News links for March 20 2014 – 2

1. Moscow signals concern for Russians in Estonia

(Reuters) – Russia signaled concern on Wednesday at Estonia’s treatment of its large ethnic Russian minority, comparing language policy in the Baltic state with what it said was a call in Ukraine to prevent the use of Russian.

Russia has defended its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula by arguing it has the right to protect Russian-speakers outside its borders, so the reference to linguistic tensions in another former Soviet republic comes at a highly sensitive moment.

2. Spain seeks to deport a convert to Christianity back to Pakistan where he will be executed for apostasy and criticism of Islam.

3. President Obama: No U.S. Military Action in Ukraine

(President Obama says: “The truth is Mr. Putin acted out of weakness not out of strength”. You could have fooled Ukrainians.)

4. Saudi book fair removes 10,000 copies of ‘blasphemous’ titles 

(And yet it is Israel that is the ‘apartheid’ state)

Saudi authorities have reportedly banned 10,000 copies of 420 books because they were deemed threatening to the conservative kingdom.

The works included publications by the late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, who is widely considered one of the greatest Arab poets.

 

Thank you Richard, Fjordman, EDL Buck and all. More to come. BTW I made a short excerpt of the Snowdon Ted Talk of one of the important points I thought needed to be made in case people are discouraged by the 23 minute length of the entire presentation.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

12 Replies to “News links for March 20 2014 – 2”

  1. Just like in 1938 the aggressor is signalling who their next victim will be, the questions is will the west be so afraid of the Russian nukes that they let Putin get away with this action. I know that Obama will not use military force, but then I think that Obama told Putin that he could take all of the nations he wants and the US will do nothing.

  2. Gunmen ‘attack Kabul luxury hotel’ (BBC, March 20, 2014)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26675253

    “Gunmen have fired shots after breaking into a luxury hotel in the Afghan capital Kabul, witnesses say.

    The building, which is popular with foreigners, is now surrounded by the security forces. It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties.

    Witnesses told the BBC that Afghan special forces had now entered the five-star Serena hotel.

    The hotel currently houses a number of UN staff who are expected to monitor next month’s elections.

    The gunmen are reportedly armed with pistols….”

  3. Afghan police station attack leaves at least 18 people dead (BBC, March 20, 2014)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26659790

    “Taliban fighters have killed at least 10 policemen in an attack on a city in eastern Afghanistan.

    Gun battles started early on Thursday morning in Jalalabad after a “multi-pronged” attack by insurgents.

    Police said they shot dead seven attackers, all of them wearing suicide bomb vests.

    The attack comes after the Taliban vowed to disrupt the run-up to presidential elections in the country on 5 April.

    “Ten policemen, including the district police chief, were killed and 14 police were wounded,” deputy interior minister Mohammad Ayoub Salangi told AFP.

    “One civilian was also killed, and all seven attackers.”

    The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in a text message sent to media…”

  4. Iraqi Army Battles Al Qaeda-Linked Militants (nbcnews, March 20, 2014)
    http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/iraqi-army-battles-al-qaeda-linked-militants-n57461

    “Clashes erupted between Iraqi security forces and al Qaeda-linked militants south of Baghdad on Wednesday. Six militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) were killed and 15 more arrested in Jurf al-Sakhar, according to an Iraqi Army officer.

    Since late December, Iraq’s western cities have seen fierce clashes pitting government security forces and their tribal Sunni militia allies against ISIL militants and other insurgent groups.

    The United States delivered 100 Hellfire missiles, along with assault rifles and ammunition to Iraq earlier this month to bolster the country’s security forces.”

  5. DP111-
    I like EurActiv, hadn’t seen it before. The article you linked is really good. It draws some very important conclusions:
    — EU hyped the “invasion meme” all out of proportion to make Russia look like the aggressor.

    — The crisis serves to “[strengthen] the German government coalition. It actually seems to be bolstering nationalism. […] Berlin is rethinking its bilateral relations with Moscow, now that its policy of ‘Wandel durch Annaeherung’ (changing Russia by getting closer to it) is effectively dead.”

    — “[P]ainting Russia as the aggressor is all part of the propaganda war. But, in its own way, the EU and its ‘Eastern Partnership’ has been as much the aggressor as Russia, albeit exploiting the ‘soft power’ which amounts to passive aggression.”

    And EU is *losing* the propaganda war.