Each day at just after midnight Eastern, a post like this one is created for contributors and readers of this site to upload news links and video links on the issues that concern this site. Most notably, Islam and its effects on Classical Civilization, and various forms of leftism from Soviet era communism, to postmodernism and all the flavours of galloping statism and totalitarianism such as Nazism and Fascism which are increasingly snuffing out the classical liberalism which created our near, miraculous civilization the West has been building since the time of Socrates.
This document was written around the time this site was created, for those who wish to understand what this site is about. And while our understanding of the world and events has grown since then, the basic ideas remain sound and true to the purpose.
So please post all links, thoughts and ideas that you feel will benefit the readers of this site to the comments under this post each day. And thank you all for your contributions.
This is the new Samizdat. We must use it while we can.
Have a wonderful Dominion Day Canada!
“A History of Socialism in the United States: A Presentation by Sam Blumenfeld”
Camp Constitution – Published on June 30, 2019
Sam Blumenfeld gives this 2010 presentation on the history of socialism in the United States, and how they took over and now run our government schools.
Yemenis protest against UAE presence in Socotra (memo, Jul 1, 2019)
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190701-yemenis-protest-against-uae-presence-in-socotra/
“Popular protests have broken out on Sunday on the Yemeni island of Socotra against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) control take over of the island and its assault on the island’s governor.
Protesters raised the Yemeni flag and banners condemning the UAE intervention in the island as well as attempts to stir up differences and internal conflicts since 2015.
Yemeni activist, Atef Al-Sokotri, told al- Khaleej Online that the protest is the largest in the history of Socotra which represents a clear message of support for the local authority led by Governor, Ramzi Mahrous and a rejection of the UAE formation of security belts and forces outside the Yemeni government’s control.
The Socotra governor called on the island’s residents to “assert their adherence to the state, and support for the legitimate authority, as well as their rejection of any formations outside the law”.
The island’s governor reiterated that the local authority stands alongside President, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and Federal Yemen, which consists of six provinces.
The demonstrations came in response to the invitation of sheikhs and prominent figures in the archipelago province, in solidarity with Governor Mahrous and Minister of Fisheries Fahad Kafayen whose convoys were attacked by elements loyal to the UAE.”
21 terrorists arrested in Pakistan’s Punjab province (oneindia, Jul 1, 2019)
https://www.oneindia.com/international/21-terrorists-arrested-in-pakistans-punjab-province-2911936.html
“The law enforcement agencies in Pakistan have arrested 21 terrorists belonging to the Islamic State (ISIS), Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in the last one month as part of a crackdown on terror outfits in Punjab province.
In a statement issued here on Sunday, the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab Police said during the crackdown, “twenty-one terrorists belonging to Daesh (ISIS), LeJ and TTP have been arrested during the last one month from Multan, Bahawalnagar, Bahawalpur, Toba Tek Singh, Gujranwala and Sialkot.
It said a huge quantity of weapons, explosives, maps of different places and a large sum of money have been recovered from them. It said the arrested terrorists wanted to target law enforcement agencies personnel in these areas.”
ICTY: THE ROGUE TRIBUNAL
video – 45 minutes
The courthouse in The Hague was for 23 years the seat of the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia. Known as the ICTY, it was created by the United Nations to bring to justice those who had broken international humanitarian law during the conflicts of the 1990’s. The ICTY closed in 2017 claiming to have brought peace and reconciliation to the region and to have transformed international humanitarian law. These claims are neither true nor credible. A close examination of the facts leads to very different conclusions. The Balkan Conflicts Research Team
NATO TELLS RUSSIA IT IS INTERESTED IN DE-ESCALATION – SAYS SENIOR DIPLOMAT
“The NATO member-countries assure us that they are interested in de-escalation, the tools to prevent dangerous military incidents, that they are interested in making sure that the parties avoid misunderstanding each other’s intentions,” he said, stressing that the council’s meeting will be held at the alliance’s request.
https://tass.com/defense/1066085
POLAND RULES IN FAVOUR OF PRINTER CONVICTED OVER REFUSING LGBT POSTERS
The Tribunal ruled on Wednesday that the law the printer was convicted under was unconstitutional, because punishment for refusing to provide services on the grounds of beliefs interfered with the service providers’ rights to act according to their conscience…”I would like to say that everybody is entitled to freedom and nobody, using slogans of tolerance, should use the apparatus of the state to force others to violate their own freedoms, be it freedom of conscience, freedom of religion or economic freedom.” However, Pawel Knut, a lawyer for the Campaign Against Homophobia, said the judgment weakened the level of protection…
https://www.reuters.com/article/poland-lgbt-constitution/poland-rules-in-favour-of-printer-convicted-over-refusing-lgbt-posters-idUSL8N23X4D4
Wow. Sanity in a world gone mad.
CANADA: CELEBRATING CITIZENSHIP ISN’T OFFENSIVE
video – 3 minutes 29 seconds
Let no good deed go unpunished. The national Chinese restaurant Mandarin is once again offering its Canada Day promotion of a free buffet for all Canadian citizens, provided they show documentation. But in 2019, this promotion is apparently no match for the social media hordes, who have pounced on Mandarin, accusing it of not valuing non-citizen residents of Canadians.
THE CHURCH IS UNDER ATTACK: CA LAWMAKERS PASS MEASURE FORCING PASTORS TO EMBRACE LGBT IDEOLOGY
video – 7 minutes 11 seconds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDE7I50Br3Y
BACKUP PLAN LAUNCHED ‘TO FORCE PEOPLE OF FAITH TO ABANDON BELIEFS’
Democrats in Congress already have staged a massive campaign to promote their Equality Act, which would impose the LGBT agenda on churches and faith-based organizations. But now they’re working on a backup plan should the aggressive Equality Act fail. It’s named the Do No Harm Act, but it would destroy protections for the exercise of religion by changing the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The bill would make the exercise of religion in public life subservient to LGBT rights in all cases.
https://www.wnd.com/2019/06/dems-launch-backup-plan-to-force-people-of-faith-to-abandon-beliefs/
This is unconstitutional.
A FAMILY PORTRAIT: BROTHERS – SISTERS – STRANGERS
I’m 20 – I Have 32 Half Siblings – This Is My Family Portrait
I always knew I was conceived using a sperm donor. But I was 19 before I discovered I had half siblings. Then I went searching — for all 32 of them.
Julia: My mum said – When you’re dating, you’ll have to be careful and take a DNA test to make sure it’s not your half sibling.
Sydney: I got in touch with the group about a year ago. I learned that there are so many of them it’s hard to feel included.
Alexis: As more and more half siblings were introduced into my life, it made me feel like a statistic rather than an actual person. I feel drowned out with the numbers.
Sadie: How will I be close to everybody?
Kelsi: I am not super close with any of the siblings. Even though we are related, we are sort of just strangers. I’m the only Asian one I’m aware of.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/06/26/magazine/sperm-donor-siblings.html
GREEDY PIGS CAFE STANDS FIRM AFTER HATE LETTER
The letter says: “I am writing to you to inform you we as a whole community are extremely concerned about the name of your shop’s trade or the sign board. The name Greedy PIGS is extremely wrong, disgusting, shameful and offensive to the passer-bys and community. Please immediately change the name of your shop to something else which is not offensive. There is no need to call it Greedy Pigs.” The letter, signed Regards: from the community, continues its diatribe and then advises on how the handling of food could be improved “in order to attract customers from a halal diet and vegetarian diet backgrounds”. A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said: “A hate incident has been recorded in relation to this matter and further enquiries are being made.” Felicity Macnamara
https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/17731942.greedy-pigs-cafe-wont-change-its-name-after-anonymous-letter-brands-it-disgusting-shameful-and-offensive/
A TASTE OF THE FUTURE IF THIS BONKERS CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY ISN’T SCRAPPED
To print CCC Report – 277 pages – https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/net-zero-the-uks-contribution-to-stopping-global-warming/
Currently the UK has a GHG reduction target of 80 per cent by 2050. Therefore the ratcheting up of required changes is to achieve the extra 20 per cent reduction. Remember, that is 20 per cent of the UK’s 1-2 per cent of global emissions. Drastic lifestyle changes from each and every one of us, for ever, to achieve global emissions reductions of 0.2 to 0.4 per cent? While China continues to build coal power plants and global emissions continue to rise. Could a new Prime Minister really claim that this makes sense? I think I know what the Brexit Party will think. Caroline ffiske
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/a-taste-of-the-future-if-this-bonkers-climate-change-policy-isnt-scrapped/
GLOBAL WARMING: THE UK’s EXPENSIVE AND FUTILE GESTURE POLITICS – Part 1
…the Government’s ‘net zero’ policy will have a minuscule impact on global GHG emissions. Our ‘net zero’ politicians are pursuing a quasi-unilateral, low-carbon, high-cost, fantasy. Suffice to say, the UK’s zeal in clamping down on domestic emissions merely risks the raising of electricity prices, damaging UK industry’s international competitiveness and transferring economic activity from the UK to overseas exporters. Indeed, it is more than plausible that this has already occurred. Ruth Lea
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/global-warming-the-uks-expensive-and-futile-gesture-politics-part-1/
DEMASKING THE TORTURE OF JULIAN ASSANGE
In the end it finally dawned on me that I had been blinded by propaganda, and that Assange had been systematically slandered to divert attention from the crimes he exposed. Once he had been dehumanized through isolation, ridicule and shame, just like the witches we used to burn at the stake, it was easy to deprive him of his most fundamental rights without provoking public outrage worldwide. And thus, a legal precedent is being set, through the backdoor of our own complacency… this is not only about protecting Assange, but about preventing a precedent likely to seal the fate of Western democracy. For once telling the truth has become a crime, while the powerful enjoy impunity, it will be too late to correct the course. We will have surrendered our voice to censorship and our fate to unrestrained tyranny. Nils Melzer – UN Special Rapporteur on Torture
https://medium.com/@njmelzer/demasking-the-torture-of-julian-assange-b252ffdcb768
LONDON ZOO TO HOLD PRIDE WEEKEND PARADE TO CELEBRATE ITS GAY PENGUINS
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/london-zoo-to-hold-pride-weekend-parade-to-celebrate-its-gay-penguins-a4177541.html
NHS OPENS FIRST EVER CANNABIS CLINIC AS MIND-ALTERING ‘SKUNK’ FUELS PSYCHOSIS AMONG USERS
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/06/30/nhs-opens-first-ever-cannabis-clinic-mind-altering-skunk-fuels/
Like nobody saw this coming?
Wait until they get the other hallucinogenic drugs legalized.
ISLAMIC CENTER LEICESTER SAYS “AN APOSTATE DOES NOT HAVE RIGHT TO LIFE” – MOSQUE TRUSTEE IS ASSISTANT CITY MAYOR
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2019/06/uk-islamic-center-leicester-says-an-apostate-does-not-have-right-to-life-mosque-trustee-is-assistant-city-mayor
BEHIND OUR BACKS – THE EU AND BRITAIN’S RUSSIA POLICY
http://freenations.net/behind-our-backs-the-eu-and-britains-russia-policy/
THE UNBELIEVABLE HYPOCRISY OF THE REMOANER ELITE
https://www.spiked-online.com/2019/06/28/the-unbelievable-hypocrisy-of-the-remoaner-elite/
WILLIAM SHOULD THINK BEFORE HE REJECTS HIS GRANDMOTHER’S SOLEMN OATH
I would like courteously to challenge Prince William as a Christian pastor. The Biblical teaching on homosexuality is unequivocal. What the prince has just stated in effect is that he will support his children if they choose to defy God’s moral law and providence, either by embracing the homosexual lifestyle, or by seeking to change the gender which God has assigned to them. He is therefore dismissing as invalid the views of those who hold the Bible to be the word of God. Peter Simpson
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/william-should-think-before-he-rejects-his-grandmothers-solemn-oath/
Finnish Right-Wing Leader: ‘Islam, Sexual Minorities and EU Have Become the New Soviet Union’ (sputniknews, Jul 1, 2019)
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201907011076110780-finnish-right-wing-leader-islam-sexual-minorities-eu-soviet-union/
“Finnish nationalist leader Jussi Halla-aho has argued that legal and economic sanctions for merely expressing one’s opinion have become more common, calling for laws to bolster the freedom of expression.
MEP Jussi Halla-aho, freshly re-relected for a second two-year term as chair of the nationalist Finns Party, has outlined his policy goals in an address to a party congress in Tampere.
In his speech, Halla-aho declared the Finns to be Finland’s main opposition party. Therefore, he told the party core, its duty is not to “yap at everything” but to point out the shortcomings and mistakes of the centre-left government that took office in early June.
Halla-aho also stressed that the party’s supporters should not dwell on those questions where they have differences of opinion, but rather on the themes that unite them, citing immigration and supporting the disadvantaged as examples.
Furthermore, Halla-aho likened today’s atmosphere to the Cold War era, employing unflattering similes with the Soviet Union.
“In today’s Finland and more broadly in western countries, immigration, Islam, sexual minorities and the European Union have become the new Soviet Union”, Halla-aho said to applause from the audience, as quoted by national broadcaster Yle. To remedy this, Halla-aho called to bolster the right to freedom of expression.
ignalling a break from the Finns’ rhetoric from the era of his long-standing predecessor Timo Soini, Halla-aho assured that the Finns are “not a populist party”. Soini, who founded the Finns and is credited with elevating them from a fringe party to the point, at which they briefly became a government party, lavishly used the term “populist”.
“We have succeeded in finding the kinds of approaches to issues that unite the interests of different population groups”, Halla-aho added.
Last week, Halla-aho was reported to have terminated his membership in the organisation Suomen Sisu, of which he has been an honorary member since the 2000s and describes himself as “ethno-nationalist”, as do the Young Finns, Halla-aho’s party’s youth wing. While the Finns leader was reticent about the reason why he left the party, some pundits ascribed this move to an attempt to make the Finns more appealing to a broader public.
Earlier this year, the Young Finns lost state finding over a tweet featuring a screenshot from a European parliament ad with a dark-skinned couple and their child and a call to vote Finns “so that Finland’s future doesn’t look like this”.
In 2009, present-day party leader Halla-aho was fined for ethnic agitation over calling Prophet Muhammad a paedophile, referencing his child-wife Aisha.
The Eurosceptic, anti-immigration Finns are Finland’s largest opposition party. In 2019 they sensationally finished second with 17.5 percent of the vote. The Finns have only one seat fewer than Prime Minister Antti Rinne’s Social Democratic Party, and has been topping opinion polls since April’s election.”
Libyan Parliament Speaker Announces General Mobilisation Amid Turkey’s Threats – Reports (sputniknews, Jul 1, 2019)
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201907011076109124-libya-parliament-speaker-announces-general-mobilization-turkeys-threats/
“President of the Libyan House of Representatives Aguila Saleh Issa late on Sunday declared a general mobilisation in the country amid Turkey’s recent threats against the Libyan National Army (LNA) headed by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, local media reported.
On Sunday, the eastern Libyan city of Ajdabiya’s security directorate said that it arrested two Turkish citizens after Haftar’s instruction to respond to Turkey’s support for terrorist groups in Libya. At the same time, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement earlier that the LNA had arrested six of the country’s nationals and warned that Haftar’s forces would become “legitimate targets” if Turkish citizens were not immediately released.
The broadcaster Sky News Arabia reported that Saleh announced the mobilisation as supreme commander of the eastern forces in response to Ankara’s statement.
Tensions between Ankara and eastern Libyan forces escalated last week when the LNA said its air defences had shot down a Turkish-made drone launched by the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) near Tripoli. At a press conference in Benghazi on the same day, the LNA spokesman, Ahmed Mismari, said that Turkish drones had been used in a recent GNA operation to recapture the strategic city of Garyan to the south of Tripoli from the LNA.
The situation in Libya, which has been dealing with unrest and been divided between two governments since 2011, deteriorated on April 4, after the LNA launched an offensive on Tripoli, controlled by the GNA. Two days later, the latter announced a counteroffensive dubbed Volcano of Rage.”
At Least 68 Injured in Car Bomb Explosion in Kabul (Video) (sputniknews, Jul 1, 2019)
https://sputniknews.com/asia/201907011076110550-blast-explosion-kabul/
“The number of people injured in a strong explosion that took place in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Monday morning has reached 68, Health Ministry spokesman Wahidullah Mayar stated. Later in the day, the Taliban movement has claimed responsibility for the attack.
“Sixty-eight people, including eight children, have been injured in the blast in Kabul”, he said.
A car bomb targeted the area of Puli Mahmood Khan, not far from a logistic supply compound belonging to the Afghan Defence Ministry. Several diplomatic and security departments are located in the area. The blast took place only a mile away from the presidential palace. According to eyewitnesses, the blast was followed by sporadic gunfire and other explosions.
Interior Ministry spokesman Nusrat Rahimi said there were two attackers, and that they had targeted the Defence Ministry’s facilities.
At least three journalists from Shamshad TV were reportedly injured in the blast. Officials from the Afghanistan Football Federation also said that president of the board Mohammad Yousef Kargar and a number of their staff members and players received injuries, adding that their compound had been damaged.
The incident comes as Taliban-US peace talks have entered their third day in the Qatari capital of Doha.”
16 dead 100 wounded
London crimewave: Nick Ferrari demands ‘incompetent’ Sadiq Khan be removed as London Mayor (express, Jul 1, 2019)
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1147429/London-crime-london-knife-crime-Sadiq-Khan-Nick-Ferrari-London-Mayor
“NICK Ferrari delivered a furious rant against Sadiq Khan’s failure as London Mayor and questioned how he is still in the role, claiming he wouldn’t “trust him to take out the garbage” after the latest knife crimewave in the capital.
Broadcaster Nick Ferrari criticised Mayor of London Sadiq Khan for his “incompetence” over London’s spiralling knife crime crisis. The LBC attack came after four violent deaths in the city over the weekend, including the killing of a heavily pregnant woman. The victim’s baby was delivered and remains critically ill in hospital.
This takes the total number of people slain in London this year to 64.
An exasperated Mr Ferrari was stunned by how Sadiq Khan was “getting away with” the rampant crime wave in the capital.
He told listeners: “This is what the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said. ‘Violence against women has no place in this city’. So it’s alright to stab men then, is it? What an extraordinary thing to say.
“All the time, you’re busy not allowing fried chicken to be sold near schools or banning pictures of bikinis on the tube or talking about how many trees you’ve planted.
“I suppose you can say violence against ‘women’ has no place in this city. Meanwhile, three men, who are also in this city in which you are paid a considerable amount of money to look after, are lying in various mortuaries.
“How much longer is he going to get away with this?
“I wouldn’t trust him to take out the garbage, he’s incompetent. How is he still in place?
“I guarantee we’ll hear cuts, austerity measures. Meanwhile, he’s in charge of a budget where he manages to find money to interview hate speech.
“Shall we dial down on hate speech for a bit and maybe turn it up in knives a bit.”
The eight-month pregnant woman who was stabbed to death has been named as Kelly Mary Fauvrelle.
Two men have since been arrested on suspicion of murdering the 26-year-old, who was pronounced dead at a house in Croydon early on Saturday.”
EU DIVIDED: Central Europe revolts against Brussels plan to hand socialist Juncker’s job (express, Jul 1, 2019)
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1147257/EU-news-European-Commission-president-Frans-Timmermans-latest
Antifa Attacks Old Man With Crowbar in Portland
https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=khwFr_1561918078
No Skirts: British Schoolgirls Ordered to Wear ‘Gender Neutral’ Trousers in Bradford (breitbart, Jul 1, 2019)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/07/01/no-skirts-british-schoolgirls-ordered-wear-gender-neutral-trousers/
“Schoolgirls at Appleton Academy in Bradford, West Yorkshire, have been ordered to wear “gender neutral” trousers instead of skirts at the start of the next academic year.
“The minor policy change means that, from September 2019, the uniform for all secondary pupils is changing to trousers only,” stated the Exceed Academies Trust which runs the Appleton Academy — which was rated as requiring improvement by schools regulator Ofsted — in comments reported by the Daily Mirror.
“There are a number of reasons for this change; it is gender neutral in line with the policy in the majority of secondary schools, it simplifies the uniform and it removes the issue of pupils wearing skirts that are an inappropriate length.
“In response to the policy change, the reaction from our pupils has been very mature; they have calmly asked the reason behind the decision and politely accepted the explanation provided,” they claimed — but pupils and parents who described the decision as “ridiculous” and “sexist” begged to differ.
“I think it’s disgusting and actually sexist,” said one mother who wished to remain anonymous.
“They’re not going to go and force the boys to wear skirts,” she said.
“Women from all the generations before this one wore skirts without any problems, what’s changed now?” she asked.
“What’s really annoying is that the first any of us heard about the change was on social media. We didn’t get the letter until a day later.”
“I think it’s absolutely ridiculous,” concured a Year 10 schoolgirl, who also wished to remain anonymous.
“I really don’t like having the choice taken away from me. I like wearing a skirt because I find them comfortable, not for any reason other than that,” she said.
“Some people say that wearing a skirt makes you look like a tart and things like that. It’s just a piece of clothing, I don’t understand.”
Bradford is one of Britain’s most culturally diverse and ethnically divided cities, with a very large Muslim minority of largely Pakistani origin, although a high proportion of the thousands of Syrian refugees the country has taken in have also been housed there.”
Hindus don’t mess around. This may be hard to watch:
Muslim Groom Killed By Hindu Mob In 18-Hr Torture Ordeal
https://indiametropolitan.com/muslim-groom-killed-by-hindu-mob-in-18-hr-torture-ordeal/
Nor do Kazachi, their Arab guests apparently overstayed their welcome:
https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=kl4ol_1561913259
Sri Lanka: Muslim doctor accused of sterilizing non-Muslim patients without knowledge, consent (VIDEO in French)
https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=kwItl_1559923909
Dr Siyabdeen Mohammed Safi, 42, worked at Kurunegala Hospital in Sri Lanka. Some of the women have accused the doctor of sterilising them during a standard Caesarean procedure.
Numerous reports have suggested that thousands of women may have unknowingly undergone the procedure known as Tubal Ligation. The surgery involves the clamping, blocking, or sealing of the fallopian tubes in order to prevent fertilized eggs from reaching the uterus for implantation.
The 42-year-old surgeon was arrested by Kurunegala Police last week for amassing unusually large sums of money and assets. According to reports, police will be investigating whether the money was obtained from a terrorist organisation
Hindutva Brigade Beat Muslims For Eating Cow Meat
https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=Lw4T_1559571821
Lebanon forces Syrian refugees to tear down walls (abcnews, Jul 1, 2019)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/lebanon-forces-syrian-refugees-tear-walls-64058885
“Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency says Lebanese troops have entered refugee settlements in a town near the Syrian border to make sure that brick and concrete walls have been torn down.
Earlier this year, the military gave refugees until July 1 to remove any wall taller than waist high.
NNA said only four of the 20 settlements that the troops visited on Monday still had walls.
Arsal is home to 60,000 refugees who live in informal camps set up in the fields.
Save the Children spokeswoman Joelle Bassoul said up to 3,000 homes were supposed to be demolished in Arsal, adding that less than half were demolished by the refugees. She said they have reports the army moved into three camps and demolished some homes.”
Iranian media say uranium stockpile exceeds 2015 limits (abcnews, Jul 1, 2019)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/iranian-media-uranium-stockpile-exceeds-2015-limits-64058790
The Latest: Germany: Migrant ship captain should be released (abcnews, Jul 1, 2019)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/latest-germany-migrant-ship-captain-released-64058217
“Germany’s foreign minister says the captain of a migrant rescue ship in Italian custody should be released because saving lives is a humanitarian act, not criminal.
Heiko Maas told reporters Monday he’d been in contact with Italian authorities to press the case that it is “not acceptable” to criminalize the rescue of migrants in the Mediterranean.
German citizen Carola Rackete has been in custody since Saturday when she defied Italy’s anti-migrant interior minister, Matteo Salvini, and port authorities by steering her Sea-Watch 3 ship to Lampedusa’s dock so the 40 migrants the ship rescued on June 12 could disembark.
Maas says “sea rescue is no crime, it is a humanitarian act, and therefore anything that does not lead to (her) release would cause considerable irritation.””
She’s 31, a Ship’s Captain, and She Just Torpedoed Italy’s Relationship With EU Partners
Europe’s migrant crisis has a fresh new face: a 31-year-old German ship captain who was arrested over the weekend for defying Italy’s zero-tolerance “closed ports” policy.
With a cascade of boos pouring down from onlookers, the dreadlocked Carola Rakete, captain of the aid boat Sea Watch 3, was taken into custody by armed Italian officers at a port on the tiny Mediterranean island of Lampedusa. Rakete faces a fine of 50,000 euros and possible jail time for bringing 40 ailing migrants, stranded at sea for much of June, to shore.
The timing of Italy’s arrest of the young German, captaining a Dutch-flagged ship, couldn’t have come at a more fraught moment for Italy and the European Union. In the hours before her arrest, the European Commission had tried to broker a deal to avoid a diplomatic row, proposing that the migrants be distributed between five European countries. That olive branch failed to diffuse the showdown at the port, however.
At the G20 Summit in Japan, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte scrambled to address the matter in the hours after her arrest, but his comments did little to lower the geopolitical tensions back home. Hours later, Germany expressed its indignation with the arrest of one of its own. Foreign Minister Heiko Maas was particularly critical of Italy’s heavy-handed approach. “It’s a humanitarian duty to save lives,” he wrote on Twitter. “It is on the Italian judiciary to swiftly clarify the accusations.”
Meanwhile, separate crowdfunding appeals to finance Sea Watch’s legal defense launched in Italy and Germany in recent days raised more than 1 million euros, a bit of a public relations black-eye for Italy’s anti-immigration government led by the Facebook-savvy vice premier Matteo Salvini.
For weeks, the Sea Watch saga has played out daily on social media, in the press and even in the halls of the Vatican where Pope Francis weighed in to defend the aid group. The latest episode risks further dividing the bloc down a Left-Right fault line, pitting civil society groups, clearly in the corner of Rakete, against hardliners such as Salvini who’s staked his rise to power on cracking down on mass migration reaching Italian shores.
Salvini also couldn’t have been all that pleased with the outcome. The ordeal in Lampedusa occurred as European leaders met in Brussels over the weekend in an intense fit of horse-trading to secure the bloc’s top positions, including a successor to European Central Bank President Mario Draghi. That, and the presidencies of the European Commission, Parliament, Council are all up for grabs. Traditionally, member states put aside their differences during these negotiations, trading favors and striking alliances to get their preferred candidate the plumb assignments.
And Italy, more than ever, could use some friends in Brussels. The country has run afoul of European Union budget rules, and is facing a possible 3.5 billion euro fine plus demands to introduce more austere spending measures. Salvini, meanwhile, has repeatedly urged Brussels to back off as he hopes to deliver tax cuts to Italian businesses and taxpayers. This impasse over Italy’s budget has raged for much of the past year, at times roiling global stock markets and sending the so-called “risk spread” between Italian and German bonds soaring.
On Monday morning, the spread was little moved, but that’s mainly because the markets believe another Italian – ECB president Draghi – is poised to cut rates and re-introduce a new tranche of bond-buying in his remaining months, two moves that would serve as a lifeline to Salvini and his governing coalition partners in Rome.
https://fortune.com/2019/07/01/shes-31-a-ships-captain-and-she-just-torpedoed-italys-relationship-with-eu-partners-2/
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Berlin, Paris fume at Italy over Sea Watch case
BERLIN / PARIS/ ROME
Row over Sea Watch 3. High-ranking politicians in Germany and France have strongly criticised the Italian government for arresting Carola Rakete, the captain of the ship Sea-Watch 3 who rescued migrants at risk of drowning in the Mediterranean.
On 26 June, the Sea-Watch 3 NGO boat, carrying dozens of migrants rescued in the Mediterranean, entered Italian waters off Lampedusa island despite the threat of hefty fines from Italy’s interior minister Matteo Salvini. The 31-year-old captain was then arrested and may be sentenced to 10 years in prison.
“I would expect a country like Italy to handle such a case differently”, Germany’s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Sunday.
“Someone who saves lives cannot be a criminal,” Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) said, adding that saving lives is a “humanitarian obligation”, which must not be criminalised and called on the Italian judiciary to quickly clear the allegations.
Similarly, in Paris, French government spokesperson Sibeth Ndiaye accused Rome of creating hysteria.
“I’m sorry we arrived at this situation because the Italian government made the choice of creating hysteria on very painful topics,” Ndiaye said.
Speaking on the sidelines of the EU Council, Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte described the situation as “political blackmail”, and pinned the blame on the captain. “In 15 days the captain could have reached other ports,” he said.
Meanwhile, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) called on EU leaders to demand her release and put an end to the Italian government’s “inhumane and immoral closed port policy”.
https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/berlin-paris-fume-at-italy-over-sea-watch-case/
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Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said he had been asked about the case by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, but told her he “cannot intervene to dictate how judges behave”.
France was also quick to criticise the arrest, accusing Rome of creating “hysteria”.
Italy’s President Sergio Mattarella called for those involved to “tone it down”.
If the skipper is freed on bail, Salvini might enforce an order already prepared by his ministry to expel her from the country.
The case has sparked two fund-raising appeals for Rackete’s legal costs, which have collectively raised almost 1.2 million euros ($1.36 million).
[…]But she has drawn criticism from some by knocking the police boat, which was attempting to stop her from docking.
The German charity Sea-Watch has accused the Italian police of causing the incident at the port by nipping into the closing gap between the vessel and the pier.
Rackete “performed all manoeuvres very slowly, in a non-confrontational manner,” it said in a statement.
It said the police “obviously miscalculated the right time to sail away,” and insisted the vessels “only slightly touched each other”.
https://today.rtl.lu/news/world/a/1370471.html
==============================================
MUNICH – GERMANY –
German leaders condemn arrest of lawbreaking Sea Watch 3 captain
German politicians have condemned, in harsh comments, the arrest of Sea Watch captain Carola Rackete. Rackete was arrested on Saturday night after entering the port of Lampedusa with her vessel Sea Watch 3 carrying 40 illegal immigrants aboard.
This move by Rakete is blatantly illegal under Italian law. In addition, she ran into a boat of the Italian financial police, damaging it. According to the news agency Ansa, Rakete has been threatened with appropriate charges which could lead to between three and ten years in prison. Rackete is currently under house arrest.
Despite her obvious transgressions, Germany’s Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has now demanded Rackete’s release. “Those who save human life, can not be a criminal,” Steinmeier said in an interview with German broadcaster ZDF.
Germany expects a different way of dealing with such cases from a country such as Italy, one of the founders of the EU, he said.
This comment clearly provoked Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini. The Lega leader replied on Twitter, calling on Steinmeier to deal with German affairs and to rather encourage his fellow countrymen to stop breaking Italian laws.
German Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) also declared his solidarity with the 31-year-old captain of the human trafficking vessel. On Twitter, he wrote: “Saving lives is a humanitarian obligation. Sea rescue must not be criminalized. ”
German Development Minister Gerd Müller (CSU) called for the “immediate release” of the mendacious captain and an end to the “untenable situation”. Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser also spoke up. “People who save lives should not be arrested,” he wrote on Twitter.
“People who kill, sow and promote hate should be arrested.” This was not the first time that Kaeser had commented on the politics of the day. In the past year Kaeser had attacked AfD chief Alice Weidel on Twitter and accused her of an attachment to Nazism.
Green Party chief Robert Habeck told the editorial network of Germany on Sunday: “The real scandal is the drowning in the Mediterranean, the lack of legal escape routes and a missing distribution mechanism in Europe.”
The television presenters Jan Böhmerman and Klaas Heufer-Umlauf even started a donation campaign for Rackete. So far, according to media reports, more than one million euros have been received. “With the events of the last few days, this inhuman, cold-blooded and unscrupulous policy has reached a new low,” said Böhmermann, explaining his commitment.
The deafening silence from Merkel’s Chancellery, from the rest of CDU/CSU and the FDP signaled clear support for lawbreaker Rakete. Rakete herself has said she is “ready to go to jail”, suggesting that she herself is well aware of her intention to ignore laws.
Carola Rackete, the captain of the Sea-Watch 3 migrant-rescue ship, has been put under investigation by prosecutors in the Sicilian city of Agrigento, sources confirmed on Friday.
Her ship is currently anchored in front of the port of Lampedusa after Rackete defied an order to stay out of Italian waters on Wednesday. The migrants were picked up from human traffickers just off Libya over two weeks ago.
Rackete, 31-year-old German, is being probed for allegedly aiding illegal immigration for refusing to obey a military vessel, the sources said.
Premier Giuseppe Conte said on Friday that several EU States have agreed to take in some of the more than 40 migrants on board to end the deadlock.
“Three or four countries are willing to take part in the redistribution of the Sea-Watch migrants,” Conte told reporters at the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan.
According to Italian Foreign Ministry sources, more than four EU countries were willing to take some of the Sea-Watch migrants, including France, Germany, Luxembourg and Portugal.
The Dutch have not signalled a willingness to take in migrants from the Sea Watch 3 even though it flies under a flag from the Netherlands. Conte had had a long meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on the sidelines of the G20.
The ship is run but a German NGO but it is flies the Dutch flag. Rome has argued that the Netherlands should have intervened sooner in this case. This week the Italian embassy in The Hague took a formal step to look into a possible dereliction of duty by Dutch authorities regarding the case.
Rakete’s stand against Italian law, was captured by cameras provided by the NDR, which was “embedded” with two journalists on the vessel.
The NDR journalists on the Sea Watch 3 boat had reported – before entering the Italian port – about “the deplorable condition of the poor refugees”. The German moderator of the televised programme then denounced the Italian Minister of the Interior as a “vociferous right-wing populist”.
It is not clear how the German state broadcaster was able to accompany the vessel.
In Italy, the leftwing European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) also condemned the arrest by the Italian authorities of Rakete. “Saving people at sea is a moral and legal duty” said Luca Visentini, Secretary General of the ETUC “and people who do it should be honoured not arrested.”
“EU leaders meeting tomorrow should demand her release and an end to the Italian government’s inhumane and immoral closed port policy. Italy should not be allowed to get away with criminalising those who save lives, and member states should work together to host those fleeing war and persecution as is their duty under international law. An EU wide solution to managing migration in a decent and humane way is long-overdue.”
http://freewestmedia.com/2019/07/01/german-leaders-condemn-arrest-of-lawbreaking-sea-watch-3-captain/
Heiko Maas
Beatrix von Storch : “Carola Rackete ist keine Heldin, sondern eine Kriminelle!”
Steinmeier
Migrants detained in Libya, caught in crossfire, seek aid (abcnews, Jul 1, 2019)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/migrants-detained-libya-caught-crossfire-seek-aid-64057275
“Eritrean migrants detained in western Libya said Monday they were caught in the crossfire between rival militias.
They are among thousands of detained migrants, mostly apprehended by local forces funded by the European Union, who have suffered abuses at the hands of traffickers and are now caught up in the armed conflict. The Associated Press recently documented abuses at another detention facility, where hundreds of migrants have been held in filthy conditions , with barely enough food to survive…”
Pakistan authorities say 3 Taliban killed in shootout (abcnews, Jul 1, 2019)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/pakistan-authorities-taliban-killed-shootout-64056833
“Authorities in Pakistan say counterterrorism forces have raided a Taliban hideout, triggering a shootout that killed three insurgents in the eastern city of Gujrat.
The provincial Counter-Terrorism Department says in a statement that the three alleged militants were killed Sunday when they had gathered near a key road in Gujrat to plan attacks on security forces. It says the slain men were linked to the 2007 bomb attack on a Pakistan Air Force bus in which several people were killed.
There was no immediate comment from the Pakistani Taliban, who have carried out scores of attacks including the 2007 assault.
Human rights activists have accused Pakistani authorities of extra-judicial killings in the past.”
Farage: We Must End ‘Globalist Drive’ to Outsource People’s Sovereignty to Elites (breitbart, Jul 1, 2019)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/07/01/farage-we-must-end-globalist-drive-give-away-peoples-futures/
“Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage has said that patriots must end the “globalist drive” to outsource decision-making to supranational bodies like the EU, warning that the elites want to see the nation-state “dissolved”….”
PT decides against going to war with Iran even before Soros and Koch bro’s get a chance to tell PT what to do before he does it. Soros and Koch bro’s suppress anger over PT stealing thunder. Suck eachother’s thumbs to pacify.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2019/06/30/soros-and-koch-brothers-team-end-forever-war-policy/WhyENwjhG0vfo9Um6Zl0JO/story.html
What a flapping relief to see the Koch brothers finally being outed for the puppetmasters that they are. You can’t spit between the difference between them and Soros.
Clinton Lawyer Changes Story on Emails
Restart LIVE in HK 11: Protesters Break into Govt Building
LIVE IN HONG KONG 10: Un-Independence Day
LIVE IN HONG KONG 9: Now the Eggs Are Flying
0:01 / 19:05
HONG KONG
LIVE IN HONG KONG 9: So Many Armed Police!
8 Things You Need To Know About The Violent Attack On Andy Ngo
Richard: Antifa attacks people in Portland and ABC published an article about how right wing groups may, I repeat may commit terror attacks over the 4rh. They think we are so stupid we won’t understand that they are trying to shift our attention from the left wing groups that are carrying our real terror attacks to the right who aren’t attacking anyone.
‘Domestic’ terrorists could target July 4 holiday events, but no known plots: Feds
Federal authorities are warning that white supremacists and other political radicals could look to attack Independence Day revelers on July 4, noting in a bulletin to law enforcement around the country that domestic terrorists “have attacked perceived oppressors, opponents, or enemies engaged in outdoor First Amendment-protected rallies or protests during past summers.”
https://abcnews.go.com/US/domestic-terrorists-target-july-holiday-events-federal-authorities/story?id=64038406
‘Domestic’ terrorists could target July 4 holiday events, but no known plots: Feds
Any group attempting to attack people who cluster up on Independence Day will quickly find themselves fitted for a classic hemp necktie.
If there’s anything left to tie it around, that is …
I will personally take time out—in jail if necessary—to make sure a July 4th attacker doesn’t leave the scene of their crime alive (or unmutilated).
Just because Antifa is baring its fangs doesn’t mean that people automatically should be cowed into baring their necks. All the American people need do is bare their claws just once and Antifa will be
shitspit in the ocean.CBC – Vancouver’s teen climate activist
As part of CBC’s deep dive on climate change called In Our Backyard, we introduce you to Rebecca Hamilton, a 16-year-old from Vancouver who’s committed everything to the cause.
CBC – What’s driving populism in Canada?
According to a new poll for CBC News, Canadians are becoming more likely to hold populist sentiments.
More recent liveleak stuff, last month or so:
Plastic chairs VS gun (repost?)
https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=sKSEv_1560043490
Eid Prayers Aborted due to hindu extremists
https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=9iei5_1560293374
LONDON STOP AND SEARCH MUSLIM MIGRANT MR HAMZA HADDIDI FOUND WITH A 12″ ZOMBIE KNIFE !
https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=so4G0_1560016352
very short, does anybody have the full video? UK SLOUGH TWO FEMALES GET SOME MUSLIM CUSTOMER SERVICE FROM MR MOHAMMAD
https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=aujoo_1560252868
AUSTRALIA SUDENESE MUSLIM MIGRANT WANT`S MORE BENIFITS
https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=CTdkX_1561285333
Riots in Poland after Muslim killed Polish man (I think this is older footage)
https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=k7kZ9_1559588942
Aftermath of that recent explosion in Sweden:
https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=9T8g6_1560116529
Hindu Extremists Force Beef-Selling Muslim To Eat Pork
https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=w4xj_1555313411
At around the 2:00 mark and other places, Trudeau speaks French but doesn’t repeat what he says in English. Can we please have this looked at for subtitles?
Here’s the link to video:
http://www.cpac.ca/en/programs/headline-politics/episodes/90011645#
Alleged shooter on Utrecht tram rejects Dutch law
AMSTERDAM, July 1 (Reuters) – An alleged shooter who killed four people on a tram in the Dutch city of Utrecht in March appeared at a pre-trial hearing on Monday and said he rejected Dutch law and did not recognise the court’s authority.
“Coward! Coward! You’re a pig,” the father of one of the victims yelled as Turkish-born Gokmen Tanis, 37 was led from the courtroom after the brief session.
On March 18, Tanis is alleged to have opened fire indiscriminately, killing a 19-year-old woman, a 28 year-old-man, the 49-year-old father of two young children and a 74-year old man, who died several days after the shooting.
Tanis spoke briefly on Monday, telling the judges: “I am not a democrat. I don’t recognise you or your court,” ANP news agency quoted him as saying. He said he didn’t need a defence lawyer because “I already confessed.”
Tanis is believed to have acted alone and prosecutors have said they intend to charge him with four counts of murder, or manslaughter. An investigation is looking into the possible involvement of others in the crimes.
Prosecutors on Monday told the court they had strong indications Tanis carried out the shooting with “terrorist intent”. They cited a handwritten note recovered from the getaway car, in which they said Tanis wrote that he had committed the actions in support of Islam.
Prosecutors said Tanis is being admitted for psychiatric evaluation and is known as “a difficult person, a drug user, a repeat offender who is not open to receiving medical help.”
Tanis is set to appear in court again on July 15 as a suspect in a rape case, prosecutors said. The next pre-trial hearing in the shooting case was set for September 23.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-7200331/Alleged-shooter-Utrecht-tram-rejects-Dutch-law.html
March 2019 – Scene of deadly shooting on a tram in the Netherlands
Pakistani Army Violated Ceasefire Pact With India 1,248 Times in 2019 – Indian Defence Minister (sputniknews, Jul 1, 2019)
https://sputniknews.com/asia/201907011076115496-pakistani-army-violated-ceasefire-pact-with-india-1248-times-in-2019—indian-defence-minister/
“Kashmir has been a major point of contention between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947. Both claim the territory in full but control only a portion of it. Two wars were fought over Kashmir, while a third was waged in 1971 over the eastern enclave of Pakistan, which later became independent Bangladesh.
New Delhi (Sputnik): The Pakistan Army has violated the bilateral ceasefire agreement with India 1,248 times on the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border between India and Pakistan, during the first six months of 2019. The Indian Army has retaliated “appropriately”, said Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday.
Addressing the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Indian Parliament, the Defense Minister said Indian authorities had raised this issue with Pakistan authorities through the established mechanisms including hotlines, flag-meetings and diplomatic channels.
The minister also told parliament that this year four persons were killed in shelling by Pakistan forces along the LoC.
In 2003, the two neighbours signed a ceasefire agreement at the LoC, it was billed as the biggest confidence building measure (CBM) between them at the time.
Relations between New Delhi and Islamabad soured after a series of incidents, the Kargil conflict in 1999, failed Summit between the two countries in Agra and the attack on Indian Parliament in 2001.
Earlier this year, tensions between the two countries escalated, after 40 members of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force were killed by a suicide bomber in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district. India accused Pakistan of providing safe heaven and logistic support to the secessionists and bombed suspected terror camps in the Pakistan-controlled Balakot area on 26 February. The Pakistan Air Force retaliated a day later, leading to a dogfight.”
UK: 80 Per Cent of Police Physically Attacked as Violent Crime Rises (breitbart, Jul 1, 2019)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/07/01/80-per-cent-british-police-physically-attacked-violent-crime-rises/
“Last year, 80 per cent of British police officers were physically attacked whilst on the job, with officers describing assaults including being spat on and bitten, a survey has found.
The Channel 4 study, conducted for its Dispatches series, also found that of the 1,000 officers surveyed, one-third said they had suffered injury.
Ninety per cent of respondents also said that attacks are becoming more frequent, in figures reported by The Times.
Home Office statistics revealed that in 2017/18, there were 26,000 assaults against police officers, up 20 per cent over two years and up 70 per cent since 2011. Officers are being attacked on average every 20 minutes, with police calling for urgent assistance 82 times per day.
The newspaper also reported that a Freedom of Information request revealed that officers were off sick for more than a combined 500,000 days last year for mental health reasons, with 34 per cent of those forced to retire on medical grounds doing so because of problems with their mental heath.
The Channel 4 figures emerge as a University of Cambridge study of 17,000 British police officers revealed that one in five claim to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a mental health issue commonly associated with combat soldiers and veterans.
Neuropsychology research fellow Dr Jess Miller, who led the research, told The Telegraph: “If you put any person in a situation where they’re repeatedly abused, then cognitive function and wellbeing are going to suffer as a result.
“The most stark finding was that one in five officers and staff have some form of PTSD with 90 per cent of officers reportedly having been exposed to a traumatic incident.
“If you continually experience trauma again and again and again without resetting that stress response, that’s when the disorder kicks in.”
Police officers are not the only first responders in Britain to be experiencing rising violence in the line of duty. Trade union GMB released statistics last year revealing that 72 per cent of ambulance workers have been attacked, with staff having been left with broken bones, stab wounds, and bite marks whilst trying to discharge their duties administering medical aid.
There has also been a rise in attacks on firefighters, and two prison guards are treated by accident and emergency units in hospitals every day.
The rising violence against police comes amidst a rise in violent crime generally in the United Kingdom, and in its multicultural urban centres in particular.
Last year’s Crime Survey revealed that one in five people in England and Wales had experienced a crime, while statistics from February showed homicide at its highest rate for a decade. June figures from the Ministry of Justice revealed knife crime at a nine-year high, and fatal stabbings at their highest level since records began.
UK-based ‘Muslim Scholars’ Demand ‘Fascist’ Israel Returned to Arabs, Want Jerusalem as Caliphate Capital (breitbart, Jul 1, 2019)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/07/01/uk-based-muslim-scholars-demand-fascist-israel-returned-arabs-jerusalem-caliphate-capital/
“Twenty-six “Muslim scholars” based in Britain have called for “fascist” Israel to be returned to the Arabs, and expressed their hope that “Jerusalem will be the capital of the Islamic Caliphate when it returns, Allah willing.”…”
Sure,how does Thursday week suit you.?
“Mark Durie – Understanding Islam and the Theology of the Quran” – 7:12:40
Sentinel Apologetics – Published on June 10, 2019
While Chanting ‘Allah O Akbar’ And ‘Naara E Takbeer’, Mob Vandalises Temple In Delhi’s Chandni Chowk (swarajyamg, Jul 1, 2019)
https://swarajyamag.com/insta/while-chanting-allah-o-akbar-and-naara-e-takbeer-mob-vandalises-temple-in-delhis-chandni-chowk
“A temple was vandalised in Delhi’s Chandni Chowk after clashes broke out between two communities over a parking dispute on Sunday night (30 June), Press Trust of India has reported.
The incident is said to have happened after a man began assaulting a few intoxicated men over a parking dispute. The fight soon escalated and a mob vandalised a temple in the area at about 10 pm which triggered communal tensions…”
https://twitter.com/i/status/1145603772594323456
UN urges resettlement of nearly 1.5 million refugees (DW, Jul 1, 2019)
https://www.dw.com/en/un-urges-resettlement-of-nearly-15-million-refugees/a-49435819
“From Turkey to the Horn of Africa, refugees are in dire need of permanent resettlement. The UNHCR said there “simply has to be more equitable sharing of responsibility for global crises.”
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Monday said by next year, nearly 1.5 million refugees residing in more than 60 host countries will be in need of resettlement.
“Given the record numbers of people needing safety from war, conflict and persecution and the lack of political solutions to these situations, we urgently need countries to come forward and resettle more refugees,” said UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi.
The region with the highest resettlement needs is the area that comprises East Africa and the Horn of Africa, with nearly 450,000 refugees. Turkey comes in second with 420,000, while the wider Middle East and North Africa region hosts 250,000 refugees in need of resettlement.
“History has shown that with a strong sense of purpose, states can come together to collectively respond to refugee crises, and help millions to reach safety, find homes and build futures in new communities,” Grandi said.
Global problem
Since the 2015 migration crisis, the European Union has also struggled with resettling refugees, in part due to right-wing and populist resistance to it. Berlin has pushed for refugees to be resettled from frontline countries such as Italy and Greece to other EU member states in order to share the burden across the bloc.
Despite an agreement in 2015 between EU member states, a system for redistributing refugees across the EU has failed to gain traction. For Grandi, a similar situation is playing out at the global level.
“With the overwhelming majority — 84 percent — of the world’s refugees hosted in developing regions facing their own development and economic challenges and whose own populations may live below the poverty line, there simply has to be more equitable sharing of responsibility for global crises,” Grandi said.
According to the UNHCR, less than 100,000 refugees were resettled last year, a mere fraction of those in need of permanent sanctuary.”
UN warns Italy against criminalizing sea rescue (DW, Jul 1, 2019)
https://www.dw.com/en/un-warns-italy-against-criminalizing-sea-rescue/a-49437003
“The global organization’s comments come after the arrest of German captain Carola Rackete. The 31-year-old contravened Italian law when landing with 42 rescued passengers last week.
The United Nations criticized Italy on Monday for its hostility towards refugee rescue ships. The comments came amid raised tensions between Berlin and Rome regarding the detention of German Sea Watch captain Carola Rackete.
The UN’s Stephane Dujarric said in a daily press briefing that “no vessel or ship master should be at risk of being fined for coming to the aid of boats in distress, where loss of life is imminent.”
“Sea rescue is a longstanding humanitarian imperative. It’s also an obligation under international law.”
The captain of the Sea-Watch 3 was put under house arrest at the weekend after she forced her vessel into the Italian port of Lampedusa, citing the welfare of a number of refugees she had rescued.
The spokesperson for Secretary General Antonio Gutteres said that the UN was “concerned by the recent decree from the government regarding NGO vessels.”
The spokesperson was referring to Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini’s successful implementation of legislation to fine ships that flout orders to stay out of Italian waters. The range of fines varies from €10,000 to €50,000 ($11,360 to $56,800). There is also the possibility of criminal action against the crew, as well as the confiscation of the vessel.
The announcement came in the wake of the German foreign office pleading with Italian officials to set Rackete free.
“We refuse to allow sea rescue to be criminalized. In our view, the only feasible outcome of current proceedings under the rule of law can be the release of Carola Rackete,” Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said.
He added: “Haggling over refugee distribution is undignified and must stop. We urgently need a European solution — one that is also in line with our European values.”
But Salvini called Rackete “the German criminal” and has previously described the right to defend Italian borders as “sacred.”
German and Italian officials appeared to be at loggerheads as Germany’s European Commissioner Guenther Oettinger, who told broadcaster ZDF: “I don’t care about Salvini’s assessment. As a citizen of Europe, I have full understanding for this woman, who acted bravely, in my view. And I have confidence in Italian justice,” he said.
“This is not about an isolated incident. This is about finding a solution in Europe at last regarding how we deal with refugees.”
Meanwhile, an Italian investigating judge said that Rackete must remain under house arrest for a further night.”