some are understandably offended, the song would likely have been ignored were Manu Militari not a subsidized rapper who had received more than $100,000 from a group funded by the Canadian Heritage department.“ (Stuart Bell, June 29, 2012). “A spokesman for James Moore, the Minister of Canadian Heritage, said Friday the money had been handed out by the federally-funded non-profit MusicAction and officials were “looking at options” to ensure it did not happen again.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Brussels to Prevent Discrimination Non Spanish Films
Catalan Law requires additional costs to european works
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, JUNE 21 — The European Commission has asked Spain to put an end to the discriminatory rules which prevent the distribution of non-Spanish films. The Commission considers that the legislation in question, the Catalan Law on cinema, is incompatible with the EU rules on the free movement of services.
This law requires 50 % of films to be distributed in Catalonia in Catalan (including original, dubbed and sub-titled versions), except for films in Spanish which are exempt from that obligation, which has the effect of making the circulation in Spain of non-Spanish European works more expensive, and therefore more difficult. For the European films concerned, the law entails an additional cost of between 25,000 euros and 77,000 euros for dubbing, or between 2,000 euros and 5,730 euros for sub-titling, which increases the cost and therefore renders access to the Spanish market more difficult for non-Spanish European films. The Commission’s request to Spain takes the form of a reasoned opinion. The national authorities must notify the Commission within two months that they have put an end to the discriminatory rules. If they fail to do so, the Commission may refer the case to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Gunman Shoots Two in France Nightclub After He is Kicked Out
LILLE, France: A gunman shot dead two people at a nightclub in northern France Sunday in an apparent revenge attack after he was kicked out of the disco, police and local officials said. The man, who was “known to police,” had been thrown out of the Theatro club in the heart of Lille but returned about 3 a.m. and opened fire with a Kalashnikov-style weapon, a local official said.
Police were searching for him and an accomplice, who drove him away from the disco.
A cloakroom attendant, aged 26, and a 27-year-old customer were killed and another six people including the club bouncer were injured.
Police said the attacker, who appeared to have acted alone, had fled in a car after the shooting, and that a manhunt had been launched.
An AFP journalist at the scene said police had barred access to the club. Several empty cartridges lay littered nearby and the walls were pockmarked by bullets.
“We were on the dance floor when we heard a big bang and there was a great stampede,” said one nightclub attendee who gave his name as Jeremy.
“At first I thought it was a firecracker. I went to the entrance to see what was happening and I saw a person lying on the floor in a pool of blood,” he said, adding that about 200 to 300 people were in the club at the time.
“We are disgusted, this is not the Bronx here,” said another patron, who gave his name as Mohammad.
He said the shooter was “crazy, a client who came back with a weapon” just because he “couldn’t bear being chucked out by the bouncer.”
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
Half of German Teenagers Unable to Distinguish Between Democracy and Dictatorship
About half of young Germans are unsure whether the Nazi state was a dictatorship — and even more are not sure whether the socialist East German regime was one, a new study shows.
The widespread ignorance is described in a study called, “Late Victory of the Dictatorships?” conducted by researchers at Berlin’s Free University.
“This is shocking,” said study author Klaus Schroeder. More than 7,500 school pupils aged around 15 were asked how they viewed the various governments that have ruled Germany.
Only around half were definite that the Nazi government was a dictatorship. Just over a third were certain that the former East German government was also a dictatorship.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Islam is Being Integrated More Fully in Germany
by Lewis Gropp
Two years ago, then-German President Christian Wulff stated that Islam was part of Germany, creating an uproar among more conservative followers of his Christian Democratic Union. Then, defying reason, Joachim Gauck, Germany’s new president, stated earlier this year that Muslims are part of Germany, but that he would not say Islam was. But with more than 4 million Muslims in Germany, and the principle of religious freedom enshrined in the country’s constitution, how could Islam possibly not be part of Germany? Behind the scenes, decisive steps are being taken institutionally to make Islam a more integrated part of Germany. Two years ago, the German Council for Science and Humanities recommended that Islamic theology be taught at German universities, along with training for imams and religious teachers. This was a decisive step toward the creation of an authentic German Islam — demonstrating that German culture and Muslim identity need not be in conflict.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Renewable Energy: Cyprus Not in Line With EU Rules
(ANSAmed) — NICOSIA, JUNE 22 — Cyprus is among the member states that have not yet informed the European Commission of all the measures necessary to fully transpose the renewable energy Directive into their national legislation. According to the Commission, as Famagusta Gazette reports, increasing the share of renewable energy to 20% in the EU energy consumption by 2020 relies on the commitment of Member States to fully implement the requirements of EU legislation. The Renewable Energy Directive had to be transposed by Member States by 5 December 2010. The timely transposition of this Directive is a priority for the Commission, especially since unnecessary delays in implementing it may jeopardize the achievement of the EU renewable energy objective. However, Cyprus, Ireland, Malta and Slovenia have not informed the Commission of all the measures necessary to fully transpose the Directive into their national legislation.
Therefore, the Commission has decided yesterday to send Reasoned Opinions to these Member States. If the Member States do not comply with their legal obligation within two months, the Commission may decide to refer them to the Court of Justice.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Romania: What Communism Wrought
Today my Dad would have been 84 years old. I still mourn his tragic and premature death at the hands of communist goons who took over the country of my birth and terrorized people for 41 years. Dad was barely 61 and healthy.
The benevolent dictator Ceausescu ruled Romania with an iron fist, lording over the frightened and defenseless population. His portrait was everywhere next to his hideous wife, “the Mother of the Country.” She had given herself that title along with a Ph.D. in chemistry. A fifth grade dropout, she had grandiose ideas of her faux accomplishments.
Dad hated Nicolae Ceausescu and his co-dictator wife, Elena, with a passion. He never hid his utter disdain for the arrogant, narcissistic, and uneducated couple who rose from the poverty of community organizing with empty promises of paternal and maternal care for the weak, the poor, and the downtrodden, to a life-style of the rich and famous.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sharia-Islam is Islamofascism
[Translated by JP]
The Rostock historian, Egon Flaig, characterises Islam as “presently the most dangerous rightwing radicalism of the world,” as that which follows Sharia. An Islam of this sort does not belong to Europe, he writes in a ‘clarification’ for the news magazine “Focus.”
Sharia law created a ‘religious system of apartheid’, in that it designated Muslims as masters while classifying people of other faiths as subordinate. The latter had fewer rights, their witness statements before the Court did not count against Muslims. They were not allowed to practice self-defence should they be attacked by Muslims. They had to wear identification marks on their clothes, a later development was the Jewish star.
Flaig compares these handicaps with the ideology of the Nationalsocialists, who made a racial distinction between a master race and subhumans. To this must be added the command in the Sharia to disseminate this system throughout the world, also with the help of jihad. “This Islam has never belonged to Europe.” On the contrary European culture resulted from the successful defence against Muslim invasions.
The historian identifies three characteristics of European culture and its sources:
- From Greek antiquity came republicanism and scientific inquiry;
The concept of universal human rights developed in the ‘context of Christian evangelism’;
Flaig goes on: “Talk of ‘our Judeo-Christian culture’ is just as ignorant as is the statement … Europe also stands on the legs of the Islamic Orient.”
Egon Flaig is a Professor of Ancient History since 1998, after which he taught at the University Greifswald and since 2008 at the University Rostock. He created excitement on 15 September 2006 when his article about the relationship between Islam and violence was published in the “Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung.” Here he wrote that talk of a tolerant Islam stymied the efforts of serious reformers who wished to depoliticize Islam.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Stakelbeck in Europe: Inside the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis
I just returned from eight whirlwind days in Europe, including stops in London, Brussels and Germany (Cologne, Bonn and Munich, to be specific).
My goal with the trip was twofold: 1) Continue to cover the rise of Islamism/Salafism in Europe and how it will affect America’s security. 2) Glean insight into the inner workings of the Muslim Brotherhood, indisputably the world’s most influential Islamist organization.
I’m happy to report that the Stakelbeck on Terror team was able to do that and then some, to the tune of some 11 on-the-ground reports that you’ll be seeing on CBN over the next several weeks.
Click the above link for more details.
| — Hat tip: Erick Stakelbeck | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Bomber Command: Dambusters Survivor at Memorial Unveiling
One of the three remaining survivors of the Dambusters raid will be among the veterans paying homage to their 55,573 fallen comrades when the Bomber Command Memorial is unveiled by the Queen today.
George “Johnnie” Johnson is making the trip to London from his home in Bristol to join 6,500 veterans, widows and relatives remembering those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. Mr Johnson, 90, was a bomb-aimer in a Lancaster that damaged the Sorpe dam during the legendary mission in 1943, and made his pilot Joe McCarthy to repeat his bombing run 10 times before he was satisfied enough to release his “bouncing bomb”. He will not, however, be reunited with the two other surviving airmen who flew on the raid, as they live in Canada and New Zealand and are too frail to make the trip. Mr Johnson’s son Morgan said: “He is very, very keen that people who died serving with Bomber Command should be commemorated. “He is also angry and frustrated that Bomber Command veterans seem to have been ignored by successive governments.”
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Baroness Warsi is Cleared of Serious Ministerial Code Breach
Conservative Party co-chairman Baroness Warsi has been cleared of any serious breach of the ministerial code over an official trip to Pakistan.
The prime minister’s adviser found she was guilty of only a “minor” breach for failing to declare she had been accompanied by her business partner. Lady Warsi, who has apologised to David Cameron, said it was time to “move on”. She is still facing a separate probe by a parliamentary watchdog over her claim for an accommodation allowance.
[…]
[JP note: It is her links with Islamic extremists which should be under scrutiny. See www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/9321540/Baroness-Warsi-and-the-extremist.html ]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Bee Stings Killed as Many in UK as Terrorists, Says Watchdog
Bee stings kill as many people in Britain as terrorist attacks do, according to a report by a Government watchdog who claims the risk from extremists has fallen “markedly” in recent years.
David Anderson said that no one has even been injured by an Islamist in this country for more than two years, while the number of convictions has dropped to a “handful”. As a result he suggested that ministers could relax some anti-terror laws without endangering public safety, such as by allowing terror suspects to apply for bail or making it harder to ban certain groups. Mr Anderson, a barrister who serves as the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, also congratulated the Coalition for scrapping tough stop and search powers and halving the maximum detention time for suspects to 14 days. But he added that the “almost incessant” creation of new legislation since 9/11 has left counter-terrorism laws “bitty, messy” and hard to understand. His optimistic view of the domestic security situation contrasts with that described by the head of MI5 earlier this week. Jonathan Evans, the Director General of the Security Service, warned that the Arab Spring has spawned a new generation of British terrorists while cyber attacks are damaging companies in the “real world”.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Calls to Ban English Defence League March in Bristol
AN MP has called for a march through Bristol by the English Defence League to be banned. The controversial protest group will congregate in Castle Park on July 14, the same day as Bristol Pride’s We Are: Proud lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender event takes place on College Green. A heavy police presence is guaranteed on the day, with up to 700 officers expected to be on duty to police the events, in an operation costing as much as £1 million. But Bristol East Labour MP Kerry McCarthy has called for the EDL to be barred from marching that day, saying she fears for public safety.
She has written to the city council and Avon and Somerset police saying she is “not satisfied” public order will be maintained after the march. Ms McCarthy told the Post: “For me, this is not an issue about the freedom to protest but a matter of public safety. The clash of these two quite contradictory events on the same weekend will put our city under enormous pressure and could put public safety at risk. For this reason, I have written to the police and Bristol City Council to express my profound concern and to request that they reconsider their decision to allow the EDL to march on July 14.” The MP has attacked the organisation on her website, saying: “The EDL’s reputation for Islamophobia, intolerance and public disorder runs contrary to what Pride and vast majority of decent Bristolians stand for. “We know from their previous demonstrations in towns like Luton that EDL marches place a huge burden on the police and can lead to violence and intimidation.” Meanwhile, the activist group the Bristol Anti-Fascist network has called for people to protest against the EDL and has printed leaflets and stickers which have started to appear on lampposts and walls across the city. They claim: “The EDL is a right-wing, racist organisation intent on stirring up racial hatred, religious tensions and divisions in the UK.”
However, the EDL denies the allegations. A statement on its website says: “Our motto ‘Black and White Unite’ certainly identifies the fact that we believe in a multi-racial Britain. We have never declared support for any racist agenda, such as repatriation or exclusion from Britain based on race or skin colour, and we certainly have no plans to do so. We object to, and reject completely, the totalitarian politics of both the far Right and the far Left.” The EDL describes itself as a peaceful protest group standing up for patriotic people “fed up with Islamic Extremism, Islamism and our government’s spineless inability to address the issues”. It says it is marching in the city to raise awareness of perceived cultural problems and at previous marches this year there have been relatively few arrests.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Community Leaders Axed From Birmingham Eid Mela Festival Committee
A group of Muslim community leaders are furious that they have been dumped from the committee organising Birmingham’s annual Eid Mela celebrations. Commuity members, who have been organising the event for more than a decade, were told by the new committee chairman, Coun Majid Mahmood (Lab, Hodge Hill) that they were no longer needed and would be replaced by a committee of seven city councillors. The family event, which receives £20,000 in council sponsorship, is being held in Cannon Hill Park on September 2 featuring live music, food, art and entertainment.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Dewsbury Unites to Oppose Racist EDL
MPs, trade unionists, campaigners and community groups have called for a Celebration of Unity rally in Dewsbury on Saturday 30 June.
The call comes in response to plans by the racist thugs of the English Defence League (EDL) to “demonstrate” in the city on that Saturday. The Unity campaign has called for people to gather for a peaceful anti-racist event.
Assemble 11am, junction of Foundry Street and Market Place, Dewsbury.
Please note: The assembly time has been brought forward from 1pm.
Dewsbury Unity said in a statement:
The EDL is a racist group dedicated to attacking Asian people and Muslims. Islamophobia — bigotry against Muslims — is as unacceptable as any other form of racism. Its aim is to divide us by making scapegoats of one community, just as the Nazis did with the Jews in the 1930s.Today the EDL threaten Muslims. Tomorrow it could be Jewish people, Hindus, Sikhs, black people, lesbians and gay men, travellers or East Europeans. There is no place for Nazis, racists or the EDL in Dewsbury’s multiracial, multicultural and multi-faith community.”
The following signed the call for Dewsbury Unity event:
Huddersfield TUC (Trades Council); Kirklees UNISON; Kirklees National Union of Teachers; Pakistani and Kashmiri Welfare Association (PKWA), Batley; Leeds University Universities and Colleges Union Branch; Kirklees Unite Against Fascism; Mohammed A. Pandor (Anjuman E Zinatul Islam General Secretary); Hasan Loonat (General Secretary, Masjid-e-Noor)
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Exhibition on Islamic Culture
A FOUR day exhibition is taking place to enable people to find out more about the Islamic culture. The Islamic Exhibition will be held from Thursday to Sunday at Equality House, in Raymond Street, Shelton. One of the organisers Tayyib Musqeem, aged 40, from Grove Place, Shelton said: “We want to welcome non-Muslims as well as Muslims to come and visit the exhibition to learn a bit more about our Islamic culture. The exhibition is free to enter and will be open between 10am and 6pm daily.” Tayyib added: “We already have more than 10 schools confirmed as coming along which is a great turnout. We want to remove some of the myths surrounding our culture.” The exhibition will feature artefacts and historical documents linked with the religion. There will also be a model display of Mecca.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Former City Worker Described as ‘Narcissistic Psychopath’ Jailed for Six Years After Leading Campaign of Harassment Against Ex-Girlfriend
A twisted city worker who terrorised his ex-girlfriend’s family — stalking them with a crossbow and setting fire to their home — has been jailed indefinitely.
Al Amin Dhalla, 42, described as a ‘narcissistic psychopath’, mounted a chilling hate campaign after being dumped by 35-year-old doctor Alison Hewitt, from Brighton, East Sussex.
At one point the police were so concerned for her family’s safety that they had to be airlifted from their holiday home on Lundy Island off the Devon coast.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Hackney Mosque Opens Doors to Offer Meals to Those in Need
Worshippers at the Ramazan-I Serif mosque on Shacklewell Lane are supporting those in poverty by providing cooked meals twice a month
Once a fortnight, the Ramazan-I Serif mosque on Shacklewell Lane serves full cooked meals to the poor and those in need in Hackney. These evenings, which have grown in popularity since they started in August 2011, are now a huge success with over 80 people being served. Hackney’s mosques do all manner of community work to support their worshippers both young and old. What is unique about the Ramazan-I Serif mosque’s community meals is that they are open to all members of the wider local community in need, irrespective of their faith.
[…]
[JP note: Hackeneyed poverty jihad.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Leicestershire Councillor Graham Partner’s Leaflet Was Breach of Conduct Code
A Leicestershire councillor undermined good race relations by producing a leaflet which criticised Muslims, a watchdog has found. Councillor Graham Partner — who quit the BNP to sit as an independent — has been censured “in the strongest possible terms” for sending out the New Year message to more than 5,000 voters in his Coalville division.
The leaflet, which featured part of an article from a national newspaper, said victimhood “comes easily” to followers of Islam. The leaflet said: “Every terrorist atrocity, every blood-soaked massacre is justified by reference to imagined grievances. But the greatest persecutors of other faiths are Muslim, themselves.”
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Student Promotion of Hizb ut-Tahrir Highlights the Group’s Influence on Campus
Here at Student Rights we have regularly highlighted the way in which the extremist Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) attempt to target students, including speaking on campuses and using student activists to disseminate material and promote events. This tactic was also pointed out by the Prevent Review, which stated that “we believe there is unambiguous evidence to indicate that some extremist organisations, notably Hizb-ut-Tahrir, target specific universities and colleges…with the objective of radicalising and recruiting students“.
In our recent report ‘Challenging Extremists’, we uncovered evidence of close ideological connections between a network of students and HT. This ranged from the regular sharing of HT material via student social media pages to organising events involving senior HT members.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Soldier Pallbearers Refused a Cup of Tea Before Comrade’s Funeral Because They Were in Uniform
Six soldiers who were preparing to carry the coffin of a fallen comrade killed in Afghanistan were refused a cup of tea in a bar because they were wearing military uniform.
The servicemen, one of whom was the dead soldier’s brother, had taken a short break from rehearsing their duties for the funeral of Cpl Michael Thacker. Cpl Thacker, 27, of 1st Battalion The Royal Welsh, was shot dead on June 1 while manning an observation post in the Helmand district of Nahr-e-Saraj. The father-of-one was laid to rest at Coventry Cathedral with his brother Matthew, also a serving soldier, as one of six pallbearers to carry his coffin. After rehearsing for the ceremony, the group attempted to purchase a cup of tea at Brown’s bar, near the cathedral in Coventry city centre at lunchtime. Instead, staff told the grieving friends they could not serve them because they were wearing military uniforms which broke their dress code.
The shocked servicemen said they then left the bar and went to a nearby pub which served them hot drinks for free. Bar owner Ken Brown said: “I apologise to the family. I wasn’t on the premises at the time. If I was things may have been different. “Staff were unaware of the funeral. They were just following the company’s rules. I don’t really know what else I can say.” A Facebook group calling for people to boycott the bar on Saturday, which is Armed Forces Day, had yesterday attracted a 40,000 followers.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: The Far-Right Leader in a Sikh Headscarf and a Very Disturbing Anti-Muslim Alliance: EDL Joins Protesters Angry at ‘Grooming of Girls’
At first, the dozen white men mingling with 300 or so Sikh demonstrators besieging Luton police station went largely unnoticed.
They stood on the fringes, content to observe. But as the night wore on and the intensity of the protest increased, the white men grew more raucous and aggressive.
What was remarkable about their presence was that they were members of the far-Right English Defence League.
They had turned up to express support for their Sikh ‘brothers’ who were angry at the way detectives had handled an allegation that a young Sikh woman had been sexually assaulted by a Muslim man.
The EDL makes no secret that it loathes Islamism, but stresses that, unlike the British National Party, it embraces all other creeds.
That said, when EDL supporters have taken to the streets in the past they have done so with St George’s flags and banners bearing inflammatory slogans.
More…
In Luton all 12 men, including EDL leader Tommy Robinson and his right-hand man Kevin Carroll, wore a rumal, the traditional Sikh headscarf.
That night — May 29 — racial tensions had risen in the multicultural town and this time it was Luton’s usually equable Sikh community that was angry.
Bringing traffic to a standstill, female protesters lay down in the dual-carriageway that splits the town centre. Others demanded answers from individual officers.
While there was much anger and plenty of noise, there was no violence, and by midnight it was all over. Yet that night a curious alliance was formed.
A Mail on Sunday investigation has established that the leadership of the EDL has aligned itself with groups of radical Sikhs from Luton, the West Midlands and other parts of the country, who are furious that young women in their communities are, as they see it, being sexually exploited and groomed by British-Pakistani Muslims.
Two days after the protest, Sikhs and EDL members held a secret meeting in Luton to discuss a joint response to the problem. Both sides are said to have favoured acts of vigilantism.
There has been unofficial contact between Sikhs and the EDL for some time, and the links were cemented at the protest.
Asked about the secret meeting, Mr Robinson said: ‘Who told you about that? We can’t comment on exactly what we will do with the Sikhs but we will do whatever we can to work together, raise awareness and combat the problem.’
When pressed about plans to carry out vigilante acts, Mr Robinson — who earlier this year was the focus of a Channel 4 documentary called Proud And Prejudiced — said:
‘When the police fail to protect the community, when they fail to protect daughters, we have to protect them.
‘We live in a community where Muslim paedophile gangs are operating without police pressure. If a Sikh girl is attacked in Luton that is my problem because she is a member of my community.
‘I class everyone in my community as everyone who is non-Islamic.’
The EDL has held many demonstrations across the country since it was formed in Luton in March 2009 after Muslim radicals disrupted a homecoming parade by the Royal Anglian Regiment. It has become the most significant far-Right street movement in Britain since the National Front in the Seventies.
Nick Lowles, director of the anti-fascist organisation Hope Not Hate, said: ‘We are aware there has been contact between the EDL and a small group of radical Sikhs. But there is nothing to be gained by anyone in the Sikh community linking up with the racist EDL.
‘We need to tackle the issue of child exploitation, but it needs to be a community-wide response.’
While the EDL supporters in Luton were welcomed by some, the town’s Sikh elders viewed their presence at the protest as opportunism.
They accuse EDL leaders of trying to hijack the protest and exploiting difficulties between their community and the town’s large Pakistani Muslim population.
The issue of grooming is at the heart of that discord.
The group of radical Sikhs says it receives about three calls a week from Sikh parents fearing their children are being targeted.
There have been few prosecutions, however, largely because the issue touches upon notions of honour and shame.
Jasvinder Singh Nagra, of the Luton Gurdwara temple, said: ‘Young girls of school and college age are being targeted by men from the Pakistani community.
They are duping them into believing they are in love and it all comes to grief because they are treated as sex toys.
‘A small proportion of the Pakistani community feel it is fair game to go for Sikh and Hindu girls.
‘In the past, the Pakistani community have not taken this seriously and neither have the police. They have not looked into the role played by coercion or blackmail.
‘We know that at colleges and universities you have young Muslim men wearing the kara [a bangle worn by Sikhs] to pretend they are part of the community, or they change their names to pretend to be Sikh and our girls fall for it.
‘Before they know it they are with this man and then compromising photographs will be taken of her. She will be threatened with having these shown to her family and the fear of losing honour is a very powerful tool to make her do what the man wants.’
But Mr Nagra said protest organisers did not share EDL’s values. ‘The arrival of the EDL was a total surprise to me,’ he added.
‘They were there to try to make an alliance over what they felt was a common issue. It caused a great deal of anxiety because we wanted, above all, for the protest to be peaceful.
‘The EDL leaders were showing off to our young people by being very aggressive in the way they spoke to the police, pretending to be doing it out of solidarity.
‘I would advise our young people not to be lured down the EDL route of taking the law into our own hands and vigilante activity.’
In response, the day after the protest, some 40 leaders from the Sikh and Muslim communities met at the Gurdwara to discuss their differences in a two-hour meeting.
Mr Nagra said: ‘I was delighted that so many people from the Pakistani community came.’
Zafar Khan, of the Luton Council of Faiths, who chaired the meeting, said: ‘The idea that there is an orchestrated campaign by young Muslim men to target young Sikh women is totally insulting and wrong. This is the language of the EDL.’
He added: ‘The threat of the EDL is very great in Luton. We have a lot of experience in dealing with them and that is why we reacted so promptly.
‘Now we will meet every couple of months to talk about inter- community issues.’
A Bedfordshire Police spokesman urged anyone with evidence of grooming of people ‘from any faith or group’ to come forward, but added that there was nothing to indicate that ‘systematic’ grooming of Sikh girls was taking place in Luton.
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
UK: World’s First GM Babies Born
The world’s first geneticallymodified humans have been created, it was revealed last night.
The disclosure that 30 healthy babies were born after a series of experiments in the United States provoked another furious debate about ethics.
So far, two of the babies have been tested and have been found to contain genes from three ‘parents’.
Genetic fingerprint tests on two one-year- old children confirm that they have inherited DNA from three adults — two women and one man.
The fact that the children have inherited the extra genes and incorporated them into their ‘germline’ means that they will, in turn, be able to pass them on to their own offspring.
Altering the human germline — in effect tinkering with the very make-up of our species — is a technique shunned by the vast majority of the world’s scientists.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Whistleblower Reveals Plan to Evacuate London During Olympics
An undercover journalist going by the pseudonym ‘Lee Hazledean’ has blown the whistle on astounding revelations about how he infiltrated the G4S — the company responsible for security at the London Olympics — and discovered shocking plans for the evacuation of London, 200,000 ‘casket linings’ being on standby, along with botched security procedures that leave the Games wide open to attack.
Hazledean’s interview with Tony Gosling, Bilderberg.org editor and host of BCFM’s Friday Drivetime, has gone viral on the web over the last few days. Hazledean is an undercover journalist for a television program in London and has worked with news agencies on hard-hitting subjects, but when he approached the mainstream media with his bombshell story, they showed no interest.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: How Women Are Targeted by Gangs in Egypt’s Tahrir Square
by Richard Spencer
For many people, the most unbelievable aspect of Natasha Smith’s story is that hundreds of people should have been standing there, unable or unwilling to help.
It is not unbelievable to me: on another occasion, I was one of those people. I had heard the stories of sexual violence inflicted on women in Tahrir Square by both the army and the street thugs of Cairo. I had seen the thugs themselves, hanging around menacingly even in broad daylight. So when I saw it, it was immediately clear what was happening. It did not make it seem any the less unreal. I was with my 18-year-old son, walking past the Egyptian National Museum at dusk, when we heard the shouts and saw the scrum. Two young women, local and modestly dressed in colourful headscarves, were surrounded by a gang of about 30 young men. Two other men who seemed to be their friends were trying to fight off the attackers, and, naturally enough, my son and I waded in to help.
It soon became apparent that there was nothing we could do — however hard we fought, we could not get near them, and in the meantime scores more men had joined in.
It is impossible to say, even in retrospect, but I would estimate at least half, possibly three quarters of those involved were, like me, trying to help. But undeniably, we were making things worse as the melee just grew. We extricated ourselves, and watched painfully as the mob, as if a sprawling beast, moved along the pavement and into the well of the closed metro station nearby. There was no escape there — the girls’ friends frantically tried to open the slatted gates into the station, but to no avail. We made a second attempt to help, but were beaten back.
We spoke to onlookers, who shrugged their shoulders — there were no police to call, they said. An ambulance arrived, but was also beaten back. One older man then approached and in nervous English asked us to leave. “You cannot help,” he said, “And are doing more harm than good. You are attracting more crowds.” I could not believe what he was saying, but it was undeniably true. In the dusk, two tall blond foreign men were their own magnet. Hanging our heads, we complied. We walked round the block, and came back to find the whole scene empty, as if it had been a dream. I asked two men what had happened. They looked at me blankly. I read in the local papers the next day a report of two such attacks, which had eventually been broken up, and the girls taken to hospital. It did not make me feel any better. I still look back, and wonder what I could have done differently. I still do not know the answer, but I also know that in all my adult life, I have never felt so ashamed, or so useless.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Food: Algeria Imports 60% of Requirements
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, JUNE 19 — Algeria is facing up to a food bill which requires the spending of several billion dollars per year. According to the latest estimates, imports of foodstuffs account for as much as 60% of the country’s requirements — for which 5 billion dollars were spent, a figure which has been rising steadily over the past few years. As experts have underscored, this situation is due to the country being well behind others in terms of the modernisation of cultivation techniques, which in the wheat sector is especially clear. Compared with the 70 quintals per hectare cultivated with wheat in developed countries, Algeria gets only 17 quintals. The efforts that the bodies overseeing the nation’s agricultural sector are now making are directed at attempts to raise this ratio, which in ten years’ time is expected to reach 30 quintals of durum wheat and 40 of bread wheat per hectare cultivated.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Frank Gaffney: Who ‘Lost’ Egypt?
In the past, American presidential campaigns have featured bitter recriminations over foreign policy reverses. Harry Truman was charged with having “lost China” following the take-over of the Chinese mainland by Mao Tse-Tung’s communists. In subsequent years similar formulations were used to challenge those responsible for the loss to the Free World of Vietnam, Iran and post-Soviet Russia.
Today, the question for voters in the 2012 election to ponder might be posed as “Who lost Egypt?” To make matters worse, it is likely that the losses won’t stop there.
Indeed, before it’s over, we may well see nearly all the Middle East fall under the sway of the team President Obama has helped come to power in Cairo — the Muslim Brotherhood, to the grave detriment of the people most immediately affected, of Israel and of our interests, there and here…
| — Hat tip: CSP | [Return to headlines] |
20 Years on: ‘The Legendary Moto Guzzi’ Is Back
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV — In an eye-catching headline, today’s edition of the daily paper Yediot Ahronot announces the return to Israel after a twenty-year absence of Moto Guzzi, a vehicle that once was both “highly esteemed and loved” by local bike lovers. The bike harks back to a time when Japanese industry was snubbing Israel in order keep its Arab markets sweet, and the Moto Guzzi became the market leader. Many recall the Moto Guzzi TT 650 used by disgraced businessman Roni Leibovic to rob 22 bank branches in rapid succession, without ever firing a shot. The bike-mounted bank robber was nicknamed ‘Ofno-Bank’ by the press and his capture came as a disappointment to many as by then Leibovic represented the figure of the lone combatant against the power of finance. Moto Guzzis, the report continues, are to be marketed in Israel once again by Piaggio distributors. The latter brand ranks third in the market and has been at home in Israel for generations now. Two months ago there was a homage to the Vespa by Tel Aviv’s film museum, showing the cinematic and social presence of the scooter. While its importers are keeping their cards to their chest, Yediot Ahronot expects Moto Guzzi to be a hit among adults who loved the bike as children. It could also attract interest, the paper says, among the Israeli police, providing a competitor to BMW.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Arab Rage: Putin Recognized Jerusalem’s Jewish Past
At Kotel, Russian president said “Here we see how the Jewish past is etched into the stones of Jerusalem.”
Arab Muslims are enraged by remarks made by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kotel, recognizing Jerusalem’s Jewish roots.
Putin visited the Kotel Tuesday night and toured the Kotel tunnels. He also said: “Here, we see how the Jewish past is etched into the stones of Jerusalem.”
This short remark has aroused the wrath of local Arab leaders, who vehemently deny that the Temple Mount is where the Jewish Temples stood and that Jerusalem was the seat of the Hebrew monarchy for many centuries, long before Mohammed was born.
Attorney Zahi Najidat, spokesman for the Islamic Movement in “the Palestinian Interior” (i.e. — the state of Israel), denounced Putin for allegedly siding with Israel, and mentioned Russia’s support for Bashar Assad “who is slaughtering his own countrymen.”
The Al Aqsa Institute issued a statement to the press in which it said: “We tell Putin and people like him that the Al-Buraq Wall is exclusive Muslim Waqf property, is an inseperable part of the blessed Al Aqsa Mosque and non-Muslims have no rights at this wall or at the blessed Al Aqsa Mosque, and all historic facts and international documents stress the fact that the Al Buraq Wall is Islamic…”
“We stress that every stone in the Al Aqsa Mosque and its buildings shows is evidence that it is Islamic and every stone in Al Quds is testimony to Al Quds’s Muslim and Arabic nature.”
Terror group Hamas’s spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, said that Hamas rejects Putin’s statement, which he says contradicts historic facts and the Shaw Report of 1930. The Shaw Report was issued by a British delegation after the large scale Arab massacre of Jews in 1929, and said anti-Jewish hostility had resulted from the political and economic frustrations of the Arabs.
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
Chazan: Democracy is Not Majority Rule
Naomi Chazan ends her term as New Israel Fund president, is replaced by Brian Lurie.
Naomi Chazan has ended a tumultuous term as president of New Israel Fund (NIF), which leads the ultra-leftist camp in Israel through the use of neo-Marxist tactics and public advocacy “rights groups,” and the promotion of “politically correct” Newspeak. The Fund has disbursed well over $200 million in its 23 years of existence.
In her farewell speech at the New Israel Fund’s 2012 Guardian of Democracy Dinner in San Francisco last week, Chazan used Newspeak to describe the current state of events in Israel as a “tug-of-war” between the “neo-nationalist” camp in Israel and the “democratic revival” of “civil society.”
Chazan made it clear that in her view, “democracy” does not refer to majority rule and that she sees Israel’s democratically elected government as ruling only “on the formal level.”
“When you ask Israelis today what is the best form of government in the world — it is democracy,” she said. “But when you ask Israelis what is democracy, over 50% say ‘majority rule.’ That should get you worried. Very much so. The democratic recession has led to a neo-nationalist upsurge in Israel, which is hegemonic. It rules on the formal level.”
“Neo-nationalist Israel is doing very well at the formal level,” she added, noting that the coalition has 94 MKs at present…
| — Hat tip: DW | [Return to headlines] |
Bombs Kill 13 in Iraq, Wound More Than 50
(Reuters) — Three bombings in and around Baghdad killed 13 people and wounded more than 50 on Thursday, hospital sources and police said, the latest in a wave of attacks to raise fears of a return to widespread sectarian violence in Iraq.
In the deadliest of Thursday’s attacks, at least eight people were killed and 30 wounded when a bomb in a parked car exploded at the entrance of a Baghdad market in the mainly Shi’ite Muslim district of Washash, hospital sources and police said.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Caroline Glick: About Those Jews…
So it works out that Iran’s vice president really hates Jews. In fact, he hates Jews so much that even The New York Times reported it. On Tuesday, the Times published an account of Iranian Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi’s speech before a UN forum on fighting drug addiction in Tehran.
Rahimi claimed that Jews control the illegal drug trade. We sell drugs, he said, in order to fulfill what he said is a Talmudic writ to “destroy everyone who opposes the Jews.”
He said that our conspiracy is obvious since, he claimed, there are no Jewish drug addicts.
He went so far as to promise to pay anyone who can find a Jewish drug addict.
As he put it, “The Islamic Republic of Iran will pay for anybody who can research and find one single Zionist who is an addict. They do not exist. This is the proof of their involvement in drugs trade.”
Oops, sorry, he doesn’t hate Jews. He hates Zionists.
Some of his best friends are Jews…
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
Hegemons Seeking to Undermine Iran to Contain Islamic Awakening — Leader
MASHHAD — Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has said that the global tyrants are seeking to undermine the Islamic system, whose victories have provided incentives for Muslim nations to pursue Islamic causes more vigorously. “Today, the bullying global powers have focused their efforts to harm the Islamic Republic system and its great movement, which is a source of inspiration for the Muslim world,” the Leader said during a meeting with judicial officials in Mashhad on Wednesday. Ayatollah Khamenei said, “The current awakening in the Muslim world and the ever-increasing zeal of the masses for Islamic causes” are the result of Iran’s increasing influence in the Muslim world.
[…]
[JP note: On the contrary hegemons such as Obama are more than diligent in awakening the beast.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Downed Jet Was Flying With Another Plane: CHP Deputy
A Turkish jet downed June 22 was flying in tandem with another aircraft when Syrian forces took it down, according to Republican People Party (CHP) deputy Orhan Düzgün.
Düzgün demanded that the government reveal the nationality of the accompanying jet, which “Hatay locals saw with their naked eyes.”
“There were two planes flying. The fate of that second plane remains unknown. The government now denies the existence of a plane clearly seen by the people of Hatay,” Düzgün said.
“The key to solving this issue is [the second jet]. Who did it belong to and what was it doing over there?” Düzgün asked.
The second jet belonged to a NATO member but further information on its country of origin has not been provided by official sources, Düzgün said.
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
The Al-Qaeda-Muslim Brotherhood Coalition
Not long ago the Arab Spring was seen as a harbinger of democracy. It turns out that, instead, it’s creating breeding grounds for international terror-and safe havens for al-Qaeda itself. That is not just a polemical opinion but the somber assessment of the director-general of Britain’s MI5 internal security agency, Jonathan Evans. The Telegraph reports that Evans, in a rare lecture this week in London, warned that today parts of the Arab world have once more become a permissive environment for al-Qaeda.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Tony Blair: We Can’t Ignore the Middle East’s Hunger for Change
by Tony Blair
The West applauds Egypt. But it must now reinforce the idea that democracy is a way of thinking, not just of voting
One of the things about being a leader is that the crises don’t always come sequentially. It would be great if, today, political leaders could confront the economic crisis of the eurozone as the rest of the world stayed calm. But it is at this very time that the Middle East and beyond is also in a state of turmoil. Both crises are really tough; both require active engagement to overcome them. The arrival of a Muslim Brotherhood president in Egypt completes an extraordinary process of change and will naturally be accompanied by mixed emotions. Some will see in it a chance for Egyptians to escape the old era and its ways. Others will fear what a political party that is avowedly religious in motivation and doctrinal content will do.
[…]
[Reader comment by barry1858 on 27 June 2012 at about 2pm.]
I quite like Blair as a bloke but his naivety shines so clearly through this piece. The ‘Arab Spring’ has only ever had one outcome and that is Islamic rule, because wherever the mind-forged manacles of Islam are in the majority, they will never, ever rest until they have an Islamic State. And for Blair’s benefit, an Islamic State is like a one party arrangement, with no possibility, whatsoever, of there ever being a democracy. What Blair understands as ‘politics’ simply do not,and can never, exist under the totalitarian regime of Islam. Once brain-washed, often from the age of 3, the idea of independent thought is forever impossible.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Troops Are Piling Up on Both Sides of the Syria-Turkey Border as Tensions Escalate
Both Turkey and Syria have reportedly sent troops to their shared border in the aftermath of the downing of a Turkish jet last week.
Yesterday Al Arabiya reported that Turkey was deploying troops and at least 30 Turkish military vehicles equipped with anti-aircraft rocket launchers to the border, straight west of the Syrian city of Aleppo, as a precautionary measure after one of its jets was shot down on June 22 after the jet had strayed into Syrian airspace for five minutes.
Today Free Syria Army (FSA) General Mustafa al-Sheikh, head of the association of senior officers who defected from President Bashar al-Assad’s forces (i.e. Higher Military Council), told Reuters that about 170 Syrian tanks had assembled north of Aleppo, about 19 miles from the Turkish border.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey Increases Its Military Presence at Syrian Border
Turkey deploys rocket launchers and artillery down to bases near the Syrian border as rhetoric from Ankara increases over tensions.
A military convoy left from a base at the port city of Iskenderun and arrived at military compounds near Syrian border, the Dogan news agency reported. Tensions have escalated between Turkey and Syria following the shooting down of a Turkish military aircraft by Syrian air defences, giving a new international dimension to the worsening conflict in Syria.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told Syria to beware the wrath of Turkey after the shooting down of the plane and said he had ordered the armed forces to react to any military threat from Syria near the two countries’ border.
[…]
[JP note: Don’t irk the Turk.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Turkish Cypriot “Subservient” To Ankara, Talat Says
(ANSAmed) — NICOSIA, JUNE 22 — Former Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat has said the “subservience” of the Turkish Cypriot administration to Turkey has jeopardized the breakaway states future, as daily Famagusta Gazette reports. He said that the relationship between the occupation regime and Turkey has become one of master and servant, describing it as a “custody relationship”, which is getting worse. Talat said that every thought coming to the occupied areas from Turkey, is considered an order by the “administration” and added that in his time things were very different.
“At that times no intervention came from Turkey. It was the army which was strong and we had problems with them”. He went on and added that if there is no solution, the Turkish Cypriots will be eliminated.
He said further that Ankara is not interested for the Cyprus problem. While the “government” pretends that there is no problem with Turkey, he said, the reaction against Ankara inside the society is very strong and is growing bigger. As he said the Turkish Cypriot businessmen complain about unfair competition between companies that come from Turkey and Turkish Cypriot companies.
Talat also said that the trade unions especially, are reacting strongly against Turkey and they are sending the message that the Turkish Cypriots want to administrate themselves.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Canadian Military Police Cleared in Afghanistan Abuse Report
OTTAWA-Eight military police officers were cleared of wrongdoing for not investigating Canadian commanders who may have turned a blind eye to battlefield detainees being tortured by Afghan authorities. Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government penchant for secrecy bore the brunt of the Military Police Complaints Commission’s criticism in the final report of a four-year investigation of Canada’s handling of Afghan detainees. But after reams of public testimony, years of political brinksmanship and several on-the-ground investigation of Afghanistan’s notorious prisons, the last avenue for probing whether Canadian politicians and military leaders broke international law by putting detainees in the custody of potential torturers has run its course with no conclusive result.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Carabiniere Killed in Afghanistan
Two others injured in attack on training camp
(ANSA) — Rome, June 25 — An Italian paramilitary policeman was killed and two others were injured on Monday in an attack on an Afghan police training camp in the western town of Adraskan.
The fatality takes Italy’s death toll in the NATO-led ISAF mission up to 51.
According to initial reports, the sentry box the members of the Carabinieri force were in was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.
Manuele Braj, a 30-year-old from the southern town Galatina of Lecce, leaves behind a wife and an eight-month-old boy.
“It’s very sad news,” said Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi. “We have lost a courageous young Italian who was working to build a more secure future for our children and an Afghanistan in which the Afghans can decide their future. “I express my support for the family of our Carabiniere, to whom I give my deepest condolences, and for the others injured in this cowardly attack”.
The two injured men have been taken to an American base hospital at Shindand with serious leg wounds. They are not in a life-threatening condition.
Premier Mario Monti gave his “deepest and most sincere condolences” to Braj’s family. “My thoughts go to the family of Braj and to the Carabinieri, who are engaged in an important mission training the Afghan police forces,” Monti said. “I hope the Carabinieri injured in the attack recover soon.
“Our country is making a very big effort in Afghanistan to support stability and security against international terrorism”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
India: Kareena Won’t Convert to Islam to Marry Saif
She will follow in Sharmila Tagore’s footsteps by wearing her sharara for the big day but Kareena Kapoor will not convert to Islam like her mom-in-law-to-be did 43 years back. Kareena will reportedly not change her name or identity for marrying beau Saif Ali Khan. In fact, Saif himself told Mail Today,”I would never want her (Kareena) to change her religion. That is the trouble with religion really… it expects conversion. I don’t buy or believe that. I think it’s good that the government, too, has — unless I’m misinformed about the law amended to include it in the Special Marriage Act. If and when we do get married, no one has to change his or her religion.”
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Maldives Sees Islamist Resurgence
WASHINGTON — Former Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed has expressed concerns about the state of democracy in his home country, noting the dividing effect of a rising tide of Islamist extremism. In the midst of a tour of the United States that “includes an award from the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict”, Nasheed, speaking at the US Institute of Peace (USIP), said: “People don’t want radical Islam to take over.”
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Rape Case in Afghanistan Turns Focus on Local Police
KUNDUZ, Afghanistan — The policeman spoke with calm and assurance as he insisted that he could not have raped the teenage daughter of a local sheepherder, because a mullah had married them just before intercourse. “Once the marriage contract is done, any sexual intercourse is not considered rape,” said Khodaidad, 42, who until he was detained in the case had worked for the U.S.-trained Afghan Local Police. His brother, Ghulam Sakhi, accused by the young woman of participating in her abduction, sat beside Mr. Khodaidad on the floor of a small traditional reception room at the Kunduz provincial jail. He chimed in: “In Pashtun culture, the girls do not have the right to say who they marry and who they don’t want to marry. Whomever their parents choose for them, they should marry.”
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
China’s Cops Get Gatling Guns
While the world bites its nails over China’s military growth, China itself has more internal concerns. 2012 marks the second year since national spending on “public security” has surpassed that of the military. This year’s budget for jails, courts, police and various security and para-military forces is 701.8 billion yuan (US$110 bn), an 11.5% increase from 2011. By contrast, military spending went up 11.2% to 670 billion yuan (US$105 bn).
Disaster relief and border patrol are just part of public security’s purview. Police and para-military are often called in to control “mass incidents,” public gatherings and protests. Armed police were dispatched to Lhasa after two monks self-immolated on May 27. Others have gone to the scene of riots in Zhongshan and Zuotan, Guangdong.
The star of this year’s China Police Expo at the Beijing International Convention Center was a 7.62 mm Gatling machine gun built by the Chongqing Jianshe Industry Group (pictured above). It can fire anywhere from 2500 to 6000 rounds per minute.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
China Seeks to be OIC Observer
In a significant development, China has officially desired to be made an observer member at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the Jeddah-based 57-member group of Islamic nations. China’s deputy foreign minister Jhaa Jane told visiting OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu in Beijing on Wednesday that his country desired to obtain the observer member status at the group. “He expressed his country’s desire to know the list of criteria required for becoming an observer member in the OIC, voicing hope that China could get this membership in the forthcoming meeting of the OIC council of foreign ministers in Djibouti,” a spokesperson for Mr Ihsanoglu told this newspaper.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Uighurs Attempt Hijacking With Broken Crutch, Bid Foiled
From K J M Varma Beijing, Jun 29 (PTI) Uighur militants today made a brazen but futile bid to hijack a passenger plane using a broken crutch in China’s restive Xinjiang region, creating a mid-air drama which climaxed with alert passengers and crew overpowering the six hijackers. The incident that left 10 people injured occurred in the restive Xinjiang province of western China, where Uighur Muslim militants are fighting against Chinese rule. The Tianjin Airlines’ Flight GS 7554 flight carrying 100 people took off from Hotan airport and was headed to the Xinjiang capital of Urumqi, 1400 km away, but just 10 minutes into air six hijackers tried to take over the aircraft, state run Xinhua news agency quoted regional public security bureau as saying. The hijackers tried to break into the cockpit using a broken crutch as a weapon but were overpowered by passengers and crew, a statement from Hou Hanmin, a spokeswoman for the Xinjiang regional government was quoted as saying by BBC. At least ten passengers and crew were injured. While two flight policemen were seriously injured, a head attendant and seven passengers were slightly injured in the fight with hijackers, police said. The plane returned to the Hotan airport and the suspects were detained. Police said they were Uighur separatists. Xinjiang, the home of Uygurs, a Turkik speaking Muslim community has experienced ethnic clashes as Uighurs have resented the increasing settlement of Han Chinese majority in their region. (MORE)
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
Australia: Facebook Page Aims to Inflame Muslim Tensions
A Facebook page opposing the Syrian regime has been set up, listing several businesses it says should be boycotted for allegedly supporting the regime of President Bashar al Assad. But businesses targeted by the group say the people behind the page belong to a minority that’s trying to stir up tensions within Australia’s Muslim community.
Transcript
EMILY BOURKE: Relations between Turkey and Syria are continuing to deteriorate, with accusations that Syria has fired at a second Turkish plane after shooting down one fighter jet last Friday. Turkey has labelled Syria’s actions a hostile act of the highest order and called an emergency NATO meeting to discuss the incident. And the sectarian divisions in the Middle East are also being felt in Australia, with one group inflaming tensions here, via social media. One Facebook page, called Boycott Tyranny has been set up, listing a number of locally run Shia and Alawi-run businesses it says should be boycotted, to show support for its quote “Syrian brethren”.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Gina Rinehart Saves the World
by James Delingpole
Which of these makes a more useful contribution to the well-being of the world, would you say?
a) an industry which creates thousands of (very well-paid) jobs, brings in billions of dollars in export earnings, massively boosts economic growth, contributes greatly to the government’s tax revenues and furnishes the world with an incredibly useful product essential to everything from bridge- and house-building to car manufacture to sauce pans to knives and forks.
b) an industry which depends for its survival on spreading fear and panic around the world — poisoning the minds of children, warping the outlook of adults — using a mix of junk science and propaganda with a view, ultimately, to slowing economic growth, rationing consumption, stealing freedoms, increasing taxes and regulation, and subverting the democratic process.
Hmm. Yes. I think so too.
As exhibit a) I present to you the Australian Iron Ore industry. As exhibit b) I present the environment industry, as embodied by publicity stunts like Earth Hour and anti-jobs, anti-growth activist organisations such as Earth Hour’s co-sponsors the World Wildlife Fund.
Now, which of those two industries would pose the greater threat were it to gain any kind of control over a large and influential media organisation?
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Hostel in Australia Refuses to Take Irish
A DUBLIN man who runs a pub and hostel in the north Queensland town of Prosperpine is refusing to accommodate any more Irish backpackers after a series of drunken and property-damaging incidents.
The latest episode saw two Irish men being arrested at the hostel adjoining O’Duinns bar after they allegedly caused damage by breaking chairs, windows and a table.
Thomas Dunne, whose business is close to the famous Airlie Beach resort, said: “We have security here from 11 o’clock at night because people are getting up at five for work [on local farms] and it’s usually the Irish ones who are causing all the problems.
“The security tell me they are getting the same from the Irish at pubs in Airlie Beach, giving them lots of lip.
“It used to be the English,” he added, “now it’s the Irish.”
Mr Dunne’s 55-bed backpacker hostel is used by young people on working holiday visas who work on farms for three months in order to get a second-year visa.
He said some local farmers no longer wanted to hire Irish people because of their poor work.
“We’ve just been told by one farm a couple of days ago ‘We’re not taking any more Irish or English, no Europeans at all. All we want is Koreans’.
“So we sent 40 Koreans out to that farm.”
After these and other incidents, including an alleged arson attack by an Irish woman, Mr Dunne no longer wants Irish people staying on his premises.
“If Irish people ring up we say ‘Sorry, we’re full’.
“If they’re going to be here for three months [working on a farm] you don’t want all that trouble, that’s why we knock them back straight away.”
Mr Dunne added: “It’s distressing for my wife. She’s just gone to the police now because she can’t put up with it. And also my 17-year-old daughter, who is working here in the bar with us: she is all distressed about what’s happening.”
Mr Dunne, who also has a 15- year-old son and a 19-year-old daughter who is currently in Dublin, contrasted the behaviour of some Irish backpackers with that of asylum-seekers trying to get to Australia.
“Hundreds of poor boat people died last week trying to get into Australia,” he said, “and these guys who could not get a job in Ireland have been given the opportunity to work and the opportunity to extend their visa an extra year by working 12 weeks on a farm.”
He said “low-lifes” who caused damage should be kept in Ireland to “give the real refugees a chance”.
| — Hat tip: McR | [Return to headlines] |
Mali: Tuareg, Islamist Rebels Clash in Northern Mali
MALIAN Tuareg and Islamist rebels yesterday clashed in the northern town of Gao, witnesses told Agence France Presse (AFP). “It is happening not far from the governorate; fighters from the two movements are firing at each other with heavy weapons,” said the owner of a petrol station next to the governor’s offices. The fighters were the Tuareg National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and members of the Al-Qaeda offshoot Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO)
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Nigeria: Why Churches Are Target of Bombings — Police
The Nigerian Police have given reason why places of worship have become the main targets of bombing attacks in the country. According to a release by the Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, Mr. Frank Mba, most churches have limited protective measures and do not demand any means of identification before worshippers are allowed in.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Luis Fleischmann: The Lugo Case and Its Discontents: A Symptom of Regional Pathology
The ouster of Paraguayan president, Fernando Lugo, after a brief impeachment and the reactions it has generated provide a lot of food for thought. The event that took place in Paraguay disclosed a number of problems that not only concern Paraguay, itself, but the region as a whole.
The Ouster of Fernando Lugo
I am in agreement with all those who claim that the impeachment process by the Paraguayan Senate was too fast and did not allow Lugo the opportunity to properly defend himself in what was supposed to be a fair congressional trial.
It is interesting to note that had Paraguayan democracy been a parliamentary system, the same action would have constituted a vote of non- confidence in the prime minister who would have had to step down immediately. In other words, in a parliamentary system the ouster of Lugo would have constituted a legitimate step. Historically, in countries such as Italy, this case has been the rule rather than the exception.
One of the problems in the Latin American presidential system is that presidents historically have had more power than Congress and have used it and abused it. This is very much in contrast with the American system where presidential powers are more limited…
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Luis Fleischmann and Nancy Menges: The Next Mexican President and the ‘War on Drugs’
On July 1st, Mexicans are going to the polls to elect the next president of Mexico.
Twelve years ago, the decade’s long rule of the Revolutionary Institutional party (PRI) came to an end as the candidate of the National Action party (PAN), Vicente Fox won the election. The PRI lost the election then after decades of corruption, fraud, and one-party rule that held control over most sectors of civil society leaving little space for alternative voices.
The PRI is the likely winner under the charismatic leadership of Enrique Pena Nieto though the PRI’s victory should not be taken as a foregone conclusion. The gap between Pena Nieto and Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the Workers Party has been narrowing. With a sizeable number of voters still undecided as to whom they will vote for and with a large youth vote favoring Obrador, a surprise upset is not out of the question. While it is likely that Pena Nieto will maintain cordial and mostly cooperative relations with the United States, this assumption cannot be counted on in connection to Obrador.
In terms of the PRI, some commentators have expressed concern over the return to their past practices. Given the crisis of legitimacy the PRI faced a little over a decade ago, it is not likely that the party will return to their old practices. Yet, it is important to point out that given the PRI’s history, some political actors of the past may return…
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Paraguay “Coup” Averted Marxist Takeover
This week we have witnessed the impeachment of the President of Paraguay, Fernando Lugo. (Seen above with the Castro mob brothers.)
Acting lawfully according the Constitution, the Congress voted him out by an impressive majority of 76 votes to just one. The Senate confirmed the act with a 39/4 count.
Among many accusations, like nepotism and corruption, Lugo was ousted mainly for promoting rural Marxist terrorist groups, which were creating havoc in the country. By abiding to the Constitution, the Paraguayan Congress effectively prevented a bloody Marxist takeover of the country.
However, the communist machine in the surrounding countries is already in full throttle. Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela (Marxist dictatorships in fact), alongside with Brazil, Bolivia and Argentina, have challenged the new government, trying to create a crisis where there is none and demanding that Lugo return to the presidency. The leftist media is on fire, calling the impeachment a coup.
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Australia Debates Bill to Allow Asylum Seekers to be Processed Offshore
Julia Gillard, the Australian prime minister, urged politicians to “look into their conscience” on Thursday as a bill to allow boat people to be sent offshore for processing was debated in the Senate.
The bill passed the House of Representatives, or lower house, on Wednesday after an angry and emotional debate sparked by another crowded asylum-seeker boat sinking off the remote Australian territory of Christmas Island. Some 130 people were rescued, one body was recovered and three people went down with the vessel. The incident came just days after another boat capsized, with 110 people saved but an estimated 90 killed. “I am calling on each and every senator today to look into their conscience, to think deeply about this,” Miss Gillard said, adding that if the bill did not pass, there would be no effective message of deterrence to people-smugglers.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Diane Sawyer’s Bias in Favor of Illegal Migration
On Monday, June 25, 2012, when the Supreme Court voted to validate Arizona’s S.B. 1070 law that allows police officers to check for immigration status after a traffic stop, the ACLU, LaRaza and other pro-illegal migrant organizations cried racism and discrimination. They screamed about the breach of human rights thrust upon illegal aliens residing in Arizona.
Arizona Governor Janet Brewer hailed the decision as another tool in her arsenal to rid the state of illegal aliens. Illegal alien President Barack Obama immediately condemned the Supreme Court by cutting all 287G and ICE activity in Arizona.
Attorney General Eric Holder, up to his eyeballs in legal problems, stood in contempt of court for his “Fast and Furious” activities—so he couldn’t take much action to undermine our laws.
But on Monday night, ABC’s anchor Diane Sawyer put on a show of bias in favor of illegal aliens that hasn’t been seen in years. Sawyer, paid a reported $12 million annually, nearly came to tears in her sadness that the Supreme Court actually validated Arizona’s right to defend itself from its reported 1.1 million illegal aliens that trash its schools, welfare, lunch programs, medical care, undercut taxes and cost millions for criminals in their jails.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Should Playboy Playmate Have Received ‘Genius’ Visa? Controversy After Former Girlfriend of Hugh Hefner Granted Status for ‘Extraordinary Ability’
Shera Bechard, the Canadian-born former girlfriend of Playboy Enterprises founder Hugh Hefner, would not be an obvious candidate for the special visas that the U.S. government reserves for ‘individuals with extraordinary ability’.
Playboy magazine crowned Bechard Miss November in 2010, and she also started an online photo-sharing craze called ‘Frisky Friday’.
Neither seems quite on the level of an ‘internationally recognized award, such as a Nobel Prize’, which the government cites as a possible qualification.
But Los Angeles immigration lawyer Chris Wright argued that Bechard’s accomplishments earned her a slot. The government ultimately agreed.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Mutated Pests Are Quickly Adapting to Biotech Crops in Unpredicted and Disturbing Ways
Genetically modified crops are often designed to repel hungry insects. By having toxins built into the plant itself, farmers can reduce their use of environmentally unfriendly insecticide sprays. But as any first-year evolutionary biology student can tell you, insects are like the Borg in Star Trek: they quickly adapt. And this is precisely what is happening — but in ways that have startled the researchers themselves.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Eco-Mosque Checklist — 7 Steps to a Greener Mosque
As the days creep into weeks and months, it seems that an entire year has passed and Ramadan has come knocking on our doors again. I say it every year, but every year I literally can’t believe its Ramadan again. Where does the time go? Anyway, in an effort to help fellow Muslims build some green momentum leading up to the holy month of fasting, I am going to look at the top seven things every green mosque should have. Whether it’s an edible garden, a green bank account or a water policy, I have come up with a list of things your local mosque could be doing to reduce its carbon footprint and tread more softly on this old planet of ours.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
2 comments:
If the Chinese gain observer status at the OIC, I hope they bring along their new Gatling gun.
If China achieves observer status at the OIC, I hope they bring along their new Gatling gun.
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