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Orban has known for a long time that he can’t build the second Serbian fence fast enough. Erdogan to release the dogs of war:
https://www.google.ca/amp/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN13K0R6
Here we go again!
The article said that neither side wants war, if that is true why has Turkey pushed things to the point where neither side can back down without admitting that the other side is calling teh shots. Turkeys demands are saying that Europe is to shut up and admit that the Islamic world own Europe. They don’t but the left has created the impression that they do, I wonder if the left has been building to something like this so Western Civilization will be destroyed in the fighting? We all know that they (the Marxist left) has to destroy Western Civ before they can hope to create their one world socialist distopian future.
The article is dated Nov. 25, 2016.
Erdoff is just a filthy blackmailer. He’s been holding this ace against Europe too long. Now that he’s killed off his domestic opponents, he’s swaggering over Europe.
Time to put down this dog. Past time, in fact.
The left in Europe created him by forcing the Turkish military to stop insuring that Islamist’s didn’t gain power, now the entire world is going to pay the blood price for their actions.
https://www.google.ca/amp/www.breitbart.com/national-security/2017/03/13/hungarian-minister-christianophobia-is-last-acceptable-form-of-discrimination/amp/
https://vid.me/hoiL
Sweden: 50 migrants wanted to kill a Swede
Burka ban in workplace IS legal – EU court rules it is NOT discrimination (express, Mar 15, 2017)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/778892/eu-court-ban-hijab-burka-islamic-headscarf-visible-religious-symbols
A TOP EU court says employers can ban workers from wearing an Islamic headscarf in a ruling allowing bosses to stop employees from wearing visible religious symbols.
The European Court of Justice ruled on the cases of two female employees in Belgium and in France, who were dismissed for refusing to remove their headscarves, a day before a Dutch parliamentary election dominated by the issue of immigration and integration.
Employers may bar staff from wearing visible religious symbols, the court ruled.
The court, based in Luxembourg, said a workplace ban “does not constitute direct discrimination”.
The ECJ said in a statement: “An internal rule of an undertaking which prohibits the visible wearing of any political, philosophical or religious sign does not constitute direct discrimination.
“However, in the absence of such a rule, the willingness of an employer to take account of the wishes of a customer no longer to have the employer’s services provided by a worker wearing an Islamic headscarf cannot be considered an occupational requirement that could rule out discrimination.”
Former Ukip leader and MEP Nigel Farage said he disagreed with the ban.
Mr Farage said: “It depends whether these things are applied evenly across all religions or whether some religions get more favoured status than others.
“I’ve always personally thought that people should be able to wear a badge or an emblem of their religion.
“I believe in religious tolerance.”
Chief Rabbi Goldschmidt, President of the Conference of European Rabbis, said the decision meant faith communities are no longer welcome in Europe.
He said: “This decision sends signals to all religious groups in Europe. With the rise of racially motivated incidents and today’s decision, Europe is sending a clear message; its faith communities are no longer welcome. Political leaders need to act to ensure that Europe does not isolate religious minorities and remains a diverse and open continent.”
The court considered the case of a Belgian woman working as a receptionist for G4S Secure Solutions, which has a general ban on wearing visible religious or political symbols in Belgium and France.
In the case of the Muslim woman, who was employed as a receptionist by G4S, the court said: “The Court therefore concludes that the prohibition on wearing an Islamic headscarf, which arises from an internal rule of a private undertaking prohibiting the visible wearing of any political, philosophical or religious sign in the workplace, does not constitute direct discrimination based on religion or belief within the meaning of the directive.”
The court said G4S had an unwritten rule at the time the woman was hired in 2003 that prohibited employees from wearing visible signs of their political, philosophical or religious beliefs in the workplace.
After the G4S works council approved an amendment to workplace regulations in 2006, the woman was dismissed “because of her continuing insistence on wearing the Islamic headscarf at work.”
But despite saying employers may ban the wearing of religious symbols, the court batted the case back to the national Belgian course to rule on whether the woman was the victim of indirect discrimination because of her religion.
G4S said in a statement: ”There is a long-standing custom in Belgium for organisations with diverse workforces to apply a policy of religious and political neutrality, especially where the organisation has staff who have contact with the public.
“Our policy is supported by employee representatives and has also been upheld at all levels in the Belgian courts. “On the question that was raised by the Belgian Supreme Court, whether the neutrality policy constituted direct discrimination based on religion, the court has now ruled that this is not the case and it will now be referred back to the Belgian Supreme Court.”
Last year the court’s advocate general recommended that companies should be allowed to prohibit headscarves as long as a general ban on other symbols was in place.
Companies should though consider the conspicuousness of such symbols and the nature of the employee’s activities.
The court also considered the case of a French IT consultant who was told to remove her headscarf after a client complained.
The advocate general’s advice in the French case was that a rule banning employees from wearing religious symbols when in contact with customers was discrimination, particularly when it only applied to Islamic headscarves.
An opinion of an advocate general is not binding but is followed by the court in the majority of cases.
The court found that French company Micropole that dismissed the software engineer for refusing to remove her headscarf may have breached EU laws barring discrimination on religious grounds if it did so not because of a general internal rule but just because a particular client objected.
EU judges in Luxembourg said it was up to French courts to determine whether the was fired for failing to comply with to an internal rule.
If her dismissal was based only on meeting a particular customer’s preference, it saw “only very limited circumstances” in which a religious symbol could be objectively taken as reason for her not to work.
Employment lawyer Jonathan Chamberlain, partner at Gowling WLG, said it is unacceptable for bosses to stop workers from wearing religious symbols following a customer complaint.
He said: ”The decision brings EU law into line with what has been the UK’s approach for some years. For example, its fine for employers to have a dress code but it needs to be applied with some sensitivity and flexibility to take account of religious beliefs.
”What is almost certainly never OK is for an employer to tell an employee to stop wearing a religious symbol because a particular customer has asked for it.”
The Islamic headscarf is a contentious issue in several European countries, notably France, which attaches importance to the separation of state and religious institutions and where the anti-immigration far-right National Front party is seen performing strongly in an election this spring.”
ISIS can be KILLED OFF with algorithms – genius who fought child porn takes on terror (express, Mar 14, 2017)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/778951/ISIS-wiped-off-social-media-computer-algorithm-software-Twitter-Facebook-extremism
“Islamic State (ISIS) could be killed off by algorithms after a computer scientist developed a new technology to stop the spread of terrorist content on social media.
Dartmouth University professor Hany Farid claims to have built new cutting-edge software that can sweep digital networks for extremists content.
Online platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have become routinely used to spread extremist propaganda.
And so-called home grown extremists are often radicalised by what they see online – rather than by jetting off to ISIS strongholds in Iraq and Syria.
Now items posted by groups like Al-Qaeda or ISIS – also known as Daesh – will be automatically purged in a bid to remove all forms of propaganda from social media…”
Somali pirates ‘HIJACK commercial ship with eight crew members onboard’ (express, Mar 14, 2017)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/778845/Somali-pirates-HIJACK-commercial-ship-eight-crew-members-onboard-Dubai-owned-Steed
“SOMALI pirates have hijacked a fuel-freighter bound for Sri Lanka and altered its course for the coast of Somalia, experts have confirmed…”
Stabbing in Swedish street hours after restaurant shooting (express, Mar 14, 2017)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/778791/Sweden-stabbing-Gothenburg-riot-brawl-Hisingen
“A MIDDLE-AGED man is reportedly in critical condition after he was stabbed in the stomach amid a brawl in a Swedish town.
The “serious” stabbing – which Swedish police have deemed an attempted murder – occurred at 9.20pm GMT (10.20pm local time) in Hisingden, Sweden’s most populous island.Stefan Gustafson, a police spokesperson reportedly said a number of people ran from the scene, leaving the 45-year-old man left bleeding in the street. Speaking to the Swedish news-site Expressen, Mr Gufstafsson added that witnesses saw a brawl in the street and alerted police before the stabbing took place…”
Merkel DESTROYED for failing to deport 500K migrants – with some in Germany for 20 YEARS (express, Mar 14, 2017)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/778964/Angela-Merkel-Germany-migrants-failed-asylum-seekers
“PUBLIC confidence in Angela Merkel’s administration is being eroded over her failure to deport more than half a million asylum seekers, the Chancellor has been told.
Mrs Merkel, 62, has failed to remove a total of 556,499 migrants who had their asylum applications turned down and have remained in Germany, according to figures released by the Bundestag.
According to the figures, four out of five of those have been in the country for more than six years which means they are now entitled to more rights.
Many of the total are believed to have been living in Germany since the 1990s…”
German police raid flats, shut mosque visited by Berlin truck attacker (Reuters, Mar 14, 2017)
http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFKBN16L18T
“German authorities on Tuesday raided apartments linked to a mosque in the city of Hildesheim visited by Tunisian failed asylum seeker Anis Amri, who drove a truck into a Berlin Christmas market in December and killed 12 people.
The local state interior ministry said more than 300 police searched the apartments of eight people and shut down the mosque and the association which ran it, saying it recruited young Muslims to join Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.
“The ban of the association breaks up a hot spot of the radical Salafist scene in Germany,” Lower Saxony Interior Minister Boris Pistorius said, referring to Muslims who espouse a strict interpretation of Sunni Islam.
Authorities raided the mosque in the summer of 2016 over suspicions that it was radicalizing Muslims and encouraging them to travel to war zones in Syria and Iraq.
An Iraqi Islamist ideologist arrested in November for running a ring to recruit for Islamic State had preached at the banned mosque in Hildesheim, some 280 km (165 miles) west of Berlin.”
Germany: Mosque raided by hundreds of police in Hildesheim
Some 350 police officers carried out large-scale raids on a mosque, several businesses and homes linked to the Hildesheim ‘Deutschsprachiger Islam Kreis’ (DIK) early on Tuesday morning in the Lower Saxony city, following a ban being issued on the group.
Spokesperson for the Gottingen Police Department Julia Huhnold said “in the early hours of the morning, police measures got underway. That means a prohibition order was handed over and eight people were also examined.”
Maybe ghosts are singing. http://www.kz-gedenkstaette-neuengamme.de/en/history/satellite-camps/satellite-camps/hildesheim/
‘You’re Erdogan’s hostage, close borders,’ far-right populist Wilders tells Dutch PM (RT, Mar 14, 2017)
https://www.rt.com/news/380630-dutch-election-rivals-debate/
“The war of words between Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and far-right populist Geert Wilders exploded in a face to face debate on Monday as Wilders called on Rutte to close the Netherlands’ borders.
“You are being taken hostage by [Turkish President] Erdogan. Close the Dutch borders,” Wilders told his top rival, Rutte, during the 30-minute televised debate.
“That’s a totally fake solution,” Rutte retorted, hitting back at Wilders’ suggestion that the Dutch borders should be shut.
“You want Nexit, you want the Netherlands out of Europe. You know what it will cost… don’t do it,” he warned.
If the Netherlands were to leave the EU, it would be “the best thing that could happen to us,” Wilders argued.
Rutte responded that a “Nexit” would cost 1.5 million jobs and trigger “chaos.”
“What we have to do to protect our borders is not make agreements with people like Mr. Erdogan,” Wilders said, referring to the European Union’s migrant deal with Turkey.
Preventing two Turkish cabinet ministers from speaking publicly in Rotterdam was not enough, according to Wilders.
“We must directly expel the Turkish ambassador and the rest of his staff from the country, otherwise we accept that we are being insulted,” he said.
“That’s the difference between tweeting from your couch and governing the country,” Rutte replied, mocking Wilders’ penchant for prolifically writing on Twitter.
“If you govern the country, you have to take sensible decisions, and that isn’t sensible,” he noted.
The Dutch prime minister also criticized Wilders’ election pledges to ban the Koran, asking if he planned to set up a national “Koran police” to go door to door confiscating Islam’s holy book.
“I still haven’t heard how you are going to achieve the Koran police,” Rutte said.
“There will not be a Koran police; I’ve explained that a hundred times,” Wilders replied.
“Oh, so it is a fake promise,” Rutte shot back.
“If anything, there will be a Liberals police, if you go on like this,” Wilders answered sarcastically.
Throwing another jab at Rutte, the Freedom Party leader accused the Dutch prime minister of not fulfilling his campaign promises from the 2012 elections.
“Who still believes Rutte?” Wilders said.
“We would get tax cuts, a tougher policy on immigration, we would get €1,000. And what came out of these promises? We had record after record immigration. And taxes only increased,” he pointed out.”
Go Geert!!!
German authorities ban Islamic extremist group (abcnews, Mar 14, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/german-authorities-ban-islamic-extremist-group-46114572
“Authorities in northern Germany have banned an organization that they say was a “hot spot” for Islamic extremists and searched a mosque that the group runs.
The state interior ministry in Lower Saxony on Tuesday announced a ban on the “German-speaking Islam Group Hildesheim,” known by its German acronym DIK.
The group, based in the city of Hildesheim, was long known as a center for ultraconservative Muslims known as Salafists, and the mosque had been raided last year. Apartments also were searched Tuesday.
News agency dpa quoted Interior Minister Boris Pistorius as saying: “With the ban on the group, a hot spot of the radical Salafist scene in Germany has been dismantled.”
Authorities suspect that Muslims were radicalized in the organization and motivated to take part in jihad.”
Turkey’s Erdogan denounces Dutch ‘rotten character’ amid growing diplomatic spat (abcnews, Mar 14, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/turkeys-erdogan-denounces-dutch-rotten-character-amid-growing-46114203
“Turkey’s Erdogan denounces Dutch ‘rotten character’ amid growing diplomatic spat .”
euronews – Turkey’s Erdogan holds Dutch responsible for Srebrenica
Turkey slams EU for backing Netherlands in dispute (abcnews, Mar 14, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/turkey-slams-eu-backing-netherlands-dispute-46112762
“Turkey has criticized the European Union for siding with the Netherlands in a diplomatic dispute over Turkish ministers’ campaign plans in the country.
In a statement Tuesday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said the EU’s stance on Turkey was “short-sighted” and “carried no value” for Turkey, as well as lending “credence” to extremists.
The spat has raised concerns that co-operation between the EU and Turkey on a number of issues, such as dealing with the flow of migrants from war-torn Syria, may start to fray.
The ministry argued that the European bloc had “ignored the (Netherlands’) violation of diplomatic conventions and the law” after Dutch authorities escorted the Turkish family affairs minister out of the country and denied the foreign minister permission to land…”
German official wants $53M fines for social media hate posts
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_GERMANY_SOCIAL_MEDIA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-14-06-57-19
BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s justice minister is proposing fines of up to 50 million euros ($53 million) for social networking sites that fail to swiftly remove illegal content, such as hate speech or defamatory “fake news.”
The plan proposed Tuesday marks a further step in Germany’s attempt to impose its strict domestic laws against incitement on the free-wheeling world of online chatter.
Justice Minister Heiko Maas, a member of the center-left Social Democratic Party, said social media companies had already taken voluntary steps to crack down on hate crimes that have resulted in improvements.
“This isn’t sufficient yet,” Maas said, citing research that he said showed Twitter deletes just 1 percent of illegal content flagged by users, while Facebook deletes 39 percent.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_GERMANY_SOCIAL_MEDIA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-14-06-57-19
Germany plans to fine social media sites over hate speech
Germany’s Justice Minister on Tuesday put forward a new draft law calling for social networks like Facebook to remove slanderous or threatening online postings quickly or face fines of up to 50 million euros ($53.15 million).
“This (draft law) sets out binding standards for the way operators of social networks deal with complaints and obliges them to delete criminal content,” Justice Minister Heiko Maas said in a statement announcing the plans.
Failing to comply could result in a fine of up to five million euros on the individual deemed responsible for the company in Germany and 50 million euros ($53 million) against the organizations themselves, he said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-fakenews-idUSKBN16L14G?il=0
“Most of us, in this PC age, are familiar with the following sentiments or some variant, supposedly written by prominent German Protestant theologian and pastor Martin Niemöller (1892-1984) about the Nazis.
First they came for the communists and I did not speak out because I was not a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Finally, they came for me and there was no one left to speak out.”
“It must be noted that Niemöller was a fervent supporter of Hitler, and even volunteered to serve in the German Army in 1939. He got himself put into the infamous concentration camp merely for opposing Hitler’s control of the churches in Germany, and had never opposed Nazi racial theories. Far from it: In 1931 Niemöller made speeches arguing that Germany needed a Führer, and in his sermons he espoused Hitler’s views on race and nationality”
“A more realistic assessment is that the poem was written by an anonymous Leftist, perhaps a friend of Niemöller’s, who knew that its turgid and vague sentiment would disappear unless credited to a well-known, if ultimately fraudulent “hero.”
Just one more deception brought to you by the usual suspects. What a surprise.”
http://www.catholicity.com/commentary/shaw/00400.html
First the came for the truth on the internet.
I don’t care.
The words say something important, memorably. That’s enough for me.
It’s given me the ear-worm:
~~ The cheese stands alone
The cheese stands alone
Hi-ho, the derry-o…
The cheese stands alone ~~
The truth does matter, Yucki.
National Socialism and International Socialism walk hand in hand.
Republicans and Democrats for decades carved up America between them. They both tried to squeeze out Trump. It’s a double-hander.
So if the Democrats had won and the FBI and IRS had been able to send all those that the pussy hats chose into correction centers this self-serving poem afterwards would be, “They first came for the Republicans.”
“First they came for the Jews,” was written by Hitler well before he came to power.
Kim Jong-un threatens ‘MERCILESS’ attack on America in retaliation for South Korea drills
KIM JONG-UN has threatened to unleash a “merciless” attack on America if joint military exercises with South Korea continue.
He said he would attack his Western enemies from “ground, air, sea and underwater” in a sabre-rattling statement released through state media.
The propaganda press agency KCNA indicated the blood-thirsty despot was becoming increasingly agitated by the joint military drills south of the border.
A statement attributed to Kim said: “If they infringe on the DPRK’s sovereignty and dignity even a bit, its army will launch merciless ultra-precision strikes from ground, air, sea and underwater.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/778963/kim-jong-un-north-korea-attack-usa-war-south-korea
Estrangement between Europe and Turkey grows as a referendum on Erdogan’s power nears
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/world/article138298238.html#storylink=cpy
ANKARA, TURKEY
The unusually bitter dispute between European countries and Turkey over President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s attempts to hold political rallies in their cities is sharply escalating as Ankara releases its long-simmering frustration at its perceived mistreatment by its allies.
After its ministers were barred from giving campaign speeches in Cologne, Rotterdam and other cities last week, the Turkish government stoked the crisis by accusing the German government of “Nazi practices,” calling the Dutch “Nazi remnants,” warning that they will “pay the price” and telling the Dutch ambassador not to return to Ankara.
But even before the blowup over the rallies, Turkish officials were slamming the “double standard” they say Europe and the United States use to discriminate against their country.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/world/article138298238.html#storylink=cpy
U.S. carrier joins South Korea drills, North Korea warns of ‘merciless’ strikes
ABOARD THE USS CARL VINSON (Reuters) – As the USS Carl Vinson plowed through seas off South Korea on Tuesday, rival North Korea warned the United States of “merciless” attacks if the carrier infringes on its sovereignty or dignity during U.S.-South Korean drills.
F-18 fighter jets took off from the flight deck of the nuclear-powered carrier in a dramatic display of U.S. firepower amid rising tension with the North, which has alarmed its neighbors with two nuclear tests and a series of missile launches since last year.
“While this is a routine deployment for the Carl Vinson strike group, really the centerpiece for us … is this exercise we’re doing with the ROK navy called ‘Foal Eagle’,” Rear Admiral James W. Kilby, commander of the Carrier Strike Group 1, told reporters, referring to South Korea as the Republic of Korea.
North Korea said the arrival of the U.S. strike group in the seas off the east of the Korean peninsula was part of a “reckless scheme” to attack it.
“If they infringe on the DPRK’s sovereignty and dignity even a bit, its army will launch merciless ultra-precision strikes from ground, air, sea and underwater,” the North’s state news agency KCNA said.
North Korea’s official name is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
http://www.oann.com/north-korea-warns-of-merciless-strikes-as-u-s-carrier-joins-south-korea-drills/
Big bank shakedowns and little-guy intimidation: Don’t cry for Preet Bharara
Fantastic tales are being spun over the fact that when U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara was asked by Donald Trump to resign – as is common with new presidents and district attorneys – Bharara refused to resign, and Trump had to fire him.
He was one of 46 attorneys asked to resign, so it’s absurd to suggest that Trump had it in for Bharara, in particular. Bharara has been the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), which includes Manhattan, since 2009, and we can assume Trump is quite familiar with who he is, and has an opinion of him. But that’s the case for all presidents and some number of the district attorneys whose resignations they ask for. There’s nothing nefarious about it.
If Bharara is a highly effective prosecutor whose approach and methods Trump appreciates, Trump can reappoint him, either to the SDNY job or to something else.
Would Trump want to? That is an interesting question. Maybe. (See the final point, below.) Bharara doesn’t seem out of the mainstream to me, and he has a good reputation overall. But there are some things to know about Bharara’s record that you wouldn’t pick up on from the positive – not to say hagiographic – picture painted of him by the political media.
He’s been depicted as a crusader against corrupt politicians and big banks, because he nailed some New York State officials and obtained big judgments against financial institutions. But he also appears to be selectively vindictive against defendants on lesser stages.
http://libertyunyielding.com/2017/03/14/big-bank-shakedowns-little-guy-intimidation-dont-cry-preet-bharara/
Well worth reading, it describes one small portion of the swamp and gives details on practices that are helping to destroy the rule of law in the US.
There is Only One Way Out of Poverty
Sara Carter PROVES Donald Trump EVIDENCE of Russian Hacking Wiretapping Collusion – Hannity 3/13/17
Judge Nap: Obama ‘Went Outside Chain of Command,’ Used British Spy Agency to Surveil Trump
Why Teachers Unions Don’t Want School Choice
Do Supporters of Palestine Accept Indiscriminate Murder?
In their struggle against Israel, the Palestinians have developed an enormous fan base in the countries of the West, particularly among university students. Do these people know even a little about the reality they are supporting?
I read that the PLO gave the name “Brothers of Dalal” to a camp for young people, run by its Supreme Council for Youth and Sports. It honors Dalal Mughrabi, a Fatah lieutenant who directed the Coastal Road Massacre on March 11, 1978, in which 38 Israelis, including 13 children, were killed and 72 were wounded. Mughrabi and eight other Palestinian terrorists also died. She led a team who landed on the coast near Tel Aviv.
On the beach they encountered Gail Rubin, an American photographer taking nature pictures. They asked directions and, after she answered, Mughrabi killed her. On the coastal road they hijacked a taxi, killing its occupants. They seized two buses and put all the passengers in one of them. Israeli soldiers stopped the bus and it exploded because Mughrabi blew it up with a grenade. Mughrabi became a heroine and martyr among Palestinians.
There’s something especially ugly about celebrating Mughrabi’s achievement. She killed at random. She willingly killed Israelis of every kind, and perhaps a few tourists who got in her way. By raising her to the level of national standard-bearer, Palestinian leaders applaud the killing of innocents, morally authorizing others to do the same. Official Palestine stands firmly behind erratic, indiscriminate homicide.
http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/robert-fulford-supporters-of-official-palestine-are-either-naive-or-accepting-of-indiscriminate-murder
Russia Deploys Special Forces in Egypt, Eyes Libya Role
Russia appears to have deployed special forces to an airbase in western Egypt near the border with Libya in recent days. Diplomatic officials said the Russian deployment might be part of a bid to support Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar. The top U.S. military commander overseeing troops in Africa, Marine General Thomas Waldhauser, told the U.S. Senate last week that Russia was trying to exert influence in Libya to strengthen its leverage over whoever ultimately holds power.
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2017-03-13/exclusive-russia-appears-to-deploy-forces-in-egypt-eyes-on-libya-role-sources
From Jan. 22: Russia in Libya, friends with Egypt again. That’s just swell, thanks, 0.
Russia Seeks Another Mediterranean Naval Base in Libya
Russia has been ramping up its involvement in the Libyan sociopolitical crisis, which has been ongoing since the removal of its ruler, Muammar Qaddafi. Russia has been strengthening its ties with Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, who heads the Libyan National Army.
Haftar has longstanding ties with Moscow going back to the early 1970s. After Qaddafi’s fall, he returned to Libya and became active mainly in its eastern region (Tobruk, Benghazi). He opposes the GNA (the Government of National Accord) which is supported by the United Nations and the European countries and is based in Tripoli.
A significant sign of the thaw was the unusual visit by Haftar to the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov on January 11, 2016, when it was off the coast of Tobruk on its way back to Severomorsk. The aircraft carrier operated in the Mediterranean as part of Russia’s active involvement in the Syrian crisis.
Moscow views Haftar as a main power factor whom it can cultivate while also mocking the European countries, which gambled on the wrong horse.
Russia is prepared to give Haftar’s army military and logistical aid in bases in eastern Libya as part of his struggle against the Islamic terror organizations.
Russia appears to be setting up its pawns in the Middle East as part of its overall strategy of regaining its superpower status.
Russia’s recent mediation conference between Fatah and Hamas indicates Moscow will be more involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict.
http://jcpa.org/article/russia-cultivates-strongman-libya-seeks-another-mediterranean-naval-base/
Oh Crappp, Obama did his best to ensure that the US would no longer be a major power and this gave Putin an opening to once again play power broker on the worlds stage.
Libya’s Khalifa Haftar ‘retakes oil ports from Islamist militia
Forces loyal to Libyan military strongman Khalifa Haftar say they have retaken key oil-rich areas in the country’s east.
Ground, sea and air forces were engaged in the fight for sites at Ras Lanuf, Sidra and Ben Jawad from a rival Islamist militia, a spokesman said.
Meanwhile, Russia has denied reports that it has deployed special forces to the region in support of Gen Haftar.
Libya has been in chaos since the overthrow of Colonel Gaddafi in 2011.
The oil terminals had been seized by the Benghazi Defence Brigades (BDB) – a mix of militias that includes Islamists – earlier this month, which then handed them over to the Petroleum Facilities Guard, affiliated to the UN-backed unity government based in Tripoli.
Gen Haftar is allied to an administration based in the eastern city of Tobruk, which is challenging the authority of the UN-backed government.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-39266509
Bodies of Iraqi pilgrims killed in twin bombings in Syria returned to Najaf
Who goes on a vacation to Syria??
Syrian “refugees” who want to visit family and see the old neighborhood.
Bring weapons and medicine to brothers and cousins.
(They’re all cousins, of course. All that inbreeding.)
CBC – Muslim leaders call for supports to help youth address trauma and heal
Youth struggle with fear and anxiety after violent attacks against Muslims, advocates say
Muslim leaders say not enough is being done to help youth, under the age of 10 in Hamilton deal with and understand a recent spate of attacks against Muslims and rising incidents of Islamophobia.
“Young children are finding it difficult in these kinds of instances,” said Affaf Ahtisham, secretary of the Muslim Association of Hamilton. “They’re questioning, ‘Can this happen to me? Why is this happening to us?’ for example.”
Over the past year, attacks targeting Muslims and hate crimes have rattled Hamilton’s tight-knit Muslim community.
Here are some examples of hate crimes and instances of Islamophobia that have impacted youth:
[... under the age of 10 ...]A shooting at a Quebec City mosque on Jan. 29 that killed 6 and injured several more.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order targeting refugees and travellers from Muslim-majority countries, banning entry from seven majority Muslim countries — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen on Jan. 25.
An anti-Muslim rally outside a Toronto mosque on Feb. 17.
A hate crime attack on Feb. 14 against a Muslim doctor at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Centre.
An arson attempt on the Ibrahim Jame Mosque on Sept. 14, 2016.
The brutal beating of a Hamilton teen with a baseball bat that fractured his skull on Nov. 30, 2016.
“The elementary school kids are the ones who are most affected,” said Kamran Bhatti, a Muslim community activist. “The older kids kind of understand. They’re like, ‘you know we’ve been around her awhile, we’ve been victims of racism, we’ve been victims of this type of xenophobia,’ but they don’t feel like anyone is going to come and shoot them.
“Some of these kids are internalizing it and they’re saying, well it this is happening to ordinary Muslims then what about me,” he added.
‘Young people are vulnerable’
Imam Sayed Tora, leader of the Hamilton Downtown Mosque was listening to details about the Quebec City attack while he took three of his five children to school.
His 12-year-old daughter was shocked, he recalled.
“The only thing that she would say was that she can’t believe that this is happening here [in Canada],” he told CBC News.
But the personal impact of these attacks on children don’t just have an immediate effect, they also show up long-term through fear and anxiety, says Imam Ayman Al-Taher, who always notices a shift in youth between age four and 10 at Ibrahim Jame Mosque following an event.
“Young people are vulnerable and in a state of developing their perceptions,” said Al-Taher.
Teachers and parents are usually the first to encounter this shift in behaviour, Bhatti added.
“Overall on the surface they might find if you spend just a few hours with them, they’re fine, but I think it’s those people that are interacting with these kids at a much more significant time period, who are definitely seeing a difference,” he explained.
“When you see a normal kid playing and being very friendly with their classmates, you see this event happen and all of a sudden that same kid after a little while becomes a bit agitated and is starting to pick fights — lashing out, yelling, screaming some times.”
According to Bhatti, this takes its toll on children, “leaving effects that last into adulhood.”
“It’s very important for all of us to help support young people when they’re in their pre-teenage years because that’s when these grievances get planted then and they grow and blossom,” he said.
Community needs to do more, Imam says
But not enough is being done by parents and the Muslim community to address these issues.
Last month, Al-Taher tried to form a support network to help youth deal with their fear and anxiety. He says his initiative was met with resistance because of stigma surrounding mental health.
“Mental health is normally a taboo issue and we don’t like to talk about it,” he explained. “There is the perception that I don’t want my children, especially when it comes to dealing with mental health issues, to be looked after by someone from outside the faith and the culture because this might be affecting their understanding of the culture and the faith.”
Batti also encountered this.
“Parents don’t want their kids to be considered as having a mental health issue,” he told CBC News. “If the parents aren’t bringing those kids to these sessions or bringing them out to participate it becomes quite difficult.”
‘Active and contributing members of society’
This is why they both say a support network needs to be the responsibility of the mosque to educate parents who aren’t aware of the long-term impact this will have on their child’s emotional well-being.
In order to “strengthen the spirit and strengthen the spirit amongst young Muslims,” Batti says more work needs to be invested in civic engagement opportunities and service within the community.
“When we interact with Hamiltonians and Canadians, our Muslim youth are going to feel more secure in their neighbourhoods and it’s going to give them a sense of citizenship,” he stated.
“We want to have our young people be active and contributing members of society.”
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/muslim-youth-support-network-1.4021739
DAILY MAIL – Hundreds of Afghan asylum seekers snuck into the UK using British Sikhs’ passports – because turbans on ID photos meant border officials couldn’t spot the difference
Border officials are said to have difficulty distinguishing between the illegal immigrants and genuine passport holders because of turbans in ID documents
Daljit Kapoor, 41, Harmit Kapoor, 40, and Davinder Chawla appeared in court
They provided Sikhs from Afghanistan with passports of family members
[…]Outside court a legal source said: ‘They would get the passports of their relatives and marry them up with the asylum seekers who most looked like them, obviously the beards and turbans made it easier.
‘But it was also the women and children as well, whole families were being brought in.
‘And once they are here, because they from Afghanistan and are claiming to be persecuted by the Taliban, they can’t be sent back.
‘They have been doing this for a long time, probably years, and have made a hell of a lot of money doing it, charging around £12,000 per family.
‘We don’t know for how long because they way they did it is virtually undetectable, there are probably hundreds of people who have come into the country this way that his group have helped.
‘It was only when easyJet staff noticed something was wrong and alerted French authorities that we found out about it.'[…]
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4313308/Afghan-asylum-seekers-snuck-UK-turban-scam.html
ALGERIA _ALGIERS – Roof-sealing ceremony held for Africa’s tallest minaret in Algeria
The Djamaa El Djazair mosque will eventually be the biggest in Africa and the third biggest in the world. The complex sits on 20 hectares and will have a library with a million books. It will also house a museum. The minaret is a whopping 265 metres tall. The 1 point 5 billion dollar project is the biggest undertaken by a Chinese construction company in Africa. Work is currently under way on the interior, and if all goes according to schedule, the mosque complex will be completed later this year.
China-built World’s 3rd Largest Mosque to be Completed in Algeria
BBC – Paul Auster: Donald Trump is ‘deranged and demented’
An amusing look, NFSE!
https://disq.us/url?url=https%3A%2F%2Fm.youtube.com%2F%23%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DzAx0t3O55Zo%3ARCly_Km5utGBNu8K7EPddUCe1os&cuid=1290197
Schumer Threatens Government Shutdown Over Border Wall
Democrats flip sides on legislative tactics.
March 14, 2017
Matthew Vadum
After Democratic lawmakers’ years of shrieking and televised temper tantrums over how shutting down the federal government somehow approximates treason, Democrats have suddenly embraced the tactic in their quest to keep the nation’s borders wide open for Muslim terrorists and illegal aliens.
Democrats are threatening to force a shut-down of the government after it runs out of operating funds after April 28.
Outnumbered in both houses of Congress, and facing a Republican in the White House for the first time in eight years, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and other Democrats say they will oppose efforts to finance President Trump’s planned border wall in spending legislation needed to keep the government open for business. Adding favored projects to must-pass spending bills, instead of dealing with the projects as freestanding legislation outside the budget process, is a time-honored way of getting things done in Congress. Both parties do it when in the majority.
But Schumer is now a professional obstructionist committed to undermining the Trump administration so at long last he sees things differently.
“The border wall is impractical and unpopular,” said Schumer on Sunday, “a pointless burden that this administration is trying to pay for by taking money away from the programs that actually keep Americans safe.”?
Democrats wrote to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and other Senate leaders warning that they will throw a wrench into efforts to appropriate funds for wall construction if the request is wrapped inside in a spending measure needed to keep the government’s doors open beyond April 28.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/266097/schumer-threatens-government-shutdown-over-border-matthew-vadum
Feels like there’s some insider NYC baseball in the Trump-Schumer spat. I don’t like watching.
There is probably a lot of NY City insider politics in their dislike.
Sadilay
Turkish Politician in Vienna, on a pro referendum event, demands critics be shot in the head
http://m.oe24.at/oesterreich/politik/Tuerkei-Politiker-droht-Erdogan-Kritikern-in-Wien-mit-Kopfschuss/272836024
Le Pen says uncontrolled immigration has pushed France to the brink of ‘CIVIL WAR’ (express, Mar 14, 2017)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/778995/marine-le-pen-french-election-president-civil-war-immigration
“PRESIDENTIAL hopeful Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s anti-immigrant, nationalist Front National party, launched a savage attack on uncontrolled immigration saying it had pushed France to the verge of a “civil war”.
The hardline candidate added that the country’s “virtually non-existent” immigration policies were to blame for the never-ending refugee crisis; and that illegals had been pouring into France undeterred for “decades”.
She said: “Our lax – or should I say non-existent – immigration policies are the root cause of the migrant crisis.
“Officials have turned a blind eye to illegal immigration for more than 40 years, and have let millions of paperless migrants into the country. The situation is spiralling out of control, and things can only get worse,” she said during a conference on civil rights in Paris.
Ms Le Pen added in the speech yesterday that “some” migrants chose to settle in France but then “refused” to integrate themselves into French society.
She said: “They speak their own language and follow their own rules and traditions. They have simply recreated their own locality-based communities abroad.”
The fiercely patriotic candidate added that “some” migrants were staunchly anti-French and were “at war” with their host country.
She said: “At some point in the 2000s, migrants and their children – not all, but a large majority – declared war on France.
“They have intimidated and threatened France via a series of anti-French and terrorist attacks. Civil war is no longer a dream, but a real possibility.”
The hard-right leader added that migrants had cost France “tens of billions of euros,” and France had paid the money in “exchange for peace”.
Mrs Le Pen did point out, however, that radical extremists – and not migrants – were “the enemy”…”
In the long run all migrants that refuse to assimilate are the enemy. Back when we had patriots in both parties we limited immigration to the number of people we knew we could assimilate so our culture would survive. After the radical left took control of the Democrats they started pushing to let in everyone and to stop insisting that all immigrants assimilate into our culture.
‘It’s unlawful’ European court fines Hungary THOUSANDS over treatment of migrants (express, Mar 14, 2017)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/779175/Hungary-migrants-fine-European-Court-of-Human-Rights
“HUNGARY is being forced by the European Court of Human Rights to pay thousands of pounds to two migrants for keeping them in a border transit zone.
The court ruled today the Hungarian government has to pay £8,750 each to the two Bangladeshi men – Ilias Ilias and Ali Ahmed – which could affect plans agreed last week to detain thousands of asylum seekers in border camps.
Both men filed a suit against the country in September 2015 – the height of the migrant crisis – after Hungarian officials put up a fence on its southern borders and created two transit zones for asylum seekers in a bid to curb numbers arriving via the Balkans.
The pair wanted to be released from the transit zone and asked for their expulsion to Serbia to be halted.
Today the court ruled the pair’s detention in the transit zone was unlawful under the European Convention of Human Rights, but admitted there was “no violation of the convention in respect of the conditions of detention at the transit zone”.
The Strasbourg court ruling is subject to appeal, but for now Hungary has been ordered to pay £8,750 (€10,000) to each of the men.
Hungary’s Government will also have to pay a further £7,610 to cover their court expenses and costs.
The ruling came less than a week after Hungary passed legislation which aims to keep all migrants in detention camps on the border until their asylum requests are processed.
United Nations officials have strongly criticised the new legislation…”
The Real Lessons of Middlebury College
Why these incidents are only going to get worse.
March 14, 2017
Thomas Sowell
Many people seem shocked at the recent savagery of a mob of students at Middlebury College, who rioted to prevent Charles Murray from addressing a student group who had invited him to speak. They also inflicted injuries requiring hospitalization on a woman from the faculty who was with him.
Where have all these shocked people been all these years? What happened at Middlebury College has been happening for decades, all across the country, from Berkeley to Harvard. Moreover, even critics of the Middlebury College rioters betray some of the same irresponsible mindset as that of the young rioters.
The moral dry rot in academia — and beyond — goes far deeper than student storm troopers at one college.
Frank Bruni of the New York Times, for example, while criticizing the rioters, lent credence to the claim that Charles Murray was “a white nationalist.” Similar — and worse — things have been said, in supposedly reputable publications, by people who could not cite one statement from any of Dr. Murray’s books that bears any resemblance to their smears.
Academia, however, is ground zero in the war against people whose ideas go against the current political correctness. The virtual monopoly of the political left, on campuses across the country, allows all sorts of things to be attributed to people the left disagrees with, irrespective of whether those people have ever said anything resembling what they are alleged to have said.
The professors don’t usually riot against people whose ideas they disagree with, because they can just dismiss those ideas, with some characterization that there is no one on hand to challenge.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/266096/real-lessons-middlebury-college-thomas-sowell
These expensive liberal arts colleges are the worst. Middlebury, Oberlin, Bowdoin, Swarthmore, etc.
A friend is sending her twin sons to college next year. They had no interest in these schools, but just to be safe, she checked out ratings for the Top-100 Anti-White Christian colleges. The list is almost identical to the Top-100 Anti-Semitic schools.
Exclusive From the Front: How 10 Villagers Held Off 70 ISIS Jihadis
The following is a first-hand account documented by Clarion Project’s Legal Analyst Jennifer Breedon from her recent trip to Iraq with Clarion Project’s National Security Analyst Ryan Mauro:
Ibrahim was distressed. As a village farmer, father and husband he had continued to hear reports about a new militant group headed right their way. Iraqi Central forces and Kurdish Peshmerga were busy trying to gather forces and learn about what was needed to fight this new extremist militant group. Reports had come in that militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham (ISIS) were taking over villages one by one.
Ibrahim and his village are Kurdish Kakai people. The Kakai people lived peacefully in the Nineveh Plains Province of Northern Iraq and were now faced with the real possibility that their small village would be taken over next.
The Kakai people are of Kurdish ethnicity but adhere to a different religion that includes elements of monotheism along with regular prayer. It is a peaceful religion. They get along well with Christians, Yazidis and moderate Muslims, as do most of the Kurdish and non-Kurdish people living in the region.
https://clarionproject.org/exclusive-from-the-front-how-10-villagers-held-off-70-isis-jihadis/
Five New Developments in Iran’s Race to Regional Hegemony
Home > World > Iran
By Meira Svirsky Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Iran’s dangerous race to regional hegemony marches on unabated. Five recent developments are worth noting:
https://clarionproject.org/five-new-developments-in-irans-race-to-regional-hegemony/
What’s Going On With Holland and Turkey?
Home > World > Holland
By Elliot Friedland Tuesday, March 14, 2017
The saga began when the Netherlands refused to allow rallies for Turkey’s upcoming referendum to be held on Dutch soil, citing security concerns. Planned rallies were also cancelled in Germany and Austria.
Dutch police subsequently blocked Turkish Family Minister Beytül Kaya from entering the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam, despite the fact that the rally she was meant to address had been cancelled. Instead they escorted her to the German border.
The Netherlands also revoked the landing permit for Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu, refusing to allow him entry to the country.
The two had been scheduled to address a rally a rally for Turkish citizenswho reside in the Netherlands. The rally was for supporters of Turkish President Tayyip Recep Erdogan and intended to drum up support for an April 16 referendum when Turkey will vote on whether or not to vastly increase the powers of the president.
Hundreds of supporters of Erdogan clashed with Dutch riot police at the consulate in Rotterdam after the event was turned away and Kaya was turned away. Demonstrators had gathered to show support for Erdogan and to protest against the decision to block the ministers. The police dispersed the demonstrators with batons, mounted police and water cannons.
https://clarionproject.org/whats-going-on-with-holland-and-turkey/
Free Speech 1, Islamophobia 0
Home > World > France
By Leslie Shaw Sunday, March 12, 2017
In a victory for free speech and a setback for Islamophobia lobbies and their appeasers, a French court rejected civil and criminal complaints filed against a French historian by an Islamist lobby group.
In 2016, the Committee Against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) filed complaints for incitement to racial hatred against Georges Bensoussan, an expert on 19th and 20th century European cultural history.
The complaint was motivated by a 2015 interview on Radio France, during which Bensoussan referred to a TV documentary by Algerian sociologist Smaïn Laacher whom he paraphrased as saying that “in Arab families in France… anti-Semitism is breast-fed to children.”
Laacher denied having uttered the words “breast-fed,” a term which Bensoussan was using as a metaphor to indicate that anti-Semitism was an attitude transmitted to children by their parents. In that sense, Bensoussan’s summary of Laacher’s viewpoint was true in a figurative, though not in a literal sense.
Here is the exact quotation by Saacher that Bensoussan was referring to:
https://clarionproject.org/free-speech-1-islamophobia-0/
Europe: “The Era of Liberal Babble”
by Judith Bergman
March 14, 2017 at 6:00 am
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10014/europe-the-era-of-liberal-babble
Europe, so many years after the Cold War, is ideologically divided into a new East and a West. This time, the schism is over multiculturalism. What Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has termed “liberal babble” continues to govern Western Europe’s response to the challenges that migration and Islamic terrorism have brought, especially to personal security.
The Western European establishment considers arming oneself against terrorists, rapists and other ill-wishers outlandish, even in the face of the inability of Europe’s security establishments to prevent mass terrorist atrocities, such as those that took place in Paris at the Bataclan Theater or the July14 truck-ramming in Nice.
The European Union’s reaction to terror has been to make Europe’s already restrictive gun laws even more restrictive. The problem is that this restrictiveness contradicts the EU’s own reports: these show that homicides committed in Europe are mainly committed with illegal firearms.
In Eastern Europe, on the other hand, it is still normal to want to defend yourself. Last summer, Czech President Milos Zeman even encouraged citizens to arm themselves against Islamic terrorism. “I really think that citizens should arm themselves against terrorists. And I honestly admit that I changed my mind, because previously I was against [citizens] having too many weapons. After these attacks, I don’t think so”.
Since the president’s remarks, the Czech Interior Minister, Milan Chovanec, has proposed extending the use of arms in the event of a terrorist attack. He explained that despite strict security measures, it is not always possible for the police to guarantee a fast and effective intervention. Fast action from a member of the public could prevent the loss of many lives.
Europe’s ‘Turkish Awakening’
by Burak Bekdil
March 14, 2017 at 4:30 am
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10045/europe-turkish-awakening
Turkey, officially, is a candidate for full membership in the European Union. It is also negotiating with Brussels a deal which would allow millions of Turks to travel to Europe without visa. But Turkey is not like any other European country that joined or will join the EU: The Turks’ choice of a leader, in office since 2002, too visibly makes this country the odd one out.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is now campaigning to broaden his constitutional powers, which would make him head of state, head of government and head of the ruling party — all at the same time — is inherently autocratic and anti-Western. He seems to view himself as a great Muslim leader fighting armies of infidel crusaders. This image, with which he portrays himself, finds powerful echoes among millions of conservative Turks and [Sunni] Islamists across the Middle East. That, among other excesses in the Turkish style, makes Turkey totally incompatible with Europe in political culture.
Yet, there is always the lighter side of things. Take, for example, Melih Gokcek, the mayor of Ankara and a bigwig in Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP). In February Gokcek claimed that earthquakes in a western Turkish province could have been organized by dark external powers (read: Western infidels) aiming to destroy Turkey’s economy with an “artificial earthquake” near Istanbul. According to this conspiracy theory, the mayor not only claims that the earthquake in western Turkey was the work of the U.S. and Israel, but also that the U.S. created the radical Islamic State (ISIS). In fact, according to him, the U.S. and Israel colluded to trigger an earthquake in Turkey so they could capture energy from the Turkish fault line.
The best response would be if Turkish “expats” were to vote a resounding “NO!” against Erdoff and his aspirations at home and abroad.
That would be nice but I doubt it will happen.
Italy: Italian journalist denounces illegal sales of migrants. The latter arm themselves with sticks and strike the television crew.
https://vid.me/Vh5I
Original video on this page :
http://www.striscialanotizia.mediaset.it/video/aggressione-a-luca-abete_27906.shtml
GERMANY – Statue of Marx, Funded by China, Will Stand in German City of His Birth
BERLIN — The bicentennial of the birth of Karl Marx was supposed to bring his hometown, Trier, Germany, an important exhibition about his life and an increase in tourism.
But an offer from China to present the city with a nearly 20-foot-tall bronze statue of Marx, the 19th-century intellectual who was one of the writers of “The Communist Manifesto,” is overshadowing the festivities a year before they begin.
After months of discussion and more than an hour of lively debate, the City Council in Trier, in western Germany near the border with Luxembourg, decided on Monday to accept the gift from the Chinese government, by the sculptor Wu Weishan. However, the Council left open the thorny questions of how large it would be and where in the city it would stand.
“Karl Marx is one of the most important citizens of this city, and we should not hide him,” the mayor of Trier, Wolfram Leibe, told the public broadcaster SWR before the vote.
Statues of Marx, who was born in Trier on May 5, 1818, and later lived in Berlin, London and Paris, were common throughout Eastern Europe during the Cold War, and several still survive in Germany’s formerly communist eastern states, including in Berlin. But his birthplace, firmly in the former West Germany, has struggled with how best to remember its famous son.
The city, which is on the banks of the Moselle River and in an important wine-producing area, has increasingly become a destination for tourists from China, but many residents are nevertheless uncomfortable with accepting a gift from the Chinese government.
“China is not a free country, quite the opposite,” a Trier newspaper quoted Tobias Schneider of the Free Democratic Party in Trier as saying on Monday. “We could draw up a long list of human rights violations. Do we want to allow such a rogue regime to set up a statue of Karl Marx in the heart of our city?”
The Chinese told city officials they were offering the statue to honor the bicentennial and as a symbol of the strong ties between the countries. The Chinese government agreed to cover about two-thirds of the cost of a pedestal for the statue and its installation, estimated at 105,000 euros, or about $112,000.
But after word spread about the gift, many residents balked at the idea of a bronze version of the father of communism towering over the Simeonstiftplatz, the city’s square, which is named for a church that once stood there. City authorities erected a wooden stand-in in the square to give residents an idea of how it might look.
In the end, a majority of the Council voted to accept the statue, although perhaps a smaller version of it than was originally envisioned, with a final height to be determined later. It would be unveiled as part of the city’s attempt to re-examine Marx’s work and the turbulent time in which he lived, through exhibitions and intellectual discussions.
“This debate is less about human rights, aesthetics or location” of the statue, Richard Leuckefeld’s of the Green Party said. “It is about getting the city out of a predicament, because those responsible have failed to honor Karl Marx.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/13/world/europe/karl-marx-statue-trier-germany-china.html
Just smile sweetly and say, “No thank-you.”
That is a real good idea.
They might be thinking: Do we really want this evil thing casting a shadow anywhere over our town?
What the EU Court ruling on headscarf bans means for Germany (thelocal, Mar 14, 2017)
https://www.thelocal.de/20170314/what-the-eu-court-ruling-on-headscarf-bans-means-for-germany
“The European Court of Justice ruled on Tuesday that employers may ban headscarves in the workplace in certain circumstances – an issue which has been heatedly debated in Germany in recent years.
The European Court of Justice ruling on Tuesday was based on two cases in France and Belgium of Muslim women who wanted to wear their headscarves to work. The main question was how to interpret anti-discrimination and equal treatment policies of the EU.
The court said that employers may ban headscarves if the company has a general ban on “political, philosophical or religious” symbols, and if there is good reason for a ban.
The decision also clarified under what conditions a ban would be allowed. For the woman in Belgium, who worked as a receptionist at a security firm, the court said her case did not constitute “direct discrimination” as the company had a general rule against displaying religious symbols.
But for the woman in France, the court said a ban was not justified. The design engineer was fired after a company client complained about her headscarf. The court said that this situation “cannot be considered an occupational requirement that could rule out discrimination.”
German courts must now comply with this ruling.
Various Muslim and anti-discrimination groups have expressed their disappointment with the ruling.
“The European Court of Justice’s ruling is, at its core, a departure from established civil rights,” said the Central Council of Muslims in Germany in a statement.
“When women must choose between their religious convictions and their professional occupations, that means that the bans on discrimination, principles of equal treatment and individual civil liberties – which form the foundations of European constitutions and legislation – are worth less than the paper on which they are written.
“This does not even correspond with the frequently invoked idea of neutrality.”
The Central Council of Muslims further noted that the decision could “open the door for Muslim women in Europe to be further subjected to discrimination and their complaints to be limited by law”.
Leader of the German government’s Anti-Discrimination Agency, Christine Lüders, also said that the decision could make it more difficult for Muslim women to find a job.
Article 4 of Germany’s constitutional law or Grundgesetz states that religious freedom is a fundamental right.
“Freedom of faith and of conscience, and freedom to profess a religious or philosophical creed, shall be inviolable,” it states.
“The undisturbed practice of religion shall be guaranteed.”
But how this principle applies in the workplace has been fiercely debated in Germany.
This means that workplaces are prohibited from discriminating against someone on the basis of religion, and cannot generally ban someone from wearing a headscarf out of religious reasons. Still, courts have interpreted this differently in various rulings, some allowing certain limitations..
In 2002, the Federal Labour Court ruled in the case of a store saleswoman that she should not have been fired for wearing a headscarf.
Then in 2014, the same court ruled that church employers could forbid workers from wearing the Muslim headscarf.
And in 2015, the Constitutional Court found that general headscarf bans for teachers in state-funded schools were unconstitutional. The court said that headscarves should only be banned if they were found to “constitute a sufficiently specific danger of impairing the peace at school.”
The Constitutional Court reiterated this in a 2016 decision regarding a Muslim child care worker, stating that “an ‘Islamic headscarf’ is not uncommon in Germany.”
The court added that there was “no constitutional right to be spared from the awareness of other religious or ideological creeds”.
The Central Council of Muslims said they felt the EU ruling was in direct contradiction with the 2015 ruling regarding teachers.”
German state bans foreign officials campaigning amid Turkey row (express, Mar 14, 2017)
https://www.thelocal.de/20170314/german-state-bans-foreign-officials-campaigning-amid-turkey-row
“The state of Saarland said on Tuesday it would ban foreign officials from holding election rallies on its soil amid a raging dispute with Turkey over campaigning for a pivotal referendum.
“After the recent debate about campaign appearances of Turkish government officials in Germany, Saarland will ban such appearances,” the southwestern region said in a statement…”
Blasphemy is an unpardonable offence: PM (tribune, Mar 14, 2017)
https://tribune.com.pk/story/1354887/blasphemy-unpardonable-offence-pm-nawaz/
“Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said that blasphemy is an ‘unpardonable sin’ and ordered authorities concerned to nab those responsible for posting such content on social media.
“Law enforcers should search for the people spreading blasphemous material and prosecute them under the law,” a statement quoted him as saying on Tuesday…”
Deadly airstrike targets Taliban in Paktika, 29 including 2 senior leaders killed (khaama, Mar 14, 2017)
http://www.khaama.com/deadly-airstrike-targets-taliban-in-paktika-29-including-2-senior-leaders-killed-02393
“A deadly airstrike targeted a gathering of the Taliban insurgents in southeastern Paktika province of Afghanistan.
According to the local government officials, the airstrike was carried out by the foreign in Zeruk district.
Provincial governor’s spokesman Mohammad Rahman Ayaz said at least twenty insurgents including three commanders of the group were killed in the airstrike.
He said two of the commanders killed in the airstrike have been identified as Afghan Waziristani and Hazifa.
Ayaz further added that the Taliban gathering was targeted by the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle as they had participated in the funeral of another Taliban leader Kerat Khan…”
Taliban cuts off hand and leg of a young man on charges of robbery (khaama, Mar 14, 2017)
http://www.khaama.com/taliban-cuts-off-hand-and-leg-of-a-young-man-on-charges-of-robbery-02396
“The Taliban insurgents have chopped the one hand and one leg of a young man on charges of robbery in western Herat province of Afghanistan.
According to the local government officials, the incident took place late on Monday afternoon in Obe district…”
Most Canadians say immigrants should be tested for ‘anti-Canadian values’ – survey (RT, Mar 14, 2017)
https://www.rt.com/news/380742-most-canadians-want-to-test-migrants/
“A new poll has found that despite Canadians being overall in favor of taking in refugees, there are worries about a cultural clash with Muslims, particularly in the French-speaking province of Quebec.
The internet poll, commissioned by the French-language service of CBC, Radio Canada, asked 2,513 people across Canada, including 1,024 Quebecers, about a variety of social issues.
The CROP survey found that although around 60 percent of Canadians agreed that welcoming Syrian refugees was a “very good” or “good enough” idea, 74 percent — “very” and “somewhat” — agreed with the proposal, put forward by Conservative party leadership candidate Kellie Leitch, that immigrants should be screened for their adherence to Canadian values.
“If you don’t talk about religion, there’s an overwhelming human side to us.… The minute you introduce religion, it’s gone,” CROP president Alain Giguère told CBC.
Anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant sentiments are more widespread in Quebec, where 32 percent strongly or somewhat agreed to a Trump-style travel ban, as opposed to only 25 percent of Canadians nationwide…”