Stephen Bosworth, President Obama’s envoy to North Korea, delivered a letter from the president to North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il while visiting Pyongyang. The administration has acknowledged that a letter was delivered, but declines to divulge any information about its contents.In other news, the leaders of the oil-producing countries of the Persian Gulf have moved a step closer to creating a common currency, thereby displacing the dollar as the preferred currency to denominate oil contracts.
Thanks to Barry Rubin, C. Cantoni, Esther, Insubria, JD, Lurker from Tulsa, REP, Sean O’Brian, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
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Gulf Petro-Powers to Launch Currency in Latest Threat to Dollar Hegemony
The Arab states of the Gulf region have agreed to launch a single currency modelled on the euro, hoping to blaze a trail towards a pan-Arab monetary union swelling to the ancient borders of the Ummayad Caliphate.
“The Gulf monetary union pact has come into effect,” said Kuwait’s finance minister, Mustafa al-Shamali, speaking at a Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) summit in Kuwait.
The move will give the hyper-rich club of oil exporters a petro-currency of their own, greatly increasing their influence in the global exchange and capital markets and potentially displacing the US dollar as the pricing currency for oil contracts. Between them they amount to regional superpower with a GDP of $1.2 trillion (£739bn), some 40pc of the world’s proven oil reserves, and financial clout equal to that of China.
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar are to launch the first phase next year, creating a Gulf Monetary Council that will evolve quickly into a full-fledged central bank.
The Emirates are staying out for now — irked that the bank will be located in Riyadh at the insistence of Saudi King Abdullah rather than in Abu Dhabi. They are expected join later, along with Oman.
The Gulf states remain divided over the wisdom of anchoring their economies to the US dollar. The Gulf currency — dubbed “Gulfo” — is likely to track a global exchange basket and may ultimately float as a regional reserve currency in its own right. “The US dollar has failed. We need to delink,” said Nahed Taher, chief executive of Bahrain’s Gulf One Investment Bank.
The project is inspired by Europe’s monetary union, seen as a huge success in the Arab world. But there are concerns that the region is trying to run before it can walk.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Michele Bachmann Warns: Financial Bill Worse Than Healthcare Measure
A Republican congresswoman, who has been in the forefront of the fight against the healthcare bill, the climate control bill and other contentious measures, warned in an impromptu interview on Breitbart.tv Thursday evening, that a fast-tracked, under-the-radar mega-bill by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., designed to overhaul the regulation of the entire financial services industry — and headed at the time for passage by the House — is “even worse.”
“I know that’s hard to believe, but it is worse in the sense that every American makes financial transactions,” said Michele Bachmann, who represents the people of Minnesota’s Sixth Congressional District. “We all use credit cards, we all write checks. This will all now be controlled by government, and government will ration credit. You can’t have capitalism without capital, and government will decide who gets capital and who doesn’t.”
[…]
According to Bachmann the bill makes bailout permanent and gives the president the authority to make future bailouts at his own discretion.
“He never again has to come back to Congress to get money,” she said. “He can just go straight to the Treasury, pull out all the money he wants for a favored industry. … His [credit] czar could place a private business on the systemic risk list — doesn’t have to be a failing business, could be a healthy business — and the president can bail out anyone that he wants to.”
Bachmann noted that the financial services sector represents 15 percent of the nation’s economy, and some analysts have estimated that since Obama took office, 30 percent of the economy has been brought under federal control and essentially nationalized.
Said Bachmann: “If President Obama gets his way and has government take over healthcare, that’s another 18 percent — 48 percent of the economy the government will have been taken over. The financial services sector is another 15 percent of the economy. If they succeed in [passing H.R. 4173], and if they succeed in taking over the energy sector with the national energy tax, that’s 69 to 70 percent of the economy they will have taken over in less than 18 months.
“So it isn’t that socialism has occurred in our lifetime, it’s in the last 18 months!” she exclaimed.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
To Congress: Your Loan Has Been Called
Leaders are considering a hike of roughly $300 billion to the nation’s $12.1 trillion deficit, though the final figure has not been nailed down, congressional aides said on condition of anonymity.
Democratic leaders had previously hoped to raise the limit by at least $1.8 trillion, enough to take care of the government’s debt needs through the November 2010 congressional elections.
What was your first hint the former $1.8 trillion increase attempt was a bad idea? Perhaps this?
Or was it China buying a literal zero of Treasury debt in October?
Or was it the TIC report this morning (which I’m sure you had “early”) that showed a near-zero appetite for foreign funding of our idiotic spending proclivities?
Or was it the fact that this morning PPI numbers came in hot, especially in crude goods, strongly implying that we’re in for a nasty bout of either cost-push price inflation or collapsing corporate profits?
Perhaps it is the numerous anecdotes of “seasonal help” already being laid off, stacks of “Black Friday” merchandise still in the stores, and Best Buy’s earnings report this morning in which they disclosed margin compression in the 4th quarter — which promptly hammered their stock for 7.2%.
None of this should be a surprise.
We have fixed nothing in the last two years. We have not forced bad debt to default yet worse, despite the incessant pumping and attempted “forcing” of credit into the system via government borrowing the pump has now officially failed, as the new Z1 data shows.
Note that despite all the Federal Deficit spending — $1.4 trillion last fiscal year (ending in September) and $300 billion more in the last two months — approaching two trillion dollars — the total credit outstanding in the system — including the new Federal borrowing — went negative in the third quarter of this year.
The bottom line:
Your attempt to play “pump prime” over the last two years has FAILED.
For the first time in the modern era you have run into the mathematical realities of too much debt for the amount of payment capacity in the private sector.
You can either stop now, or you can stop when the government’s ability to borrow is cut off forcibly by radical increases in the bond interest-rate curve.
You WILL stop gentlemen. The only question remaining is whether it will be voluntary or whether the market will force an involuntary cessation of Treasury Coupon issuance.
Attempting to avoid this by monetizing debt, as Bernanke has done while being your handmaiden (while lying about his actions to The American People AND in sworn testimony before Congress) forced currency devaluation which in turn (as expected) cuts off foreign debt demand.
That in turn, as you are now seeing, causes the coupon increase to happen anyway.
You’re trapped folks, exactly as I predicted you would be two years ago.
I stand impressed that you got away with this for as long as you did, but I also stand behind the view I expressed in 2007 — that the root problem is an excessive level of debt in the system at all levels, a level of debt that exceeds capacity to pay, and as a consequence any and all attempts to restart the credit-driven consumption economy would fail, and if pressed too far the government will fail.
The evidence strongly suggests that you are getting awfully close to your last chance to stop being stupid before the market hands you a lesson that has the potential to destroy both our economy and government.
You would do well to listen.
| — Hat tip: REP | [Return to headlines] |
Wamu Asks to Probe Fed Over Collapse
WILMINGTON, Delaware (Reuters) — Bankrupt holding company Washington Mutual Inc (WAMUQ.PK) asked a federal court to compel the U.S. Federal Reserve, U.S. Treasury and more than a dozen others to turn over documents relating to its collapse in 2008.
The company wants to investigate discussions between JPMorgan & Chase Co (JPM.N), regulators, competitors and rating agencies it said led to the seizure of Washington Mutual, or WMI, according to a filing in bankruptcy court on Monday.
It said the alleged misconduct includes JPMorgan “disclosing confidential information, in violation of the confidentiality agreement, to government regulators, ratings agencies, media and investors in an effort to harm WMI by driving down WMI’s credit rating and stock price.”
Washington Mutual said it needs to determine if it has valuable claims against regulators and others that could be pursued on behalf of its creditors.
The company was the largest U.S. savings and loan when it was seized by the government in September 2008, at the height of the financial crisis, and sold for $1.9 billion to JPMorgan in what Washington Mutual has called a “fire sale.”
The company has been investigating possible claims against JPMorgan since the middle of 2009 and cited some of the documents provided by the bank to justify expanding its investigation.
It cites an internal JPMorgan email it said shows that a week before Washington Mutual was seized, the bank’s executives were contacted by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp regarding their interest in Washington Mutual.
The request to expand its investigation also relies on information from a suit filed by American National Insurance Co, which is suing JPMorgan for its losses on its investments in Washington Mutual securities.
American National said in its suit that JPMorgan used former JPMorgan executives who went to work for Washington Mutual as part of a long-term plan to acquire the savings and loan.
JPMorgan declined to comment.
The case is In re Washington Mutual Inc, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington), No. 08-12229.
| — Hat tip: REP | [Return to headlines] |
‘Chilling’ New Video: How to Slit Throats
Jihad maneuvers taught at New York compound
A new video released by the Christian Action Network shows Muslim women at a compound in New York state practicing throat-slitting techniques and assault weapons attacks.
The video was distributed by the makers of the movie “Homegrown Jihad: The Terrorist Camps Around the U.S.,” which documents how a jihadist group has developed dozens of training camps across the nation.
WND reported at the time how Jamaat ul-Fuqra has built 35 compounds — mostly in the northeastern corridor of the U.S.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Could Hillary Clinton Replace Biden as Obama’s Vp?
The hot rumor in Washington: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton could replace Vice President Joe Biden on the 2012 Obama re-election ticket. It would be a reward for her work at State and ready her for a 2016 run, as some strategists think Biden would be too old then to run for president.
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
Feds Bug Chicago Terror Suspects
Unaware they were being secretly recorded on a long car ride, two Chicago men spoke openly in September of how they knew about plans for the terror attacks that killed nearly 170 people last year in Mumbai, India, federal investigators alleged for the first time Monday.
In a conversation about a month before one of them was arrested on his way to Pakistan, the two men are alleged to have chatted about how they had known that the terror spree, in which 10 gunmen ran between hotels and other public places shooting people indiscriminately, was about to begin.
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
Millions of ‘Lost’ Bush Emails Recovered
Millions of White House emails that went missing during the Bush administration have been recovered following an extended court battle.
Around 22m messages spanning more than 90 days were declared missing in 2007, shortly after a scandal arose over the decision to fire nine federal prosecutors who had not toed the White House line.
The Obama administration said that its computer technicians had successfully recovered the lost data, in what campaigners called a victory in the attempt to clear up the “electronic data mess” left behind by Bush officials.
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
Paying Off ‘La Raza’
If you were president of the United States, would you hire an alleged former spy for Fidel Castro to be ambassador to El Salvador, a country teetering on the brink of hard-core socialism?
President Obama just did.
On Dec. 9, Obama nominated Mari Del Carmen Aponte to be ambassador to El Salvador, despite the fact that in the late 1990s, the FBI discovered that she was working with Cuban intelligence officers. According to Insight Magazine, “When the FBI eventually questioned her about her involvement with Cuban intelligence, she reportedly refused to cooperate.”
Why would Aponte escape the Obama administration’s scrutiny? Because she is a former board member of the National Council of La Raza, or NCLR, the largest Hispanic advocacy organization in the United States, with 300 affiliated community-based organizations, many of which run like local ACORN offices. In fact, the day before Obama nominated Aponte, NCLR-affiliate Chicanos Por La Causa, or CPLC, was raided by the Phoenix Sheriff’s Office, which was investigating a kickback scheme between CPLC and indicted Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox. CPLC allegedly gave Wilcox $297,000 in undisclosed loans in exchange for her votes to award over a million dollars in county contracts to CPLC.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Senator Tom Coburn Slows Health Care Bill With Read-a-Thon
WASHINGTON — The Senate is in health care gridlock after a Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn forced the clerk to read aloud a 767-page amendment.
Coburn, a Republican, had sought approval to require that any amendment considered by the Senate must be offered 72 hours in advance and with a full cost report.
When he was rebuffed by Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, Coburn invoked his right to require that an amendment by another Democrat be read aloud. That sent the Senate into limbo, since the amendment by Vermont Democrat Bernie Sanders is 767 pages long.
“It’s unfortunate that Senator Reid waited until the last minute to introduce his bill and now wants to rush it through the Senate,” said Senator Tom Coburn. “This reading will provide a dose of transparency that has been lacking in this debate.”
It’s unclear how long the procedural standoff will continue. Democrats are struggling to pass their bill by Christmas
| — Hat tip: Lurker from Tulsa | [Return to headlines] |
‘Sinister Muslim’ Stereotype Fades
In film and on TV, Hollywood eases away from its terrorist standard
Muslim voices are finally being heard by and from Hollywood, and it’s in Tinseltown’s best interest to listen.
Negative stereotypes of Muslim characters date to at least the black-and-white era, but by the 1990s and the end of the Cold War, one-dimensional Muslim terrorist characters were the generic “bad guy” in countless movies and television shows, including True Lies (‘94) and Executive Decision (‘96). Even the cartoon Aladdin (‘92) portrayed villains with Middle Eastern accents while the hero and heroine had standard American voices.
Such repeated portrayals have colored public perceptions of Muslims and Middle Easterners. The events of 9/11 crystallized and, for some, affirmed the stereotype. But nearly a decade later, Hollywood seems to be changing its tune toward Muslims and Arabs.
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
Swine Flu Shots for Children Are Recalled
Slight decrease in potency is called safe, still protective
Vaccine-maker Sanofi Pasteur announced Tuesday a voluntary recall of 800,000 doses of a children’s swine flu shot — about 10,000 of which have been distributed in Maryland — after tests showed the vaccine had lost some of its strength.
The recall is an issue of potency, not safety, and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state health officials are urging parents not to worry if their child received a recalled shot. The vaccine still works against the virus since the reduction in strength was slight and not found to be “clinically significant,” according to the CDC.
“This is a hiccup, but it’s not a hiccup in terms of vaccine safety,” said Frances Phillips, the state’s deputy secretary for public health services. “Parents whose children got the one-time syringe don’t need to call their pediatrician. There’s no particular action that parents need to take in connection with this recall, which is a really good thing.”
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
Analyst Warns EU Against Admitting Turkey
Increasing Islamic influence could spread jihad
Turkey’s increasingly militant Islamic influence should prompt the European Union to reject its efforts to join the organization out of hand, according to Jonathan Racho, an analyst with International Christian Concern.
He says, bluntly, admitting Turkey would present a danger to other EU nations, because the jihad move there then could transfer freely to other nations.
“There’s been an increasing Islamization of Europe through immigration of Muslims from Muslim nations. If Turkey joins, then the EU rules would allow the free movement of Turkey’s Islamists throughout Europe,” Racho said. “This possibility is a clear reason for Europe to deny Turkey’s admission into the EU.”
[…]
Concern also comes from news that three Muslim men broke into the Meryam Ana Syriac Orthodox Church in the eastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir and threatened to kill the priest if he didn’t tear down the bell tower.
The three men say their move is in retaliation for the recent Swiss vote prohibiting any further minarets being built on mosques in the country.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Berlusconi Attack a ‘Wake Up Call’ For Italy
With their prime minister recovering from his injuries following Sunday’s violent attack, Italians are reflecting on just how divisive politics have become in their country. German commentators hope that a more reconciliatory tone will result.
Two days after being wounded in a rally in Milan, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is recovering in the city’s San Raffeale hospital. Outside the hospital, an already polarized populace is reacting to the attack with a mix of glee, shock and even some soul-searching.
The attack came Sunday evening after Berlusconi finished delivering a speech in front of Milan’s Duomo, the city’s massive Gothic cathedral. Video footage of the attack shows Massimo Tartaglia, 42-year-old man with a history of mental illness, hurling a souvenir statue of the cathedral at Berlusconi’s face, leaving the prime minister with a fractured nose, two broken teeth and cuts on his lips and face.
For months, Berlusconi has denounced the “climate of hate” he believes he is enveloped by. Indeed, the prime minister is having to juggle a number of problems on numerous fronts: His wife has filed for divorce citing his fondness for young women; the country’s highest court ruled in October that he was not immune from prosecution while in office and could therefore stand trial in three ongoing cases, including one for corruption; there are rumors about his consorting with prostitutes; and a Mafia turncoat recently alleged that he had ties to the country’s criminal underworld. Furthermore, on Dec. 5 — which was unofficially designated “No Berlusconi Day” — tens of thousands of protesters marched in Rome demanding his resignation.
In Tuesday’s newspapers, German commentators see the attack as a distressing indicator of just how low political and public discourse has sunk in Italy. They are hopeful, though, that the attack will get people to rethink the situation and prevent more violence.
The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:
“We now know that what happened in Milan was the relatively spontaneous act of a mentally ill man acting alone. Likewise, there is no real proof that the tenor of the political debate in his country encouraged him to this outburst of violence.”
“Nevertheless, the man’s act has once again set in motion a discussion about the state of political conflict in Italy. The political climate is heated up — and it’s mostly Berlusconi’s fault. And that’s not just because his personality is strongly polarizing. It’s also because whenever he is feeling pressure — which he currently is from many sides — he attacks his opponents and state institutions with very sharp words, which enrage many people. Recently, he even went so far as to say that there might be a ‘civil war’ if certain judicial reforms (that were very important to him) should fail. Still, it would be inappropriate to claim at this point that the prime minister has himself to blame for being attacked.”
Conservative Die Welt writes:
“The man who gravely wounded Italy’s prime minister has been in psychological treatment for 10 years. Thus, you could dismiss his act as that of a crazy person and only question whether Berlusconi’s security detail failed to do its job. But in truth — and this is something that most Italian commentators on both the left and the right agree upon — this act was the culminating point of Italy’s political crisis. This is the expression of the climate of hatred that has characterized political conflict in the country for some time now and that has split the political environment, which is worse than it ever has been, into two irreconcilable camps.”
“Both sides have played a role in poisoning the atmosphere. In recent years, the left has hardly pursued any other issue as intensively as it has its demonization of its rival, Berlusconi. And, for years, in the context of his legal problems, the prime minister and his followers have not shown prosecutors, judges and sometimes even the president the respect they deserve as representatives of legal and democratic institutions. However, this of course in no way makes it right for someone to violently attack the prime minister.”
“Thus, in recent months and years, political debate in Italian has become increasing less compromising and contained while, at the same time, nothing has been done to resolve the country’s pressing problems. The doctors are estimating that Berlusconi will need 24 days to get better. The country’s political class should take advantage of this period to reflect on how they tone down public debate. If political polemics exceeds all boundaries once again and ignores the limits of both propriety and good taste, the next unstable soul will soon turn hate-filled words into action. The silver lining is that the prime minister’s wounds are not life-threatening. But this wake-up call will be heard and understood.”
— Josh Ward
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
France Set to Compromise Over Burka Ban by Only Outlawing Them in Public Buildings
France is moving towards outlawing burkas in some public buildings — but will stop short of the complete ban that President Nicolas Sarkozy has suggested.
A parliamentary inquiry is likely to rule against full Islamic veils on the basis of sexual equality and public safety laws, it emerged today.
But an outright ban of either the burka or niqab is doubtful due to fears it would violate the right to religious freedom and could be legally challenged.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
France: UMP MPs: Law Banning Wearing Burqa on the Street
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, DECEMBER 16 — Banning Muslim headscarves, or burqas, by law not only in public places but also on the street has become a possibility with a draft law put forth by a group of representatives of the right-wing majority party, UMP, in the name of “security and the values of the Republic”. With an exception for the Carnival period, explained one of the MPs, Francois Baroin, “everyone must have their face uncovered in public. The visibility of one’s face is one of the conditions of living together.” Those who continue to wear burqas must be punished, according to the proposed law, with a fine ranging from 1,500 to 3,000 euros. In the meanwhile, today the parliamentary mission charged with reviewing the use of the burqa and niqab will meet for the final time in front of government ministers, Brice Hortefeux (Interior), Xavier Darcos (Family and Social Relations), and Eric Besson (Immigration). A report will be published by the end of January, less than two months from a regional vote in March. “A total ban on wearing burqas would be difficult to defend in front of the European Court of Human Rights,” commented a government advisor to Le Figaro, even though Besson is certain of the need to ban this sort of clothing in order to defend “the dignity of women”. A position also supported by UMP President to the National Assembly, Jean-Francois Copé, who considers a law banning headscarves covering the face to be “indispensible. Wearing burqas, stressed the UMP group promoting the draft law, “is a radical practice of the Muslim religion, which is incompatible with the values of the French community and equal rights principles.” Communist André Gerin is also in favour of a “broad law” banning individuals from being “masked” while among the public: “this is not about condemning women, it has to do with fighting a medieval ideology.” (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Police Union Moots European Database for Violent Protesters
A German police union on Wednesday called for the creation of a European database of violent demonstrators following incidents on the fringes of the UN global warming talks.
Danish police have detained 1,500 people at protests around the climate change conference in Copenhagen since it began on December 7, though most have been released without charge.
On Monday night officers made 210 arrests after storming a giant squat in the city, using tear gas and dogs to quell protesters who threw petrol bombs and started fires in the street.
Rainer Wendt, the head of German police union DPolG, said on Wednesday that a database would help combat serial agitators who travelled to major events simply to cause trouble.
“We need a European database of troublemaking demonstrators to stop fight tourism,” Wendt told daily Bild.
This would allow police to stop known troublemakers going to major events such as the climate talks or meetings of the G8 group of industrialised nations, Wendt said.
He said it was “incredible that German fight tourists can travel to Denmark to protest violently against climate change.”
The Danish authorities have deported four Germans arrested on Sunday for violence against police and weapons offences.
Police in Copenhagen have been given powers to preventatively detain potential troublemakers.
Some campaign groups have accused the police of heavy-handed tactics, but Wendt said he thought the approach had been “appropriate.”
Security measures have been gearing up as around 115 heads of state and government arrive in Copenhagen for the climax of the talks on Friday.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Severed Pig’s Ear Sent to Muslim Organisation
A package with a severed pig’s ear was delivered to a Muslim organisation in Cologne on Wednesday by unknown perpetrators, the group’s leader said.
The gruesome delivery was accompanied by a note calling it a “precious relic of all Muslims” and a piece of the Prophet Muhammad, Ali Kizilkaya from the Islamic Council of Germany said.
Below this was the phrase, “Greetings from Michel Friedman — Jews in Germany,” likely in reference to the TV talk show host and former vice-president of the German Jewish Council. Both Muslim and Jewish religious customs consider pigs to be unclean animals and consumption of pork is forbidden.
Kizilkaya speculated whoever sent the package likely only wanted to “offend the Muslims” and start a row between them and Jews in Germany.
He said the Islamic Council had received an increasing amount of hate mail recently, but decided to involved the police following the incident.
Kizilkaya also accused “some politicians” were stoking prejudices against Muslims in the wake of Switzerland’s vote last month to ban the constructions of mosques with minarets.
“We Muslims and our mosques are a part of Germany,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Cuneo Prosciutto Wins EU Label
Italy stretches lead in quality-food standings
(ANSA) — Brussels, December 15 — A ‘prosciutto crudo’ made in a northern Italian mountain valley on Friday increased Italy’s domination of the European Union quality-food rankings.
The Crudo di Cuneo, made according to traditional methods handed down for centuries in an Alpine valley near the city of Cuneo, earned the EU’s most prestigious laurel, a Protected Domination of Origin (PDO) certificate. The cured ham, which needs the valley’s unique microclimate to prosper, is the third Italian food product to get a PDO in less than a week.
On Friday a chestnut from the Tuscan village of Caprese Michelangelo and the Piennolo tomato from the slopes of Mt Vesuvius also won the coveted seal.
Earlier last week real Neapolitan pizza was awarded a long-awaited Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG) label.
Before the most recent recipients, in late October, a traditional sour cherry jam produced near Modena, ‘Amarene Brusche di Modena’ was awarded a PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) seal.
‘Ciauscolo’, a large sausage from the Marche region, got a PGI in August.
Some 850 European products have been awarded one of the EU’s three protected-origin laurels.
Italy far outdistances France and Spain for the number of its products which have qualified for one of the three EU quality seals, about 180.
Other recent additions have included Sicily’s ‘Pagnotta del Dittaino’ bread with a PDO label; Roman suckling lamb, abbacchio romano, which earned a PGI label; and Modena’s balsamic vinegar with a PGI label.
Italian culinary glories like Parmigiano, buffalo mozzarella, mortadella, lardo di Colonnata, Ascoli olives, pesto sauce and Pachino plum tomatos have been protected for some time but lesser-known munchies like Mt Etna prickly pears and Paestum artichokes have also swelled the ranks along with saffron from San Gimignano and L’Aquila.
A range of salamis, rices, honeys and nuts are also on the protected list.
Several up-and-coming regional wines have earned TGIs.
PDO identifies a product whose characteristics are exclusively dependant on a geographical origin and whose productive phases all take place in the specified area.
PGI defines a product whose characteristics can be connected with its geographical origin and that has at least one productive phase located in the specified area.
TGS distinguishes a product, whose raw materials, composition or recipe, production method or transformation, are of a traditional type.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Video Game Invites Players to Attack PM
Rome, 15 Dec. (AKI) — A video game has surfaced on the Internet challenging players to strike Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi as many times as they can with replicas of the northern Italian city of Milan’s Cathedral. The game appeared just two days after Massimo Tartaglia made headlines around the world for striking Berlusconi in the face with a small alabaster souvenir statuette of the Milan landmark ..
The Brasilian video game invites players to manoeuvre Berlusconi’s head into the firing line as replicas of the gothic landmark and the world-famous Leaning Tower of Pisa fall down on him.
Each time one of the replicas hits Berlusconi’s head, his smiling countenance turns into a bloody grimace. The 90-second game invites players to improve their score.
The 73-year-old premier was on Tuesday still recovering in hospital after the attack in which he suffered a broken nose and two broken teeth, heavy bleeding and cuts to his face.
He is expected to be discharged from Milan’s San Raffaele hospital on Wednesday but doctors have said he will take three weeks to recover from his injuries.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: High-Speed Trains Spark Commuter Fury
Sit-ins at Bergamo and Florence, petition at Cremona. “Ready for a fight”. Greater inconvenience and new increases, say commuters. Railway company denies downsizing services
MILAN — The Italy of rail-borne protest has two faces. One belongs to the executive on the Milan-Turin Frecciarossa high-speed train, which left Turin’s Porta Nuova station 20 minutes late as passengers crowded into the restaurant car in search of somewhere to sit. The other is that of the office worker, shivering in an unheated carriage on the Genoa-Livorno Frecciabianca (also late), who sent a disappointed text message to the Ligurian commuters’ committee: “I’m on the train. The Frecciabianca is exactly the same, only more expensive”.
Some stops have been cancelled, some Eurostar City and Intercity services have been withdrawn and local services are running slower to give high-speed trains priority. But ticket prices have also gone up. Three days after Trenitalia’s new timetable came into force, commuter grumbles are getting louder in Piedmont, Veneto, Lombardy and Puglia among users of regional services, and particularly among medium and long-distance travellers.
The protests have taken various forms. Signatures have been collected to defend the Bergamo-Cremona-Roma Pendolino service and the stops at Follonica and Cecina. The Piedmont regional authority, which has lost direct connections to the north east and south of the country, has written to the government. There have also been sit-ins on the tracks, organised by commuters on the Florence-Orvieto-Rome route, and in the stationmaster’s office at Bergamo, as well as heated arguments at the ticket counter over the new refund system (25% for delays of between 60 and 119 minutes; 50% for more than 119 minutes). Meetings have been convened at the prefecture to stop, as one long-serving campaigner puts it, “the protest from becoming a question of public order”. On Monday, protesters asked the prefect of Turin to “give us our trains back”. Trenitalia replies: “Commuter trains, regional trains and subsidised services have hardly been affected at all. For the other services, operating in a free market, there are more trains and faster journey times that justify the new prices, which are still among the lowest in Europe”.
Yesterday, protesters went into action on the 7.40 am Frecciarossa from Turin. The train was packed, first and second class. One reason, as Altroconsumo reports, is that the difference between the two tickets is just one euro. “Since you get a free newspaper and coffee, first class is better value. It’s actually cheaper than second class, which has gone up by 30%”. The train was so busy that passengers invaded the restaurant carriage to find somewhere to sit. “Everybody out or I call the police”, warned the guard. The railway police duly arrived and the train stayed where it was for 20 minutes. When it finally departed, the restaurant carriage was full and, according to Trenitalia, “there were plenty of seats free in the last carriage”. On Monday, 98 passengers had to stand on the Milan-Turin service. “Guariniello, help us”, commuters implored the assistant public prosecutor, who was on board the Frecciarossa. That morning, there were protests from commuters in the unheated carriages of the 6.05 am Intercity service, which also departed late. Cesare Carbonari, the spokesperson for Turin-Milan commuters, was scathing: “They’ve replaced the Eurostars with broken-down Intercity rolling stock and reduced the number of carriages. There are 210 fewer seats per train. They’ve stopped all direct services to the north east and Puglia. It’s to encourage people to use the high-speed trains”. His words chime in with the report sent to the transport minister, Altero Matteoli, by the Piedmont regional authority’s councillor for transport, Daniele Borioli. A total of 22 Eurostar City services have been eliminated, there are no direct trains for Venice, Trieste, Bari or Lecce and trains no longer stop at Verbania or Arona.
Like Piedmont, Liguria feels “isolated and abandoned”. “Abandoned like the many regions and towns without a high-speed rail service”, says Sonia Zarino, spokesperson for the Ligurian commuter committees. The new timetable: “Genoa has gained some services with Milan and Rome but has lost the direct service to Florence, as well as nine trains to and from Turin. The Tigullio area is more isolated than ever”. Fares: “Take the Rome-Chiavari route. A second-class Eurostar City ticket has gone up from 45.60 euros to 50.50 euros and the journey time has been cut by five minutes. That’s almost one euro a minute”. On services to France: “A disgrace. The two railway companies failed to reach an agreement so you have to change at Ventimiglia. You can’t consult a single timetable or buy a ticket for Nice. Is this the railway of a civilised country?”
Alessandra Mangiarotti
English translation by Giles Watson
www.watson.it
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Mosque Madness: German Group Hopes for EU Referendum on Minarets
Last year, a right-wing group called Pro Cologne tried to prevent the construction of a mosque in the western German city. Now, a related group wants to ban minarets in Europe.
Just weeks after Swiss voters banned minarets in the country, a German right-wing group is hoping to use a new European Union law to hold a minaret referendum across the 27 member bloc.
Last month, the Swiss voted to ban minarets. Now, it may be Europe’s turn.
Just a few weeks after Swiss citizens decided in a referendum to ban the further construction of minarets, a right-wing group in Germany is running a similar anti-mosque campaign to gain votes ahead of the state election in May 2010. According to an article in the German daily Die Welt, the North Rhine-Westphalia group Pro NRW — an outgrowth of the anti-Muslim right-wing group Pro Cologne — hopes to unite other European right-wing associations behind the campaign against Muslim prayer houses.
“We will run a state election campaign that is decidedly critical of Islam. We will use the posters from the Swiss minaret ban,” Markus Wiener, general secretary of Pro NRW, told Die Welt. “We see the construction of mosques as an aggressive and powerful symbol of a Muslim conquest,” he added.
To be sure, Wiener said the campaign is directed “not specifically against Islam,” but instead at the “problem of non-European immigrants who come from predominantly Islamic cultures.”
A Little Help from their Friends
Pro NRW is even getting a little help from the Swiss People’s Party (SVP), the masterminds behind the Swiss vote. Wiener says SVP has granted Pro NRW permission to use its posters in the campaign. In addition, SVP politician Andreas Glarner has become a member of Pro NRW.
The right-wing group is hoping force a European Union-wide referendum on the issue. The Lisbon Treaty, which has now entered into force, contains a provision for referenda subsequent to the collection of one million signatures in favor of the measure in question. Just how such a process might work, however, has yet to be sufficiently established.
Wiener plans to discuss a possible referendum at an anti-minaret conference planned for early next year.
Pro NRW stems from Pro Cologne, which is under observation by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency. Pro Cologne staged a 2008 effort to block the construction of a Cologne mosque, which, when completed, will be Germany’s largest. The project was eventually approved.
Pro NRW has seen some modest success in this year’s municipal elections, increasing their number of seats in various city councils from 15 to 46. The group is currently preparing for state-wide elections to be held on May 9.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Refugees Hijack Polish Train in Protest Over Living Conditions
About 230 refugees from Russia and Georgia hijacked a train in West Poland on Tuesday protesting against life conditions in refugee camps and bad attitude of the local population.
None of the refugees traveling on Wroclaw-Dresden passenger train had a ticket. Polish conductors offered them to buy tickets but they refused to do so and did not leave the train.
The protesters said they wanted to take the train to Strasbourg, but polish police made them disembark as the train approached the border with Germany.
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
UK: March of the Wardens: Town Hall ‘Enforcers’ With Police Powers Increase by a Fifth in a Year
The number of town hall snoopers and private security guards armed with sweeping police powers has rocketed by a fifth in only 12 months.
There are now 1,667 park wardens, dog wardens, car park attendants and shopping centre guards permitted to hand out fines for ‘crimes’ such as littering, dog fouling and criminal damage.
They may take photographs of the people they have fined, and demand names and addresses. A further 478 civilians have been given the power to stop vehicles to check for out-of-date tax discs.
The hope is that the army of civilians will free police officers from having to perform these unpopular tasks.
But critics said the so-called Community Safety Accreditation Scheme amounted to ‘state-sanctioned vigilantism’.
[…]
‘Councils are completely unequipped to police the pretend policemen they are licensing.
‘Even worse, the number of these officers is rising because councils want to send them out to collect the ludicrous fines for regulations we shouldn’t have imposed on us in the first place.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Natwest Handed Al Qaeda Terrorist 100% Mortgage to Buy £93,000 Home He Turned Into a Bomb Factory
A bank has sparked outrage by handing over a 100 per cent mortgage to an Al Qaeda terrorist who smuggled himself into Britain.
Albanian Krenar Lusha, 30, was given £93,000 after NatWest failed to complete full checks on his UK status.
He used the cash to buy a house in Derby, where he stored bomb-making equipment and information on how to carry out attacks.
The illegal immigrant also managed to get a UK driving licence, secure a £30,000-a-year engineering job and was even offered a second mortgage — which he declined.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘We Will Sue Terrorists in Britain’
(IsraelNN.com) The Almagor terror victims group says it will file charges in Britain for the arrest of Arab terrorists who visit the country, under the same laws used to take aim at Knesset Member Tzipi Livni of the Kadima party.
Almagor director Meir Indor said the group will also sue British officials over the country’s cooperation with Arab terrorists during the Mandatory period, when Britain failed to prevent Arab mobs from murdering Jews. He announced that it has begun to collect information from families of terror victims from the pre-State days, as well as background information on the top officials of the Palestinian Authority.
The charges will mirror those that were brought against the State of Israel for failing to prevent the massacres in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon during the 1982 Peace for Galilee Operation, also known as the First Lebanon War. At that time, the Lebanese Forces Christian militia entered the camps, populated by Palestinian Arabs and some Lebanese civilians, and slaughtered hundreds. This had followed the recent assassination of their Christian Phalangist leader and president-elect, Bashir Gemayel. The IDF, which at the time surrounded Beirut’s Palestinian refugee camps, had allowed the Lebanese Forces militia to enter the two camps in order to clear out PLO terrorist nests — and Israel was blamed for the massacre.
Not the First Time
Indor noted that his group has a great deal of experience in the European public court system. For instance, Almagor once filed a lawsuit in a Belgian court against then-PLO terrorist chairman Yasser Arafat, who had filed criminal charges against Israeli statesman Ariel Sharon. Indor said this prompted a legislative process that led to the end of both cases. “Belgium took advantage of the charges against Arafat in order to close both of them,” Indoor said.
Indor is also convinced that Almagor’s efforts in Spain helped stymie a similar effort against Israeli security personnel. In that case, the group began to open an investigation in Yugoslavia on a NATO bombardment that had allegedly involved Spanish troops.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Croatia: Presidential Election, Leftwing Candidate Leads Polls
(ANSAmed) — ZAGREB, DECEMBER 15 — The candidate of the social-democrat left (SDP), Ivo Josipovic, should encounter no problems in the presidential election on December 27, with the battle for second place still undecided, according to the polls released today by the country’s main newspapers. Josipovic, professor of law and member of parliament for the SDP, the biggest opposition party, has been stable for months at 30% of preferences of interviewed voters. For the first time on second place, with 14.3%, is Nadan Vidosevic, centrist and manager and president of the Croatian Chamber of Economy, expelled after the announcement of his candidature from his party, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). On third place, with 11.8%, stands the mayor of Zagreb, Milan Bandic, also a dissident of his party, the SDP, for deciding to run against the will of the party leadership. On fourth place, with 10.6% in the polls, another HDZ dissident, former minister of education Dragan Primorac, followed by the left-wing liberal (HNS) Vesna Pusic (8.2%). The small differences, all within the statistical margin of error, show that the Croatian diaspora, particularly those in Bosnia and Herzegovina, may in the end decide who will go to the second ballet against Josipovic on January 10. This group traditionally votes rightwing and represents around 5% of the electorate. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Serbia: Vojvodina Parliament Adopts New Statute
(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE, DECEMBER 14 — The Parliament of Vojvodina approved today a new statute which provides greater autonomy to the region, according to the Tanjug news agency in Novi Sad, district capital of the region. The document was passed by 86 out of 120 parliamentarians. Members of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS, ultra-nationalist) and the Serbian Party for Progress (SNS — moderate nationalist) boycotted the vote, saying that the new statute would lead to secession by Vojvodina. The draft law was approved by the Serbian parliament at the end of November. By adopting the law, Vojvodina will get back the autonomy which it enjoyed until former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic took it away in 1990. Milosevic applied the same measures to Kosovo, which led to the armed revolt and unilateral declaration of independence in February 2008. In the new statute, Vojvodina will be able to sign agreements with foreign regions, but not with the states. The Vojvodina Assembly will not be permittted to dismiss texts which have the force of law. Novi Sad has been designated an administrative centre for the region, rather than its capital. Finally, the region may set up a bank for development. Vojvodina, with 2 million inhabitants, is one of the most prosperous regions in Serbia. It includes 25 different ethnic minorities, the largest of these being Hungarians (350,000 people). (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Gaza: Euromed Human Rights, EU Must Turn Words Into Action
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, DECEMBER 15 — One year after operation ‘Cast Lead’, the European Union remains powerless against the dramatic situation in Gaza, and has failed to turn words into action. Despite attempts by the 27 members to actively promote the solution of two independent States, it is at the same time condoning systematic violations of international law and human rights by Israel. This was the message which the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) sent to Brussels today as the anniversary of the offensive carried out by Israel in the Gaza Strip between December 27 2008 and January 18 2009 approaches. The network, which consists of around 80 groups, says that the impunity of those responsible for the violations of international law constitutes an obstacle to any real possibility of peace. And so far the EU has not worked hard enough to ensure that those responsible are brought to justice, even while calling for investigations on the part of the Israelis and Palestinians. The EU as a whole has failed to actively support an independent investigation, and to search for the people responsible for the violations carried out by Israelis and Palestinians, said Miri Weingarten, from the Israeli NGO B’Tselem. In addition, the member States were seen to be divided when it came to supporting the recommendations of the Goldstone report to the UN. This report is considered extremely credible from the legal point of view by human rights groups. In terms of pressure, from a diplomatic point of view the EU, in its conclusions, has still not declared that the blockade of Gaza is collective punishment, which is illegal under international law, said Nathalie Stanus of Emhrn, while noting an increase in the tones of the declarations made on December 8. Again, despite the fact that the siege of Gaza continues, and that Brussels has blocked a decision to move relations with Israel to a more advanced stage, the attitude towards Tel Aviv is still business as usual. For example, they signed an agreement on November 4 to liberalise trade in agricultural produce, explained Maysa Zorob from Al Haq, a Palestinian NGO. This has led to an appeal to the EU to put the issue of human rights at the centre of its policies towards Israel and the Palestinians. One of the recommendations is an appeal to Israel, Hamas and the PNA to begin independent and credible investigations into human rights violations, as well as supporting checks into violations of international law on the part of the UN. The network of Euro-Med NGOs is calling on the 27 member States to help the Palestinians without releasing Israel from its obligations. In effect the EU must raise its voice, adding a clause that a continuation of relations between the EU and Israel are conditional upon an improvement in human rights conditions in Gaza, including an end to the blockade, in the West Bank and in particular East Jerusalem too. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Agriculture: Morocco, 40bln Euros From France for Irrigation
(ANSAmed)) — RABAT, DECEMBER 15 — The French development agency AFD has granted Morocco a loan of 40 million euros to finance agricultural irrigation projects. The accord was signed in Rabat by Morocco’s Economy and Finance Minister, Salaheddine Mezouar, and the Director General of AFD, Michel Severino, in the presence of the French Ambassador, Bruno Joubert. The project envisages the construction of an irrigation network which should benefit 20,000 farmers in a further step towards a more rational management of water resources. The Moroccan minster pointed out that AFD has advanced loans worth 1.5 billion euros to Morocco over recent years and that the money has gone to education, healthcare, agricultural and solar energy projects. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
British Officials Speak to Lockerbie Bomber, Thought to be Missing
Fears over the whereabouts of the Lockerbie bomber have been put to rest after British officials spoke to him at his home in Tripoli.
Local authority staff from the East Renfrewshire Council had been concerned after attempts to contact Abdel Baset al-Megrahi failed yesterday.
There were also reports that mystery surrounded the bomber’s whereabouts after he could not be contacted either at his home or in hospital.
Earlier this year Megrahi, who has prostate cancer, was granted compassionate release from the life sentence he was serving in a Scottish jail.
Criminal justice social work staff from the council are charged with monitoring him, and usually call Megrahi in Tripoli every two weeks.
They had not been scheduled to contact Megrahi this week but they tried to contact him yesterday after The Times of London had been unable to speak to the bomber.
Those attempts failed but today council staff were able to speak to him.
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Egypt: Court Overturns Niqab Ban in Universities
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, DECEMBER 14 — The battle over the niqab, the veil that covers the face, leaving only the eyes visible, continues to rage in Egypt. The administrative courts have in fact overturned the ban imposed on wearing the garment on university property and examination halls, but the Minister for Higher Education, Hani Helal, is not throwing in the towel yet: “I’m going on anyway”, he says. “We will follow all the procedures which the law provides to overturn this decision”, he told ANSA. Helal is in Rome for the closing ceremony of the Italy-Egypt Year of Science and Technology. “I am concerned only with universities and higher education institutions, I am not involving myself with issues of a religious nature”, he added. Security and justice are the principles which are guiding his decisions: the niqab is a private matter, while the safety of universities is the issue in question. Last year, the Minister pointed out, there were over 30 cases of boys entering womens dormitories in disguise, and during exams, the teachers need to know who is answering their questions. The legal battle — which is separated into several parts and is therefore not yet over — was begun in recent days by a dozen women students wearing the niqab at the Ain Shams University, the second-largest public university in Cairo. The same case was established at the largest as well, the University of Cairo, which allowed protests to take place, as well as several girls refusing to take their exams. The minister is not respecting peoples rights said Nizar Ghorab, a lawyer acting on behalf of the students. She is basing their case not on religion, but on constitutional principles. The sentence by the Administrative court should be respected, she added, and does not permit referral to the Court of Cassation. As an employee of the State, the Minister is obliged to apply this sentence, otherwise he risks trial, a prison sentence, and the loss of his post. The students case involves the highest religious authorities as well: the grand Imam of Al Azharm, Sayyed Al Tantawi, the grand Mufti of Egypt, Ali Gomaa, and the Minister for Religious Affairs, Mahmud Hamdi Zaqzuq. The issue of the niqab exploded in October, when the Imam of Al Azhar ordered a student to remove her niqab, because it had nothing to do with religion, and it was banned from schools linked to the highest Sunni theological authorities, although only in women-only places. Minister for Education Yustri El Gamal also banned the niqab in public schools, while Ali Gomaa e Zaqzuq — who banned it in the offices of his ministry — also maintained that the niqab is simply a tradition. The lawyer says in any case that the verdict of the State Council affects only the University of Aim Shams for the time being.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Haidar: Tension Algeria-Morocco After Rabat’s Accusation
(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, DECEMBER 15 — After the declarations of yesterday from Rabat which defined the Aminatou Haidar affair, the Saharoui activist currently on hunger strike at the Lanzarote airport, as an “Algerian plot”, has reignited the controversy between the two countries over Western Sahara that have divided them for the last 30 years. While the serious health conditions of Haidar are worrying the world’s governments, the Algerian press reacts against the accusations of the Moroccan Communication Minister, Khalid Naciri. “Rabat plunges into the ridiculous”, reads the front page of Le Quotidien D’Oran, “Rabat looks for scapegoat to avoid responsibility for the planned death”, writes La Tribune. The same tones were used in all the press in both French and Arabic, while for the moment Algerian authorities are keeping quiet. “Algeria is in a weaker position”, stated Naciri, “in light of the autonomy plan proposed by Morocco for Western Sahara”. “The case of Haidar is a hateful manipulation” and “Algeria believes to have found the road to attracting international public sympathy”. Rabat “cannot assume responsibility for the dossier, a systematic plot, ordered by Algeria. Too much is too much”, it concluded, “Morocco and Spain are victim of a Machiavellian plan”. “The Western Sahara revolutionary”, as Haidar is defined by the world’s press, 43, is fighting for the independence of Western Sahara, the former Spanish colony occupied by Morocco since its independence in 1975. The activist was pushed back on November 14 by Moroccan authorities at the airport of her hometown, Laayoune, on a return trip from the United States. The woman was put on board a plane for the Canary Islands. She began a hunger strike at the Lanzarote airport, asking to be able to return home and refusing political asylum and Spanish citizenship. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Law Must ‘Protect Egypt’s Women From Harassment’
Egypt’s deputy parliament speaker said women needed a law to protect them from sexual harassment which had reached “savage” levels in the country, Al-Destour newspaper reported on Tuesday.
“There must be a law to protect Egyptian society from collapse,” the newspaper quoted Zeinab Radwan as telling a conference on sexual harassment on Monday.
“There is a savage attack on Egyptian women with sexual harassment on the streets. It has gone beyond all limits with the harassment of children,” she said.
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
Mystery as Lockerbie Bomber Goes Missing From Home and Hospital
Mystery surrounded the Lockerbie bomber last night after he could not be reached at his home or in hospital.
Libyan officials could say nothing about the whereabouts of Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi, and his Scottish monitors could not contact him by telephone. They will try again to speak to him today but if they fail to reach him, the Scottish government could face a new crisis.
Under the terms of his release from jail, the bomber cannot change his address or leave Tripoli, and must keep in regular communication with East Renfrewshire Council.
Politicians on both sides of the Atlantic and relatives of the 270 people who died in the 1988 bombing expressed anger about al-Megrahi’s disappearance. Richard Baker, Labour’s justice spokesman in the Scottish Parliament, said the whole affair was turning into a shambles and putting Scotland’s reputation at risk. “This flags up just how ludicrous it is that East Renfrewshire Council, a local council thousands of miles away from Libya, is responsible for supervising al-Megrahi’s conditions of licence,” he said.
Eliot Engel, a New York congressman, said: “I think it was a tremendous mistake to let him out in the first place. I don’t think a convicted terrorist has any integrity to abide by any type of agreement.”
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Stakelbeck: Former Radical Muslim Now Supports Israel
As a young man in Egypt, Tawfik Hamid was a member of the Islamic terrorist group, Jamaa Islamiya. One of his cohorts in that group was none other than Ayman al-Zawahiri, currently Al Qaeda’s second-in-command.
Luckily, Tawfik realized the error of his ways, left JI, and became a fierce and courageous critic of radical Islam.
He is also an outspoken supporter of Israel, a stance that has seen members of his Arab Muslim family disown him.
I recently sat down for an extended interview with Tawfik in which he gave a passionate defense of Israel from an Egyptian perspective.
Click on the link above to watch Tawfik on Israel. And stay tuned to see our entire interview, which will air early in 2010.
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Gaza-Egypt Tunnel Collapses, Three Dead
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, DECEMBER 15 — Three Palestinians were killed today when a tunnel connecting the Gaza Strip to Egypt caved in. The news comes in a report by Egyptian security services. One of the three bodies has been recovered and the search for the remaining two is still under way. Tunnels dug by Palestinians on the Egyptian border are used for smuggling. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Israel Attacks UK Over Livni Arrest Warrant
Tel Aviv, 15 Dec. (AKI) — Israel’s foreign ministry has attacked a move by a British court to issue an arrest warrant against former foreign minister Tzipi Livni. The warrant was issued by a London Court on Saturday over her role in alleged war crimes during Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip in which 1,400 Palestinians were killed.
It was revoked on Monday when it was found Livni was not visiting the UK. Livni was foreign minister post during Israel’s controversial Gaza assault last winter.
“Israel rejects the cynical legal move made in the British court against the head of the opposition, MK Tzipi Livni, at the behest of radical elements, and wishes to point out that Israel and Britain are both engaged in a common struggle against the forces of international terror,” Israel’s foreign ministry said in a statement on its website.
Livni cancelled her trip to the UK after a warrant was issued for her arrest on 12 December.
The arrest warrant was rescinded once it was discovered that she was not going to the country.
Livni’s office said she would not travel to the UK due to scheduling reasons.
The foreign ministry also called for the UK to take action to rectify relations between both countries.
“The absence of immediate, determined action to correct this abuse harms relations between Britain and Israel.”
Israel warned Britain that unless action is taken, it would compromise its role in the so-called Middle East peace process.
“If Israeli leaders cannot visit Britain in proper, dignified fashion, this will, quite naturally, seriously compromise Britain’s ability to play the active role in the Middle East peace process that it desires,” said the statement.
On Tuesday, Livni said she would not accept any accusation that compared Israeli Defense Forces soldiers to terrorists.
“I have no problem with the fact that the world wants to judge Israel,” said Livni, quoted by Israeli daily Haaretz.
“We are part of the free world. The problem starts when the world judges us in a way that gives no value to the region.”
In late September, a group of Palestinian families living in the UK sought to obtain an international arrest warrant against Israel’s defence minister Ehud Barak, also for alleged war crimes committed during the Gaza operation.
During the Israeli offensive, termed ‘Operation Cast Lead’, more than 50,000 Palestinian homes were destroyed by the Israeli army, as well as 29 mosques, two churches and 200 schools.
The 22-day Israeli military operation, launched with the stated aim of ending Hamas rocket attacks against Israel, killed some 1,400 Palestinians and injured more than 5,400 others, according to UN figures.
Ten Israeli soldiers and three civilians hit by cross-border rocket fire were killed in the conflict.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Palestinian Refugees, UNRWA Appeal to Arab Nations
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, DECEMBER 14 — An appeal was made today by UNRWA to Arab countries in the headquarters of the Arab League for greater support to the United Nations organisation to help Palestinian refugees in the territories, in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. The UNRWA reserves are nearly exhausted, said representatives of the organisation, but the number of refugees being given aid increases 3.5% every year and the amount needed for 2010 is over 323 million dollars. An amounted necessary, explained Commissioner General Karen Abu Zayd, for a series of projects to create jobs, education, emergency health care and mental heath initiatives for the communities. If these new resources are not forthcoming, underlined Abu Zayd, UNRWA will be painfully forced to cut services. The Arab states contributed only 1% of the 2009 budget, according to statements, while the percentage expected from the Arab League was fixed at 7.8%. Some Arab states have not increased their contribution for ten years, although others, it was pointed out, have guaranteed significant contributions, including the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and the Saudi Committee for the Relief of the Palestinian People. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Restoration-Conservation, Italy Offers Know-How to Israel
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, DECEMBER 15 — A mission of Italian businesses and professionals specialised in architectural conservation and restoring historical buildings to broaden the spectrum of cooperation with Israel, a land that is rich in opportunities in this sector, also with economic prospects in mind. This was the initiative promoted over the past two days in Israel by the Italian Trade Commission (ICE) as part of the events leading up to the mega-government summit between Italy and Israel set to take place in the beginning of February in Jerusalem. The mission, explained the head of the ICE office in Tel Aviv, Marina Scognamiglio, will allow Italy “to demonstrate and make their know-how, experience and technology in the field of conservation and restoration of historic buildings available,” a sector in which the peninsula (which contains almost two-thirds of the historical and artistic works on the planet) can boast “a position of world leadership.” A position that offers undeniable opportunities in a country like Israel, where innumerable historical sites that are associated with the traditions of all three great monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) are located, as well as other interesting sites. Starting with the white modernist Bauhaus architecture of Tel Aviv, which is at the centre of a renewed wave of restoration projects in 2009, due to the 100-year anniversary of the founding of the city that is a symbol of the Zionist achievements. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The Palestinians Tell the World Their Strategy: Why Make Peace With Israel When We Can Get Everything From You Instead
by Barry Rubin
If you want to understand what’s really going on in the alleged Israel-Palestinian peace process-beyond the babble that progress is being made, it’s all Israel’s fault, and everyone is working hard on it-here’s what you need to know.
For the present, the Palestinian leadership isn’t interested in pursuing negotiations with Israel because it has a different strategy: get everything it wants from others without making any concessions.
First, the Palestinian Authority (PA) came very close to obtaining a European Union (EU) resolution which made it sound like the Palestinian state with its capital in east Jerusalem is an accomplished fact. The rejection of the Swedish-sponsored proposal by more moderate European states staved this off, along with a U.S. reminder that this kind of issue was supposed to be resolved by a negotiated agreement between the PA and Israel.
Nevertheless, the PA no doubt drew hope-albeit erroneously so—from this experience that with a little more time the EU will back its position completely and give it a state on a silver platter.
The other front is the UN. On December 15, a meeting of the Fatah leadership will discuss and probably endorse a plan to seek UN recognition of their state, with no preconditions.
In the words of one Council member, Munib Masri:
“We will ask the UN Security Council to endorse a two-state solution with east Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state, to compensate Palestinian refugees and affirm their right to return to their homeland.”
There is a very interesting phrase at the end of that statement. Masri was referring to the Palestinian demand that all refugees and their descendants can go live in Israel if they want, a formula for massive violence, chaos, and civil war in Israel. Of course, that’s precisely what the PA wants—and will never get. The idea is that the “two-state solution” it is thinking about is merely a transitional step toward wiping Israel off the map, the real goal and the reason why there isn’t any peace.
By defining Israel as the Palestinian homeland, or at least a part of it, Masri shows the two-state solution is not a serious Palestinian goal. If it were, a West Bank-Gaza Strip-east Jerusalem state would be defined as the homeland.
Of course, he adds:
“If Israel remains steadfast in building settlements, then we will seek a one-state solution that is based on a timetable.”
Masri and others in the PA don’t give any credit for Israel’s settlement freeze. Like all Israeli concessions, it is pocketed and then denounced as insufficient, certainly not as warranting any reciprocal Palestinian gesture.
What Masri himself represents is the friends-of-Yasir-Arafat faction which still dominates both Fatah and the PA. This is the mainstream of both institutions and the base on which PA leader Mahmoud Abbas depends to stay in power.
The attractiveness of unilateralism is understandable. Why make a deal with Israel that might require recognizing it as a Jewish state, taking a bit less territory on the West Bank or having to swap some pieces of land with Israel, providing Israel with security guarantees, giving up the dream of total victory and Israel’s elimination, and accepting limits on your military forces when you can just demand, and possibly get, everything you want from the United States, Europe, the UN, or the international community in general?
This is also an ideal strategy in domestic terms since any concessions are unpopular. If Fatah and the PA want to make up with Hamas, avoiding any concessions is vital. And if they don’t want Hamas to make political capital out of their “treasonous moderation” the same point applies.
Of course, that means the conflict will continue, people will die, Palestinians will continue to be (or at least will be perceived as) suffering, and everything can be blamed on Israeli intransigence. There would be no peace and no Palestinian state, but that better suits the PA’s current strategy and again would largely be blamed on Israel.
Is it really so hard to understand that this is what is really happening?…
| — Hat tip: Barry Rubin | [Return to headlines] |
Brown Warns of Further Sanctions After Iran Test-Fires Long-Range Missile
Gordon Brown today called for fresh sanctions against Iran after it successfully tested a missile capable of striking Israel.
The Prime Minister described the testing of the Sajjil-2 missile as a ‘provocative act’ which raised fresh concerns about Tehran’s intentions.
A senior British official said the missile test suggested progress on persuading Iran to pursue peace was ‘going backwards’.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Gulf: Treaty for Common Currency Enters Into Vigour
(ANSAmed) — DUBAI, DECEMBER 15 — The agreement on the common currency for the countries of the Gulf became effective during the Gulf Cooperation Council summit currently in course in Kuwait, announced the finance minister of the oil emirate, Mustafa Al Shimali. “The governors of the central banks of the GCC will now define a calendar for the institution of a central bank before reaching the objective of a common currency”, he declared to the Kuma press agency. The four states of the oil block to adhere to the project are Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar. Oman renounced participation already during the primary phase of the project while the United Arab Emirates revoked their participation in May, in protest for the decision to make Riyadh the seat of the Gulf’s Central Bank.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Human Rights: Lebanon, Domestic Worker Abuse Punished
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, DECEMBER 15 — A historic decision in Lebanon: a civil tribunal sentenced a Lebanese woman for repeatedly beating the Filipino domestic worker she employed until 2006. According to the Beirut press today, the woman was sentenced to fifteen days in jail and payment of about 5,000 euros in compensation to Jonalin Malibago, the Filipino maid who found the courage in July 2006, while recovering in the hospital, to report the abuse she had suffered. As pointed out by Nadim Houry, manager of the Human Rights Watch (HRW) office in Beirut, domestic workers in Lebanon are victims of verbal and physical abuse, excruciating working hours, are completely forbidden to leave the home where they’re employed, have their passports confiscated, and earn extremely low salaries. According to the HRW, at least one domestic worker dies every week, and more than one is injured in the attempt to flee from the home of their employer. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Iranian Official Says 70 Per Cent of University Students Against Ahmadinejad
A rising wave of student protest shows that government militias are losing control over university campuses. President supporters are unable to hold rallies or speak without being interrupted. Government official wants the authorities to confront firmly young people and professors.
Tehran (AsiaNews) — About 70 per cent of university students would vote against Ahmadinejad, this according to Mohammad Mohammadian, who is not a dissident but the head of the supreme leader’s Office of University Affairs.
The admission is further evidence of the growing dissatisfaction among young Iranians who led protests in recent days, a sequel to demonstrations that followed the controversial re-election of President Mahmud Ahmadinejad on 12 June.
Rooz, a dissident Iranian webzine, the recent wave of protests that swept the country’s university campuses is a sign that the regime and its militias have lost control of students.
Even before last 7 December celebration of Student Day, Ahmadinejad supporters were unable to hold rallies on campuses. Their speeches were drowned out by other students shouting.
In order to put a stop to the unrest, Mohammad Mohammadian wants “firmer confrontation” against professors and students guilty of weakening the regime.
Speaking at the 62nd annual conference of university chiefs, he sounded the alarm bell. According to the existing data, “70 per cent of students would vote against Ahmadinejad,” he said.
Recent protests are thus but the tip of the iceberg of widespread dissatisfaction. Government officials have lost control on many campuses; universities in Tehran, Shiraz, Isfahan and Hamedan, just to name a few, have been hit by the “green tsunami”, the protest movement that is close to the opposition. The deployment of Basiji militiamen and Revolutionary Guards has been of little consequence so far.
For Mohammad Mohammadian, university professors are the culprits; they are the ones responsible for weakening the regime and must be firmly confronted.
However, as a sign of the tense times, professors at Tehran University’s technical campus demanded an immediate halt to the security forces’ presence in universities.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Two Killed in Kurdish Demo in Turkey
BULANIK, Turkey — Two people were shot dead and several were wounded Tuesday during a Kurdish demonstration in southeastern Turkey on the fifth day of unrest triggered by a court ban on the country’s main Kurdish party.
The violence in Bulanik town, in the mainly Kurdish province of Mus, came after protestors attacked shops during a march to denounce the banning of the Democratic Society Party (DTP), the town’s mayor Ziya Akkaya told the NTV news channel.
A shopkeeper, armed with an assault rifle, opened fire on the crowd after the windows of his shop were broken and his vehicle was torched by the protestors.
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
Has Russia Outplayed the US in Nukes Deal?
A Russian newspaper claims a new nuclear arms reduction treaty will put Moscow in a stronger position than the 1991 deal with Washington, which expired on December 5th.
Both sides say they expect the deal to be sealed by the end of the year..
A Russian diplomatic victory or a triumph of common sense? As details on a new US-Russian nuke pact are leaked to the press, experts in Moscow are finding more and more reasons to celebrate.
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
World’s Smallest and Largest States Have Recognized Abkhazia
The tiny Republic of Nauru, the world’s smallest island nation, in the South Pacific, has entered the spotlight of international politics by recognizing the independence of the former Georgian Republic of Abkhazia.
An agreement to establish diplomatic relations was signed by Abkhazia’s Foreign Minister and his Nauruan counterpart in Sukhum.
The Republic of Nauru is the fourth country to recognize Abkhazia’s independence, following Russia, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
The Abkhazian Foreign Minister noted that since his country is recognized by the biggest and the smallest nations, the agreement may pave the way for those in the middle.
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
Envoy Delivered Obama Letter to N. Korea Leader: Report
US envoy Stephen Bosworth delivered a letter from President Barack Obama to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il during his visit to the country last week, the Washington Post reported.
The White House and State Department confirmed the existence of the letter but declined to detail its contents, the daily said.
“We do not comment on private diplomatic correspondence,” the Post quoted US National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer as saying.
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
North Korean Plane Leased by UN
From Swedish: Hugh Griffiths of SIPRI told Swedish news agency TT that the North-Korean weapons plane was leased by the UN for humanitarian shipments for one year starting March 2003. His report from May of this year shows that 90% of cargo plane companies identified as working in arms shipments were also used by the UN, EU and NATO, as well as leading aid agencies, such as Doctors without Borders and the Red Cross.
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
Taipei Smugglers Facilitate Iran Nukes
Key pieces of equipment purchased from Europe, shipped to Tehran
LONDON — British MI6 intelligence agency investigators have discovered Iran has set up a new smuggling network in Taiwan to obtain specialized equipment used for the production of nuclear weapons, according to a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.
Insiders report Iran has established companies to buy the equipment on the world markets and then smuggle it into Tehran.
[…]
The companies are fronted by local Chinese businessmen, and MI6 officers believe some of them have worked in China’s own nuclear industry before moving to Taiwan. The intelligence officers have also traced bank accounts held by the businessmen to banks in the Cayman Islands.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Wei Jingsheng: Traitor West, Bewitched (By Money) From Russia, China and Vietnam
The well-known Chinese dissident analyzes the fall of the Soviet empire, but also shows its rebirth in autocratic states allies of the West. For example China and Vietnam. The need to help young people re-establish a more genuine democracy.
Washington (AsiaNews) A democratic leader from the East Europe visited me recently. Our conversation was about how the current youth seem not interested in the “democracy” topic anymore, not as enthusiastic as the time when they signed the Charter 77. He is thinking of propagating democratic ideology from the universities, to resist the Communist black hand of Russia stretching toward East Europe, or, using the term by their friends in East Europe, the black hand of the KGB.
This black hand has not just helped Russia to restore a quasi-Communist government, in a way similar to the current Chinese Communist Party’s autocratic rule. Its control and influence in the East European countries has also grown rapidly, more and more close to what it had under the former Soviet Union. Many anti-Communist democrats feel that the society has gone backwards, that the Communist Party was not defeated there; instead it was simply transformed into a new style Capitalist autocracy. Yet, behind this Capitalist autocracy are still the old Communist Party and the Lenin-Stalin style autocratic Communist system.
I always felt that the revolution of 1980’s was not really successful, that the happy Westerners are too naive. In the past 2 decades, people’s thought has just completed a circle. Our way of thinking when we were young — those democrats in China, as well as the East European dissidents such as Havel & Sakharov — was to worship the West: from its ideology to its political and economic strength. All were a part of Western democracy. We thought that the West was the only correct model; to copy the Western world would be to solve all the problems. This was not wrong at the time; it was a necessary way to oppose the Communist model.
However, the reality of the last two decades has inspired the people in a new way. The Western world did not help those people in the Communist countries build and strengthen a democratic social system.
The West simply cheered that they had defeated their adversary and finished the Cold War. Instead, the Western world is most fond of the so-called “economic cooperation” with the Communist countries and former Communist countries, to make a lot of money. The efforts for the democratization of China and the building of democracy in the former Soviet Union and Eastern European countries are totally out of the interest scope of the Western countries. After the events that happened in both Georgia and the Ukraine, along with the weakened policy toward the Chinese Communists by G. W. Bush and Obama, people’s disappointment in the Western democracy went over the critical point.
Some thinkers and politicians in the West are also thinking the same: What are the problems of the Western democratic system? Is the Western democratic system going downhill?
So now the issue is not just limited to China, or East Europe, or Russia, but an issue of the world, and an issue of how a democratic social system is to develop. Just because the Communist Party in the former Soviet Union and East Europe collapsed, does not mean a diminishing of the Communist autocracy. The Communist countries such as China and Vietnam have successfully transformed into a new style autocracy of inclusion among “All the Capitalists of the World United”. They have been more and more successfully forcing the Western countries to surrender themselves, and thus set up examples for all the autocratic countries in the world. The old style Western democracy has lost more and more of its model function, as well as lost its attraction to the people of the backwards countries.
I see many people within the democrats of the older generation, who are still buried in the ideology that they built when they were young, and insist on accepting the democratic ideas and democratic system of the West completely. But this thinking is already not enough; it is lagging behind the era. Just repeating those advanced thoughts of 30 years ago to today’s youth will not likely convince them. The modern day Internet has greatly expanded young people’s scope. These young people know sufficiently, unlike the time when we were young, when we knew little. The existing problems of this era are all in the scope of their interest.
From my own contacts with the younger generation, if we keep trying to talk about that old democracy theory to them as out of a textbook, they would give a snort of contempt. Most of them have already known these ideas, and they also know the problems of the older democratic system. What they are most interested in is exactly the fresh topic of this era.
This fresh topic is that the autocracy has turned itself from defence to offense and has been rising after its transformation. What method could the democratic countries have in dealing with that? Is the democratic system in decline? Could the democratic society turn around the trend of this decline? Will the older democratic system need its own transformation, etc.? In discussing these topics with the youth, they are very interested and very sensitive. These discussions exactly prove that the young people are not a generation without hope. Instead, we should entrust to the care of these youth.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
S. Africa Gets Halal Hotel
CAPE TOWN — With a few months remaining to the start of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the Dubai-based Coral Hotels & Resorts opens on Tuesday, December 15, the first halal hotel in Cape Town.
“We are proud to say Coral International Cape Town will be open as planned well in advance of 2010 FIFA World Cup,” Hamza Farooqui, Group CEO for Cii Holdings, a leading South African business house, told IslamOnline.net.
The hotel is located on the edge of the historic Bo-Kaap which is a recognized heritage site on the slopes of Signal Hill in Cape Town.
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
Somali Refugees ‘Forced to Join Yemen Rebel War’
Hundreds of Somali refugees are being forced at gunpoint to join rebels fighting in northern Yemen, a Somali diplomat in Aden has told the BBC.
Hussein Haji Ahmed said they were being intercepted in mountainous territory crossing into Saudi Arabia.
“The refugees have told me that those who refused to join the rebellion were executed,” he said.
Both the authorities in Yemen and Saudi Arabia have alleged that Somalis have been fighting with Houthi rebels.
More than 16,000 Somali refugees have fled to Yemen in recent years to escape the civil war in their country, making the dangerous sea crossing in fishing boats.
Correspondents say some try to make their way to Saudi Arabia in search of better opportunities, paying trackers to take them over the dangerous terrain.
Mr Ahmed told the BBC Somali Service that refugees who made it across the border into Saudi territory were sometimes turned back by security forces, leaving them vulnerable to the rebels.
The Houthi rebels are seeking greater autonomy for their Zaydi Shia community in northern Yemen, and have been fighting the government since 2004.
The Zaydi community are a minority in Yemen, but make up the majority in the north of the country.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Austria Eyes Language Tests for Migrants
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS — The Austrian government is eyeing tougher immigration rules, including asking prospective new residents to learn German before arriving in the country, as is already the case in the Netherlands.
“Mastering German language is a prerequisite for successful integration,” a new action plan for immigration tabled on Tuesday (15 January) by the centre-right minister of interior, Maria Fekter, said.
Under the draft proposals, higher levels of German will be required from migrants already living in the country and for spouses or family members who want to join them.
Until now, a basic level — for instance being able to communicate with a doctor — was enough while applying for a residence permit . But if the new law goes through, language proficiency enabling the migrant to access the labour market will be mandatory, with the government empowered to expel people who do not come up to scratch.
According to the latest available figures, over 800,000 foreigners live in Austria, representing roughly 10 percent of the overall population.
The largest group of immigrants — some 300,000 — are refugees from the former Yugoslavia, followed closely by Turks, who form the largest ethnic minority.
One of the reasons Austria is resisting Turkey’s EU membership is fear that family re-unifications of resident Turks could one day see Turkish people outnumber natives.
Green politicians and civil rights groups have slammed Ms Fekter’s project as a “sharpening” of immigration policy, which is already a playground for far-right groups.
The Red Cross also said that mandatory language classes before entering the country were “expensive and not feasible in practice.” In some countries, people have to travel long distances to the EU embassies or even face danger to do so.
The right-wing opposition said the project was too soft and should be replaced with a “reduction policy” for migrants already in the country, however.
Last week, the government in Vienna decided to keep the quota for legal migration in 2010 at just 8,145 people, the same as 2009. Based on past trends, more than half of the new immigrants will come to Austria for family re-unification, while some 2,500 will be highly-skilled workers.
Similar language tests were introduced in 2006 in the Netherlands, another EU country with a high immigration rate.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Minister wants to make it easier to reject refugees
Dutch deputy minister Nebahat Albayrak for immigration proposed significant changes in the way the Netherlands deals with asylum seekers last week. With the support of the cabinet, she presented her plans to speed up application processes for minors and promised to end the collective granting of residency permits to people from especially dangerous countries.
Underage asylum seekers are currently often left dangling in the bureaucratic application procedure for years before finally being deported back to their countries of origin. They are given temporary residency permits as long as they are underage, but these are mostly withdrawn after their 18th birthday.
Under current Dutch law only asylum seekers who can prove they are at serious risk of violence in their home countries qualify for a residency permit. This rule applies to underage asylum seekers as well, but they receive more lenient treatment because they are minors.
“This gives children false hope,” deputy minister Albayrak said explaining her plans last week. Unaccompanied underage asylum seekers, as they are known, can live in the Netherlands for years, attending school until they are suddenly cut off from all public services, including health care, education and foster care facilities, after they become adults. Many of these 18-year-olds disappear and remain in the Netherlands illegally, according to Albayrak.
Under her new plan, the temporary residency permits will be scrapped and all applications from minors should be processed within one year. Her policy dictates both the young asylum seeker and immigration services have three weeks to prepare for the procedure that should then be conducted within eight days. As soon as a child’s application has been rejected, their swift return will be arranged by the so-called Return and Departure Service, a government agency charged with making sure unwanted immigrant are sent back. The agency tries to seek out possible biological parents in the child’s country of origin.
Foster care organisation Nidos, the independent government body responsible for the welfare of underage asylum seekers, hailed the accelerated application time as an improvement. But, according to Tin Verstegen, managing director of Nidos, if children are still not deported within a year or two in spite of increased efforts, they should be given a permanent legal status. The current cut-off point is three years.
Albayrak, however, said she did not intend to reduce this period any further. “This would take away every incentive to cooperate with authorities. Any underage asylum seeker able to frustrate the application procedure for a year would be granted a residency permit automatically.”
Aid organisation Vluchtelingenwerk said it opposes the move, because the accelerated application procedure will be error-prone.
In a related policy shift, the minister wants to end collective protection for asylum seekers, underage and adult, who come from countries listed as extremely dangerous by the government. Currently asylum seekers from the Ivory Coast and Sudan qualify for this status and are given residency permits relatively easily. The automatic acceptance of people from Iraq and Somalia was recently terminated.
Because other European countries do not have a similar system, the policy draws people from these countries to the Netherlands in disproportionate numbers, Albayrak said. In the future, even asylum seekers from hazardous countries will have to prove they will be in serious danger if they return home.
This move has met with even stronger opposition from Vluchtelingenwerk. “This policy will lead to people being deported to life-threatening situations,” managing director Edwin Huizing said.
A majority in Dutch parliament supports Albayrak’s new policies.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Over 1.1 Million Dutch People Have Two Nationalities
A growing number of Dutch people have dual citizenship, according to figures released by the statistics office CBS on Monday. In spite of restrictive government policies, 1.1 million now have at least two passports.
There was a significant increase in dual citizens in the 1990s, when many immigrants chose to be naturalised while retaining their original nationality as well. In 1997 the government introduced the principle beetje vaag that people who become Dutch should renounce their previous citizenship, but some exceptions to this rule exist.
Some countries, including Morocco, don’t allow their citizens to give up there nationality. Naturalised citizens who might suffer financially if they give up their original nationality are not required to do so. Turkish people often qualify, since they stand to lose inheritance rights by giving up their old nationality. Most dual citizens have either Turkish or Moroccan roots.
Since 2003 most new dual citizens are under age. Children born to at least one parent with a Dutch and a foreign passport automatically get both nationalities. Minors whose parents are naturalised are allowed to keep their original passports alongside their newly-acquired Dutch ones. They have to choose which they want to keep at the age of 18.
In February 2007, anti-immigrant politician Geert Wilders questioned the loyalty of politicians who hold dual citizenship. His Party for Freedom (PVV) tried to block the inauguration of two deputy ministers in the fourth Balkenende cabinet: Ahmed Aboutaleb, now the mayor of Rotterdam, and Nebahat Albayrak, currently still deputy minister of justice. Aboutaleb was born in Morocco and still hold that country’s nationality. Albayrak also has a Turkish passport.
“It is unacceptable that people with an allegiance to another country are members of our cabinet,” Wilders told NRC Handelsblad at the time. However, his party’s no-confidence motion against the Labour politicians got no support in parliament.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Easier Asylum for Iraqi Minorities
From Swedish: the Swedish migration service is considering making it easier for Iraqi religious and ethnic minorities to get asylum, as is already the case for gay Iraqis.
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
NATO: Reducing Emissions is a Security Imperative
Some may wonder why NATO would be interested in climate change. To me, this is a bit like asking why a person would be interested in a change in gravity. While gravity does not dictate what you choose to do at any given moment, it does tend to push all your choices in a common direction — down. In a similar way, I venture, while climate change will not dictate what some nation-states choose to do, it will push them in a common direction: towards increased instability. For that reason, we must recognize that reducing emissions is not only an environmental imperative, but a security imperative.
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
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