Monday, November 23, 2009

Gates of Vienna News Feed 11/23/2009

Gates of Vienna News Feed 11/23/2009The story about the hacked emails from Hadley CRU continues to bounce around the blogosphere, and has even leaked a little into the MSM. Some sources maintain that the emails were tampered with after they were stolen, and other commenters say this is beginning of the end for the global warming craze. We shall see.

In other news, in a follow-up on the story of the eight-year-old immigrant girl in Arizona who was raped by a gang of very young teenage boys, the parents of the victim have been charged with child abuse for their brutal treatment of their daughter.

Thanks to 4symbols, C. Cantoni, CSP, Esther, Insubria, JD, Paul Belien, RRW, Sean O’Brian, TV, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
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Financial Crisis
Spain: Last Among Developed Nations in Economic Recovery
 
USA
Chuck Norris: Thankful for Fading Freedoms
Frank Gaffney: Whose Side Are They on?
Lawyer: Hasan ‘Has No Sensation’ Below Chest
Obama’s Nice Guy Act Gets Him Nowhere on the World Stage
Obama to Present His Own Climate Plan
Rape Victim’s Parents Charged With Abuse
Terror Charges Unsealed in Minneapolis Against 8 Somalis
We’ve Made Muslims Our Guardians
 
Europe and the EU
Britain Begins Iraq War Inquiry
EU Seeks to End Discrimination Exemptions for UK’s Religious Employers
Greece Tests the Limit of Sovereign Debt as it Grinds Towards Slump
Harnessing the Power of Salt, Norway Tries Osmotic Power
Herman Van Rompuy: Europe’s First President to Push for ‘Euro Tax’
Italy: New Book Foretells North’s Secession
Italy: Transsexual May Have Been ‘Silenced’
McDonald’s to Turn Logo Green in Germany for Environment
MEP Clashes With Bishop Over ‘Climate Alarmism’
Netherlands: Former D66 Leader Coordinates Muslim Broadcasters
Netherlands: Holocaust Journal Published
Nobleman Wants to Build World’s Largest Solar Park in Bavaria
Report: Danish Welfare Under Threat
Sweden Hits Out at US Ahead of Climate Summit
The Belgianisation of Europe
UK: Children in Tears as Primary Teacher ‘Tells Them to Imagine Your Dad Had Been Killed in 9/11’
UK: Four Britons Linked to ‘Violent Jihad’ Plot Are Charged With Terror Offences
Upcoming Swiss Vote Over Minarets Raises Concerns
Van Rompuy: Man Without a Country
 
Balkans
Serbia: Huge Crowds Attend Patriarch’s Funeral
 
Mediterranean Union
EMPA MPs Urge Action
Syria: FEMIP: 50 Mln to Modernise Municipalities
 
North Africa
Egypt: Suez Canal Deepened for Large Ships
Energy: India Urged to Invest in Egypt’s Projects
EU-Libya Cooperation Deal on Infectious Diseases
Tunisia: Ben Ali, Country Bridge Between East and West
 
Israel and the Palestinians
First-Ever Conference on Arabs’ Anti-Jewish Sexual Harassment
Lebanon: EU Contributes to Rebuild School for Palestinians
 
Middle East
Ankara Ambivalent Toward New EU President
Cyprus Church Sues Turkey Over Occupied North
Just Five Bullets for Each Soldier: Iraq Inquiry Leak Reveals How British Troops Went in Woefully Unprepared
Lebanon Remains Confirmed as Missing UK Journalist
Saudi Prince Warns Against Disruptions to Hajj
Turkey Starts to Question Early Period of Republic
Turkey: Alevis Discover Their Stockholm Syndrome With Öymen’s Remarks
US Expert Links Obama’s Success to Role of Turkey
Yemen: Muslim Students Condemn ‘Massacre’ Of Houthis
Yemen Children Protest Child Abuse as War Continues in North
 
South Asia
Five Assam Rifles Troopers Killed in Manipur
Indian Govt ‘Eyes Extradition of Mumbai-Linked Suspects’ in Italy
India Parliament Uproar Over Ayodhya Mosque Report
 
Far East
China Slams US Report Warning of Spying by Beijing
Chinese Migrants Change Names to be ‘More Hong Kong’
Five Years in Prison for a Tibetan Writer for Denouncing Environmental Degradation
Mosques, Chinese Goods, Arabic Classes Rebuild Silk Road
 
Australia — Pacific
Over 100 Icebergs Drifting to N. Zealand: Official
 
Latin America
Leaders Meet in Trinidad for Climate Talks
 
Immigration
Germany to Draw Up ‘Values Contract’ For New Immigrants
 
General
Climate Change Emails Tampered With
Games ‘Permit’ Virtual War Crimes
Global Warming Meltdown: Climategate!
Gore’s Manipulation Allowed by Mainstream Media Climate Change Bias — Continues With Cru
Search the CRU Climate Fraud Emails by Keyword
The Great ‘Global Warming’ Hoax
The Global Warming Fraud Exposed
UN Negotiator Confident of Specific Climate Deal

Financial Crisis

Spain: Last Among Developed Nations in Economic Recovery

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, NOVEMBER 19 — Spain’s economy will perform better than expected, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which has revised up its forecast for Spain’s GDP, to fall by 3.6% in 2009 and by 0.3% in 2010, instead of the previously forecast fall of 4.5% this year and 0.9% next year. In any case Spain remains behind the other developed countries in terms of economic recovery. The OECD predicts a growth of 0.9% in Spain’s GDP for 2011, the lowest of all the developed countries, according to the Economic Prospects quoted today by the Europa Press agency. The predictions coincide with the latest figures from the Spanish government and go beyond those of the IMF, which estimates a fall in GDP of 3.8% in 2009, and 0.7% in 2010. The OECD warns that job losses will continue to be significant, with unemployment at 18.1% this year, 19.3% in 2010 and 19% in 2011. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria[Return to headlines]

USA

Chuck Norris: Thankful for Fading Freedoms

Abraham Lincoln once said, “Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.”

But what if those who restrict our freedoms are the very people who are in charge of securing them?

Over just the last year, Washington has worked double-time to limit your liberties, despite such reductions being cloaked under the guise of governmental progress.

First and foremost, Washington has reduced our freedoms and restricted our future by heaping upon our posterity astronomical amounts of debt, trying to jump-start the credit circus in our economy. Despite borrowing $787 billion from China to stimulate the economy with a promise to cap unemployment at 8 percent, unemployment has climbed to 10.2 percent and shows no sign of decreasing. And right now a record 14 percent of homeowners are either in foreclosure or behind at least one mortgage payment.

(Thanks to Ron Paul and others, last Thursday a House panel decided to audit the Federal Reserve, finally providing some accountability to this financial runaway train that doles out billions to whomever it pleases. Even with this mandatory audit, however, the Fed’s monetary policy deliberations will still need to be reined in. I recommend two insightful and strategic books toward that goal: Ron Paul’s “End the Fed” and Vox Day’s “The Return of the Great Depression.”)

Because of all their excessive spending, bailouts and borrowing, Washington has further restricted our financial freedoms by decreasing the value of the dollar. Since just March 2009, the U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the strength of the dollar against other major currencies, plunged more than 15 percent, making U.S. stocks also cheaper for foreign investors.

Washington is also reducing our medical choices or freedoms by mandating a government option upon all of us.

           — Hat tip: JD[Return to headlines]


Frank Gaffney: Whose Side Are They on?

An unsettling question has begun to nag as Team Obama’s conduct of security policy becomes ever more inconsistent with common sense — and, at least in some cases, manifestly at odds with our national interests: Whose side are they on?

Consider the following illustrative examples of such troubling behavior:

The Obama administration has done everything possible to obscure the true nature of the jihadist attack perpetrated at Fort Hood, Texas earlier this month. Unfortunately, it may not be merely complicating the prosecution of the alleged perpetrator, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan. For instance, terrorism expert Steve Emerson has warned that, by charging Hasan only with murder rather than terrorist acts, the Justice Department is denying investigators tools available to law enforcement under the counter-terrorism Patriot Act…

           — Hat tip: CSP[Return to headlines]


Lawyer: Hasan ‘Has No Sensation’ Below Chest

Suspect in Fort Hood massacre has received letters, cards at Texas hospital

BELTON, Texas — Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, the Army psychiatrist charged with killing 13 people at Fort Hood, Tex., is paralyzed from the chest down and doctors believe his paralysis will be permanent, Hasan’s lawyer said Sunday.

“He has no sensation from the nipple area down,” Hasan’s civilian attorney, John P. Galligan, said in a telephone interview.

During a closed-door hearing in Hasan’s hospital room on Saturday that lasted about an hour, a magistrate ruled that Hasan be confined until his military trial, Galligan said.

“In the middle of this hearing, he started to nod off and go to sleep,” Galligan said. “When I’ve spoken with him, he’s coherent, but your ability to have any meaningful exchange with him is limited in time and subject.”

Hasan has been recovering from gunshot wounds at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, where he is in intensive care. He has been receiving letters and cards, which the government has been copying before delivering, Galligan said. Now under pre-trial confinement, Hasan faces greater restrictions on visitors and the military can transfer him to another hospital or jail, he said.

Hasan will remain in confinement until his court-martial, a date for which has not been set. He has been charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder in the Nov. 5 massacre, but Galligan said he “fully anticipates” that military prosecutors might file additional charges.

[Return to headlines]


Obama’s Nice Guy Act Gets Him Nowhere on the World Stage

By Gabor Steingart

US President Barack Obama is back in the US after an Asian trip that produced few results.

When he entered office, US President Barack Obama promised to inject US foreign policy with a new tone of respect and diplomacy. His recent trip to Asia, however, showed that it’s not working. A shift to Bush-style bluntness may be coming.

There were only a few hours left before Air Force One was scheduled to depart for the flight home. US President Barack Obama trip through Asia had already seen him travel 24,000 kilometers, sit through a dozen state banquets, climb the Great Wall of China and shake hands with Korean children. It was high time to take stock of the trip.

Barack Obama looked tired on Thursday, as he stood in the Blue House in Seoul, the official residence of the South Korean president. He also seemed irritable and even slightly forlorn. The CNN cameras had already been set up. But then Obama decided not to play along, and not to answer the question he had already been asked several times on his trip: what did he plan to take home with him? Instead, he simply said “thank you, guys,” and disappeared. David Axelrod, senior advisor to the president, fielded the journalists’ questions in the hallway of the Blue House instead, telling them that the public’s expectations had been “too high.”

The mood in Obama’s foreign policy team is tense following an extended Asia trip that produced no palpable results. The “first Pacific president,” as Obama called himself, came as a friend and returned as a stranger. The Asians smiled but made no concessions.

Lost Some Stature

Upon taking office, Obama said that he wanted to listen to the world, promising respect instead of arrogance. But Obama’s currency isn’t as strong as he had believed. Everyone wants respect, but hardly anyone is willing to pay for it. Interests, not emotions, dominate the world of realpolitik. The Asia trip revealed the limits of Washington’s new foreign policy: Although Obama did not lose face in China and Japan, he did appear to have lost some of his initial stature.

In Tokyo, the new center-left government even pulled out of its participation in a mission which saw the Japanese navy refueling US warships in the Indian Ocean as part of the Afghanistan campaign. In Beijing, Obama failed to achieve any important concessions whatsoever. There will be no binding commitments from China to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A revaluation of the Chinese currency, which is kept artificially weak, has been postponed. Sanctions against Iran? Not a chance. Nuclear disarmament? Not an issue for the Chinese.

The White House did not even stand up for itself when it came to the question of human rights in China. The president, who had said only a few days earlier that freedom of expression is a universal right, was coerced into attending a joint press conference with Chinese President Hu Jintao, at which questions were forbidden. Former US President George W. Bush had always managed to avoid such press conferences.

Relatively Unsuccessful

A look back in time reveals the differences. When former President Bill Clinton went to China in June 1998, Beijing wanted to impress the Americans. A press conference in the Great Hall of the People, broadcast on television as a 70-minute live discussion, became a sensation the world over. Clinton mentioned the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, when the government used tanks against protestors. But then President Jiang Zemin defended the tough approach taken by the Chinese Communists. At the end of the exchange, the Chinese president praised the debate and said: “I believe this is democracy!”

Obama visited a new China, an economic power that is now making its own demands. America should clean up its government finances, and the weak dollar is unacceptable, the head of the Chinese banking authority said, just as Obama’s plane was about to land.

Obama’s new foreign policy has also been relatively unsuccessful elsewhere, with even friends like Israel leaving him high and dry. For the government of Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, peace is only conceivable under its terms. Netanyahu has rejected Obama’s call for a complete moratorium on the construction of settlements. As a result, Obama has nothing to offer the Palestinians and the Syrians. “We thought we had some leverage,” says Martin Indyk, a former ambassador to Israel under the Clinton administration and now an advisor to Obama. “But that proved to be an illusion.”

Even the president seems to have lost his faith in a genial foreign policy. The approach that was being used in Afghanistan this spring, with its strong emphasis on civilian reconstruction, is already being changed. “We’re searching for an exit strategy,” said a staff member with the National Security Council on the sidelines of the Asia trip.

‘A Lot Like Jimmy Carter’

An end to diplomacy is also taking shape in Washington’s policy toward Tehran. It is now up to Iran, Obama said, to convince the world that its nuclear power is peaceful. While in Asia, Obama mentioned “consequences” unless it followed his advice. This puts the president, in his tenth month in office, where Bush began — with threats. “Time is running out,” Obama said in Korea. It was the same phrase Bush used against former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, shortly before he sent in the bombers.

There are many indications that the man in charge at the White House will take a tougher stance in the future. Obama’s advisors fear a comparison with former Democratic President Jimmy Carter, even more than with Bush. Prominent Republicans have already tried to liken Obama to the humanitarian from Georgia, who lost in his bid to win a second term, because voters felt that he was too soft. “Carter tried weakness and the world got tougher and tougher because the predators, the aggressors, the anti-Americans, the dictators, when they sense weakness, they all start pushing ahead,” Newt Gingrich, the former Republican speaker in the House of Representatives, recently said. And then he added: “This does look a lot like Jimmy Carter.”

Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni[Return to headlines]


Obama to Present His Own Climate Plan

Barack Obama ready to offer target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions

Obama administration officials have been consulting international negotiators and key players on Capitol Hill about signing up to a provisional target in Copenhagen

President Barack Obama is considering setting a provisional target for cutting America’s huge greenhouse gas emissions, removing the greatest single obstacle to a landmark global agreement to fight climate change.

The Observer has learnt that administration officials have been consulting international negotiators and key players on Capitol Hill about signing up to a provisional target at the UN global warming summit in Copenhagen, now less than three weeks away.

Todd Stern, the state department climate change envoy, said the administration recognised that America had to come forward with a target for cutting its emissions. The US, which with China is responsible for 40% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, is the only major developed nation yet to table an offer.

           — Hat tip: Esther[Return to headlines]


Rape Victim’s Parents Charged With Abuse

(CNN) — The parents of an 8-year-old Liberian girl who was allegedly sexually assaulted by four boys in July were arrested Friday on child abuse charges, according to Arizona police.

The father, 59, and mother, 47, were arrested Friday in Phoenix on seven counts of child abuse, said police spokesman Sgt. Andy Hill. Police were waiting for them at their home after the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office issued the warrants.

The names of the parents have been withheld by CNN to avoid identifying the daughter, who is an alleged rape victim.

The child abuse investigation was based on documented incidents from the Phoenix Police Department and numerous referrals to Arizona Child Protective Services dating to 2005.

Police said the parents, refugees from the West African nation, used sticks, wires and their fists to hit their young daughter.

Witnesses told CNN affiliate KTVK that the parents left their daughter wandering their apartment complex alone at night, begging for food.

See KTVK’s coverage

Details of the girl’s assault last summer shocked the nation. She was allegedly lured to a storage shed, pinned down and gang-raped by four boys, none of them older than 14.

The parents said they felt they had been shamed by their child and blamed her for being victimized. As a result, the girl was taken from her home and placed in state custody.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said at the time that the parents’ reaction was wrong and that they needed counseling.

           — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes[Return to headlines]


Terror Charges Unsealed in Minneapolis Against 8 Somalis

Earlier I reported that the FBI was holding a press conference today about the missing Somali (former refugee) case.* Thanks to a friend from Tennessee, below is the press release which I am posting in its entirety so we have it handy for future reference.

Terror Charges Unsealed in Minneapolis Against Eight Men, Justice Department Announces

WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Justice Department announced that terrorism charges have been unsealed today in the District of Minnesota against eight defendants. According to the charging documents, the offenses include providing financial support to those who traveled to Somalia to fight on behalf of al-Shabaab, a designated foreign terrorist organization; attending terrorist training camps operated by al-Shabaab; and fighting on behalf of al-Shabaab.

Thus far, 14 defendants have been charged in the District of Minnesota through indictments or criminal complaints that have been unsealed and brought in connection with an ongoing investigation into the recruitment of persons from U.S. communities to train with or fight on behalf of extremist groups in Somalia. Four of these defendants have previously pleaded guilty and await sentencing.

The charges were announced today by David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; B. Todd Jones, U.S. Attorney for the District of Minneapolis; and Ralph S. Boelter, Special Agent in Charge of the Minneapolis field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation…

           — Hat tip: RRW[Return to headlines]


We’ve Made Muslims Our Guardians

Muslims aren’t just officers in the U.S. armed forces, in which position no one reports them when they openly support jihad terrorism, a failure to act that leaves them at liberty to commit mass murder against U.S. soldiers. Muslims are installed in the highest level of our national security apparatus. As reported at Atlas Shrugs, Arif Alikhan, a U.S. born son of Pakistani immigrants, was appointed last June as assistant secretary of the Homeland Security Department, to the cheers of the radical Muslim organization CAIR. In his previous position, as a deputy mayor of Los Angeles in charge of public safety, Alikhan was instrumental in stopping a Muslim “mapping” plan that had been put in place by the Los Angeles Police Department.

Under liberalism, as soon as the society recognizes the existence of a non-Western enemy and begins to oppose him, as happened after the 9/11 attack, the society simultaneously begins reaching out to that non-Western enemy more than it has ever done before, in order to show that it is not bigoted against him. Thus the more dangerous the non-Western enemy becomes, and the more measures that are put in place against him, the greater the compensatory gestures toward that enemy that must also be put in place. The more of a threat he is, and the more we fight him, the more we must empower him.

It is useless to keep criticizing our suicidally liberal society in the hopes that it will change direction on its own. The liberalism is too deeply embedded, in every institution and in the minds of the elite and the people, for that to happen. Short of some catastrophic event, or a collapse of our economic system, or our surrender to a non-Western enemy, liberal society will not change. Liberal society is doomed, along with the liberal belief system that dooms it. But until that doom occurs, the belief system will remain in place. What is needed is a new, organized voice that stands outside the existing mainstream society, challenges its liberal presuppositions, shows their suicidal nature, and offers a radically different course.

           — Hat tip: TV[Return to headlines]

Europe and the EU

Britain Begins Iraq War Inquiry

LONDON — AN INDEPENDENT inquiry into Britain’s role in the war in Iraq begins public hearings on Tuesday that will culminate in the eagerly-awaited testimony from former prime minister Tony Blair.

Military chiefs, diplomats, ministers and senior officials will all be called before the five-member committee as it looks into what lessons can be learned from the controversial war. The inquiry committee’s chairman, former civil servant John Chilcot, said on Monday he was confident of producing a ‘full and insightful’ account of the decision-making process which took Britain into the conflict.

John Scarlett, the former head of foreign intelligence service MI6, and one-time ambassadors to the United States, Christopher Meyer, and to the United Nations, Jeremy Greenstock, will be among the first to give evidence.

           — Hat tip: Esther[Return to headlines]


EU Seeks to End Discrimination Exemptions for UK’s Religious Employers

The European Commission has called on the UK to end exemptions to equality laws that allow religious employers to discriminate on the grounds of sexual orientation.

The European Commission sent a “reasoned opinion” to the UK on Friday for “incorrectly implementing” EU rules prohibiting discrimination based on religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation in employment or occupation.

The reasoned opinion states that the Government’s “exceptions to the principle of non-discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation for religious employers are broader than that permitted by the directive”.

The UK Government permits exemptions for employers who could not conscionably employ homosexuals because of their religious convictions. The intervention means that anti-discrimination will have to be redrafted to ensure that churches and other religious bodies fall in line with all aspects of equality laws.

“Tackling all forms of discrimination — especially at work — has been a priority for this Commission and for me personally. Our legal action has led to better protection against discrimination in workplaces across the EU,” said Equal Opportunities Commissioner Vladimír Špidla.

“We call on the UK Government to make the necessary changes to its anti-discrimination legislation as soon as possible so as to fully comply with the EU rules. In this context, we welcome the proposed Equality Bill and hope that it will come into force quickly.”

Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said the ruling was a “significant victory” for gay equality and a “serious setback” for religious employers, according to the Guardian.

Christian charity Care voiced concern over the intervention: “If evangelical churches cannot be sure that they can employ practising evangelicals with respect to sexual ethics, how will they be able to continue?”

           — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian[Return to headlines]


Greece Tests the Limit of Sovereign Debt as it Grinds Towards Slump

Greece is disturbingly close to a debt compound spiral. It is the first developed country on either side of the Atlantic to push unfunded welfare largesse to the limits of market tolerance.

Euro membership blocks every plausible way out of the crisis, other than EU beggary. This is what happens when a facile political elite signs up to a currency union for reasons of prestige or to snatch windfall gains without understanding the terms of its Faustian contract.

When the European Central Bank’s Jean-Claude Trichet said last week that certain sinners on the edges of the eurozone were “very close to losing their credibility”, everybody knew he meant Greece.

The interest spread between 10-year Greek bonds and German bunds has jumped to 178 basis points. Greek debt has decoupled from Italian debt. Athens can no longer hide behind others in EMU’s soft South.

“As far as the bond vigilantes are concerned, the Bat-Signal is up for Greece,” said Francesco Garzarelli in a Goldman Sachs client note, Tremors at the EMU Periphery.

The newly-elected Hellenic Socialists (PASOK) of George Papandreou confess that the budget deficit will be more than 12pc of GDP this year, four times the original claim of the last lot. After campaigning on extra spending, it will have to do the exact opposite. “We need to save the country from bankruptcy,” he said.

Good luck. Communist-led shipyard workers have already clashed violently with police. Some 200 anarchists were arrested in Athens last week after they torched streets of cars in a tear gas battle.

           — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian[Return to headlines]


Harnessing the Power of Salt, Norway Tries Osmotic Power

OSLO — After wind, sun, currents and tides, a company is preparing to make clean electricity by harnessing another natural phenomenon, the energy-unleashing encounter of freshwater and seawater.

Taking a step further in the planet’s hunt for clean power, Norway is to unveil on Tuesday the world’s first prototype of an osmotic power plant on the banks of the Oslo fjord.

The project is small-scale but could prove the great potential of osmotic energy.

“It is a form of renewable energy which, unlike solar or wind power, produces a predictable and stable amount of energy regardless of the weather,” explained Stein Erik Skilhagen, in charge of the project at state-owned Statkraft, which specialises in renewable energies.

           — Hat tip: Esther[Return to headlines]


Herman Van Rompuy: Europe’s First President to Push for ‘Euro Tax’

Herman Van Rompuy, Europe’s first president, is to join forces with the European Commission to push for sweeping new tax raising powers for Brussels.

Within days of taking office in January, the former Belgian prime minister will put his weight behind controversial proposals already floated by the commission’s head, José Manuel Barroso, for a new “Euro tax”.

He will add credence to Mr Barroso’s plans, to be formally tabled in the New Year, by arguing for a Euro-version of a “Tobin Tax” — a levy on financial transactions already floated by Gordon Brown as a solution to the international banking crisis. It would result in a stream of income direct to Brussels coffers, funding budgets that critics say are already rife with waste and overspending.

Mr Van Rompuy, 62, who was appointed to the newly-created £320,000-a-year post at last week’s special EU summit, set out his stall on direct Euro-taxes during a private speech at a recent meeting of the Bilderberg group of top politicians, bankers and businessmen. The group officially meets in secret, but when selected details of his remarks leaked out, his office was forced to issue a public statement on his behalf.

“The financing of the welfare state, irrespective of the social reform we implement, will require new resources,” he said. “The possibility of financial levies at European level needs to be seriously reviewed.”

Mr Barroso, whose commission acts as the European Union’s executive arm and civil service, has set out alternative plans for a Euro tax that would involve Brussels taking directly a fixed percentage of VAT and fuel duties. While these taxes already help to fund EU spending — set at £121 billion next year — they are currently gathered by the treasuries of individual nation states, from which varying sums are paid into EU coffers.

A new Euro tax could appear on all shopping and petrol station receipts, showing the amount of VAT or fuel duty creamed off directly to Brussels. Supporters say it would take a fixed proportion of the existing tax revenue rather than increase it overall, and make the cost to taxpayers of running the EU more transparent. Critics argue this could backfire by increasing anti-Brussels sentiment.

Mr Van Rompuy has not set out in detail exactly which tax raising mechanisms he favours most, but after the Bilderberg meeting his spokesman said he would look favourably on either green taxes or a version of the Tobin Tax, originally proposed in 1972 by the US economist James Tobin as a tax on currency speculation.

Mr Brown floated this earlier this month as a way of financing future bail outs of the banking system, although he meant it for global rather than purely European purposes.

But whichever revenue-raising mechanism was used, the backing of two of Europe’s most senior apparatchiks for the idea in principle will give it extra momentum.

Opponents of the idea could also underestimate Mr Van Rompuy’s determination to get his own way. Ostensibly chosen for his new job because of his skill as a consensus-builder, he is also known as a skilled and ruthless political operator, who is happy to play rough as well as smooth. Last year he ordered the locks to be changed on a chamber in the Belgian parliament in order to prevent deputies holding a politically disruptive debate. According to Belgian newspaper De Morgen, van Rompuy told colleagues a few weeks ago that to achieve a top EU function you must “not ask for high office, but become a grey mouse, and offers will come.”

Mr Barroso, meanwhile, has just been reappointed to his post by member states for a second five year term, freeing him to push his tax agenda in bolder fashion than before. Any move towards Euro taxes, however, will encounter bitter opposition from British Conservatives.

“Any kind of harmonised tax system will remove control over our national tax systems,” said Timothy Kirkhope, leader of the Britain’s Conservative MEPs. “Competition in Europe depends on member states being allowed to have competitive tax regimes.”

In opposing any Euro-tax plans, the Tories will find an unlikely ally in Mr Van Rompuy’s sister Christine, 54, a left-wing nurse who joined the Marxist Belgian Workers’ Party after witnessing the Belgian government’s privatisation of the health service. She is now one of her brother’s staunchest political critics, and the brochure used by her party features a picture of her brother dressed as a clown.

“I disagree with my brother’s ideas for a green tax,” she said. “Any new taxes would be paid by the poor. We need to tax the rich.”

[Return to headlines]


Italy: New Book Foretells North’s Secession

Milan, 20 Nov. (AKI) — A new book which envisages the north of Italy seceding from the “thieving” south has been selling well in the country’s northeast. The book entitled, ‘Italian Brothers?’, canvasses the potential of the northern Veneto and Lombardy regions declaring independence after Italy’s regional elections next year.

Buoyed by strong gains in the regional elections, the book foresees the Northern League failing to back the government led by Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s ruling conservative People of Freedom party in a confidence vote, bringing it down.

A ‘national unity’ government is then formed and led by economist and former European Union competition commissioner Mario Monti as prime minister.

Despite initial promises of financial rigour, the new government cancels the debts of the southern cities of Naples, Taranto, Reggio Calabria and Palermo.

In the book, Italy’s current agriculture minister, Luca Zaia (photo) from the anti-immigrant Northern League party is elected governor of the northeastern Veneto region.

He announces the region will withhold all taxes collected by the central Italian government and that 700 new workers will be hired, while dissolving the regional parliament and calling fresh elections.

Shortly afterwards, a soccer match between the Sicilian city of Catania and the northern city of Veneto’s Chievo team, a dodgy penalty sparks violence in which six Chievo fans are killed.

The fans’ deaths and funerals stoke strong ‘nationalist’ emotions in the surrounding Veneto region and the momentum for independence becomes unstoppable.

Fresh regional elections are held and Zaia wins a landslide victory taking 74 percent of the vote.

Zaia issues a new constitution and cuts taxes to 35 percent.

The regional government raises five million euros in a matter of days via regional bonds underwritten by local banks and the Veneto region’s expropriation of Italian government property.

The neighbouring northern region of Lombardy is swept along by the momentum of Veneto’s secession and also declares independence.

In the book’s fanciful account, the north then secedes from the south.

“We wanted to highlight that such a future scenario is already a reality,” said Davide Corritore, one of the book’s authors and a centre-left opposition member of the northern city of Milan’s town council.

“Let’s not forget the independence of so-called Padania is enshrined in Article 1 of the Northern League’s statute.”

‘Padania’ is an alternative geographical name for northern Italy used by the Northern League party. It orignally referred to the Po Valley area.

The Northern League made the strongest gains of any party in Italy’s general election in April last year with 8.3 percent of votes nationwide — double its share in the 2006 election.

In the European Parliament elections in May, the party took 10.2 percent of the vote.

Corritore was formerly an advisor to former prime minister Massimo D’Alema and finance and investment director for Deutsche Bank.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni[Return to headlines]


Italy: Transsexual May Have Been ‘Silenced’

Rome, 20 Nov. (AKI) — Italian politicians have raised doubts about whether the death of a transsexual prostitute at the centre of a major sex, drugs and extortion scandal was a suicide. The Brazilian prostitute, known as Brenda, was found dead after a fire broke out at her apartment in northern Rome early Friday.

The transsexual was allegedly involved with Piero Marrazzo, who resigned as governor of the Lazio region surrounding the Italian capital, when news of their relationship broke in October.

“Evidently, someone wanted to silence her to prevent her from saying what she knew,” said Paolo Ferrero, secretary-general of Italy’s Communisty Refoundation Party.

“It is clear that not only Marrazzo frequented Via Gradoli (the address of Brenda’s apartment).

The deputy president of the centre-left Italy of Values party Fabio Evangelisti said that criminal organisations linked to government institutions could have taken part in Brenda’s death.

“It is evident that the hand of criminal organisations is behind this intrigue,” said Evangelisti. “I do not exclude the responsibility of people within government institutions or with links to them.”

The regional councillor of the Lazio region Alessio D’Amato, from the main opposition Democratic Party said that the transsexual’s death was an “obscure event, worthy of a thriller by (Swedish writer) Stieg Larsson”.

Media reports said that Brenda had suffocated from smoke inhalation and her body was not charred.

Investigators said that Brenda’s laptop computer had been submerged in water before the fire.

Questions have been raised about whether the computer was submerged to prevent it from being destroyed in the fire, or that someone wanted to destroy the contents of the computer’s hard drive.

As speculation continued about the prostitute’s fate, Italy’s interior minister Roberto Maroni on Friday declined to comment on Brenda’s death.

Meanwhile, Rome’s transsexuals said they feared for their lives after the prostitute was found dead.

Transsexuals in the area rejected claims that Brenda committed suicide.

Brenda made headlines after allegedly having more than one sexual encounter with the former governor of the Lazio region Piero Marrazzo in an extortion, sex and drugs scandal, which led to the governor’s resignation in October.

Authorities are treating the case as murder, court sources said.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni[Return to headlines]


McDonald’s to Turn Logo Green in Germany for Environment

McDonald’s in Germany has decided to colour it its famous logo sporting the golden arches green out of respect for the environment, a senior executive said on Monday.

At German branches of the US fast-food chain, the famous golden arches will be emblazoned on a green background, rather than its usual red, McDonald’s Germany vice-president Holger Beeck said.

The change will be made on all new and refitted restaurants “out of respect for the environment,” Beeck told the Financial Times Deutschland.

           — Hat tip: Esther[Return to headlines]


MEP Clashes With Bishop Over ‘Climate Alarmism’

A controversial Conservative Euro MP has careered into a clash with a bishop over his claim that the Church of England has “abandoned religion” to preach the gospel of climate change.

Roger Helmer, Tory MEP for the East Midlands, has infuriated the Church with the accusation that it is more interested in “climate alarmism” than its traditional teachings.

The climate-change sceptic, who sparked fury recently by claiming homophobia did not exist, also questioned the Church’s political leanings. The broadside, in a local newspaper in the run-up to the Copenhagen summit, last night provoked outrage from political opponents — and the Bishop of Leicester.

The Rt Rev Tim Stevens said he was “surprised and saddened” at the attack. He also said Mr Helmer had failed to express his “extraordinary view that the earth is cooling” when he took up an invitation to debate climate change in Leicester Cathedral.

The Bishop was responding to a letter in the Leicester Mercury, in which Mr Helmer referred to the children’s writer GP Taylor’s decision to join the Catholic Church, “saying that ‘the CofE is a sinking ship that has become the spiritual arm of New Labour’“.

           — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian[Return to headlines]


Netherlands: Former D66 Leader Coordinates Muslim Broadcasters

THE HAGUE, 21/11/09 — Former centre-left D66 leader Gerrit-Jan Wolffensperger has been appointed as chairman of Care of Islamic Broadcasting Time (SVIZ). This organisation is acting as intermediary in the conflict between the two Islamic public broadcasting organisations NMO and NIO.

Wolffensperger will head the executive of the Muslim umbrella group until 1 September 2010. That is the starting date of the new 5-year licence period for all the public broadcasters, currently more than 20 in number.

Each of the major religions has its own broadcasting organisation, but Islam has two because different Islamic groups refuse to work together. As each group does not wish the other to have Islamic broadcasting time either, SVIZ was set up in November 2007 as intermediary.

The Muslim broadcasters squandered a large portion of their 5.3 million euro annual subsidies on court cases against each other. In June, Media Minister Ronald Plasterk said they would have to make an end to their rows within six weeks, otherwise he would pull the plug on them. The solution was then found in the resignation of the entire board of the SVIZ.

Wolffensperger now has the task of trying to create a truce. He was previously chairman of public broadcaster NOS from 1998 to 2003. >From 1994 to 1997, he was the parliamentary leader of D66 in the Lower House.

Last week the FIOD-ECD fiscal fraud police arrested Frank Williams, the former director of NMO, for taking at least 600,000 euros in bribes. His son, daughter-in-law and a film producer were also arrested. Williams allegedly had the film producer, Mike K., pay him for assignments.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni[Return to headlines]


Netherlands: Holocaust Journal Published

From Dutch: The journal of Dutch Jew, Klaartje de Zwarte-Walvisch, was published this week. De Zwarte-Walvisch (32) was arrested with her husband in Amsterdam in 1943 and deported to Vught, Westerbork and then Sobibor, where she was murdered. She kept a journal of her life from her arrest and until just before she was sent to Sobibor.

           — Hat tip: Esther[Return to headlines]


Nobleman Wants to Build World’s Largest Solar Park in Bavaria

Albert Prinz of Thurn and Taxis, the German billionaire known for his car racing exploits, wants to build the world’s largest solar farm in Bavaria. The 115 million euro project could generate handsome earnings in green electricity sales for the family. First, though, they have to overcome local resistance.

One of Germany’s wealthiest families, known from the 16th to the 18th century for delivering mail, is trying its hand at delivering something new: power.

The House of Thurn and Taxis, headed by 26-year old Albert Prinz of Thurn and Taxis, wants to build the world’s largest solar energy park using farmland in the southern German state of Bavaria, according to the Financial Times Deutschland. The family plans to invest €115 million ($117 million) to build solar panels across 1.9 million square meters (20.5 million square feet) of land, equal to 280 soccer fields, in the town of Harthof near Straubing. The farm would provide up to 65 megawatts of peak power, making it the world’s largest.

“Even in the Sahara, there are no areas with topography as capable as here,” says Stefan Stehl, a representative for the family told the FT Deutschland.

           — Hat tip: Esther[Return to headlines]


Report: Danish Welfare Under Threat

A report from the Ministry of Economy and Trade says that Danish welfare is under threat due to inefficiency, a lack of ideas and the fact that Danes cost too much, adding that since 1995 only Spain and Italy have managed worse than Denmark in efficiency and productivity.

The bleak outlook for Danish welfare is part of a major analysis on Dansh productivity that the ministry is due to publish today, according to Berlingske Tidende.

           — Hat tip: Esther[Return to headlines]


Sweden Hits Out at US Ahead of Climate Summit

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS — As the UN Copenhagen climate change summit next month threatens increasingly to be a flop, the Swedish prime minister has begun laying the blame for failure at Washington’s doorstep.

In Saturday’s (21 November) edition of centre-right Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet, premier Frederick Reinfeldt defended his work on a global climate pact while at the helm of Europe and expressed his disappointment in the new American administration.

He described a “pronounced difficulty from several sides” but then went on to salute all major global blocs other than the US and Canada.

After bountifully praising the offers on the table from Australia, Japan, South Korea, Russia, China, Indonesia and Brazil and developing nations in general, Mr Reinfeld bluntly stated that the US position is “not enough.”

“Protracted discussions of the proposed new American climate and energy legislation in Congress limit the opportunities for clear political leadership,” said the Swedish leader, whose country holds the EU’s six-month rotating presidency for a few more weeks, before handing over the reins to Spain and a new permanent EU Council president.

“We know that the proposal, should it be adopted, would lead to significant reductions of emissions by 2050. But …a lot of work is needed to live up to the ambitious promises of change.”

“Again — this is not enough. The process is too slow and the pledges made are still not binding, which is essential if we are to reach the two degree target [on limiting global temperature increases].”

He did however concede that the US is making “small steps in the right direction.”

           — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian[Return to headlines]


The Belgianisation of Europe

To understand Mr Van Rompuy’s antagonism to such symbols and elements of sovereignty, you must understand what it means to be a Belgian politician — and I do mean ‘Belgian’ rather than Flemish, despite Mr Van Rompuy’s Flemish name.

There is no such thing as the Belgian nation. There is the Flemish nation, whose fatherland is Flanders and whose language is Dutch, and there is the Walloon nation, whose fatherland is Wallonia and whose language is French. In 1830, the big powers of the day forced the Flemings of Flanders and the Walloons of Wallonia to join together in a new, ‘non-identity’ state called Belgium.

All of which is exactly where the EU is heading. So far, democracy has been done away with. If you doubt it, consider the means used to select Mr Van Rompuy as president of the council — secret meetings controlled by the big powers. The man who emerged as president of the council of this new artificial superstate is a politician who despises the only source of democracy, the nation state.

This is the Belgianisation of Europe.

           — Hat tip: Paul Belien[Return to headlines]


UK: Children in Tears as Primary Teacher ‘Tells Them to Imagine Your Dad Had Been Killed in 9/11’

A primary school teacher has been suspended after reducing her class to tears after allegedly telling them to make up a story about their fathers dying in the 9/11 terror attacks.

Kathy Young, 29, is said to have left her seven-year-old pupils traumatised after asking them to imagine they had been involved in the World Trade Centre atrocity.

An investigation has now been launched after furious parents called for the teacher to be sacked from Oxclose Village Primary School, Washington, Tyne and Wear.

[…]

But a family member, who asked not to be named, told the Daily Telegraph that the claims were wide of the mark.

‘No children even seemed “upset” or “left the lesson in tears” or seemed “traumatised”,” the relative said.

‘Kathy never mentioned the alleged phrase, “dead dad”, but rather asked the children to imagine many reasons why they may have never met their fathers.

           — Hat tip: JD[Return to headlines]


UK: Four Britons Linked to ‘Violent Jihad’ Plot Are Charged With Terror Offences

Three were charged with assisting others to take part in violent jihad while a fourth is charged with planning to take part in terrorist activity himself.

[…]

Muslim cleric Shaykh Asif Hussain Farooqui, from Bolton, was yesterday released without charge and thanked those who had called for his freedom.

Up to 2,000 people signed online petitions which called for the release of the scholar who is a member of the Al Rahman Mosque in Daubhill.

Campaigners expressed their ‘outrage’ that the ‘well-respected figure’ in the Muslim community in Bolton had been detained. Some protested outside Greater Manchester Police’s headquarters hours before he was released.

Shaykh Farooqui, who is not related to any of the charged men, was arrested at his home in Deane.

In a statement, he thanked his legal team, police custody staff — who he said respected his religion — and those who prayed and fasted for his ‘speedy release’.

           — Hat tip: JD[Return to headlines]


Upcoming Swiss Vote Over Minarets Raises Concerns

A scheduled referendum in Switzerland on Nov. 29 over whether to allow the construction of minarets triggered by an initiative promoted by the far-right Swiss People’s Party has raised eyebrows in predominantly Muslim Turkey.

Supporters of the ban argue that the minarets are a symbol of political and religious claims to power, not just a religious sign, while those who oppose the ban say the initiative goes against freedom of religion and potentially will create tension and polarization in Swiss society.

Speaking to Sunday’s Zaman, Directorate of Religion Affairs Deputy Chairman Mehmet Görmez said: “It is sad to see religious precepts taken to referendum. In the case of a negative result, I am extremely concerned that this will spread across Europe. Besides, I don’t think this will serve the advancement of peace.” According to government data, less than 15 percent of Swiss Muslims actively practice their faith. Indeed, only four of the roughly 150 mosques in Switzerland have minarets.

Laws against noise pollution forbid mosques from using minarets to hold speakers for the call to prayer. Yet the Swiss government has tried to distance itself from the initiative, fearing that a clash over Muslim minority rights may have a negative impact on business and political interests for the country.

Stressing that the Swiss laws guaranteeing religious freedoms and human rights are being violated by this decision to hold a referendum, Ahmet Gökhan Sariçam, deputy chairman of Turkey’s parliamentary Commission on Human Rights, told Sunday’s Zaman that their commission will take action to make sure that any human rights violations caused by the results of the referendum will not serve as precedents.

In an interview with Sunday’s Zaman, Ahmet Faruk Ünsal, chair of the Association for Human Rights and Solidarity with the Oppressed (MAZLUMDER), said, “Discussing the acquired rights in a referendum contrary to their ontological character will promote hatred and build enmity and bellicosity.” Akin Birdal, a member of the parliamentary Commission on Human Rights, also told Sunday’s Zaman that the Swiss referendum is no different than holding a plebiscite over the mother tongue of a group.

Recalling that the Sept. 11 attacks have contributed to the emergence of discussions in Europe on the visibility and publicizing of Islamic symbols, Görmez underlined that the impact of these discussions was best observed in the pressure and restrictions against the construction of mosques in Germany, France, Italy, Belgium and Switzerland. Noting that it took a long time for Muslims in Germany to get approval to construct a mosque in Munich because of political wrangling, Görmez further said: “The construction of a mosque in Cologne has been a matter of debate for years. Demonstrations were held to protest the initiation of the construction of this mosque last week; everybody knows what a placard depicting a crossed mosque image means in Europe.”

Noting that the construction of mosques is a part of the right to religious freedom, Görmez said mosques and places reserved for worship serve as shelters for Muslim people in Europe. Görmez, who underlined that Muslims spend their weekends at these places, where they pray and socialize, further noted that mosques are extremely important for the minorities in their attempts to coexist with other communities in peace.

Stressing that the discussion of religious values and precepts in a referendum is not a good sign, Görmez referred to the probable repercussions of a negative vote; he noted that in such a case, Swiss Muslims may develop negative feelings about their neighbors who voted against the construction of minarets.

Minarets hold no non-religious meanings

Görmez noted that limiting the debate for the construction of minarets to a simple referendum creates a double standard, considering that special places are reserved for religious observance for many different religions, even in workplaces. He also pointed out that the trend against Muslim mosques and prayer rooms is spreading to other countries in Europe, a development he calls alarming. “There have been some comments on minarets. For instance, a far-right party made a statement in Vienna. They argued that mosques are political places rather than venues reserved for prayers. It was regrettable to witness a political party make such a grave statement over the religious buildings and places of an old religion.”

Recalling that some argue that minarets are linked to violence, Görmez drew attention to the seriousness of the distribution of pamphlets and fliers claiming that the minarets represent violence. Stressing that such allegations offended Muslims, Görmez said: “The minarets have a single meaning. This symbolic meaning is the Islamic belief and faith referring to the unity of God.” Görmez further recalled that the belief in the unity of God is a prerequisite for being a Muslim.

Noting that it would be unfair to assign non-religious symbolism to minarets, which are integral parts of mosques, Görmez said: “To whoever attributes violent and misleading meanings and symbols to minarets and makes improper comments based on these meanings, Muslims will see this not only as a misunderstanding but also as a distortion of the facts.”

Görmez further noted that Muslims have a fundamental right to construct mosques and minarets on their registered properties and land in compliance with local building laws, just as other religious groups have. “Wherever they live and reside, Muslims should have the right to construct their mosques and to establish places where they are able to perform and observe their prayers” he added.

“It is sad to see that this basic right is being violated under pressure from dominant groups in the country,” Görmez said, adding that he believes reason and wisdom will prevail in Switzerland. “Swiss skies are vast enough to host synagogues, steeples, churches, mosques and minarets” he said.

Noting that he is still hopeful that the Swiss people will extend their support for religious freedom, Görmez stressed that a positive outcome of the referendum, confirming the rights of Muslims by the Swiss people, will serve as a good model for other countries.

Vote is no different than discussing education in the mother tongue

Member of parliamentary Commission on Human Rights Akin Birdal: Issues relating to religious freedom are not eligible for referenda. If they are, it would be no different than holding a referendum to discuss the right to education in one’s mother tongue. This is unacceptable in modern democracies; to the contrary, these rights are protected. Undoubtedly, communities and individuals are not pleased with the obstacles to the enjoyment of their religious freedoms and rights. Their stance towards those who introduce the restrictions will inevitably change. Islamic communities will be the first to change their attitudes because some groups will no longer be tolerant due to this practice. Some concerns will be raised over the fate of a peaceful environment. Other religious minorities will be worried that the intolerance affecting Muslims may undermine their rights as well.

***

Many Swiss politicians are aware of serious mistake

Member of parliamentary Commission on Human Rights Ahmet Gökhan Sariçam: By misinterpreting Swiss law, extremists have made several advancements in their bid to violate human rights. Under Swiss law, an issue may be brought to a national referendum if a certain number of signatures are collected in a petition drive. A basic fact is that a fundamental rights issue may not become the subject of a referendum. Many Swiss politicians are aware of this grave mistake and stress that a referendum is not needed on the issue of acquired rights. Unfortunately, we are observing attempts in many European countries to introduce restrictions against liberties via manipulation. If a fellow believer of a religion other than Christianity makes a request for the free enjoyment of his faith, such a request is not considered a humane demand. If it is really necessary to clarify how a place of worship will be built this should be asked of the people who plan the construction of the building rather than the Swiss people.

***

Fundamental rights are not subject to others’ approval

Chairman of the Association of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed Peoples A. Faruk Ünsal: I think that holding a referendum on fundamental rights symbolizes distrust. These rights are inherently and ontologically legitimate; holding a referendum on the enjoyment of these rights is not acceptable; is it possible to hold a referendum as to whether use of a native language in a certain part of Switzerland should be permitted? Legitimization of the use of a mother tongue is inherent and ontological; it does not require the consent and approval of others.

The UN seeks to establish mechanisms that will ensure mutual understanding between people via the introduction of a project called the Alliance of Civilizations. A group of extremists in Switzerland seek to undermine the values of other civilizations by relying on the use of the state apparatus. They are exploiting the institution of the referendum to wield state power effectively.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni[Return to headlines]


Van Rompuy: Man Without a Country

If you reckon you can take comfort in the fact that Herman Van Rompuy, the new president of the European Council, has the look and manner of an aging and dozy rodent, forget about it. His call for the imposition of EU taxes is just the first of his European policies that are going to mean pain for this country.

The man is no bumbler, despite the international joke of being a Belgian prime minister who rose to office without being elected — he was merely appointed last year by the king. Those in Brussels who know Mr Van Rompuy tell me he is a manipulator. As Paul Belien, the editor of The Brussels Journal, wrote in this paper on Saturday, Mr Van Rompuy is the ‘shrewd master of the shabby compromise.’ Dr Belien has known Mr Van Rompuy since the mid-Eighties, and he knows the new council president has just one political ideal: ‘The creation of a federal superstate, destroying national identities across Europe.’

He is, in short, exactly the man to help José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, throw the switches on all the new centralizing powers the European institutions now have thanks to the Lisbon Treaty. Take Mr Van Rompuy’s call for taxes to be imposed on all of us directly by the EU. He was not just thinking aloud at a private dinner. His call was not just the Belgian prime minister running a flag up a pole to see if anyone salutes. His call was for the EU to go ahead and implement the new tax powers it will have when Lisbon comes into force next month.

Article 311 of the section of Lisbon called the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union covers this. Not that our Government much advertised Article 311 during the referendum. Nor indeed much advertised the changes Lisbon makes to EU control over our level of corporation tax. Mr Van Rompuy’s established policy is to drive always towards greater and greater ‘harmonisation’ — that is, equalization — of all taxes across the 27 member states. Lisbon now clears the path for him and other ardent centralisers to ‘harmonise’ our low rate of corporation tax out of existence.

The ground for the change is already being prepared by Mr Barroso and the former European Commissioner for the single market, Mario Monti. Mr Barroso has commissioned Mr Monti to write a study of the single market. It is no surprise to learn that the study will be nothing but an excuse for the former commissioner to showcase the ‘big idea’ he now shares with the commission president — that the EU must suppress its competitive and liberal policies in order to insure social ‘redistribution’.

How to do this? According to a recent Charlemagne column in The Economist: ‘In concrete terms, Mr Monti talks of curbing tax competition between EU countries, so that governments can pay for social policies dear to European voters even as they fix their battered public finances. This could mean agreed minimum tax rates, he suggests, notably on capital and corporate profits.’

Of course, any mention of such harmonisation always brings the same response from the Finance Department. At the weekend, the department was at it again, dismissing Mr Van Rompuy’s calls for implementation of EU-wide taxes with the usual line: ‘Taxation matters remain the responsibility of member states and there is no agreement to change that situation.’

Which is not quite right. The agreement to ‘change that situation’ is Lisbon itself. Previous treaty law only demanded that taxes in member countries must not interfere with the functioning of the market. Lisbon adds the imperative that taxes in EU member states must also avoid the ‘distortion of competition’.

Now, the cry usually goes up from euro-enthusiasts that these restrictions only apply to indirect taxation, and corporation tax is a direct tax. To which one can reply: ‘Sez who?’ Dig deeper and you will come up with the fact that the new Lisbon line about ‘distortion of competition’ opens the way for more court cases at the European Court of Justice. Such cases can outlaw ‘distorting’ tax rules, whether in relation to direct or indirect taxes.

If you want to check that analysis, the man to ask is Jens-Peter Bonde, the Danish politician who served in the European Parliament from 1979 to 2008. He served as well in the convention which drafted the European constitution. He chaired the Democracy Forum at the convention. He has edited several editions of the constitution as it turned into the Lisbon Treaty, and has created the online EU abc, a lexicon of EU terms. In 2001, Mr Bonde was named European Politician of the Year by the European Voice, the Brussels weekly newspaper which is part of the same publishing empire as the Financial Times.

I say all of that so you will understand that Mr Bonde knows his Lisbon stuff. One of his most significant notes is the line that within the Lisbon Treaty, ‘there is no clear definition of indirect taxes’.

That fits in with reports I’ve already heard coming out of the commission — that the commission plans to take to itself the power to define what is and what is not a direct tax. Just as the commission plans to harmonise the tax base for corporate taxes — although our Government insists corporate taxes are nothing to do with the EU, they are powerless to stop this harmonisation going ahead — it now appears the eurocrats will soon have the power to decide that corporation tax isn’t a direct tax after all. Whatever the commission does about the definition, the challenges in the ECJ will come. The cases will be based on assertions that Lisbon’s new line about tax and the ‘distortion of competition’ mean that Ireland can no longer be allowed to ‘distort competition’ by applying a low rate of corporation tax.

Urging on such court cases will be Mr Van Rompuy. More than anything else, he wants to see the destruction of national control over taxes. That is because his political ideal is to destroy the national sovereignty of EU member states. As Mr Bonde has said: ‘Tax policy is a symbol and an important element of national sovereignty.’

To understand Mr Van Rompuy’s antagonism to such symbols and elements of sovereignty, you must understand what it means to be a Belgian politician — and I do mean ‘Belgian’ rather than Flemish, despite Mr Van Rompuy’s Flemish name.

There is no such thing as the Belgian nation. There is the Flemish nation, whose fatherland is Flanders and whose language is Dutch, and there is the Walloon nation, whose fatherland is Wallonia and whose language is French. In 1830, the big powers of the day forced the Flemings of Flanders and the Walloons of Wallonia to join together in a new, ‘non-identity’ state called Belgium.

As Dr Belien has written in the Brussels Journal, ‘To understand Herman, one must know something about Belgium, the prototype of the EU. ‘Belgians do not like their state. They despise it. They say it represents nothing. There are no Belgian patriots, because no one is willing to die for a flag which does not represent anything. Because Belgium represents nothing, multicultural ideologues love Belgium. They say that without patriotism, there would be no wars and the world would be a better place.

‘In 1957, Belgian politicians stood at the cradle of the European Union. Their aim was to turn the whole of Europe into a Greater Belgium, so that wars between the nations of Europe would no longer be possible as there would no longer be nations, the latter all having been incorporated into an artificial superstate.’

The result of this absence of national identity is that Belgium has been a fraud since its creation. As Dr Belien says, this ‘laboratory of Europe’ lacks more than patriotism, it also lacks democracy, respect for the rule of law and political morality.

All of which is exactly where the EU is heading. So far, democracy has been done away with. If you doubt it, consider the means used to select Mr Van Rompuy as president of the council — secret meetings controlled by the big powers. The man who emerged as president of the council of this new artificial superstate is a politician who despises the only source of democracy, the nation state.

This is the Belgianisation of Europe.

           — Hat tip: TV[Return to headlines]

Balkans

Serbia: Huge Crowds Attend Patriarch’s Funeral

Belgrade, 19 Nov. (AKI) — Up to 500,000 people lined Belgrade’s streets on Thursday to pay tribute to the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Pavle. The patriarch died on Sunday at age 95 after two years in hospital suffering from heart and lung complaints.

Pavle was the Serb spiritual leader for the past 19 years and revered by many Serbs at the “living saint”.

Mourners joined a sombre funeral procession for several kilometres, accompanying Pavle’s open coffin to St. Sava Temple, where funeral rites were performed by his likely successor, Montenegro’s Archbishop Amfilohije.

In the past four days an estimated half a million people have lined up night and day at the Saborna church to view the patriarch’s casket draped in a white, green and golden embroidered shroud.

Amfilohije said the patriarch was God’s man, whose goodness, modesty and wisdom were unmatched.

Patriarch Pavle was the head of seven million Serb Orthodox Christians during the bloody wars that followed the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia.

He witnessed the demise of communism and an increase in Serb nationalism, during which the Serb Orthodox Church became more influential.

Pavle, a respected theologian and linguist, was known for his personal humility and modesty.

His critics said, however, he lacked the energy to control the bishops, who had succumbed to nationalist rhetoric.

Pavle was a staunch opponent of Kosovo’s independence, declared by majority ethnic Albanians in February last year.

President Boris Tadic said Pavle’s death was a “personal loss”, because he often relied on his advice. He thanked Pavle for teaching Serbia “not to respond to the evil in others with our own”.

Pavle was buried in St. Archangel Mikhail monastery in the Belgrade suburb of Rakovica.

According to the rules, the church’s highest body, the Holy Sabor, has to elect a new patriarch by February.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni[Return to headlines]

Mediterranean Union

EMPA MPs Urge Action

(ANSAmed) — CAIRO — There is a need to boost the Mediterranean Union, a project in which governments appear to have lost interest. This is the task for the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly, (EMPA) said Sergio D’Antoni, speaking as member of the finance committee. He was in Cairo today where a series of meetings took place ahead of the next plenary assembly in Amman in 2010. For example, D’Antoni asked, “why are those 230 projects launched and also financed by the Mediterranean Union now at a standstill? Have they been blocked by bureaucracy in Brussels?”. Other members of the Italian delegation in Cairo are the deputy Vice Speaker of the European Parliament, Gianni Pittella, and Antonio D’Ali, in his role of representative of the Senate of the Euro-Mediterranean Assembly. Pittella was also critical of EU institutions, especially of yesterday’s appointment of Britain’s Isabelle Ashton as Europe’s ‘foreign minister’. Countries on the southern shore of the Mediterranean are expecting “a leading role from Europe” on issues concerning the whole of the Mediterranean area and the peace process in the Middle East. “If I had today been able to present a figure such as Massimo D’Alema, we would have been able to give them more reassuring replies”. And it is the Middle East, especially, which has often paralysed the activities of the Med Union, part of the official meeting of the EMPA presidency, which has been expanded to five subject-related commissions: a resolution which should, among other things, urge the Israeli government — runs the draft up for approval this evening — to call an immediate halt to settlement activity, and reaffirm the need to set up a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. Concern is also being expressed, again by the president’s office, over the postponement of the foreign ministers’ conference of the Med Union, which was due to take place in Istanbul over the coming days, while there is a recommendation that the Union’s secretariat, which is to be based in Barcelona, “should reach full operation in the near future”. But EMPA is also calling for a higher degree of participation in the decisions and the activities of the Secretariat, as well as a controlling and steering role in the management of public funds. EMPA would also like to have a say in the setting up of a Euromed Bank, which is intended to be a branch of the European Investment Bank, D’Antoni asks, but it should be based in a Mediterranean country. The meeting was also attended by the president of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria[Return to headlines]


Syria: FEMIP: 50 Mln to Modernise Municipalities

(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, NOV 23 — The Facility for Euro-Mediterranean Investment and Partnership (FEMIP), the European Investment Banks (EIB) financial arm for the Mediterranean Region, has provided the Syrian Ministry of Local Administration with a 50 million euros loan, corresponding to half of the total project cost, for significantly upgrading municipal infrastructure across Syria. The proposed framework facility concerns the financing of different investment schemes in Syrian cities mainly covering the fields of urban renewal, urban traffic and transport, public tourist facilities, wastewater, treatment of liquid waste from industry and solid waste management. This multi-scheme programme is the first of its kind to be approved by the EIB for the Syrian Arab Republic. The project aims to stimulate local economic growth, an objective set out by the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI). The project is complementary to the European Commission Municipal Administration Modernisation (MAM) programme. (ANSAmed)

           — Hat tip: Insubria[Return to headlines]

North Africa

Egypt: Suez Canal Deepened for Large Ships

(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, NOVEMBER 20 — The international water way of the Suez Canal has been deepened to allow through ships with a draft of up to 66 feet (20 meters), the head of Egypt’s Suez Canal said. The move is part of an ongoing effort to expand the canal so that the larger oil tankers, in this case up to 240,000 tons, can now use it. Previously only ships with less than a 58 foot draft could use the canal, excluding most of the world’s large oil tankers. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria[Return to headlines]


Energy: India Urged to Invest in Egypt’s Projects

(ANSAmed) — NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 20 — Egyptian Electricity Minister, Hassan Younis, urged Indian investors today to contribute to Egypt’s future energy plans through setting up traditional power plants. Over the past few years, Egypt has embarked upon a reform program to establish open economic markets, Younis said while meeting some investors in India. “Renewable energy tops Egypt’s priorities as we possess huge capabilities of wind and solar energy,” the minister added. He also reviewed with he Indian investors Egypt’s strategy to set up a nuclear power station with the cooperation of the IAEA and international partners. Younis arrived here on Monday on a four-day visit upon an invitation from the Indian Minister of New and Renewable Energy Farouq Abdullah. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria[Return to headlines]


EU-Libya Cooperation Deal on Infectious Diseases

(ANSAmed) — TRIPOLI, NOVEMBER 20 — An agreement was signed in Tripoli to improve cooperation between the European Union and Libya in the infectious disease field, including prevention, treatment, and control. Signing the document, which represents another step forward in cooperation in the health care sector between the European institution and the North African country, was the representative of the EU Commission in Libya, Adrianus Koetsenruijter, and the director general for European Affairs of the Libyan Foreign Ministry, Ahmed El Jarud. In 2007 an initial memorandum of understanding of the EU was signed with Libya to offer medical assistance to 400 children with HIV at the Bengasi Hospital and to transform the structure into a leading HIV centre in the region. Since then, cooperation in the health care sector between the EU and Libya has progressed and in order to limit the spread of infectious diseases, the EU has implemented a prevention programme. As part of this initiative, Libya has a medical team present at the University of Liverpool. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria[Return to headlines]


Tunisia: Ben Ali, Country Bridge Between East and West

(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, NOVEMBER 19 — “The union of culture, civilisation and trade between the east and the west was and will continue to be a trait of Tunisia and it will also continue the commitment to “consecrate its Maghreb, Arab, African and Mediterranean dimensions”, to strengthen its role on the international landscape. This is a portion of the speech made by the president of the republic, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, to welcome the new ambassadors of France, the United States, Jordan, Greece, the Czech Republic, Kuwait, Hungary, Ireland and Slovakia for the reception of their credentials. Referring indirectly to the controversy that, in recent days saw Tunisia defending itself against France for the incarceration of the Tunisian journalist Taoufik Ben Brik, Ben Ali wished to reaffirm that, as “Tunisia respects the positions and choices of its allies, abstaining from involvement, we ask that our allies respect our positions and choices abstaining in their turn of mixing in our affairs”. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria[Return to headlines]

Israel and the Palestinians

First-Ever Conference on Arabs’ Anti-Jewish Sexual Harassment

(IsraelNN.com) A panel of experts and activists assembled at Likud headquarters in Tel Aviv Sunday, the International Day for Combating Violence against Women, to discuss one feminist topic that leftist feminists do not talk about: nationalistic sexual harassment by Arabs.

Dr. Mordechai Kedar of Bar Ilan University provided a short history of women’s objectification in Islamic culture, from the days of Mohammed to the current mass rape in Darfur. He explained that from its outset, Islam allowed “mut’ah” marriages, a form of temporary marriage for pleasure, which enables a man to marry a woman for a period of time that can be measured in hours or even minutes, solely for the purpose of his gratification. This form of marriage is still allowed among Shi’ite Muslims, he said.

Jurist and journalist Daphne Netanyahu explained to the audience, which was made up mostly but not solely of women, that feminism was developed by the Left and is the successor to communism. She said that feminism, like communism, is opposed to nationalism and it expects a Jewish woman to identify with an Arab woman who raised her son to be a terrorist more than she identifies with her own husband, father or son.

Likud Knesset Member Tzipi Hotobeli told the gathering that several months ago she was invited, as the chairman of the Knesset Committee for Advancement of Women’s Status, to visit a hostel in Jerusalem for Jewish women who had left abusive relationships with Arabs. She met a group of 20 women aged 15 to 30, and discovered to her surprise that these women had not come from “peripheral” areas but from central Israel.

She also visited a religious group in Yafo, where Arabs frequently threaten their Jewish neighbors, and learned of a growing phenomenon of Jewish girls in the central Yafo High School who are seduced by Arabs and marry into Islam.

Anat Cohen of Hevron told of a repeated pattern of sexual harassment of women in Hevron by Arabs as part of an ongoing campaign aimed at intimidation and humiliation of the Jews. She said that she had turned to the police and repeatedly demanded, in vain, that they do something about the problem. When an Arab accosts a Jewish woman and a Jewish man intervenes to protect her, the police arrest the Jew and not the Arab, she said.

Gil Ronen, who heads the Familists organization, spoke of a leftist-feminist “mafia” in academia and the press which censors all attempts to challenge its absolute authority on all matters pertaining to men, women and the relations between them. The right wing, he says, needs to take back morality, because “he who controls morality controls the country.”

Amit Barak of the growing student movement Im Tirtzu told stories similar to Cohen’s regarding Upper Nazareth — a town founded to create a Jewish presence in a predominantly Arab environment. Gradually, he said, Arabs are moving into the town and Jews are moving out. The daily threat of harassment which women face when walking down the street in Nazareth Illit is a major consideration causing many families to leave, he explained.

Attorney Tamar Har-Paz of the Zionist Women’s Forum, the group that organized the panel, said that it intends to fight for recognition by the establishment and to seek funding for its activity. One idea the group would like to advance involves the creation of neighborhood patrols to give Jewish women and men greater safety in the streets of the mixed cities.

           — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian[Return to headlines]


Lebanon: EU Contributes to Rebuild School for Palestinians

(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, NOV 18 — The EU delegation in Lebanon and United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) have inaugurated an EU-funded school in the Saida area. The building provides a suitable education environment for 900 palestinian students and its construction has ensured the conversion of the school from double into single shift, with increased teaching time. The construction of the school — according to the Enpi site (www.enpi-info.eu) was funded by the European Union in the context of a 15 million euros educational project aiming at enhancing and improving the quality of UNRWA’s education system to open better employment prospects for palestinian youth residing in Lebano. “Young people said Karen Abou Zayd, UNRWAs Commissioner General — are the future and we need to invest in them”. “By 2012 affirmed Ambassador Patrick Laurent, Head of the European Commission Delegation to Lebanon — thanks to our joint endeavour, no school in Saida will be operating on double-shift and more than 6,000 palestinian children across Lebanon will have a new classroom. EU’s support also includes a university scholarship programme for Palestinian students in Lebanon. The EU has approved the continuation of this scheme for three more years which will bring the amount to palestinian scholarships to 8.3 million euros. (ANSAmed)

           — Hat tip: Insubria[Return to headlines]

Middle East

Ankara Ambivalent Toward New EU President

Turkey is relatively comfortable with Belgium’s Herman van Rompuy becoming the new European Union president. Although Rompuy has a poor reputation in Ankara due to earlier remarks against Turkey’s membership, there is little fear of a reversal in negotiations. “It is important that he has vowed to be fair and objective in regard to Turkey’s accession,” chief EU negotiator Egemen Bagis says.

Belgian Prime Minsiter Herman Van Rompuy, named the new EU president. AFP photo

Ankara is not uneasy with Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy becoming the European Union’s first full-time president since he has promised to be objective in Turkey’s membership process.

Rompuy has been known to make opposition statements regarding Turkey’s EU membership bid in the past.

“It is a result of a culture of compromise and the need to keep balances in the EU. The balances between conservative and socialist circles as well as small and big countries were considered,” chief EU negotiator Egemen Bagis said Friday after Britain’s EU commissioner, Catherine Ashton, was also appointed the union’s news foreign policy chief.

Both the United Kingdom and Belgium support Turkey’s EU bid, Bagis said. “They have generally taken a positive stance toward the enlargement and have also supported our membership bid,” he said in a written statement.

“As a future member of the EU, Turkey will continue to back the union’s efforts to be a global actor,” Bagis said, calling on Rompuy and Ashton to act in this regard.

“It is important that Rompuy promised to be fair and objective related to our country’s membership bid. It suits the principle of pacta sunt servanda [agreements must be kept],” Bagis said.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Burak Özügergin expressed a similar opinion on Friday in a phone interview with the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review. “We don’t think any negative incident will take place within the forthcoming period,” he said.

“Regardless of the different opinions of EU leaders; what we pay attention to are the responsibilities in connection to the negotiation framework document,” Özügergin said. “That’s the outline Mr. Rompuy drew when he was elected.”

Turkey is happy the Lisbon Treaty has now taken effect and is full of expectations for the negotiations. “We attach a high importance to a smooth period in which the Lisbon Treaty comes into force. We are expecting developments related to Turkey,” Özügergin said.

Cengiz Aktar, an EU expert, confirmed the official view by saying: “Rompuy’s personal opinion will not affect [his remarks as EU president] as the statement he made yesterday confirmed.”

“If he insisted on his earlier remarks, he would totally have changed the foreign policy of Belgium after being elected as prime minister. But he didn’t, so there is no need to worry,” Aktar told the Daily News in a phone interview on Friday.

“Belgium is a member of the union and has always been supportive of Turkey’s EU bid. Whatever the color of the government, it’s been supportive,” Aktar said, adding that, regardless of the fact, neither Rompuy nor Ashton will be an ultimate decision-maker.

Hesitations stemming from past

Rompuy has not had a good reputation in Ankara ever since making remarks that firmly opposed Turkey’s accession to the EU. “Turkey is not a part of Europe and will never be part of Europe,” he said during a meeting held at the Belgian parliament in December 2004.

“An expansion of the EU to include Turkey cannot be considered as just another expansion, as in the past. The universal values which are in force in Europe, and which are also the fundamental values of Christianity, will lose vigor with the entry of a large Islamic country such as Turkey.”

These remarks put him on the side of French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, both of whom favor offering Turkey a privileged partnership, instead of full membership within the union.

Suat Kiniklioglu, foreign relations deputy chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, expressed his surprise with the election of a “low-profile name” for the EU presidency.

“It does not compromise with the spirit of the Lisbon Treaty, which envisages the EU to be an important actor on the international scene,” Kinikoglu told the Daily News.

“[But] we do see it as very telling that the EU opted for a man who spoke firmly against Turkish membership. It is clear that German-French duo is the dominant power in the union’s decisions.”

The newly elected Ashton is predicted to be a balancing factor under Rompuy’s presidency. “She is not well experienced in foreign policy, but is from a country that always has supported Turkey’s bid. She will be leading the union’s foreign affairs and I find her assignment positive regarding membership negotiations,” Kinikoglu said.

Italy reacts at decision to remove Roman law class

Roman law, which has been a core requirement course for Turkish law students, will no longer be mandatory after a decision from the Higher Education Board, or, YÖK. The lessons will continue to be optional, however.

The Italian Embassy in Ankara criticized the decision and called for a revision in a written statement on Friday. “The Italian Embassy has regretfully learned in surprise that Roman law has been removed as a mandatory lesson in law departments.”

“Roman law is the basis for both public and private law in Western legal science,” the statement said. “Such a decision is a harsh blow against Turkey’s image in Europe in a period when Italy is doing its best to contribute a positive impact.”

The embassy called on the officials to reconsider their decision, saying, “We really hope the decision in question will be revised.”

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni[Return to headlines]


Cyprus Church Sues Turkey Over Occupied North

Cyprus’ Greek Orthodox church says it has sued Turkey for allegedly preventing worship at religious sites in the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north of the divided island.

Church lawyer Simos Angelides said Monday the lawsuit with the European Court of Human Rights concerns 520 churches, monasteries, chapels and cemeteries. He said the court’s past rulings hold Turkey responsible for the north because it maintains 35,000 occupation troops there.

           — Hat tip: Esther[Return to headlines]


Just Five Bullets for Each Soldier: Iraq Inquiry Leak Reveals How British Troops Went in Woefully Unprepared

British military operations in Iraq were so badly resourced that some soldiers went into battle with only five bullets each, secret documents have revealed.

Troops were put at ‘significant risk’ on the front line as they struggled with an ‘appalling’ shortage of rounds, and radios which collapsed in the heat.

The kit revelations are among the most shocking contained in hundreds of pages of classified papers leaked in advance of Sir John Chilcot’s inquiry into the Iraq war, which begins on Tuesday.

           — Hat tip: JD[Return to headlines]


Lebanon Remains Confirmed as Missing UK Journalist

Human remains found in Lebanon have been confirmed as those of a British journalist kidnapped by Palestinian militants nearly 25 years ago.

The body of Alec Collett was one of two dug up by British experts last week in Bekaa Valley, the Foreign Office said.

The freelance journalist was 64 when he was snatched at gunpoint from a car near Beirut airport in 1985.

The United Nations is to transport the body home. UK embassy staff in Beirut are assisting Mr Collett’s family.

The excavation, in a village near the town of Aita al-Foukhar in the eastern Bekaa Valley, followed a tip-off, it has been reported.

A team of nine British military and intelligence specialists carried out the search under tight police security.

Civil war

The abduction, on 25 March 1985, happened after Mr Collett had been commissioned by the UN Relief and Works Agency to write about Palestinian refugee camps.

It came at the height of the 1975-1990 civil war, when dozens of foreigners were kidnapped.

Mr Collett’s driver, an Austrian national, was released shortly after, but Mr Collett remained missing.

The following year, a militant Palestinian group — the Abu Nidal organisation — claimed to have killed him in retaliation for US air raids on Libya.

A video showing the hanging of a hooded figure said to be Mr Collett was released, but the victim was never officially identified.

Several searches for Mr Collett followed but failed to turn up his body or clues to his whereabouts.

Every year UN staff remember Mr Collett during a day of solidarity for detained and missing humanitarian workers at the organisation’s headquarters in New York.

           — Hat tip: 4symbols[Return to headlines]


Saudi Prince Warns Against Disruptions to Hajj

Saudi Arabia’s interior minister said Sunday the kingdom hopes not to have to “resort to force” to maintain security for the hajj, in a reference to worries Iranian pilgrims may demonstrate.

“We hope we will not be obliged to resort to force,” Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz said when asked about recent calls by Iranian figures for their pilgrims to protest against the United States and Israel while in Mecca.

“It is not permitted to undertake any actions which are not part of the ritual… and we will not permit anyone to damage the hajj or the pilgrims,” he said.

           — Hat tip: Esther[Return to headlines]


Turkey Starts to Question Early Period of Republic

Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy Chairman Onur Öymen’s comments on the Dersim Rebellion have led Turkey to examine the rebellions that were sparked during the early years of the republic from a different perspective.

Owing to the Kurdish initiative, the perspective has changed from one that simply blamed those who participated in the rebellions to one that questions the role of those who suppressed the rebellions. While scholars and historians concede that examining the mistakes of those who acted on behalf of the regime instead of questioning the regime itself was a correct move, they underline that opening archives is the only way to conclude the debates.

Speaking to Sunday’s Zaman, Professor Ali Arslan, a lecturer in the department of history at Istanbul University who specializes in the history of the Turkish Republic said: “It is understandable from the debates that no one has a problem with the republic or the regime today and no one is debating Atatürk. They are debating other leaders from that period. That is an indicator that we are conducting debates on solid ground. But these debates will consist of nothing but stories until the Republic Archives are opened for examination. Those archives need to be opened at once. But there are some people who are showing resistance to them being opened.”

Those who were negatively affected by the system top the list of people that find the debate sparked by Öymen’s comment very beneficial. Alevi, Kurdish and religious groups argue that the policies applied during that time must be questioned. Democratic Society Party (DTP) deputy Akin Birdal, talking to Sunday’s Zaman, explained that discussions on the Kurdish initiative in the Turkish Parliament on Nov. 13 were a turning point in the history of the republic and added that “the CHP’s real intentions and the model of Turkey it envisioned was exposed during that meeting. It turned into a confession of the views that were hidden by that mentality until now. They were virtually caught red-handed. Turkey saw what that mentality has done to the country. A major democratic reflex manifested after this event. The retributive and oppressive mentality started to be condemned. The authoritarian muscle against human rights, democracy and the culture of coexistence started to decay. It was like a crystal shattering into pieces. The continuation of the debate in this way will benefit Turkey.”

But there are some people who believe that raking the past up will not benefit Turkey and argue that the events should be evaluated with from the perspective of the time period. Speaking to Sunday’s Zaman, Democratic Left Party (DSP) Izmir deputy Recai Birgün accepted that Öymen made a huge mistake and gaffe, but said: “I do not think this debate is right. They’ve turned it into a lynching campaign. The events should be assessed in their own context. Raking over old wounds will have no benefits for anyone. We can’t even bring to light the events that took place in 2001. It will be much harder to bring to light the events from the past. The effort to confess to our past will harm, not benefit, Turkey.”

Foreign countries realized that they could achieve their goals concerning the Ottoman Empire by aggravating ethnic differences. Christian components of the empire were the first ones mobilized to fight for independence. The emergence of 28 United Nations-registered states in the living space of the empire as of today is enough to understand how great the plan was. Many Balkan countries obtained their freedom through the scope of this plan.

Foreign states later made various promises to different ethnicities, although the ethnicities were all of the Muslim faith. The living space of the Ottoman Empire, which had territory on four continents, was limited to just the inner countryside of Anatolia. When Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who refused the plan, and his comrades decided to establish the republic with young members of the Ottoman Empire, the same forces started exerting great efforts to collapse the Ottoman left-over republic.

It is for this reason that the first years of the republic were filled with rebellions, mandatory settlement laws and incidents of bloody suppression. History books have always described those who revolted as “traitors” who cooperated with foreign powers. Everyone else was declared obscurant, reactionary or an enemy of the republic. For years the children and even the grandchildren of the people who attempted to start the rebellions were labeled “enemies of the state” and were excluded from the state administration.

With the acceleration of the European Union process, which was encouraged after the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) came to power, Turkey could no longer ignore the demands for more democracy, more freedom and more human rights. This process’s most important feature was the return to the debate on the early years of the republic. Even though opposition parties consider this debate to be a questioning of the republic’s regime, recent polls shows that the Turkish people do not have a problem with the republic and democracy, but want the mistakes made by the guardians of the republic and regime to be investigated. Historians also concede that it is proper to question not the regime itself, but those who act on behalf of the regime. But since every truth cannot always be told, those who argue that the facts should be uncovered continue to be accorded labels such as traitor, obscurant-reactionary, collaborator or imperialist.

The facts that have been exposed within the scope of the Ergenekon investigation reveal that the “armed and civilian children” of the republic that became the guardians of the regime, planned in the name of protecting the regime. The trials in Silivri also reveal the views certain powers had of the people in the name of protecting and defending the country. In fact, it seems like that outlook has not changed in 86 years. Generations changed, but the ideas of the guardians of the regime did not.

Republic was a rebellion, too

The young Turkish Republic, which was born from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire, was actually the work of a handful of Ottoman officers who resisted the imperialist powers. It was very natural for there to be reactions to this new republic because for years the neglected Anatolian lands were used by the Ottoman Empire solely as a military depot. Everyone knew that there was a group of people there that could be both manipulated and deceived. The people who worked to instill the republic’s regime and reforms in the minds of the people knew this fact as well, yet they tried to impose their ideas on the people anyway. While the people voluntarily protected their new state in the early years of the republic, they turned into regime enemies because of the worsening practices of the republic’s administrators.

What happened in the early years of the republic? Even historians can not answer this question because even though 80 years has passed, the regime’s guardians refuse to open the archives pertaining to the early years of the republic. Those who want the archives opened are declared criminals. Hence, information about the events in the early years comprises theses written in history books by official historians and the stories told by people that listened to their grandparents talk about the events of that time. But there is no opportunity to compare the two and determine which is correct. Likewise, although some foreign historians recently claimed the Soviet Union had a hand in the Dersim events, it can not be proved.

Resettlement laws provoked rebellions

Despite external actors having played a role in the breakout of the rebellions in the eastern part of Turkey, the role of the public inspectors equipped with extensive authority by the government should also be considered. The reports drafted by these inspectors led to introduction of harsh measures against the local people in the region. These reports mostly recommended the resettlement of the people. Public inspectors remained active until 1952 when the Democrat Party (DP) administration abolished the position.

The introduction of 11 resettlement laws since 1925 is sufficient to prove the eagerness of the government to disperse the local people in the region. It was interesting to note that the first resettlement bill was introduced in the aftermath of the Sheik Said insurgency and the assassination attempt against Atatürk. The local names referring to a certain ethnic identity in the region were changed to Turkish following the introduction of the bill on the adoption of new family names.

Oppression and rebellions prevalent in early years of republic

Official records note that 16 insurgencies erupted in eastern Turkey; Ismet Inönü always played the leading role in the suppression of the rebellions. The most important insurgencies include the following:

Koçgiri Rebellion: It was the first insurgency against the republican regime in 1921; Alisan Bey, the leader of the Koçgiri clan, masterminded the rebellion which erupted in Sivas and Erzincan. Atatürk attempted to change Alisan Bey’s mind by noting that the new republic actually embraced the Kurds as well. While he accepted Atatürk’s offer to become a Sivas deputy at first, Alisan Bey subsequently decided to lead a rebellion, believing that he might create an autonomous Kurdish government. The administration sought to address the insurgency by appointing its leaders to some governmental posts. However, the rebels captured and subsequently executed Maj. Halis Bey, who went to there to suppress the insurgency. Atatürk also assigned Topal Osman to repress the rebellion. Osman, who was held responsible for the murder of Trabzon deputy Ali Sükrü Bey, suppressed the rebellion in three months. Families of the rebels argued that some 4,000 rebels were killed during the entire operation; however, official records note that this figure is around 500.

Nasturi Rebellion: On Aug. 7, 1924, the Nasturis launched a movement of independence. The Nasturis were part of a community that fought against the Ottoman Empire in World War I. During the insurgency, British warplanes aided the rebels by bombing the Turkish front. The insurgency that erupted at a time when the Mosul issue was about to turn into a row between Turkey and Britain started with the murder of two Turkish soldiers. Three hundred and fifty Turkish troops, including Capt. Ihsan Nuri and lieutenants Hursit, Rasim and Tevfik joined the rebels to fight against Turkish army. The British, in addition to aiding the rebels, issued a notice asking for the operations to cease. On Sept. 26, 1926, the rebellion was broken by Turkish soldiers. The Nasturis who had to flee the country asked for the protection of the British in Iraq. Official historians barely make reference to this rebellion; the troops who survived the suppression of the rebellion also took part in the Agri Rebellion.

Sheik Said Rebellion: The Sheik Said Rebellion, which allegedly erupted because of the abolishment of caliphate, is viewed as a reactionary movement by official historians. However, the insurgency actually started with an attempt by the state gendarmerie to arrest men loyal to Sheik Said in Piran, Diyarbakir. On Feb. 13, 1925, the rebels raided Genç, Bingöl, where they took the governor and other officials hostage. In the aftermath of the attack on Diyarbakir, Atatürk replaced Ali Fethi Bey with Ismet Inönü as prime minister, who declared state of emergency in the region. Two additional military courts were established in Diyarbakir; the insurgency was suppressed on March 26; and Sheik Said was captured in Varto. Seyit Abdülkadir and 12 of his companions were arrested because of the aid they extended to the insurgency. Sheik Said and 47 of his men along with Seyit Abdülkadir with five of his companions were executed. Atatürk, who intended to initiate the transition to a multiparty political system, shut down the opposition party on the pretext that the party supported the insurgency.

Agri Rebellion: The Agri Rebellion is known for its impact on the change of the border between Turkey and Iran. This was actually a series of insurgencies that erupted in 1926, 1927 and 1930 respectively. The Kurdish groups that lost influence and power after the suppression of the Sheik Said Rebellion decided to launch a new campaign against the Turkish Republic at the Kurdish National Convention in 1927. The Celali, Horman, Cibran and Boyduran clans launched a new insurgency campaign in Mount Ararat. The military took action against the rebels on May 15, 1926; however, the Turkish troops failed.

The government initiated a new operation on Sept. 10, 1927; many rebels were killed in the operation. The rebels declared the establishment of a government on the mountain and asked for the support of the local people. The administration declared amnesty for some rebels previously sent into exile; however, the measure did not succeed. In consideration of the support for the rebels by the local people, the government decided to resettle the local residents. In 1930, the rebels declared Agri a separate state. This time the government launched aerial attacks. A deal was reached with Iran to exchange lands in an attempt to prevent the escape of the rebels onto Iranian soil in the aftermath of every attack. On Sept. 25, 1930, the insurgency was suppressed. The death toll during the operations reached 5,000.

Koçusagi Rebellion: Kör Seyit Han, the leader of the Koçusagi clan, rejected the authority of the state and launched an insurgency in Sivas and Erzincan in 1926. The government, which cooperated with the other clans in the region, initiated an operation to suppress the rebellion; the campaign started on Oct. 4, 1926, and lasted through to Dec. 1, 1926. The rebellion was suppressed and 140 insurgents were killed. Mustafa Muglali, who led the operation, was convicted of killing 33 Kurds who crossed the Turkish border.

Dersim Rebellion: Atatürk paid the utmost attention to the support of the Dersim Alevis during the foundation of the republic. The Alevis, who had experienced oppression by the Ottoman authorities, supported Atatürk’s actions and moves. In return, he recognized their right to representation in Parliament. The Alevis were particularly pleased with subsequent moves including the abolishment of the caliphate, the lifting of the religious affairs office and the introduction of a secular legal system.

The Alevis’ problems with the new republic became apparent with the eruption of the Koçgiri Rebellion. They were particularly concerned about the resettlement bills, the first of which was introduced in 1925. The Alevis parted ways with the republican regime when a law shutting down religious lodges, including those attended by Alevis, was enacted. The followers of the Alevi faith no longer had any place to perform their religious duties and rituals. The Dersim Rebellion broke out in 1937, one year after the Dersim Resettlement Bill.

The Alevis came together under the leadership of Seyit Riza to discuss the issue. All soldiers at an outpost in Dersim were killed in an attack; 20,000 troops under the command of Gen. Abdullah Alpdogan were deployed to the region to fight against 6,000 rebels. The insurgency was suppressed, and Riza and six of his supporters were executed in Elazig. Riza’s body was buried in an unknown location. Following the insurgency, the name of Dersim was changed to Tunceli. The Dersim Resettlement Bill was introduced in 1936 and remained in effect up until 1947. According to unofficial records, 40,000 were killed and 206 villages were evacuated during the insurgency. Thirty thousand families were sent to exile in other parts of Turkey.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni[Return to headlines]


Turkey: Alevis Discover Their Stockholm Syndrome With Öymen’s Remarks

Alevis put up posters showing Onur Öymen with swastikas in the background after his remarks that the Turkish army’s response to the Dersim Rebellion was an example of fighting terrorism.

Alevis, who were taken for granted as strong supporters of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), have now started to question their loyalty after remarks by the CHP’s Onur Öymen that depicted a massacre in the Alevi town of Tunceli in 1937 as an anti-terror campaign.

Some Alevi organizations, such as the Federation of German-Alevi Unions (AABF), have demanded the resignation of Öymen from the CHP or the resignation of the Alevis from the CHP. The AABF said in a written statement: “We strongly condemn the speech Öymen delivered in Parliament. Öymen should apologize to the Alevi community and resign from his post and from Parliament in order to preserve his dignity.”

Professor Cengiz Güleç, the chairman of the Alevi Institute, says the Alevis should be thankful to Öymen for hinting at the racist tendencies of the CHP, which are valid as far as the Alevis are concerned, although traditionally they used to vote for the party. Cafer Solgun, the author of the “Trial of the Alevis by Kemalism,” describes the voting patterns of Alevis as “Stockholm Syndrome,” which is identification with one’s oppressor.

But both of them, as well as Tarhan Erdem, a prominent political analyst on voting patterns in Turkey, underline that one of the main reasons for this voting attitude is the Alevis sensitivity to secularism. “Traditionally, 60 to 70 percent of Alevis vote for the CHP although this pattern is now on the decline. In every election the CHP gets fewer votes from the Alevis,” Erdem told Sunday’s Zaman.

According to him Alevis vote for the CHP because they used to think that its existence was a guarantee of both democracy and secularism.

But contrary to the past, the discussions on democracy and secularism have been separate in Turkey for some time, and Alevis who are keen on democracy have started to vote for the other parties, too.

Erdem also points out that Alevi Kurds, like the ones in Tunceli a long time ago, gave up supporting the CHP although the city had been one of the bastions of the CHP in the past.

“Alevis of Turkmen origin still support the CHP as well as most of the Alevis who are in Istanbul. Perhaps the number of Alevis is not that high, but they are still powerful, and many intellectuals are of Alevi origin,” Erdem said.

Güleç also underlines the different attitudes of the Turkmen and Kurdish Alevis and points out that it should not be expected for Turkmen Alevis to have a radical movement similar to that of the Kurdish Alevis.

“One should keep in mind that Turkmen Alevis do not have any sympathy for the Kurdish movement,” he says.

Analyzing the voting behavior of Alevis and their political support for the CHP Solgun says that since the establishment of the republic, Alevis have been promised much but received nothing. Just the opposite took place: They were oppressed:

“Since the beginning of the republic, thank God, mosques were not closed down but cemevis [places of worship] were. Many traditional posts in Alevi faith, like being a dede [spiritual leader], were the reason for persecution. But also when the Kurdish question was brought to the agenda, the regime, in order to prevent the Alevi opposition from meeting the Kurdish opposition, allowed them to open cemevis and permitted the establishment of institutions. But prior to 1995 it was impossible to establish any association which included the term Alevi in its name. The Alevis are also used for secular-anti secular polarization, and some Alevis, unfortunately, like missionaries, implemented this plan,” Solgun says.

The phrase “Shariah is coming” has been used to instill fear in Alevis. “These tactics were used against the Alevis. There is no such danger, and this balloon should be burst,” Solgun said.

Güleç also underlines that Alevis are afraid of Shariah, as it comes from a Sunni understanding, and this fear is an important factor in their voting behavior.

“The Alevis should be convinced of the sincerity of the government’s democratization initiative. Not only should their demands for representation in the Religious Affairs Directorate be met, but their democratic demands should be answered, too,” he says.

Although some Alevis would prefer to abolish the Prime Ministry’s Religious Affairs Directorate rather than being represented in it, Alevi groups are voicing their demands for the abolishment of compulsory religious lessons in public schools; recognition of Alevi cemevis as places of worship; and the creation of a museum on the site of the Madimak Hotel, where 37 Alevis were murdered 15 years ago.

To discuss the demands of Alevis, the government has organized a series of Alevi workshops, the fifth of which was held last week in which Öymen was criticized for his remarks.

Erdem underlines that due to Öymen’s comments about Tunceli, the ties of Alevis with the CHP might be stretched, but the fate of this relationship is still very much dependent on the government’s Alevi initiative. “If the Alevis are convinced that the government is serious about the Alevi initiative, then their voting behavior may change in the long run,” he says.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni[Return to headlines]


US Expert Links Obama’s Success to Role of Turkey

The success of US President Barack Obama’s foreign policy hinges on Turkey’s role, said Walter Russell Mead, a senior fellow at the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), during a seminar held at the US Embassy residence in Ankara on Thursday.

Mead, one of the America’s leading foreign policy experts, who has been described by The New York Times Book Review as “one of the country’s liveliest thinkers about America’s role in the world,” told the select group in attendance that “Turkey has a role to play in whether or not President Obama’s initiative [of reaching out to the Muslim world] will be seen as a success.”

Stressing that Turkey has influence in the region, Mead said Turkey has the ability to help President Obama appear as a successful leader in the eyes of his critics, “We can hope that the Turkish initiative in the region will complement and supplement what America is trying to do and lead to the kind of stable and peaceful Middle Eastern order that does not depend on a large American presence or high-profile American leadership.”

Calling Obama’s foreign policy approach Jeffersonian — a term coined after US President Thomas Jefferson, who advocated strict limits on foreign policy engagement by removing conflict points in global issues — Mead said, “I would say that in this case Turkish national interests and the interests of Jeffersonians in the US are closely aligned.” “When Jeffersonians succeed, they make lasting changes. When they fail, they are generally replaced by someone who tries to undo what they have accomplished,” he added.

Mead, who describes himself as a lifelong Democrat, praised Obama’s approach to foreign policy, saying Obama can leave a lasting legacy just like the Monroe Doctrine in the 19th century or the containment policy adopted by the US during the Cold War. According to Mead, Obama’s speeches in Ankara and Cairo, where he tried to reach out to the Muslim world, were very important. “He tried hard to reposition the US with Islam in order to remove conflict points and to find a common ground,” he underlined.

US needs Turkey more then ever

Mead went on saying that Turkey is one of a very small number of countries in the world that are more important to the US today than 10 or 20 years ago. He acknowledged, however, that Turkey and its neighborhood are a much more complicated place today than it was 20 years ago. “The US-Turkish cooperation is more important. We need each other more today than 20 years ago,” he emphasized.

The American scholar also noted that the US is absolutely committed to the idea that PKK [the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party] is a terrorist organization. “I am not aware of any shortcoming in US-Turkish cooperation on that issue,” he said. Mead praised the Turkish engagement in northern Iraq and said, “From a US viewpoint, the development of strong economic and political ties between Turkey and authorities in northern Iraq is a very positive sign for everybody concerned in order to bring stability in Iraq.”

On Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Mead argued that Iranian nuclear weapons would make all existing problems in the region worse. “It will not help solve any of the problems we have in the Middle East. It will narrow the range of choices for any American president.” He noted that any nuclear test in Iran would have fallout in the US and may put the entire Obama foreign policy approach into question.

Turkey’s foreign policy is commendable

Commenting on recent Turkish foreign policy engagement, the CFR scholar said Turkey has played a very constructive and positive role. “Turkey has continued to look for positive ways forward on the Armenian question and the Cyprus question. Turkey has showed commendable flexibility in dealing with the Kurdish situation in Iraq, for example. Turkey’s approach to the EU strikes me as solid, mature, and sound in every way.” “Overall, Turkey remains very stable and very important, a solid citizen in this part of the world,” he added.

On Turkey’s relations with Israel, Mead said he hopes Turkey would be able to retain Israel’s trust to continue as a mediator between Israel and Syria. Calling the mediation role a “difficult vocation,” he made the point that Turkey’s long-term strategic interests calls for it to maintain this kind of unique position in the region and in the world, as a place where everyone can come and feel that they will be understood. He criticized, however, the Israeli side for being premature. “In my opinion, criticism from Israel against Turkey is coming too fast,” he said.

On secularism, the American scholar suggested that Turkey needs to write its own chapter on relations between state and religion. Noting that there are different models in the West regulating the affairs of church and state, he provided examples from countries including Argentina, where the president until 1994 by law had to be Roman Catholic, as opposed to Great Britain, which prohibits royals from converting to Catholicism.

He said that though Turkey modeled its secularism on the French experience, which calls for a hostile attitude to all religions and public manifestations of religion, unlike France there was no hierarchal single religious entity in Turkey. “I would suggest looking at Western historical experiences, as there are many different ways of doing this,” he said.

‘Let historians sort out Armenian claims’

Mead also voiced strong opposition of any resolution recognizing Armenian killings during World War I as “genocide” in the US Congress. “I would be painfully surprised if a bill on that subject passed both houses and was signed by the president,” he said, adding that he would be opposed to such a resolution. He also expressed the opinion that the French law recognizing the Armenian genocide should be repealed as well.

He continued: “Some people describe me as a ‘working historian.’ I believe in the separation of state and history. Legislative bodies should not be issuing historical declarations. A legislative body should not be saying this was genocide or was not genocide. Let historians work on that, research it, argue with each other about it, publish nasty articles repudiating other historians’ claims. Let the general intelligence of the public over time reach their conclusion. These kind of issues need to be separated from diplomatic relations, which are complicated enough already.”

He criticized former US President George W. Bush’s notion of exporting democracy and said, “The progress of democracy around the world probably depends more on domestic political forces in other countries.” He stressed that the US has been more hostile to Iran than to any other nation, yet there are few countries today that have as vibrant a democratic movement as Iran. “Countries move in their own way and respond to domestic issues,” he said, adding to that, “I think President Bush looks back at his support for democracy as something that was not as successful as he would have hoped.”

21 November 2009, Saturday

ABDULLAH BOZKURT ANKARA

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni[Return to headlines]


Yemen: Muslim Students Condemn ‘Massacre’ Of Houthis

The Union of Islamic World Students has condemned the Saudi-backed “massacre” of Yemeni Shiite Muslims by the government in north of the country, as Saudi jets continue bombing the fighters.

“We, Muslim students, condemn the massacre of oppressed Muslims” in north of Yemen, the union said in a statement released on Monday.

The statement slammed Saudi Arabia for its involvement in the killing and said: “We want Saudi Arabia and Yemen government to stop the violations against innocent people of Sa’da.”

           — Hat tip: Esther[Return to headlines]


Yemen Children Protest Child Abuse as War Continues in North

Over 400 Yemeni children walked on Tuesday to the UNDP’s office in Sana’a in protest against child abuse in the far north.

At the office, a child representative delivered a letter to the UN Secretary General condemning using children for subversion and terrorism by the Houthi rebels who have been fighting the troops since 2004.

The letter urged the UN to protect the Yemeni children from exploitation during conflicts and delivered a reminder for civil society organizations and international childhood agencies to assume their responsibility toward childhood in Yemen.

Chairman of the walk organizer, the Shawthab Association for Childhood, Lamya’a Al-Eryani said the anti-child abuse protest was aimed at demonstrating what the children face in the war-hit areas in Saada and Amran provinces where the insurgents use underage fighters to confront the troops.

           — Hat tip: Esther[Return to headlines]

South Asia

Five Assam Rifles Troopers Killed in Manipur

IMPHAL: Five paramilitary troopers, including a major and a captain, were killed in an ambush by separatists Monday in Manipur, officials said.

A defence spokesperson said heavily armed militants of the outlawed United National Liberation Front (UNLF) attacked a convoy of the paramilitary Assam Rifles near Samtol village in Chandel district, about 120 km south of Manipur state capital Imphal.

“UNLF militants opened indiscriminate fire with automatic weapons on the convoy in which two Assam Rifles officers, a major and a captain, and three troopers were killed,” the Assam Rifles commander said.

The UNLF is a rebel group fighting for an independent homeland for the majority Metei community in a state of 2.4 million people.

           — Hat tip: Esther[Return to headlines]


Indian Govt ‘Eyes Extradition of Mumbai-Linked Suspects’ in Italy

Rome, 23 Nov. (AKI) — The Indian government may seek a review of its extradition treaty with the Italian government in a bid to try terrorism suspects allegedly linked to the deadly Mumbai terror attacks in November last year.

“We are looking at appropriate measures, that’s all there is to say at present,” a source at the Indian embassy in Rome told Adnkronos International (AKI) on Monday on condition of anonymity.

The current extradition treaty covers crimes including narcotics trafficking but not terrorism.

The move follows the arrest in the northern city of Brescia on Saturday of two Pakistanis suspected of helping to finance the Muslim militant group held responsible for the attacks on Mumbai in November 2008 that killed at least 170 people.

The two suspects, Mohammad Yaqub Janjua and his son Janjua Aamer Yaqub, ran the Madina Trading money transfer business they owned in the north Italian town of Brescia in Italy’s Lombardy region.

Italy’s foreign minister Franco Frattini commented after the pair’s arrest that Italian security forces were tackling “a serious threat” from terrorism in Italy and globally.

Janjua, 60, and his 31-year-old son are accused of aiding and abetting international terrorism as well as illegal financial activity.

They allegedly supplied cash from Madina Trading to pay for an internet phone account used by people in contact with the attackers.

The pair are alleged to have transferred 400,000 euros abroad between 2006 and 2008 in over 300 transactions made by ‘Iqbal Javaid’, according to Italian anti-terror police investigators. One was made on 25 November last year, the day before the Mumbai assault began.

Javaid, a 46 year-old Pakistani national, was arrested earlier this year in Pakistan. He was allegedly one of the main conspirators behind the Mumbai attacks carried out by banned Islamist group Lashkar-e-Toiba.

Two other Pakistani citizens were arrested in the Brescia probe, and are accused of abetting illegal immigration. They are not linked to the Mumbai attacks, investigators said.

A third suspect is on the run, accused of involvement in illegal people trafficking, according to police.

After Iqbal’s arrest in February, Janjua denied any involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks in an interview with AKI.

“We, the Pakistani community are peace lovers, we have nothing to do with what happened. However, if someone is involved in something like the attacks in Mumbai, he should be punished,” he told AKI.

Italian police began the probe in December and identified Janjua and his son using leads from Indian authorities and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

In July, the sole attacker surviving the Mumbai siege, a 21-year-old Pakistani man, Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab, pleaded guilty to 86 charges, including waging war on India, murder and possessing explosives.

The maximum sentence in his case is the death penalty.

Qasab and nine other gunmen targeted luxury hotels, a Jewish centre and other sites in India’s financial capital during a three-day assault on 26-29 November last year.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni[Return to headlines]


India Parliament Uproar Over Ayodhya Mosque Report

India’s main opposition BJP has reacted angrily to reports that its leaders are implicated in an inquiry into the 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid mosque.

Parliament was in uproar on Monday over the leaked inquiry report which is said to blame senior BJP figures including Atal Behari Vajpayee and LK Advani.

The Liberhan commission report was submitted to the government in June but its contents have not been made public.

Some 2,000 people died in riots across India after the mosque was demolished.

The commission was set up to investigate events that led to a Hindu mob tearing down the disputed mosque in the northern town of Ayodhya.

Led by former high court judge MS Liberhan, the inquiry took 17 years to complete its work, at a cost of more than 65m rupees ($1.3m). Details about the commission’s findings appeared in the Indian media on Monday.

‘Political motive’

“I am stunned. I was shocked to see that the report has been leaked. I want to know who has leaked the report,” senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader LK Advani said in parliament.

“If what is written is correct, the conclusions are false. There was no conspiracy, no planning. I was distressed by the demolition of the mosque.”

BJP leaders accused the Congress party-led government of “selective leaks” to distract attention from the economy and corruption — and demanded parliament see the report immediately.

Home Minister P Chidambaram denied his ministry was behind the “unfortunate” leak.

The angry opposition shouted: “No, it’s not just unfortunate, it’s shameful.”

Mr Chidambaram said Justice Liberhan’s 900-page report was being translated into Hindi. The report is due to be put before parliament on 22 December, along with an “action taken report” by the government.

The Indian Express newspaper reported the build-up to the demolition of the mosque had been meticulously planned, and said the commission of inquiry had described BJP leaders as “pseudo-moderates”.

The report apparently exonerates the Congress prime minister at the time, PV Narasimha Rao, of any responsibility — saying the federal government could not act in the absence of any recommendation from the state governor.

           — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian[Return to headlines]

Far East

China Slams US Report Warning of Spying by Beijing

BEIJING — Beijing on Monday criticized a U.S. government report that said Chinese spies are aggressively stealing American secrets, saying the report was “full of prejudice” and warning that it could damage US-China relations.

The annual report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission to lawmakers said last week that American officials believe Chinese spying is “growing in scale, intensity and sophistication” and urges Congress to review the U.S. ability to meet the “rising challenge” of Beijing’s espionage.

The report “ignores the facts and is full of prejudice and ulterior motives,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a statement.

           — Hat tip: Esther[Return to headlines]


Chinese Migrants Change Names to be ‘More Hong Kong’

An increasing number of mainland Chinese migrants to Hong Kong are changing the spelling of their surnames to avoid discrimination in the former British colony, a report said Monday.

Lawyer Raymond Tang told the daily South China Morning Post that his firm was seeing more mainland-born clients legally changing the romanised spelling of their name to appear more like local Hong Kong residents.

           — Hat tip: Esther[Return to headlines]


Five Years in Prison for a Tibetan Writer for Denouncing Environmental Degradation

A Chinese court sentenced Kunga Tsayang for revealing state secrets. Fifteen years for Kunchok Tsephel, founder of a website dedicated to the literature of Tibet. The trial was held behind closed doors. TCHRD activists demand respect for human rights.

Dharamsala (AsiaNews) — A Chinese court sentenced Tsayang Kunga, Tibetan writer and photographer, to five years in prison. According to news reported by the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) man, arrested last March 17, is accused of revealing state secrets.

The closed door trial was held on 12 November in the People’s Court of Kanlho in Gannan, a “Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture” in the province of Gansu. Among the charges against him: having published political speeches about Tibet on his website Jottings. The same day the court sentenced Kunchok Tsephel to 15 years in prison, a Tibetan official and founder of the website Chomei — dedicated to Tibetan literature — for revealing state secrets.

Kunga Tsayang (pictured), a monk from Amdo Labrang Tashikyil monastery, has written several essays on Tibet under the pseudonym of “the land of sun and snows”. He is originally from Chigdril County, in the “Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture” (TAP) of Golog, Qinghai Province. A lover of travel, literature and photography, he has published numerous photos denouncing the environmental degradation in Tibet and its impact on the population.

The monk’s sentencing to prison is just the latest in a long series of repressive measures by the Chinese authorities against writers, bloggers and publishers that promote Tibetan political activity or protests. They are people who wish to explore and publicize the views of Tibetans on the issues that affect their lives, the environment, culture and religion.

Chinese public security officials arrested him March 17 during a search late night of his home. For a long time family and friends had no news about his fate until the trial in court last week.

TCHRD activists express “grave concern” for the closed door trial of Kung Tsayang and Kunchok Tsephel. They are asking the Chinese government to respect basic human rights of the Tibetan people.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni[Return to headlines]


Mosques, Chinese Goods, Arabic Classes Rebuild Silk Road

Smoke from hookah pipes and the aroma of lamb skewers on the grill mix in the chilly autumn air as men talk loudly in Arabic over pulsating music beneath the neon glow of restaurant signs.

The scene could be unfolding in any number of cities in the Middle East — but this is eastern China.

Yiwu, a city of two million people 300 kilometres (190 miles) south of Shanghai, has become a crossroads on what has been dubbed a “New Silk Road” between China and the Middle East, attracting more than 200,000 Arab traders each year.

           — Hat tip: Esther[Return to headlines]

Australia — Pacific

Over 100 Icebergs Drifting to N. Zealand: Official

SYDNEY — More than 100, and possibly hundreds, of Antarctic icebergs are floating towards New Zealand in a rare event which has prompted a shipping warning, officials said on Monday.

An Australian Antarctic Division glaciologist said the ice chunks, spotted by satellite photography, had passed the Auckland Islands and were heading towards the main South Island, about 450 kilometres (280 miles) northeast.

Scientist Neal Young said more than 100 icebergs — some measuring more than 200 metres (650 feet) across — were seen in just one cluster, indicating there could be hundreds more.

He said they were the remains of a massive ice floe which split from the Antarctic as sea and air temperatures rise due to global warming.

           — Hat tip: Esther[Return to headlines]

Latin America

Leaders Meet in Trinidad for Climate Talks

Copenhagen — Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen is to discuss climate change at the Commonwealth heads of government meeting later this week, his office said Monday.

Rasmussen has been engaged in efforts to secure support for a politically binding deal at the United Nations climate change summit, which Denmark hosts in December.

About 50 heads of government are due to attend the two-day Commonwealth Summit in Trinidad and Tobago on Friday, including British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma, and Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

           — Hat tip: Esther[Return to headlines]

Immigration

Germany to Draw Up ‘Values Contract’ For New Immigrants

Germany is drawing up a new contract to bind new immigrants to the country’s values, officials say.

Newcomers should learn German and uphold values such as freedom of speech and sexual equality, said Commissioner for Immigration Maria Boehmer.

In return, immigrants could expect “help and support”, Dr Boehmer said.

“Anyone who wants to live here for a long time and who wants to work has to say ‘Yes’ to our country,” she told the Stuttgarter Nachrichten newspaper.

“We will draw up contracts with new immigrants,” said Dr Boehmer.

“In those contracts will be set out what they can expect in terms of support and help. But they will also set out what we can expect from immigrants.

“Everyone who wants to live and work here long term must say ‘Yes’ to our country. And for that we need a commonly accepted set of values.

“These include a good knowledge of the German language, but also a readiness to take part in society.”

‘Demographic problems’

Dr Boehmer said the number of highly qualified immigrants coming to Germany was too small.

The country must become more attractive to give it “the expertise that will enable us to ensure our leading economic role in world markets”, she said.

“Our demographic problems won’t be solved through immigration… But, we must also make sure we harness the potential of immigrants already living here.

“For that, we need good language teaching, schooling and a better recognition of qualifications gained abroad,” added Dr Boehmer.

Germany, which has around 15 million immigrants out of a population of around 82 million, last year introduced a test for would-be citizens on key facts about the country.

           — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian[Return to headlines]

General

Climate Change Emails Tampered With

[ I could not find any English language source for this one, or in fact, any details in the article to substantiate the claim, but it did make the headlines on a respectable Belgian news site. — Esther]

From Dutch: The hacked emails from British and American climate-change scientists were tampered with. Most of the emails were altered and many passages were taken out of context.

           — Hat tip: Esther[Return to headlines]


Games ‘Permit’ Virtual War Crimes

Video games depicting war have come under fire for flouting laws governing armed conflicts.

Human rights groups played various games to see if any broke humanitarian laws that govern what is a war crime.

The study condemned the games for violating laws by letting players kill civilians, torture captives and wantonly destroy homes and buildings.

It said game makers should work harder to remind players about the real world limits on their actions.

War without limits

The study was carried out by two Swiss human rights organisations — Trial and Pro Juventute. Staff played the games in the presence of lawyers skilled in the interpretation of humanitarian laws.

Twenty games were scrutinised to see if the conflicts they portrayed and what players can do in the virtual theatres of war were subject to the same limits as in the real world.

“The practically complete absence of rules or sanctions is… astonishing,” said the study.

Army of Two, Call of Duty 5, Far Cry 2 and Conflict Desert Storm were among the games examined.

The games were analysed to see “whether certain scenes and acts committed by players would constitute violations of international law if they were real, rather than virtual”.

The group chose games, rather than films, because of their interactivity.

“Thus,” said the report, “the line between the virtual and real experience becomes blurred and the game becomes a simulation of real life situations on the battlefield.”

The testers looked for violations of the Geneva Conventions and its Additional Protocols which cover war should be waged.

In particular, the testers looked for how combatants who surrendered were treated, what happened to citizens caught up in war zones and whether damage to buildings was proportionate.

Some games did punish the killing of civilians and reward strategies that tried to limit the damage the conflict, said the study.

However, it said, many others allowed “protected objects” such as churches and mosques to be attacked; some depicted interrogations that involved torture or degradation and a few permitted summary executions.

The authors acknowledged that the project was hard because it was not clear from many of the games the scale of the conflict being depicted. This made it hard to definitively determine which humanitarian laws should be enforced.

It also said that the games were so complex that it was hard to be confident that its testers had seen all possible violations or, in games in which they found none, that no violations were possible.

t noted that, even though most players would never become real world combatants, the games could influence what people believe war is like and how soldiers conduct themselves in the real world.

It said games were sending an “erroneous” message that conflicts were waged without limits or that anything was acceptable in counter-terrorism operations.

“This is especially problematic in view of today’s reality,” said the study.

In particular, it said, few games it studied reflected the fact that those who “violate international humanitarian law end up as war criminals, not as winners”.

The authors said they did not wish to make games less violent, instead, they wrote: “[We] call upon game producers to consequently and creatively incorporate rules of international humanitarian law and human rights into their games.”

John Walker, one of the writers on the Rock, Paper, Shotgun games blog, said: “Games really are treated in a peculiar way.”

He doubted that anyone would campaign for books to follow humanitarian laws or for James Bond to be denounced for machine gunning his way through a super villain’s underground complex.

He said the authors did not understand that gamers can distinguish between fantasy and reality.

Said Mr Walker: “For all those who mowed down citizens in Modern Warfare 2’s controversial airport level, I have the sneaking suspicion that not a great deal of them think this is lawful, nor appropriate, behaviour.”

Jim Rossignol, who also writes on Rock, Paper, Shotgun, said there was scope to mix real world rules of war into games.

“Whether or not the rules of war are included in the game should be based entirely on whether that improves the experience for the player,” he said.

Mr Rossignol said there was plenty of evidence that gaming violence is “fully processed” as fantasy by gamers. Studies of soldiers on the front line in Iraq showed that being a gamer did not desensitise them to what they witnessed.

He added: “Perhaps what this research demonstrates is that the researchers misunderstand what games are, and how they are treated, intellectually, by the people who play them.”

           — Hat tip: 4symbols[Return to headlines]


Global Warming Meltdown: Climategate!

For those of us “skeptics” and “deniers” who have been jumping up and down, pointing at the Sun, and saying, “See, it’s the Sun that determines how warm or cool the Earth is. See it? Up there in the sky?” The truth about some of the scientists behind the global warming hoax has finally arrived.

The hoax has its roots in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an instrument of the United Nations Environmental Program, for whom global warming was the open sesame to achieving a one-world-government by scaring nations into signing a treaty that would control their use of energy, the means of producing it, and require vast billions to be sent to less developed nations in exchange for “emitting” greenhouse gases.

Energy is called “the master resource” because, if you have lots of it, you can call your own shots. If you don’t, you are condemned to live in the dark and keeping people in the dark about the global warming hoax was essential.

For years the IPCC has been controlled by a handful of the worst liars in the world, utterly devoted to taking actual climate data and twisting it to confirm the assertion that the Earth was not only warming dramatically, but that humanity was in peril of rising oceans, melting glaciers and polar ice caps, more hurricanes, the die-off of countless animal species, and every other calamity that could possibly be attributed to “global warming”, including acne.

So, around November 20, when some enterprising individual hacked into the computers of the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit (CRU), making off with thousands of emails and documents that demonstrate the level of collusion and deception being practiced by its scientists.

[…]

Now that Hadley CRU and its conspirators have been exposed, there truly is no need to hold a December UN climate change conference in Copenhagen; one in which nations would be required to put limits on “greenhouse gas emissions” even though such gases, primarily carbon dioxide, have nothing to do with altering the Earth’s climate.

And that is why you are going to hear more about “climate change” and far less about “global warming.” Hidden in such discussions, intended to justify legislation and regulation, is that the Earth’s climate has always and will always change.

It is, for example, shameful and deceitful for the EPA to claim carbon dioxide is a “pollutant” that should be regulated. The same applies to “cap-and-trade” legislation with the same purpose.

Billions of taxpayer dollars have been wasted on studies of global warming and poured into agencies such as NASA that have lent credence to the global warming hoax.

“The U.S. taxpayer has much exposure here in the joint projects and collaborations which operated in reliance upon what the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit was doing,” says Christopher C. Horner, a longtime global warming skeptic. “There are U.S. taxpayer-funded offices and individuals involved in the machinations addressed in the emails, and in the emails themselves.”

           — Hat tip: JD[Return to headlines]


Gore’s Manipulation Allowed by Mainstream Media Climate Change Bias — Continues With Cru

“It is a characteristic of all movements and crusades that the psychopathic element rises to the top.” Robert Lindner

How much longer will Al Gore get a pass from the mainstream media? A little bit longer if their failure to react to the devastating revelations of files hacked from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia is a measure. Their behavior reflects how most, especially from the left, have abetted the scientists who deliberately perverted climate science.

We now know Gore’s errors are based on the global warming fraud orchestrated by a few scientists centered round Phil Jones, Director of the CRU. Emails between those climate scientists, identified by Professor Wegman as publishing together and peer reviewing each other’s work disclose the complete manipulation of climate science and the Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Bishop Hill provides a useful summation of some of the outrageous comments and actions. What is missing is the nasty vindictive tone that permeates almost every item.

What are the mainstream media going to do? How can they ignore the biggest scandal in science history and then claim any credibility? We already have a strong indication because they either don’t cover it or claim, like Andrew Revkin of the New York Times, there is nothing of consequence. No surprise because he was in direct communication with the CRU gang. Other left wing outlets have similar reports such as the Guardian in England and Harrabin at the BBC. Delingpole at the Telegraph identifies some vapid responses.

[Return to headlines]


Search the CRU Climate Fraud Emails by Keyword

On 20 November 2009, emails and other documents, apparently originating from with the Climate Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia.

If real, these emails contain some quite surprising and even disappointing insights into what has been happening within the climate change scientific establishment. Worryingly this same group of scientists are very influential in terms of economic and social policy formation around the subject of climate change.

As these emails are already in the public domain, I think it is important that people are able to look through them and judge for themselves. As of today, Saturday 21 November, there have been no statements that I have seen doubting the authenticity of these texts. It is here just as a curiosity!

           — Hat tip: JD[Return to headlines]


The Great ‘Global Warming’ Hoax

While the blogosphere buzzed all weekend with the contents of these e-mails (see for example powerlineblog.com) and analyzed what many began calling the biggest scientific scandal of all time, the Old Media went into protection mode. This scandal threatens the whole scientific rationale underpinning the campaign for world government, higher taxes and a decreased standard of living for all (except the Chinese). You’d never know it in the Old Media. The New York Times reported it as a third-rate e-mail burglary “causing a stir among global warming skeptics.”

Move on, nothing to see here.

The Washington Post (“Hackers steal electronic data from top climate research center”) quotes the “researchers” at the CRU saying “that the e-mails have been taken out of context.” No analysis of the “context” is provided.

The BBC assured its listeners that “the police have been informed” of the break-in. Just another hacker story. Ho hum. Just as the scientific method has suffered a reversion to dogma in the climate-change campaign, so too the “journalism” of the Old Media has degenerated into laughable propaganda.

           — Hat tip: JD[Return to headlines]


The Global Warming Fraud Exposed

I have an old T-shirt that I used to wear from time to time during my techno days with Psykosonik. Eric Bloodaxe of the Legion of Doom created it in honor of the “Hacking for Jesus” tour, complete with a listing of ISP addresses that were supposedly hacked during the LOD’s Internet World Tour of 1991. But last week, an anonymous hacker achieved a feat that will long be lionized by computer pirates, libertarians and genuine scientists alike, as he broke into the Climate Research Unit’s computers, copied 172 megs of data, and then released it into the digital wild.

Information wants to be free. And this information desperately needed to be freed.

Upon perusing the searchable archive of the online data, most of which consists of e-mails being exchanged between a small coterie of climate-change charlatans who presume to call themselves “scientists,” it soon becomes very clear why the anthropogenic global warming—climate-change industry has been so deeply and unscientifically secretive about the data they have used to reach their conclusions of imminent climate-based apocalypse. First, the data simply does not support their conclusions. Second, they know the data doesn’t support their conclusions. Consider this amazing admission by Kevin Trenberth, head of the Climate Analysis Section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and a lead author of the 2001 and 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Scientific Assessment of Climate Change:

“The fact is that we can’t account for the lack of warming at the moment and it is a travesty that we can’t. The CERES data published in the August (Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society) 09 supplement on 2008 shows there should be even more warming: but the data are surely wrong.”

           — Hat tip: JD[Return to headlines]


UN Negotiator Confident of Specific Climate Deal

The UN’s top climate official voiced optimism Monday that some kind of agreement could be salvaged at world talks on global warming next month, sensing US President Barack Obama will come with a target and financing.

UN negotiator Yvo de Boer has already said it would be impossible to conclude a comprehensive climate treaty during the talks opening in Copenhagen. However, ahead of a meeting with EU ministers in Brussels, he told AFP that “I think we will have a very specific agreement.”

This was likely to include “a list of rich country targets (and) clarity on what major developing countries like India and China are willing to do,” he said.

           — Hat tip: Esther[Return to headlines]

1 comments:

Zenster said...

Time for a bit of fun:

Islam Meets the Outer Limits

[cue eerie synthesizer music with voice over]

There is nothing wrong with our ability to kick your whiney Islamic @ss. Do not attempt to interfere. We are controlling the situation. If we wish to kick it harder, we will go all Medieval. If we wish to kick it softer, we will only open up a six-pack on you. We will control the duration. We will control the intensity. We can roll you up; make your eyelids flutter. We can smear you into a soft blur or sharpen your pencil with a machete. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will beat on you until only your hair doesn’t hurt. We repeat: there is nothing wrong with you that a prolonged @ss-kicking can’t cure. You are about to be on the receiving end of a major smackdown. You are about to experience the shock and awe which reaches from inside our missile silos to Tehran’s city limits.