Ominous signs abound. Snow fell in western North Dakota, the first June snowfall in more than sixty years. Christians have combined with Shia in Lebanon in an alliance which may bring Hizbullah to power in next week’s elections. And racist xenophobic Europeans have voted for right-wing parties in record numbers in the European Parliament elections.Oh, and New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin was quarantined while on a visit to China on the suspicion that he might have swine flu.
Thanks to Barry Rubin, C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, Paul Green, Steen, TB, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
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Snow Falls in Western ND, in June
Bismarck, N.D. (AP) Snow has fallen in Dickinson in June, the first time in nearly 60 years the city has seen snow past May.
National Weather Service meteorologist Janine Vining in Bismarck says there were unofficial reports of a couple of inches of snow in Dickinson on Saturday.
Vining says snow in North Dakota in June is uncommon, though it’s not unheard of. She says other parts of the state have seen June snow within the past 10 years.
Williston and Bismarck had received only rain as of mid-Saturday, but Vining said snow was possible in those cities later in the day.
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Terrorists Free to Kill Once Again as They Slip the Grasp of Gitmo’s Kid Gloves
THE Pentagon now confirms that at least 74 former Guantanamo detainees have resumed terror ist activities after claiming they weren’t terrorists.
Such recidivism points up an alarming intelligence failure.
These dangerous prisoners should never have been cleared for release. Why did interrogators fail to find the cracks in their stories and alibis?
Why wasn’t more intelligence gathered to predict they’d rejoin al Qaeda or the Taliban?
In a word, politics. Gitmo interrogations have been emasculated to placate critics of waterboarding and other “torture,” say two senior officials there.
Even known terrorists are spared high-pressure techniques — tactics that have worked before in squeezing out information.
For that matter, Gitmo doesn’t even do “interrogations” anymore. They’re now called interviews, and they’re voluntary.
Many recidivists used the interviews as an opportunity to argue for release, spinning familiar excuses for why they were in Afghanistan after 9/11. They were freed after interrogators, many of them inexperienced, for the most part bought their sob stories and review boards judged them least likely to return to jihad.
“We have on numerous occasions gotten literally straight-from-the-schoolhouse interrogators who are being stuck in with these hardened jihadists,” a top security official at Gitmo told me. “And they essentially look at them and laugh.”
He says many are 19-year-olds who lack battlefield skills and don’t understand the first thing about jihad and militant Islam.
“They get played by detainees, who end up getting released because the interrogators believe them when they say they don’t know anything and just want to go home and be a goat herder,” he says
| — Hat tip: Paul Green | [Return to headlines] |
Canadians Angered Over “Buy American” Rule
By Allan Dowd
WHISTLER, British Columbia (Reuters) — Canadian municipal leaders threatened to retaliate against the “Buy America” movement in the United States on Saturday, warning trade restrictions will hurt both countries’ economies.
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities endorsed a controversial proposal to support communities that refuse to buy products from countries that put trade restrictions on products and services from Canada.
WHISTLER, British Columbia (Reuters) — Canadian municipal leaders threatened to retaliate against the “Buy America” movement in the United States on Saturday, warning trade restrictions will hurt both countries’ economies.
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities endorsed a controversial proposal to support communities that refuse to buy products from countries that put trade restrictions on products and services from Canada.
The measure is a response to a provision in the U.S. economic stimulus package passed by Congress in February that says public works projects should use iron, steel and other goods made in the United States.
The United States is Canada’s largest trading partner, and Canadians have complained the restrictions will bar their companies from billions of dollars in business that they have previously had access to.
“This U.S. protectionist policy is hurting Canadian firms, costing Canadian jobs and damaging Canadian efforts to grow our economy in the midst of a worldwide recession,” said Sherbrooke, Quebec, Mayor Jean Perrault, also president of the federation that represents cities and towns across Canada.
The municipal officials meeting at the federation’s convention in Whistler, British Columbia, endorsed the measure despite complaints by Canadian trade officials.
Trade Minister Stockwell Day told the group on Friday that Ottawa was actively negotiating with Washington to get the “Buy American” restrictions removed.
The measure’s supporters agreed to modify it slightly by suspending implementation for 120 days, in order to give Canadian trade officials and U.S. critics of the “Buy America” rules more time to work on the issue.
‘UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES’
The only Canadian community to enact an anti-”Buy American” purchasing rule so far is Halton Hills, Ontario, where a major employer, Hayward Gordon, is worried about losing its access to the United States.
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EU: Welfare Spending Down Across Med, Up Only in Italy
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, JUNE 3 — The percentage share of GDP spent on welfare was down in all EU countries in 2006, except for Italy, announced Eurostat, the European statistics bureau. In 2006 the EU27 put an average of 26.9% of GDP towards spending on welfare. This is a drop from the 27.1% recorded in 2005, equal to 6,349 PPS per person (Purchasing Power Standards, an artificial currency unit which eliminates price variations between countries). France was the biggest spender on welfare, both in terms of percent and PPS. In 2006, France channelled 31.1% of GDP to welfare, equal to 8,200 PPS, down from 31.4% in 2005. Italy came in second place with 26.6% of GDP or 6,476 PPS — an increase from the 26.3% recorded previously. Portugal was the third-biggest welfare spender, stable at 25.4% of GDP or 4,451 PPS. Greece’s spending fell to 24.2% from 24.1% (5,525 PPS), whilst Slovenia (23.0% to 22.8%), Spain (21.1% to 20.9% or 5,163 PPS) also cut welfare outlay. In the Mediterranean islands, Cyprus’s spending remained steady at 18.4% (3,994 PPS) whilst Malta’s welfare requirements fell to 18.1% from 18.4% of GDP (3,298 PPS).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Europe Leans Right as Voters Choose EU Parliament
BRUSSELS (AP) — Europe was leaning to the right Sunday as tens of millions of people voted in European Parliament elections, with conservative parties favored in many countries amid a global economic crisis.
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
Ireland: Local Residents Force Closure of Unofficial Mosque
Locals say early morning prayers at Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland’s Lucan base were disrupting their sleep
A mosque operating from a house in Lucan, Co Dublin, has been forced to close following complaints by local residents and the intervention of a local TD and a minister of state.
The Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland (ICCI) has for the past six years operated a prayer centre at a detached house in Liffey Road, at the edge of a residential estate. It has now been closed after officials from South Dublin county council discovered that it had no planning permission, following a tip-off from residents.
Relations between locals and those using the mosque have deteriorated in recent months, with the residents’ association claiming that some of its members were verbally abused and one assaulted after complaining about illegal parking outside the mosque.
Residents, who insist their objections are not motivated by religious discrimination, claim the use of the property by more than 30 people at “unsociable hours” is causing persistent disturbance and damaging community relations.
Until it was closed, prayers were said five times daily at the mosque, beginning an hour before dawn and ending one-and-a-half hours after sunset. Residents complained that cars arriving for the earliest prayer in particular disrupted their sleep. They said they were compelled to report planning violations by users of the mosque to the local council after “exhausting all other options”.
Last week, the council refused the ICCI permission to turn the house into a purpose-built cultural, social and prayer centre after politicians, including Fianna Fail’s John Curran, a junior minister with responsibility for drugs and community affairs, and Paul Gogarty, a Green party TD, added their objections to those of residents.
In a letter signed by more than 150 people, the Liffey Valley Park Residents’ Association objected to the use of the house as a place of worship, claiming that the “unofficial mosque” had caused chaos for residents and was creating divisions in the community because of its fundamental unsuitability. In a letter from the Green party, Gogarty, Dr Kevin Farrell and Councillor Dorothy Corrigan said they supported the submission made by the association. Eamon Tuffy, a Labour councillor, also stated objections to the planning application.
The council ruled last week that turning the house into a mosque would have a negative impact on neighbouring properties and set an undesirable precedent.
In its planning application, the ICCI said there was a pressing need for a prayer centre for the approximately 150 Muslims living in the area, 30 of them in Liffey Valley Park. It said that the centre would only be used by between 15 and 20 people most days, with 30 to 35 attending during the holy month of Ramadan.
A letter accompanying the ICCI’s planning application stated: “Many other organisations and families that dwell in housing estates around the country — whether it is religious, recreational activities such as yoga or simply birthday parties — can cause high levels of traffic at a certain time. This development is no different and should not be refused on the grounds of insufficient parking.”
It also argued that there were currently no facilities in Lucan dedicated to the Muslim faith, “where members can meet in a place of peace and tranquillity for reflection”.
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Silvio Berlusconi: The Times Attacks Me Because I Taxed Murdoch’s TV Channels
Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi talks of ‘breakdown’ with Rupert Murdoch over VAT rise on pay TV, including Sky Italia
The Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, accused the Times today of writing critical editorials about him because his government is in dispute with its owner, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.
Berlusconi blamed a series of articles in the Times on his government’s introduction of a 20% tax rate on pay TV firms last autumn, which affected Murdoch’s Sky Italia business.
In an interview on the Canale 5 TV channel, which he owns, Berlusconi said: “I don’t mean to be nasty but unfortunately with the episode on VAT for Sky there was a breakdown in relations with the Sky group and with Murdoch’s group, which has published a series of very critical articles attacking me.”
One recent Times article, written by Mary Beard and headlined “If the emperor has no clothes, history will expose him” dwelt on Berlusconi’s friendship with an aspiring teenage model, which has prompted his wife to demand a divorce.
Beard compared Berlusconi with the decadent Roman emperor Tiberius, who she wrote was as “notorious for his sexual frolics as he was keen to keep them quiet. Remind you of anyone?”
On Monday, the Times published an editorial entitled “The Clown’s Mask Slips” that attacked Berlusconi for alleged womanising and inappropriate behaviour.
“The most distasteful aspect of Silvio Berlusconi’s behaviour is not that he is a chauvinist buffoon,” the leader began. “Nor is it that he cavorts with women more than 50 years younger than himself, abusing his position to offer them jobs as models, personal assistants or even, absurdly, candidates for the European Parliament. What is most shocking is the utter contempt with which he treats the Italian public.”
Sky Italia currently commands about 90% of the Italian pay-TV market. Berlusconi’s Mediaset, while having some pay subscribers, controls the terrestrial market with three channels, not subjected to VAT charges. As prime minister, Berlusconi also effectively controls the three channels operated by RAI, the state broadcaster.
When Berlusconi doubled the VAT rate on pay-TV subscriptions from 10% to 20% last autumn, Sky Italia responded with a series of advertisements calling the decision unfair to consumers.
Berlusconi was also said to be furious at the broadcast on Murdoch’s Sky Italia in April of the film Killing Silvio, which depicted an attempt to kidnap him. It was claimed that the film was intended to “instigate hatred against the prime minister”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Population Nears 47 Million, 12% Are Foreigners
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, JUNE 3 — Spain’s resident population grew in the last year, by half a million people on January 1, 2008 to 46,661,950 people on January 1, 2009; 12% of these are foreigners. The growth in the population, according to the data published today by the National Statistical Institute Ine, is mainly de to new foreign residents, 329,292 compared to 174,199 new Spanish residents. The number of foreigners went from 5 to 5.6 million in total, the percentage going from 11.3% in 2008 to 12% currently. The number of new foreign residents in Spain has grown in a more contained way compared to the recent past, when until 2008 between 600,000 and 750,000 foreigners registered as residents each year. The slowdown is linked to the crisis, explained the Ine experts, with the Spanish economy entering into recession and an unemployment rate which rose above 17% in the first quarter. Some 49.5% of the total population of Spain is made up of men, compared to 50.5% of women; 15.5% of the total are under 16; 43.3% is between 16 and 44 and 41.2% are over 45. Romanians make up the largest foreign community (796,576), followed by Moroccans (710,401), Equadorians (413,715); European Union citizens (largely Romanians, Britons, Italians, Bulgarians and Germans) make up 40.5% of the total number of foreigners. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon: Lower Customs Duties for Fine Wine From EU
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, JUNE 4 — Lebanon will now be able to apply customs duties on the importation of fine wines from Europe. On the basis of the partnership agreement signed by the Middle Eastern country with the European Union in June 2002, the customs duties on the importation of European wine were set to pass from 70% to 56% for table wine, and to 35% for fine wines, all by March 2008. Until today, the Italian Trade Commission (ICE) in Beirut emphasised, only the customs duties on table wine have been applied, due to the simple fact that Lebanon was not able to distinguish fine wine from table wine. The distinction, the statement continues, became possible through the application of the C106/1 list that was released by the EU in 2008 for fine wines produced in various regions of Europe and which was only recently received by the Lebanese Customs Office. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
A Palestinian State is Needed, Merkel Says
(ANSAmed) — BERLIN, JUNE 5 — “We want a state for Palestine”, said German Chancellor Angela Merkel today in Dresden, underlining that Germany “will do all it can to contribute”. “Yesterday’s speech (by Obama in Cairo) in a certain way has opened the doors of the international community to the Arab world and this is very important”, said Merkel in the joint press conference this morning in Dresden with USA President. “Important progress has been made. Each time this happens, Germany is pleased to contribute to a positive result”, she commented. “We have a very special relation with Israel, we want to guarantee Israel’s safety” she highlighted, “but on the other hand we also have friends in Palestine: we want a state to be built for Palestine”. Therefore, Merkel continued, “this plan must be carried out step by step, but the involved parties must show the will to do something to improve peace and security in the entire world”. This, the German chancellor underlined, “is a crucial issue for peace and stability in the world, so it must be a priority on our political agenda. I believe this is a historic opportunity which we must take advantage of”. “It is also” in the interest of the Arab countries “to want peace because they need peace and security in the region for their economic development” she concluded. “Therefore we will do all we can to contribute”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Barry Rubin: Obama’s Cairo Speech and the Israel-Palestinian Conflict
President Barack Obama’s discussion in his Cairo speech of the Israeli-Palestinian issue is so important that it took up about 25 percent of the text.
Obama sought to put the United States into a neutral rather than pro-Israel position. This is not so unusual as it might seem compared to the 35 years U.S. policy has been trying to be a credible mediator, a length of time many forget—including Obama himself—through numerous peace plans and negotiating structures.
The speech is beautifully constructed and carefully crafted. But what does it say, both intentionally and implicitly?
Obama began by stressing U.S.-Israel links, not downplaying or concealing this from his Muslim audience:
“America’s strong bonds with Israel are well known. This bond is unbreakable. It is based upon cultural and historical ties, and the recognition that the aspiration for a Jewish homeland is rooted in a tragic history that cannot be denied.”
He then makes two points: the reality of the Shoah (Holocaust) and opposition to wiping Israel off the map:
“Threatening Israel with destruction—or repeating vile stereotypes about Jews—is deeply wrong, and only serves to evoke in the minds of Israelis this most painful of memories while preventing the peace that the people of this region deserve.”
Previous presidents have often said such but Obama is wrapping this into his attempt to show Muslims that he is on their side it might be deemed especially effective. But putting almost all emphasis on the Holocaust—which in Arab and Muslim views is a European crime whose bill they are unfairly paying—may be the wrong approach.
He also roots Jews desire for their own country mainly in persecution, to which the Arab/Muslim answer has been that this isn’t their responsibility or that Jews can live happily—as Obama wrongly hints they have done in the past—under Muslim rule.
While Obama tries hard, his approach may reverberate only for a small minority of politically powerless Western-oriented liberals who already understand it.
Turning to Palestinians, he uses an appealing image but one so wrong that it undermines Obama’s entire approach. The Palestinians, he says, have “suffered in pursuit of a homeland” for more than 60 years.
But if that were true the issue would have been solved 60 years ago (1948 through partition), 30 years ago (1979 and Anwar Sadat’s initiative) or 9 years ago (Camp David-2). What has brought Palestinian suffering is the priority on total victory and Israel’s destruction rather than merely getting a homeland. This is the reason why the conflict won’t be solved in the next week, month, or year.
Obama states, “The situation for the Palestinian people is intolerable.” But in real political terms that’s untrue. If it were true, the leadership would move quickly to improve their situation rather than continue the struggle seeking total victory. The Oslo agreement of 1993 and Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip were both based on this premise and both failed miserably for this very reason.
And so will Obama’s effort…
| — Hat tip: Barry Rubin | [Return to headlines] |
Tunnel Fraud Leaves Gazans on Verge of Financial Ruin
At first the tunnels emerged as smuggling routes; then they became the vital lifeline for a Gaza under economic siege by Israel. But many people who invested in the tunnels now see them quite differently — as a source of ruination.
The tunnel schemes were advertised as opportunities for doubling and trebling money by unscrupulous figures linked to powerful businessmen in Gaza and, allegedly, to senior officials in Hamas, but have instead led to huge losses for ordinary residents of the Strip.
According to Hamas’s economics minister, Ziad al-Zaza, whose office is investigating the issue, some $100m has been taken fraudulently from would-be entrepreneurs. Others suggest the figure could be closer to $500m.
…. the hitherto untold story of the great Gazan tunnel scam is notable for being self-inflicted and, therefore, particularly depressing for a beleaguered population.
As Omar Shaban, an analyst from a local thinktank, says: “The harm done to Gaza goes well beyond the savings lost in the investment schemes. The tunnels distort Gaza’s social structure. They destroy the values that a state requires to function. In fact, they present no values that people can believe in.”
The tunnels are not supposed to exist at all. As the war in Gaza ground to a close in January, Israel insisted on a ceasefire condition that the subterranean network be closed.
Yet there are now scores of them — more than ever before — snaking ever closer to each other. On the Egyptian side, bribes and an unwillingness to close off Gaza keep open the tunnels and smuggling routes. Analysts say that Israel knows this full well, but finds their existence convenient because they take pressure off the argument for reopening the Gaza crossings.
What comes through the tunnels is what keeps Gaza afloat economically. Metal ladders lead down brick-lined shafts into layers of shored-up sandy tunnels through which are winched bags of cement, cigarettes, cheese, children’s bicycles and car parts. Even herds of lowing cattle are led through the larger workings.
Above ground, amid the Israeli bomb craters and ruined houses where the tunnels begin, their entrances are patrolled both by their owners and black-clad men from Hamas.
It is easy to see the smuggling routes as a heroic resistance to a crippling economic blockade. But many Gazans now reject the tunnels’ status as an indispensable lifeline. In the most recent incident, investors in a tunnel scheme being promoted by one Ihab al-Kurdi were informed that their money was “gone” — without explanation.
To add insult to injury, they were pressurised last week into signing confidential contracts with Kurdi’s “company” offering them 16.5% of the money they put in, in exchange for not complaining, an offer many investors apparently felt they could not refuse.
If Jawad Tawfiq has not been bankrupted, his frightened neighbour, who asks to be identified only as “Umm Mohammed”, is in a different situation. She sold all her gold and jewellery, which she had bought after working abroad, to add to a pot of money collected by her family, totalling $17,000. Now she will also have to find money to repay what she borrowed from her son’s fiancée.
“I trusted them,” she said last week. “The middleman we dealt with seemed so honest. He was a religious man. He seemed so nice. I lost everything and now I’m poor. If it wasn’t for the salary I receive from the Palestinian Authority, I would be begging now.”
It has not only been Tawfiq and his neighbour who have lost out. The same stories are being repeated from Gaza City down to Khan Younis and up to Beit Hanoun: of people who sold their houses and cars, borrowed against dowries and from relatives to invest in tunnel schemes and got burnt.
And while some victims insist they know those who made large sums — mainly relatives of those managing the investments — they are angry that there appears to be no opportunity for restitution, and no proper explanation of what occurred.
In the “intolerable” situation that is Gaza, as described last week by President Barack Obama in Cairo, the lure of such schemes was understandable. With few opportunities to do business, trade or even work, the chance to make money out of the illicit cross-border trade with Egypt seemed like a godsend. But this is the tale of a Gaza success story that turned sour.
The victims name two companies run by Wael al-Rubi, in addition to that of Kurdi, as being the major movers behind the tunnel schemes, names confirmed by Zaza as being under investigation. While neither of these men was well known in Gaza business circles before the launch of the schemes, the men who sold the investments on their behalf were representatives of well-known merchant families.
“The tunnels are the worst thing that ever happened to Gaza,” says Tawfiq. “It has poisoned it. It has turned Gaza into a prison economy. And for what? For chocolate and bicycles.”
What led to the catastrophic losses for many Gazans is difficult to unravel. But some, including Zaza, insist the investment schemes, launched before Israel’s assault on Gaza in late December and January, were a criminal scam from the start.
Investors and tunnel operators interviewed by the Observer describe a shadowy network of relationships between a number of businessmen, including some Hamas officials, all taking their cut. Many victims explain how a relative who had met someone involved in an investment scheme had recruited other family members and friends to a kind of pyramid venture that they would discover had fallen apart only when the principals were arrested by Hamas. Usually they were encouraged by the example of someone they knew who had made large sums of money.
On occasion, investors were told by middlemen selling the schemes that the venture was being promoted by a senior Hamas figure, the former interior minister Said Siam, who was killed this year in an Israeli attack. Siam was alleged to have approached local Gaza businessmen and tunnel owners with a plan for a large-scale investment in the tunnels backed by the group. Hamas denies this. What is certain is that huge sums of money were raised before the project mysteriously imploded, ruining many of the investors.
While Hamas, through Zaza, denies that the organisation was ever involved in a scheme to invest large sums in the tunnels, he does say that some of those involved in the investment “mirage” used their proximity to senior Hamas figures as a cover for what was little more than “robbery”.
“Hamas had no relation to the scheme. It is a fantasy,” Zaza said last week. “Kurdi said he had good relations with people in government, but what they were selling was a lie. And the problem is not over yet.”
But if the schemes run by Kurdi and Rubi were elaborate cons, the relationship between Hamas and the tunnels and the investment schemes is not quite as clear-cut as Zaza describes it. Indeed, one Gaza family that invested heavily in Kurdi’s tunnels scheme was the Deri clan, a family with a substantial involvement in Hamas’s military wing, which reputedly lost $3m, and allegedly kidnapped Kurdi to get its money back. Some of the most prominent figures in the real tunnel-building business, some of them active for almost 20 years, have in recent years been closely associated with the group.
Zaza says that some of the money has been recovered after his officials seized records, including, he says, details of more than 3,000 phone calls, as part of his investigation. He is unable to say what has happened to the majority of the cash, beyond stating with some certainty that it has not left the Gaza Strip.
The Observer has established that some money has been funnelled into charities and a religious foundation as a cover for the activities of some of those most heavily involved. Other money, it appears, was diverted to officials, while large sums were spent on houses, cars, land and other luxury items in a place where a 10-year-old Daewoo can cost $12,000.
And while Zaza has calculated the money taken from investors at about $100m, Shaban believes the cost of the tunnels scam run by Kurdi and Rubi are far higher. “You see people becoming millionaires in two or three weeks. But what do those people represent? Nothing that is transparent or good or valuable. And so people cheat their families and their neighbours, because people are desperate. How come such illegal things have become acceptable?”
While many have lost their savings and possessions, others who worked deep underground have lost their lives. During a visit to several tunnels being used to transport petrol and cement, the Observer was told that a double collapse two weeks earlier had trapped four teenagers beneath the Egyptian border, two of whom died on the day the Egyptian authorities finally agreed to dig them out.
On the border, tunnel operators — largely Rafah families — give accounts that corroborate the involvement of Hamas in the genuine tunnels. They describe paying taxes of 15-20% to Hamas to operate their often lethal ventures. But they deny, however, that the fake investment schemes that have impoverished the likes of Jawad Tawfiq ever had anything to do with real tunnel operations. The operators also speak of corrupt Hamas security officials who have become wealthy by turning a blind eye to some of the more questionable goods coming under the border, not least Tramadol, a highly addictive prescription drug currently wreaking havoc in Gazan society.
A big tunnel costs $120,000 to construct and run; an average-size one that is little more than a crawl-way about $90,000. Then, in addition to the taxes, a tunnel owner must pay $3,000 for a permit from the municipality.
On top of that, there is the blood money for the families of the children and youths who are killed.
“Someone was working on one big enough to bring through cars,” says one tunnel worker. “It was 90% finished before it collapsed.” They tell the story of the “princes of the tunnels”, the nickname for three Hamas men they say became hugely rich from their involvement, who brought through cars in pieces for themselves.
“The people who run the tunnels are just ordinary people,” says one tunnel operator. “But then people saw the money to be made. Hamas figures invested in some of the tunnels. They have their own one for moving money and wanted people, but no one is supposed to talk about that. People thought they could make money out of it. And people got greedy.”
Jawad Tawfiq and his neighbour are not happy with the explanations that have been offered for their loss. “So if there was no real investment in the tunnels, where is the money?” he angrily demands. “Where is the other 84% that has gone missing? It is impossible that it has simply disappeared.
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Arab League Says Obama Speech Good for Relations
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, JUNE 4 — Arab League chief Amr Moussa said today President Obama’s speech was “balanced, respectful and paves the way for good relations” with Islamic states. “I feel that the speech was balanced and offered a new vision of rapprochement regarding relations with Islamic states…this includes the Palestinian question, the end to Israeli settlements, Palestinian rights which must be respected”, said Moussa. Obama “also touched on the nuclear issue”, added Moussa, ‘and the need to rid the world and the Middle East from nuclear weapons, as well as the global commitment to respect the Non-Proliferation Treaty”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Shia-Christian Alliance Shakes Lebanon Politics
It’s an unusual alliance in a country where your religion usually determines your politics: Christians siding with Shia Muslim militant Hezbollah. But it has shaken up Lebanon’s politics, and backers say it represents the future of this long divided nation. The coalition is also strong enough it could bring the anti-Israel and anti-US Hezbollah to power in next week’s parliamentary elections. That possibility has turned this election into a fierce battle for Lebanon’s Christians. (Khaleej Times)
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Syria: GDP Up 7 %, Inflation Falls to 5.4 % in 2008
(ANSAmed) — DAMASCUS, JUNE 4 — According to the Syrian Central Office of Statistics, the GDP in the Middle Eastern country experienced a 7% growth in real terms, while inflation fell, from 11.9% in 2007 to 5.4% in 2008. A rise in GDP, according to the Italian Trade Commission (ICE) in Damascus, had been recorded also between 2006 (5.2%) and 2007 (6.3%). The GDP value, at 2000 prices, was up to 1,378 billion Syrian pounds (SYP) in 2008 (almost USD 29 billion), compared to the 1,288 billion SYP for the previous year. The impact of the agricultural sector on the GDP has dropped (14.7%). The 2008 drought has caused a 22.5% decline in production for the agricultural sector. The manufacturing, mining and energy sectors registered the largest increments (+34.1%, +21.3% and +24.2% respectively). The contribution to the GDP from these sectors was in fact of 14.5% for the mining sector, 9.8% for the manufacturing sector and 2.8% for the energy sector. To be noted, the increase in the building sector, +17.6%, contributing 4.7% to the GDP. The trade sector amounted to the 18.3% of the GDP, despite a 3.8% contraction compared to 2007. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The Tragedy of the Yemeni Jews
The government has stood by and let jihadist gangs drive Jews out of Yemen. Now their community is on the brink of extinction
The last Jews of Yemen are leaving. They are packing their bags and moving to Israel or the US. A community dating back to Biblical times is on the brink of extinction.
Sixty years ago one million Jews lived in Arab countries, but violence and state-sanctioned discrimination scapegoating them as Zionist spies have forced out all but 4,000 — who remain mainly in Yemen, Morocco and Tunisia.
Most Jews were airlifted from Yemen to Israel in the 1950s. The 400 left have resisted moving to Israel, having come under the influence of the non-Zionist Satmar sect. Some returned after a taste of life in the US or Israel (the government generally turns a blind eye to Jews travelling to the Jewish state). Now things have got so bad that even these die-hards are departing.
The murder in December of Moshe al-Nahari, a 30-year-old teacher based in Reda, north of the Yemeni capital, sparked this latest crisis. At first, the authorities claimed that the murderer was “mentally imbalanced”. But it became clear that he was religiously motivated, screaming “convert or die, Jew!” as he pumped five bullets into his victim.
For some time jihadist gangs have been harassing Jews in Yemen. Girls have been abducted and forced to marry local tribesmen. Two years ago, 45 Jews, driven out of their village of al-Salem in north Yemen by threats from Shia Houthis, were relocated to the capital Sana’a.
Yemen is hardly an oasis of tranquility: it has more guns than people. The Jews are not the only ones to suffer in its long history of lawlessness and instability. Lately, however, Jews have had it especially tough.
Jews, tribal sheikhs, rights activists and lawyers all concur that harassment has reached an all-time high. After al-Nahari’s murder, the Jews were besieged in their own homes and petrol bombs lobbed at them. Moshe’s brother, rabbi Yahia Ya’ish, appealed to the government: “protect or deport us”. Those wishing to leave could not claim their passports because the government’s computers had mysteriously broken down.
Yemen’s president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, pledged to take the Jews under his wing in Sana’a, where, in contrast to the countryside, he has firm control. Some say the government is well-meaning but ineffective; others that the promised relocation was never serious. The Jews were to be re-housed in two blocks, too cramped for their large families and vulnerable to attack. But they could not even sell their homes in Reda after local imams intimidated would-be buyers.
The Al-Nahari murder verdict in March was the last straw. During the trial the murderer’s family threatened the victim’s relatives. Instead of the prescribed death sentence, the judge ordered the murderer to pay “blood money”. The Jews felt less secure than ever: the Jewish Agency and the US government swung into action to plan the Jews’ rescue and resettlement.
Mahmud Taha, a journalist who has been following the story, is not surprised that the Jews want to go. “There is no option for the Yemeni Jews but to migrate. The local authorities have failed to protect them … The Jews are fed up and have reached an intolerable situation,” he said.
Mansour Hayel, a Muslim human rights activist and Yemeni Jewry expert, blames the government: “In Yemen there is hardly a mosque sermon that’s free of bigotry. The government’s own political rhetoric marginalises the Jews, and civil society is too weak to protect them,” he says.
Perhaps because they understand that tolerance towards minorities is the key to strengthening Yemen civil society, Yemeni human rights activists
have been vigorously defending Jewish rights. They want the media to start promoting democracy and tolerance; and equal civil rights for Jews, who pay discriminatory taxes and, as dhimmis, suffer various handicaps under sharia law. But Jews whose lives are in danger are unlikely to stick around long enough to see such reforms implemented.
The lesson one draws from the final exodus of the Jews of Yemen is that the Arab world does not even tolerate non-Zionist Jews. There can be no future for the pitiful remnant in Arab lands if their safety cannot be guaranteed.
In Morocco, where the Jewish community is largest, Jews traditionally repaid the king’s sympathy with tremendous loyalty. But the king of Morocco was unable or unwilling to prevent 260,000 Jews leaving in the face of rising antisemitism in the 1960s, media incitement and forced conversions.
Even benevolent rulers have been powerless to stem the rising tide of anti-Jewish hatred engulfing the Arab world. Few Arabs are now likely to meet a Jew in their lifetime, and the gullible believe the demonisation and conspiracy theories peddled by their media.
No wonder Jews have spurned official invitations for them to return to live in their countries of birth. Jews visit as tourists, but few see their future in these countries. In Tunisia and Morocco al-Qaida targeted Jews in 2002 and 2003. In April the murder of a Jew in Casablanca sent the community into a panic.In May, eight terrorists were arrested for planning attacks on Jewish sites.
If Morocco and Tunisia fail to keep a lid on jihadist terrorism and incitement, their last Jews, too, will soon be following the beleaguered Jews of Yemen into exile.
| — Hat tip: Paul Green | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Ankara Warns Over Xenophobic Campaign in EU Electioneering
The Turkish capital has harshly slammed European political parties using discourse against its European Union membership bid as electioneering material in European Parliament elections while warning that such electioneering has been misleading the electorate and strengthening xenophobic tendencies.
“We are saddened by the negative statements and declarations made in some EU countries concerning the accession process of Turkey to the EU in the context of the elections of the European Parliament. It is unfortunate that in these countries the subject of Turkey has been given priority over the many critical problems that Europe is currently facing,” the Foreign Ministry said in a written statement released on Friday, without elaborating on the names of the EU member states in question.
“Turkey rejects these statements, which cannot be considered to have been made in good faith,” the ministry said, denouncing “null and void proposals” to offer Ankara alternatives to full EU membership, such as a “privileged partnership” or a “Common European Economic and Security Area.”
“It is inconceivable for Turkey to accept that the accession negotiations should be conducted to achieve any special status. We have from the very beginning consistently declared our position on this issue to our counterparts at all levels in the EU. In spite of this fact, recycling such statements for election campaign purposes creates a distorted and particularly xenophobia-inducing environment for the European electorate. Wearing out this process with artificial obstacles will benefit neither the EU nor Turkey,” it added.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have been particularly vocal in their opposition to Turkey’s accession. Far-right parties in other member countries have also campaigned against the predominantly Muslim country’s membership aspirations as part of a broader agenda against the “Islamization” of Europe.
The EU parliamentary elections began on Thursday in the UK and the Netherlands and will end on Sunday, when most of the 27 member nations go to the polls.
In the Dutch vote, the far-right Party for Freedom — whose leader Geert Wilders has gained international notoriety for his attacks on Islam — was the big winner, coming second in its first-ever campaign, according to exit polls.
“Should Turkey as an Islamic country be able to join the European Union? We are the only party in Holland that says it is an Islamic country. So no, not in 10 years, not in a million years,” Wilders said Thursday as polls opened.
Turkey began membership talks in 2005, but has so far opened negotiations in only 10 of the 35 policy areas that candidates must complete.
The process has been slowed by opposition to its membership in some EU countries, with Turkey accusing particularly France, as well as a trade row with Cyprus and Ankara’s sluggish pace of reform.
“The final decision on our membership will be made by Turkey and by EU member states only once the negotiation process has been completed,” the Foreign Ministry said, calling on “all concerned parties to act responsibly and to avoid statements which could harm the relations between our peoples.”
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Nepal: Attack on Kathmandu Cathedral: A 27 Year Old Woman Arrested
She confessed to having planted to bomb in the Church of the Assumption on May 23rd. She is a member of the extremist group the Nepal Defence Army. During her interrogation she said “I planted the bomb because I hate Christians, and all other religions, I love only Hinduism”. The police are now on the trial of other group members.
Kathmandu (AsiaNews) — “I planted the bomb because I hate Christians and other religions and only love Hinduism”. These are the words of 27 year old Sita Thapa Shrestha, arrested by Nepalese police for having planted a bomb in the Cathedral of the Assumption Kathmandu on May 23rd last. The woman is involved with a Hindu fundamentalist group and confessed to having planted the explosive that killed three people and injured 13 others.
Kuber Singh Rana, head of the task force investigating the episode told AsiaNews “We have detained her as the prime accused person and she has confessed the crime” and her involvement with the Hindu extremist group known as the “Nepal Defence Army”.
According to police she has been associated with non governmental organizations of Hindu inspiration including Jeevan Sahara Bal Sarokar Kendra, Gramin Srijanshil Mahila Utthan Kendra and Hindu Rastra Bachau Samitee.
Thanks to Shrestha’s confession police are now on the trail of another man who accompanied her tot eh Church. The head of the Nepal Defence Army Prasad Mainali is also on their list of investigation.
Police suspect that the woman and the extremist group are also behind the murder of Fr. John Prakash. The Salesian priest and director of the Don Bosco School in Sirsiya, Morang district, were assassinated July last and those responsible for his murder have still not been caught. (see AsiaNews 01/07/2008).
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
New Orleans Mayor Quarantined in China
New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin, who traveled on Friday to Shanghai, China, on an economic development trip, was informed early Sunday that a passenger on the airplane in which he was traveling was confirmed to have signs and symptoms of an influenza-like illness, suspected to be of the H1N1 — or swine flu — subtype.
As a precaution, Nagin, his wife and one member of the mayor’s executive protection unit have been placed in a designated quarantine location in Shanghai. The mayor’s agenda is on indefinite hold, though he and the others are symptom-free.
“Right now, everything is stopped and we will follow the lead of Shanghai medical officials,” spokeswoman Ceeon Quiett said at a City Hall news conference Sunday afternoon. “He seemed fine. Just following the procedure.”
The passenger showing syptoms is undergoing both quarantine and treatment.
Nagin is being treated with the utmost courtesy by Chinese officials, the mayor’s office said.
He was scheduled to travel to Sydney, Australia, to deliver a keynote address and lead a panel discussion on climate change at the 2009 National Summit of the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney.
As a result of the recent events, Nagin’s travel schedule may be altered.
Nagin is in communication with his staff, though Quiett noted a significant time difference posed some challenges during initial conversations.
The mayor was notified of the situation sometime overnight, his office said.
“The officials from the airline and the U.S. embassy then contacted everyone who was sitting within a certain distance of that passenger,” Quiett said. “Mayor Nagin his wife and members of his executive protection unit are all in quarantine. It is not the whole plane, just those who were sitting in close proximity of this passenger.”
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Obama, Remember the Gulags of North Korea, Not Only Its Nuclear Program
At least 300 thousand political prisoners in the North’s labour camps. Testimonies of torture and executions. The laboratories for nuclear experiments built with forced labour. An association writes to the US president who has visited Buchenwald.
Tokyo (AsiaNews) — North Korea makes international press headlines every time it explodes a nuclear bomb in the tunnels beneath its mountains or launches an inter-continental missile. The concern is more than justifiable: nuclear proliferation is a global threat. However, the phenomenon of systematic and widespread human rights violations that has transformed the entire nation into an open air gulag is almost completely ignored.
The guilt of the media’s silence has been repaired to an extent by the recent initiative of a group called “No fence”, an organisation based in Tokyo, that is committed to the liberation of the estimated 300,000 political prisoners who are languishing in North Korean concentration camps, subjected to torture, forced labour and executions.
With US President Barak Obama’s recent visit to the Nazi concentration camp of Buchenwald, this group of citizens published an open letter urging the international community to denounce the North Korean gulag system, not only the nuclear threat posed by Pyongyang. If the world fails to recognise the horrors that take place under the dictatorship, the open letter reads, “We will be judged incapable of learning from past crimes against humanity, by future generations”.
The letter was signed by various human rights organisations and sent to 3,000 parliamentarians among the main group of industrialised nations.
South Korean secretary of the group “No Fence”, Soon Yoon-bok, is concerned by the fact that the Americans and Europeans, who are well aware of the brutality inflicted by Nazi Germany, particularly on the Jews, seem to be completely unaware of the atrocities taking place today in the North Korean prison camps. “The leader Kim Jong-il, says Soon, uses nuclear bombs and missiles to draw the international communities attention away from the vilest aspect of his dictatorship: the concentration camps”.
The terrible secrets of Mount Mantap
Kang Chol-hwan, a columnist with the South Korean daily Chosun Ilbo, in his analysis of the second nuclear explosion carried out recently by the North, reveals the true degradation of Pyongyang’s military regime. The bomb was exploded in a cave beneath Mount Mantap, a mountain that is 2000 metres in height and covered with dense vegetation. It is highly probable that the gruelling task of manually digging that cave was exacted from political prisoners.
Anh Myeon-cheol is a former North Korean concentration camp guard who fled to the south in 1994. He reveals that in the ‘90’s many young political prisoners were forced to build the underground bunkers of Mount Mantap. The prisoners were terrified by the mere mention of that mountains name. No one ever came back from that destination alive. At the time Anh was curious to know what type of work was being carried out there by these young dissidents. Now he knows.
Camp no. 16, reserved for political prisoners of note and their families, lies in the foothills of Mount Mantap.
North Korean students shy away from specialising in nuclear physics. Those who graduate in it are given no choice, they must move to Bungan, the district that is home to the Yongbong nuclear power plant, and their lives become that of a recluse.
“The whole truth, concludes Kang, will only come to light when the regime of Kim Jong-il falls, but it cannot be excluded that even now some terrible disaster could be taking beneath the shadow of that mountain”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Somalia: Fighting in Center of the Country, More Fighting in Mogadishu
At least ten people were killed, said radio ‘Shabelle’ — others said 36 — after today’s fighting between pro and anti-government militias in the area of Wabho, in the central province of Hiran. Citing local witnesses, ‘Shabelle’ said that both parties used heavy artillery in inhabited centers; it is impossible to get more complete information for the time being, because communications with the area, 400 km. north of Mogadishu, near the Ethiopian border, are interrupted. Also today, at least two people were killed and four others were wounded in the explosion of a bomb in the Beledweyne cattle market, capital of Hiran province; it is not clear whether this was a land mine or a grenade, while those responsible have not been identified. Sporadic fighting also continued in Mogadishu, in the area of the district of Yaqshid where government forces and insurgents have been fighting for days.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Dwindling Illegal Border Crossing in SW Arizona
Illegal border crossings have dwindled so much in southwestern Arizona that Marine Corps pilots rarely have to abort practice bombing runs any more on their vast desert target range.
Illegal immigrants hiking through the desert have long created problems for military air operations on the 2,700-square-mile Barry M. Goldwater Range, which butts up against the U.S.-Mexico border in some areas.
In the past, intruders have forced Marine pilots to divert their AV-8B Harrier jets to other target areas or to land without completing their missions.
But enforcement and technology mean intrusions have virtually ceased on the westernmost part of the range used by the Marines.
“It’s borderline nonexistent,” said Ron Pearce, the Corps’ range management officer. “I would say there have been zero flights canceled this year,” with only slight delays.
The isolated range has been a crossing point for years for illegal immigrants seeking to avoid more heavily patrolled stretches of the U.S.-Mexico border. There have been no reports of immigrants being struck by military ordnance.
The Border Patrol doesn’t keep apprehension statistics for just the Goldwater Range area, but figures for the region that includes it show apprehensions have been dropping. Federal authorities attribute that in part to more stringent enforcement and to fences and other barriers erected in southwestern Arizona in recent years.
Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which favors tougher immigration enforcement, said ramped up interior enforcement and the abysmal job market are major reasons for the drop-off.
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Schwarzenegger: Don’t Blame State Budget Deficit on Illegal Immigrants
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday disputed claims that illegal immigrants caused California’s $24.3 billion deficit, while he praised their economic contributions and said he is “happy” they have access to services.
The Republican governor, answering wide-ranging questions from The Bee’s editorial board and its readers, also vented about roadblocks to his authority posed by political foes and warned that government can’t sustain the current level of “unbelievable benefits” for public-sector workers.
In response to dozens of questions from readers who say the state ought to wipe out the deficit by eliminating services for illegal immigrants, the governor said it is a “myth” that those immigrants are to blame.
He said the cost of services to illegal immigrants, which has been estimated at $4 billion to $5 billion annually, is a “small percentage” of the deficit California faces.
“Yes, it is something that ought to be dealt with, but the fact of the matter is, I think it’s an easy scapegoat for people to point the finger and say, ‘Our budget is out of whack because of illegal immigrants.’ “
“It’s not,” he added. “Our budget is out of whack because we have self-inflicted wounds that the Legislature and this state has never really sat down and had the will to go and make the necessary changes that have to be made.”
The governor noted that the federal government requires California to provide emergency health care and education to illegal immigrants. Schwarzenegger in 2006 renounced his 1994 vote for Proposition 187, the initiative to block most services for illegal immigrants, which courts deemed unconstitutional.
“You know something, as far as I’m concerned, I’m happy that they can get the services,” he said Friday. “Because I would like to have the services if I’m somewhere in another country … if I have an accident with a motorcycle and I go to an emergency room, I don’t want someone to say, is he here legally?”…
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Levy on International Air Travel Could Fund Climate Change Fight
Idea put forward by 50 least developed countries
Britain and other rich countries will be asked to accept a compulsory levy on international flight tickets and shipping fuel to raise billions of dollars to help the world’s poorest countries adapt to combat climate change.
The suggestions come at the start of the second week in the latest round of UN climate talks in Bonn, where 192 countries are starting to negotiate a global agreement to limit and then reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The issue of funding for adaptation is critical to success but the hardest to agree.
The aviation levy, which is expected to increase the price of long-haul fares by less than 1%, would raise $10bn (£6.25bn) a year, it is said.
It has been proposed by the world’s 50 least developed countries. It could be matched by a compulsory surcharge on all international shipping fuel, said Connie Hedegaard, the Danish environment and energy minister who will host the final UN climate summit in December.
“People are beginning to understand that innovative ideas could generate a lot of money. The Danish shipping industry, which is one of the world’s largest, has said a that truly global system would work well. Denmark would endorse it,” said Hedegaard.
In Bonn last week, a separate Mexican proposal to raise billions of dollars was gaining ground. The idea, known as the “green fund” plan, would oblige all countries to pay amounts according to a formula reflecting the size of their economy, their greenhouse gas emissions and the country’s population. That could ensure that rich countries, which have the longest history of using of fossil fuels, pay the most to the fund.
Recently, the proposal won praise from 17 major-economy countries meeting in Paris as a possible mechanism to help finance a UN pact. The US special envoy for climate change, Todd Stern, called it “highly constructive”.
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Obama’s 7 Challenges for a New Beginning With Islam
(ANSAmed) — NEW YORK, JUNE 4 — In his 55-minute, 6,000-word, speech at the University of Cairo, the President of the USA has offered a “new beginning” to the Islamic world, to be achieved through seven challenges: fighting violent terrorism, conflict between Israel and Palestine, nuclear non-proliferation, democracy, religious freedom, women’s rights and economic development. “Islam is part of America”, said Obama in a message aimed at “combating stereotypes” and bringing an end to the “cycle of discord”, punctuated with phrases in Arabic and quotations from the three holy books of the great monotheistic religions and released in 13 languages by the White House. Here are the main points of Obama’s speech:
VIOLENT EXTREMISM: September 11 was an “enormous trauma” for the United States and in some cases “fear and anger has led us to act against our values and ideals”, but “America is not and will never be at war with Islam”. On the other hand, the United States “will relentlessly confront violent extremists who pose a grave threat to our security because we reject the same things that people of all faiths reject, the killing of innocent men, women and children. And it is my first duty as President to protect the American people”.
CONFLICT IN THE MIDDLE EAST: America’s links with Israel “will never be broken” but the situation of the Palestinian people is “intolerable” just the same. “The only solution is that the aspirations of both parties are met with the two-state solution. That is in Israel’s interest, Palestine’s interest, America’s interest, and the world’s interest.”
DEMOCRACY: “All people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and doesn’t steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose. Those are not just American ideas, they are human rights.”
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM: “ Islam has a proud tradition of tolerance. We see it in the history of Andalusia and Cordoba during the Inquisition. I saw it firsthand as a child in Indonesia, where devout Christians worshiped freely in an overwhelmingly Muslim country. That is the spirit we need today. People in every country should be free to choose and live their faith based upon the persuasion of the mind, heart, and soul. This tolerance is essential for religion to thrive”.
WOMEN’S RIGHTS: “I reject the view of some in the West that a woman who chooses to cover her hair is somehow less equal, but I do believe that a woman who is denied an education is denied equality. I do not believe that women must make the same choices as men in order to be equal, and I respect those women who choose to live their lives in traditional roles. But it should be their choice.”
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: “ Trade can bring new wealth and opportunities, but also huge disruptions and changing communities. In all nations — including my own — this change can bring fear. Fear that because of modernity we will lose of control over our economic choices, our politics, and most importantly our identities — those things we most cherish about our communities, our families, our traditions, and our faith. But I also know that human progress cannot be denied.” (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
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BREAKING NEWS: Hungary’s Far Right Party Enters European Parliament
The economy was the main focus. Another factor was the response to the Olaszliszka factor which became a symbol for the extreme right.
Hungary's main far-right party, accused by rights groups of spreading anti-semitic views and hatred towards the country's up to 800,000 Gypsies, known as Roma, has received three seats in the European Parliament, official results showed.
The far-right Movement for a Better Hungary (Jobbik) got over 15 percent of the ballots, much better than expected. The main center right opposition party Fidesz was seen gaining 14 seats. Hungary's ruling Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) was the big loser, holding on to just four seats, amid public anger over the country's deepest recession in decades, results showed.
The tiny conservative Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) managed to reserve one seat in the 736-member European Parliament.
continues:
At Jobbik's campaign headquarters in Budapest shouts of "Hungary, Hungary" and "Hungary belongs to Hungarians" reverberated throughout the room after the results were announced. Jobbik President Gábor Vona told supporters his party had been feeling like "Palestine being bombed by Israel," but that Jobbik managed to prevail. Jobbik's primary European candidate, Kisztina Morvai, said she wanted to be the candidate for Hungarians. Morvai, a former human rights lawyer, stressed she would partner with euroskeptics and defend Hungary's sovereignty by fighting against the Lisbon Treaty, the European Union's reform agreement.
and
He personally thanked Jobbik's paramilitary wing Magyar Gárda, or Hungarian Guard, for playing a role in his party's victory. Wearing uniforms and waving flags used by Hungary's pro-nazi regime, Magyar Gárda recruits have been marching through Roma villages and settlements.
Krisztina Morvai, who topped Jobbik's European Parliament list, said that Jobbik was committed to supporting ethnic Hungarian communities in neighboring countries in their efforts for autonomy.
link
Well Hezbollah lost as that article was old news, but it still doesn't mean that Israel is out of the woods. And if you want snow falling further south, how about the Sierra Nevada of California. The weather patterns in the US are what you would normally see in April or May, not in June. By this time NYC should be uncomfortably hot and humid, instead it's just nice. Cycles is all, it's all about cycles.
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