Archive for the ‘Islamic invasion’ category

Backlash in Europe: ‘Far Right’ Seethes Over Migrant Crisis

May 22, 2016

Backlash in Europe: ‘Far Right’ Seethes Over Migrant Crisis, Clarion Project, May 22, 2016

Spain-Anti-Migrant-Rally-IPAnti-immigration rally in Madrid (Photo: Screenshot video)

1. According to the latest news, Austria will elect as president the candidate from the far-Right Freedom Party in its upcoming elections. Analysts say Norber Hofer’s support (including, ironically some long-time immigrants) stems from voters frustrated by the two main parties over the immigrant crisis and its accompanying crimes, as well as unemployment.

Although the office is largely ceremonial, such a vote will be very significant, as analyst say that Hofer’s election may provide an impetus for populous change in Europe.

2. Wahhabism has taken root in Kosovo, just 17 years after America and its allies stepped in to free Muslims and prevent a total genocide at the hands of the Serbians. “Since then,” reports the New York Times, “much of that time under the watch of American officials — Saudi money and influence have transformed this once-tolerant Muslim society at the hem of Europe into a font of Islamic extremism and a pipeline for jihadists.”

Police say that over the past two years, per capita, more Muslims from Kosovo, have left to join the Islamic State, including suicide bombers, women and children.

3. Christians seeking asylum in Europe can be exposed to as much danger from Islamist extremists as those they fled from in the Middle East. A new survey shows that thousands of Christians in Germany have been attacked and harassed by fellow migrants and Muslim guards at asylum houses.

Particularly at risk are those Muslims who have chosen to convert to Christianity. The survey was conducted by Open Doors, a humanitarian relief organization. One member of the group, Markus Rhodes, called the survey the “tip of the iceberg.”

4. A senior law enforcement official in Germany has proposed monitoring mosques to know “what is preached there.”  Emily Haber, the state secretary at the German Ministry of the Interior, further stated, “We cannot stay indifferent.

“We need to bring into view more on what is developing there. We need to move fast. It must also be clear who and from what country comes to Germany as imams. This scene must not remain unwatched and uncontrolled.”

5. Rallies against immigration were held in Madrid and Rome over the weekend. In Spain, under the title “Defend Spain, defend your people,” marchers called for an end to the “invasion,” chanting “Refugees no, Spanish yes.”  A Facebook post explaining the reason for the demonstration read in part, “Sometimes, we try to avoid the problem by closing our eyes, and looking the other way. That makes us believe that the problem goes away, but it’s not like that.

“Passivity, and silence as demanded by the politically correct, wants us to believe that we are free, but by staying still we are complicit in the decline of our people, our identity, of our ways. Looking the other way just accelerates our own destruction, and sells our freedom to the highest bidder.”

6. Pope Francis will meet Egypt’s top cleric, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the grand imam of Cairo’s of Al-Azhar Mosque, considered the seat of Sunni Islam. The historic visit at the Vatican is the first since relations were suspended in 2011 after Pope Benedict XVI called for the protection of Christians after a church bombing in Alexandria.

Al-Tayeb, was appointed by former Egyptian President Hosni Mubrak and supported the popularly-backed military coup that overthrew former Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in 2013. At a conference against terrorism in Saudi Arabia, al-Tayeb blamed Zionism and its allies (i.e. the United States) for the current problems in the Middle East.

Sweden’s Holy War on Children’s Books

May 21, 2016

Sweden’s Holy War on Children’s Books, Gatestone InstituteJudith Bergman, May 21, 2016

♦ Taken to its extremes, the urge to cleanse a culture of elements that do not live up to the politically correct orthodoxy currently in political vogue unsettlingly echoes the Taliban and ISIS credos of destroying everything that does not accord with their Quranic views. The desire “not to offend,” taken to its logical conclusion, is a totalitarian impulse, which threatens to destroy everything that disagrees with its doctrines. Crucially, who gets to decide what is offensive?

♦ The question arises: How much purging and expiation will be needed to render a country’s culture politically correct?

♦ “When we have days of carnivals and music the goal is that these days should be experienced as positive by everyone. The Swedish flag is not allowed as part of carnival dress. … Positive and bright feelings must be in focus. … School photos must obviously be free of national symbols.” — Swedish school in Halmstad.

♦ Rome covered up its classical nude statues for a visit from Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, in January 2016. A decade ago, who would have even imagined such sycophancy?

In 1966, one of Sweden’s most popular children’s writers, Jan Lööf, published Grandpa is a Pirate, an illustrated children’s book, which featured, among other characters, the wicked pirate Omar and the street peddler, Abdullah. The book has been a bestseller ever since, and has been translated into English (as My Grandpa is a Pirate), Spanish, French and other languages. Ten years ago, 100,000 copies of it were even distributed to the Swedish public with McDonald’s Happy Meals, as part of an initiative to support reading among children.

Ah, but those were the days of yesteryear! Now, fifty years later, the book is no longer tolerable. The now 76-year-old author told Swedish news outlets that his publisher recently said that unless he rewrites the book and changes the illustrations, it will be taken off the market. The publisher also threatened to withdraw another of his books unless it is redone: it features an illustration of a black jazz musician who sleeps with his sunglasses on.

Lööf’s publisher, the Swedish publishing giant Bonnier Carlsen, says that it has not yet made a final decision and that it only views the rewriting and re-illustrating of the books as “an option.” There is no doubt, however, that they consider the books in question extremely problematic.

“The books stereotype other cultures, something which is not strange, since all illustrations are created in a context, in their own time, and times change,” said Eva Dahlin, who heads Bonnier Carlsen’s literary department.

“But if you come from the Middle East, for instance, you can get tired from rarely being featured on the good side in literary depictions. Children’s books are special because they are read over a longer period of time and the norms of the past live on in them, unedited. As an adult, one may be wearing one’s nostalgic glasses and miss things that could be seen as problematic by others.”

Dahlin further explained that the publishing house spends a lot of time reviewing older publications, to check if such “problematic” passages occur. She added that the publishing house does not check for only culturally sensitive passages:

“There are many female editors, and therefore we have probably been more naturally aware of gender-biased depictions than these type of questions. But now we have better insights and a greater awareness of these issues.”

1612One of Sweden’s most popular children’s writers, Jan Lööf, was recently told by his publisher that unless he makes his bestselling 1966 book, Grandpa is a Pirate, more politically correct by rewriting it and changing the illustrations, it will be taken off the market

Sweden is no stranger to “literary revisions” of this kind, or other cultural revisions in the name of political correctness. Both Pippi Longstocking and other children’s books have gone through assorted revisions or have even been taken off the market. In the Pippi Longstocking television series, a scene in which Pippi squints her eyes to look Chinese has been edited out altogether, so as not to offend anyone. In 2013, a popular, award-winning Danish children’s book, Mustafa’s Kiosk, by Jakob Martin Strid, was taken off the market in Sweden after complaints on Swedish social media that it was racist and “Islamophobic.” Ironically, the author wrote it in 1998, when he was staying in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, as “an anti-racist statement.” Tellingly, the book had been on the Swedish market since 2002 with no complaints. In his response to the criticism, the Danish writer noted that an equal and non-racist society only comes about “when you are allowed to make (loving) fun of everyone.” “I also make fun of Norwegians,” he added.

In 2014, after complaints on Swedish social media that some of its candy was “racist,” the Haribo company decided to change one of its products, “Skipper Mix,” which consisted of candies shaped in the form of a sailor’s souvenirs, including African masks.

The question arises: How much purging and expiation will be needed to render a country’s culture politically correct?

That question raises an even bigger one: How high is the price of political correctness in terms of “cleansing” the past and present of perceived slights, anywhere, to just about anyone?

Taken to its extremes, the urge to cleanse a culture of elements that do not live up to the politically correct orthodoxy currently in political vogue unsettlingly echoes the Taliban and ISIS credos of destroying everything that does not accord with their Quranic views. The desire “not to offend,” taken to its logical conclusion, is a totalitarian impulse, which threatens to destroy everything that disagrees with its doctrines. Crucially, who gets to decide what is offensive?

What begins innocently enough, by taking out passages from books that may hurt someone’s feelings, can end up turning into something far more sinister, as it indeed has in Sweden. Former Swedish Prime Minister Frederik Reinfeldt famously stated in 2014 that Sweden belongs to immigrants, not to the Swedes who have lived there for generations. He thereby communicated that he believes the future of Sweden will be shaped by non-Swedes, showing a curious contempt for his own culture.

This contempt has spread fast throughout official Sweden. In 2014, a Swedish school in Halmstad forbade displaying the Swedish flag, after a student painted his face in the Swedish colors for a carnival. In its new rules, the school specified why:

“Most students look forward to school traditions. When we have days of carnivals and music the goal is that these days should be experienced as positive by everyone. The Swedish flag is not allowed as part of carnival dress. … Positive and bright feelings must be in focus. … School photos must obviously be free of national symbols.”

However, the “precedent” for such rules had already been set ten years prior, in 2004, at a school in Vaargaarda, when two girls had worn printed sweatshirts which happened to display the Swedish flag and the word “Sweden.” They were told that this kind of clothing was not allowed at school. One of the girls told reporters that singing the national anthem had also been forbidden at the school.

In 2012, two members of Sweden’s parliament suggested that statues of the Swedish Kings Carl XII and Gustav II Adolf should be removed, because they represent a time when Sweden was a great military power, “a dark time in our country as well as in other countries, which were affected by Swedish aggression,” as the MPs wrote in the motion. Instead, the MPs suggested, the squares of central Stockholm should be adorned in a way such that they “signal peace, tolerance, diversity, freedom and solidarity.”

In 2013, a Baroque painting of the nude goddess Juno was removed from the restaurant of the Swedish parliament, ostensibly to avoid offense to feminist and Muslim sensibilities.

The above should not be discarded as crazy practices peculiar to Sweden. On the contrary, they present a perfect case-study of the consequences of politically correct culture driven to the extreme.

Indeed, these consequences are already proliferating across the Western world. One particularly noteworthy instance took place when Iranian president Hassan Rouhani visited Rome in January 2016. To prevent Rouhani having “a hormonal shock and ripp[ing] up the freshly signed contracts with our Italian industries,” as one Italian columnist, Massimo Gramellini, wrote, Rome covered up its classical nude statues. Who would have even imagined such sycophancy a decade ago?

In Britain, students have recently campaigned for the removal of symbols of British imperialism, such as a statue of Cecil Rhodes at Oxford University. These students claim the campaign is not only about the statue itself, but that it is “…a campaign against racism at Oxford, of which the Rhodes statue is a small but symbolic part.” Already in 2000, the London Mayor Ken Livingstone suggested that statues of two 19th-century British generals should be removed from Trafalgar Square in London, based on his own ignorance:

“The people on the plinths in the main square of our capital city should be identifiable to the generality of the population. I haven’t a clue who two of the generals there are or what they did. I imagine that not one person in 10,000 going through Trafalgar Square knows any details about the lives of those two generals. It might be time to look at moving them and having figures ordinary Londoners and other people from around the world would know.” The problem with all this, of course, is that most of London’s wealth and greatness in terms of art and architecture is due largely to British colonialism, so the question is just how many buildings would be left standing in the British capital, if one were to take this issue and bring it to its logical conclusion.

The trouble with wanting to scrub the cultural and historical slate clean, as it were, is, of course, that countries cannot just press “delete” on their culture and history. Such a move would entail not just the removal of books, paintings and statues, but a complete purge. Those who truly care for history will know that this experiment has already been attempted, not once but several times over, by the various communist and Nazi movements of the twentieth century. While there is little comparison between those movements and the culture of political correctness, the impulse governing them all nevertheless remains the same: To forge and impose one singular “truth” on everyone, rooting out everything that does not fit the utopian mold. That is neither “diverse” nor “tolerant.”

EU-Turkey Migrant Deal Unravels

May 18, 2016

EU-Turkey Migrant Deal Unravels, Gatestone InstituteSoeren Kern, May 18, 2016

♦ “It can be expected that, as soon as Turkish citizens will obtain visa-free entry to the EU, foreign nationals will start trying to obtain Turkish passports … or use the identities of Turkish citizens, or to obtain by fraud the Turkish citizenship. This possibility may attract not only irregular migrants, but also criminals or terrorists.” — Leaked European Commission report, quoted in theTelegraph, May 17, 2016.

♦ According to the Telegraph, the EU report adds that as a result of the deal, the Turkish mafia, which traffics vast volumes of drugs, sex slaves, illegal firearms and refugees into Europe, may undergo “direct territorial expansion towards the EU.”

♦ “If they make the wrong decision, we will send the refugees.” — Burhan Kuzu, senior adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

♦ Erdogan is now demanding that the EU immediately hand over three billion euros ($3.4 billion) so that Turkish authorities can spend it as they see fit. The EU insists that the funds be transferred through international aid agencies in accordance with strict rules on how the aid can be spent. This prompted Erdogan to accuse the EU of “mocking the dignity” of the Turkish nation.

The EU-Turkey migrant deal, designed to halt the flow of migrants from Turkey to Greece, is falling apart just two months after it was reached. European officials are now looking for a back-up plan.

The March 18 deal was negotiated in great haste by European leaders desperate to gain control over a migration crisis in which more than one million migrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East poured into Europe in 2015.

European officials, who appear to have promised Turkey more than they can deliver, are increasingly divided over a crucial part of their end of the bargain: granting visa-free travel to Europe for Turkey’s 78 million citizens by the end of June.

At the same time, Turkey is digging in its heels, refusing to implement a key part of its end of the deal: bringing its anti-terrorism laws into line with EU standards so that they cannot be used to detain journalists and academics critical of the government.

A central turning point in the EU-Turkey deal was the May 5 resignation of Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who lost a long-running power struggle with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Davutoglu was a key architect of the EU-Turkey deal and was also considered its guarantor.

On May 6, just one day after Davutoglu’s resignation, Erdogan warned European leaders that Turkey would not be narrowing its definition of terrorism: “When Turkey is under attack from terrorist organizations and the powers that support them directly, or indirectly, the EU is telling us to change the law on terrorism,” Erdogan said in Istanbul. “They say ‘I am going to abolish visas and this is the condition.’ I am sorry, we are going our way and you go yours.”

Erdogan insists that Turkey’s anti-terrorism laws are needed to fight Kurdish militants at home and Islamic State jihadists in neighboring Syria and Iraq. Human rights groups counter that Erdogan is becoming increasingly authoritarian and is using the legislation indiscriminately to silence dissent of him and his government.

European officials say that, according to the original deal, visa liberalization for Turkish citizens is conditioned on Turkey amending its anti-terror laws. Erdogan warns that if there is no visa-free travel by the end of June, he will reopen the migration floodgates on July 1. Such a move would allow potentially millions more migrants to pour into Greece.

European officials are now discussing a Plan B. On May 8, the German newspaper Bild reported on a confidential plan to house all migrants arriving from Turkey on Greek islands in the Aegean Sea. Public transportation to and from those islands to the Greek mainland would be cut off in order to prevent migrants from moving into other parts of the European Union.

Migrants would remain on the islands permanently while their asylum applications are being processed. Those whose asylum requests are denied would be deported back to their countries of origin or third countries deemed as “safe.”

The plan, which Bild reports is being discussed at the highest echelons of European power, would effectively turn parts of Greece into massive refugee camps for many years to come. It remains unclear whether Greek leaders will have any say in the matter. It is also unclear how Plan B would reduce the number of migrants flowing into Europe.

1607Thousands of newly arrived migrants, the vast majority of whom are men, crowd the platforms at Vienna West Railway Station on August 15, 2015 — a common scene in the summer and fall of 2015. (Image source: Bwag/Wikimedia Commons)

Speaking to the BBC News program, “World on the Move,” on May 16, Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of the British intelligence service MI6, warned that the number of migrants coming to Europe during the next five years could run into millions. This, he said, would reshape the continent’s geopolitical landscape: “If Europe cannot act together to persuade a significant majority of its citizens that it can gain control of its migratory crisis then the EU will find itself at the mercy of a populist uprising, which is already stirring.”

Dearlove also warned against allowing millions of Turks visa-free access to the EU, describing the EU plan as “perverse, like storing gasoline next to the fire we’re trying to extinguish.”

On May 17, the Telegraph published the details of a leaked report from the European Commission, the powerful administrative arm of the European Union. The report warns that opening Europe’s borders to 78 million Turks would increase the risk of terrorist attacks in the European Union. The report states:

“It can be expected that, as soon as Turkish citizens will obtain visa-free entry to the EU, foreign nationals will start trying to obtain Turkish passports in order to pretend to be Turkish citizens and enter the EU visa free, or use the identities of Turkish citizens, or to obtain by fraud the Turkish citizenship. This possibility may attract not only irregular migrants, but also criminals or terrorists.”

According to the Telegraph, the report adds that as a result of the deal, the Turkish mafia, which traffics vast volumes of drugs, sex slaves, illegal firearms and refugees into Europe, may undergo “direct territorial expansion towards the EU.” The report warns: “Suspect individuals being allowed to travel to the Schengen territory without the need to go through a visa request procedure would have a greater ability to enter the EU without being noticed.”

While the EU privately admits that the visa waiver would increase the risk to European security, in public the EU has recommended that the deal be approved.

On May 4, the European Commission announced that Turkey has met most of the 72 “benchmarks of the roadmap” needed to qualify for the visa waiver. The remaining five conditions concern the fight against corruption, judicial cooperation with EU member states, deeper ties with the European law-enforcement agency Europol, data protection and anti-terrorism legislation.

European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans said:

“Turkey has made impressive progress, particularly in recent weeks, on meeting the benchmarks of its visa liberalization roadmap…. This is why we are putting a proposal on the table which opens the way for the European Parliament and the Member States to decide to lift visa requirements, once the benchmarks have been met.”

In order for the visa waiver to take effect, it must be approved by the national parliaments of the EU member states, as well as the European Parliament.

Ahead of a May 18 debate at the European Parliament in Strasbourg over Turkey’s progress in fulfilling requirements for visa liberalization, Burhan Kuzu, a senior adviser to Erdogan, warned the European Parliament that it had an “important choice” to make.

In a Twitter message, Kuzu wrote: “If they make the wrong decision, we will send the refugees.” In a subsequent telephone interview with Bloomberg, he added: “If Turkey’s doors are opened, Europe would be miserable.”

Meanwhile, Erdogan has placed yet another obstacle in the way of EU-Turkey deal. He is now demanding that the EU immediately hand over three billion euros ($3.4 billion) promised under the deal so that Turkish authorities can spend it as they see fit.

The EU insists that the funds be transferred through the United Nations and other international aid agencies in accordance with strict rules on how the aid can be spent. That stance has prompted Erdogan to accuse the EU of “mocking the dignity” of the Turkish nation.

On May 10, Erdogan expressed anger at the glacial pace of the EU bureaucracy:

“This country [Turkey] is looking after three million refugees. What did they [the EU] say? We’ll give you €3 billion. Well, have they given us any of that money until now? No. They’re still stroking the ball around midfield. If you’re going to give it, just give it.

“These [EU] administrators come here, tour our [refugee] camps, then ask at the same time for more projects. Are you kidding us? What projects? We have 25 camps running. You’ve seen them. There is no such thing as a project. We’ve implemented them.”

In an interview with the Financial Times, Fuat Oktay, head of Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), the agency responsible for coordinating the country’s refugee response, accused European officials of being fixated on “bureaucracies, rules and procedures” and urged the European Commission to find a way around them.

The European Commission insists that it was made clear from the outset that most of the money must go to aid organizations: “Funding under the Facility for Refugees in Turkey supports refugees in the country. It is funding for refugees and not funding for Turkey.”

The migration crisis appears to be having political repercussions for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a leading proponent of the EU-Turkey deal. According to a new poll published by the German newsmagazine Cicero on May 10, two-thirds (64%) of Germans oppose a fourth term for Merkel, whose term ends in the fall of 2017.

In an interview with Welt am Sonntag, Horst Seehofer, the leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister-party to Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU), blamed Merkel for enabling Erdogan’s blackmail: “I am not against talks with Turkey. But I think it is dangerous to be dependent upon Ankara.”

Sahra Wagenknecht of the Left Party accused Merkel of negotiating the EU-Turkey deal without involving her European partners: “The chancellor is responsible for Europe having become vulnerable to blackmail by the authoritarian Turkish regime.”

Cem Özdemir, leader of the Greens Party and the son of Turkish immigrants said: “The EU-Turkey deal has made Europe subject to Turkish blackmail. The chancellor bears significant responsibility for this state of affairs.”

Former al-Qaida Terrorist Sought Asylum in Norway

May 17, 2016

Former al-Qaida Terrorist Sought Asylum in Norway, Investigative Project on Terrorism, May 17, 2016

Norwegian police arrested a former Syrian al-Qaida fighter who sought asylum in Norway, the UK’s Daily Express reports.

Police arrested the 26-year-old man Friday at an asylum center after officers received a search warrant. Anne Karoline, a lawyer representing the Norwegian police, confirmed the arrest but could not provide further details concerning the indictment. Her client admitted to being a former operative of Jabhat al-Nusra – al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria – when he sought asylum in 2015, Karoline said.

The suspect came to Norway with his underage brother and denies any wrongdoing. Norwegian police are trying to keep the former al-Qaida fighter in custody for a month.

Many critics of Europe’s refugee policy argue that radical jihadist organizations, including the Islamic State and al-Qaida, could attempt to infiltrate the West by planting operatives among waves of Middle Eastern refugees.

In a December 2015 white paper, the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) explored gaps in the American Immigration system which could enable terrorists to enter the country as refuges, to apply for asylum once in the U.S., or to enter as passport holders from the 38 countries in the Visa Waiver Program.

Weaknesses in the U.S. system include the tendency to offer refugees and asylum seekers the benefit of the doubt in their accounts of their plight and background; the rapid speed with which lawful permanent resident status is granted to asylees and refugees; the problems that arise concerning refugees who cannot provide documentation of their birth dates; inconsistency in the vetting process; and inadequacies featured in various application forms.

Click here to read the IPT’s white paper and its recommendations.

Brexit Can Only Be Good for the United Kingdom

May 17, 2016

Brexit Can Only Be Good for the United Kingdom, American ThinkerJustin O. Smith, May 17, 2016

Nigel Farage, UKIP leader, warns that the U.K. will not be able to handle the upcoming surge of migrants if it stays in the EU.  He observed during the April 1 Munk Debate that “Jeane-Claude Juncker, the unelected president of the European Commission, has changed the definition of what a refugee is, to include people … from war torn areas … [and] from extreme poverty … [and] perhaps 3 billion people could possibly come to Europe [as a result].”

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The British people seem ready to leave the European Union through a historic June 23 referendum, because they are tired of the high-handed tyrannical regulations, clauses and counter-clauses, emanating from the EU Council on even the simplest aspects of their everyday lives.  They have determined that leaving the EU will be the best step toward reclaiming their nation’s sovereignty and democratic rule in all matters of immigration and border control, their economy, free trade, and national security, and they are proudly waving the Union Jack, as they tell their would-be masters in Brussels to go to hell, declaring their independence.

In November 2015, U.K. prime Minister David Cameron attempted to renegotiate a treaty change with European Union Council president Donald Tusk concerning U.K. sovereignty, trade, immigration, and economic governance.  Tusk rejected it all, with a minor exception regarding the handling of a few million pounds for children’s benefits.  This dismal failure of P.M. Cameron only offered proof that the EU was closed to any substantial moves toward reform, which created a renewed and angry momentum for the Out of Europe, Vote Leave, and Brexit movements.

Corporatists, trans-nationalists, advocates of the U.N. 2030 Agenda, the BBC, and the Guardinista establishment are presenting dishonest and fear-based monologues regarding the uncertainty a U.K. exit from the EU might bring.  They enjoy being able to circumvent individual nation’s policies by going through Brussels, and most of them have been made rich through their deals with the tyrannical, unelected, and entrenched bosses of the European Union.

Despite disingenuous conclusions from the trans-nationalist President Obama, does anyone really believe that a hundred years of shared security concerns and initiatives and trade agreements between the U.S. and the U.K. will be detrimentally affected by a “yes” vote to leave the EU?

What cogent thought process could people, like Lena Komileva (London economist), possibly be using when they ascribe the term “illiberal” to the British people’s desire for nationalist policies and reclaiming Britain’s sovereignty?

It will not take years for the U.K. to renegotiate trade deals with the U.S., as Obama suggests, but rather only months.  And if small nations like South Korea and Chile can succeed in global markets, certainly Britain also will continue to succeed, especially since the EU already imports 45% of British exports.

Membership in the EU currently costs Britain approximately $30 billion annually.  Although $55 billion in austerity cuts were made by the chancellor of the exchequer during the last Parliament, Britain’s contribution to the EU was roughly $132 billion.  Every cut in public spending could be reversed, and Britain could still pay down its deficit faster if Britain were to leave the European Union.

In February, George Mason, senior vice president of Britain’s high-profile Tate and Lyle Sugars, made a mockery of claims by Britain Strong in Europe that Brexit would spell economic disaster for the U.K.: “we are absolutely certain that our business and people who work in it would have a more secure future outside the EU.”

Priti Patel, the U.K.’s employment minister, told the Daily Telegraph in March: “The Prime Minister has tried hard but the EU refused to give the British people what they want[.] … The only way to take back control over our economy[.] … [T]o create more jobs and growth is to Vote Leave.”

However, national security is the issue currently foremost in most Britons’ minds, but Eurocentrics, who believe that the U.K. will be safer in the EU through cooperation on crime and terrorism, have failed to see that the EU has never been capable of agreeing on effective foreign policy.  Also not taken into account, the EU recently embraced the expanded definition of “refugee” put forth by the United Nations in its 2030 Agenda.

Nigel Farage, UKIP leader, warns that the U.K. will not be able to handle the upcoming surge of migrants if it stays in the EU.  He observed during the April 1 Munk Debate that “Jeane-Claude Juncker, the unelected president of the European Commission, has changed the definition of what a refugee is, to include people … from war torn areas … [and] from extreme poverty … [and] perhaps 3 billion people could possibly come to Europe [as a result].”

There are also reports of Bosnia, with a population of 3.8 million, being infiltrated by Islamic State terrorists.  They are buying property there, and they would be free to travel to the U.K. if Bosnia is granted EU membership.

Andrew Rosindell, a Conservative member of Parliament, stated in March: “Being in the EU means we don’t have control of our own systems, we don’t have control of our own borders. We are effectively tied to countries which I think are not as good at protecting their people as we have been.”

One can only imagine the palpable red-hot anger of the British people upon hearing Martin Shulz, European Parliament president, say that he was “sad and angry [over] the undertone of national resentment” and it was “not possible” to make the changes PM Cameron wanted. Shulz added that Britain “belongs” to the EU.  Really?  Just watch, wait, and see.

Downing Street has declared that “a vote to leave is a vote to leave.”  A leave vote will facilitate the U.K.’s departure through Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, and terms for Britain’s withdrawal will then be negotiated over the next two years.

Over forty years ago, Britain last debated her relationship with Europe, and even then, elected officials on both the right and left, such as two of the most iconic political figures of that era, Enoch Powell and Tony Benn, campaigned against the U.K.’s membership in what was then the European Economic Community.  They objected to Britain’s elected government meekly surrendering Britain’s national sovereignty to unelected foreign entities and the fundamental lack of democracy in the EU.

Lady Margaret Thatcher knew that it would be near impossible to effectively and efficiently impose one currency, one economy, and one national identity on many different countries (now 28) with such different languages, histories, customs, and cultures in general.  Early on, the Iron Lady called the attempt to create a European super-state “the greatest folly of the modern era.”

Britons, excited and optimistic, are moving forward to reclaim a more free, prosperous, ally-connected, and nationally secure Britain, through their own elected officials and their own choices and wisdom, breaking free of the heavy bureaucratic chains of the European Union.  As they shout “Hail Britannia,” they will vote to leave in June.

 

Islamists Infiltrate the Swedish Government

May 16, 2016

Islamists Infiltrate the Swedish Government, Gatestone InstituteIngrid Carlqvist, May 16, 2016

One Month of Islam and Multiculturalism in Sweden: April 2016

♦ The library in Arvika surprised patrons by offering Arabic language courses. Many Swedes wondered if offering courses in Swedish to the Arabic-speaking immigrants would not be more productive. The library, however, does not offer any such service.

♦ The Immigration Service released a new report on April 8, entitled “Are You Married?”, which showed how its own case officers allow child marriages.

♦ Swedish authorities have approved hundreds of polygamous marriages among immigrants, law professor Göran Lind revealed on April 4.

♦ An asylum seeker was arrested April 23 for kicking his wife in the head, among other things. According to police, the man became angry with his wife because she was trying to learn Swedish.

April was the month when the Islamist scandals in the Green Party (Miljöpartiet) came one after the other. The Green Party sits in Sweden’s government, along with its coalition partner, the Social Democrats (Socialdemokraterna). They have made themselves known as a party favoring open borders, and with a passionate love for multiculturalism. These infatuations are precisely why the party has been a perfect candidate for Islamist infiltration. Within the Green Party, even to ask the question whether Muslims view Islam as a political force has been considered rude and “Islamophobic.”

On April 17: Housing Minister Mehmet Kaplan was forced to resign after it was reported that he not only socialized with Islamists and fascists, but also compared Israel’s treatment of Palestinians with Nazi Germany’s treatment of Jews.

April 20: A would-be member of the Green Party executive, Yasri Khan, refused to shake hands with a female TV reporter, Ann Tiberg, causing much hoopla and eventually forcing Khan to resign.

April 22: The scholar Lars Nicander of the Swedish Defense University warned that the Green Party may have been infiltrated by Islamists: “It is obvious they are trying to get in and ascend to positions of trust,” Nicander told the daily Aftonbladet.

Anders Wallner, Secretary of the Green Party, commented on Nicander’s remarks:

“What is being put forth by Lars Nicander is something we take very seriously. Extremism has no place in our party, something our spokespersons have been very clear about.”

April 23: Semanur Taskin, spokesperson for the Green Youth (the Green Party’s youth wing) in Stockholm, decided to drop out of politics. As a Swedish Muslim, she said, she felt “misunderstood and no longer secure in politics.” Taskin is also a member of an organization founded by Mehmet Kaplan — Swedish Muslims for Peace and Justice (Svenska muslimer för fred och rättvisa). The organization is best known for working for Muslim rights in Sweden; participating in “Ships to Gaza,” and criticizing all things they perceive as “Islamophobic” or the government’s work against Islamism.

April 24: It was reported that the spokesperson for the Green Youth in Malmö, Salahaden Raoof,could be seen giving the so-called Rabia sign — a four-fingered salute in support of the Muslim Brotherhood — on live television, filmed during a political convention at Almedalen in 2015. He was, however, allowed to retain his post after stating that he “will not do it again.”

1601Salahaden Raoof (left), spokesperson for the Green Youth in Malmö, Sweden, appeared on live TV giving the Rabia sign — a four-fingered salute in support of the Muslim Brotherhood. He was allowed to retain his post after stating that he “will not do it again.” Pictured at right: Mohamed Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood leader and Egypt’s deposed president, popularized the Rabia sign.

April 27: Local Green Party politician Kamal al Rifai from Burlöv announced he was taking a time out from politics — after attracting much attention for inviting a world-famous Salafist, Salman al-Ouda, to speak at an event in Malmö for the benefit of the children of Syria. Al-Ouda is known, among other things, for being the mentor of Osama bin Laden. He later renounced bin Laden and now preaches a “peaceful transition to sharia.”

May 3: Mohamed Temsamani of the Green Party (Solna) was also identified as an Islamist. It emerged that he had been active in a political party connected to the Muslim Brotherhood, and had been seen giving the Rabia sign.

April 29: The author and social commentator Johan Lundberg wrote in the daily Göteborgs-Posten:

“The examples of associations and organizations with an Islamist agenda, who have received state subsidies and won the hearts of Green Party Ministers abound. How then, do you explain the Green Party dedication to conservative Islam? One explanation is the common view of identity politics, norm criticism and diversity in the sense of ethnicity, which has led to a troublesome blindness to extremism.”

Other Islamic and Multicultural News in Sweden in April

April 1: An Afghan man claiming to be a child was placed in an institution for youths, where he raped a 15-year-old girl. The man came to Sweden at the end of last year, and applied for asylum on December 14. The next day, he was arrested for raping a girl at the home for youths with psychiatric problems, where he had been placed. The girl had several times reported that the man (who later turned out to be at least 19 years old) was uncomfortably intimate towards her. Even so, they were left alone one night in front of the television. When the staff came back, they saw the Afghan raping the crying girl. He has now been sentenced to forensic psychiatric care and deportation.

April 4: A large police search was called to look for an Iraqi citizen, Ramin Sherzaj, 23, who was abducted against his will in central Gävle. He was pulled into a car, which, with “screeching tires,” disappeared from the site. Sometime later, five Iraqis who came to Sweden early this century were arrested: one woman and four men. Two weeks later, Sherzaj’s dead body was found. In all, seven people have now been taken into custody in connection with the murder.

April 4: Polygamy is against the Swedish constitution’s demands for equality and totally foreign to the Swedish legal system. Still, Swedish authorities have approved hundreds of polygamous marriages, law professor Göran Lind revealed. Men bringing several wives to Sweden have had their marriages approved. Göran Lind says that Swedish courts need to stop approving these marriages:

“This can create big problems if, say, an Iraqi man with three wives dies. Do all three have marital rights to the estate? Are they to share the half a monogamous widow gets or is the estate to be shared some other way? And are the children shared, or children from previous marriages?”

April 5: A Somali known as “Muhamed” was sentenced to community service for 180 hours, after brutally raping a 12-year-old girl. “Black dick is expensive,” he commented during the rape. Now the girl is being stalked, threatened and physically abused by Muhamed’s friends and family. The local daily Sundsvalls Tidning interviewed the girl, who told the paper about how she ran into the perpetrator’s family at a bus stop, and was beaten by one of his brothers:

“There came the other one, who I have a restraining order against, and I thought he was going to help me get up, but he punched me on the mouth with his fist. Then his mother came and I thought they would quit, but she kicked me, too.”

April 6: The Swedish National Audit Office, in its yearly review, criticized the Immigration Service on several counts. Members of the Audit Office wrote in their report that there was a risk of corruption. The auditors complained about a lack of policy documents and clear routines, and that the case officers can pick and choose which errands they want to process — opening up opportunities for corruption.

April 7: A 20-year-old Muslim medical student, Aydin Sevigin, was prosecuted for planning to blow himself up in Sweden in a terrorist attack. According to the prosecutor, Sevigin could have caused serious damage. When the trial started on April 15, Sevigin seemed unperturbed when the prosecutor read a passage about how one becomes a jihadi one-man army. He admitted to the police that he wants to die a martyr. Among the evidence presented against him are pictures in which Sevigin can be seen buying bomb-making ingredients at an Ikea store.

April 8: The Immigration Service released a new report, entitled “Are You Married?”, which showed how its own case officers allow child marriages. The report highlighted several cases where the officers did not ask any questions whatsoever, despite dealing with married 16- to 17-year-old girls.

The Immigration Service wrote:

“The Immigration Service has a duty to investigate, and questions about the marriage should be asked, regardless of whether a married child points to this circumstance as a factor in his or her need for protection or not.”

The report also noted that there is no comprehensive view or analysis of what is in the best interest of the child. Rules are not followed, and reports to Social Services and the police are not being filed to the extent that they should be.

April 10: For many years, the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brottsförebyggande rådet), BRÅ, has claimed that the lethal violence in Sweden is on the decline. However, BRÅ failed to mention that this is in comparison to the record-breaking years, 1989-1991. If one instead were to compare the present with the 1950s, when Sweden was still a homogenous country, the number of murders and manslaughter cases has doubled. Recently, BRÅ was forced to confess that lethal violence did in fact increase in 2015, when 112 people were killed: 25 more than the year before. 2016 appears on track to top that — during the first three months of the year, 40 murders and 57 attempted murders were committed in Sweden, according to statistics compiled by journalist Elisabeth Höglund.

April 11: The New Welfare (Den Nya Välfärden), a think tank, presented an opinion poll that showed 70% of Swedes now think immigration is too high. In 2014, only 45% felt this way; in 2015, 58%. The poll also showed that the difference in opinion between people with higher education and blue-collar workers continued to shrink. The largest increase in critics of immigration is found among academics.

April 11: The library in Arvika surprised patrons by offering Arabic language courses. Many Swedes wondered if offering courses in Swedish to the Arab-speaking immigrants would not be more productive. The library, however, does not offer any such service. Library representatives wrote in a press release:

“As part of our work to create meeting points, bolster integration and increase knowledge of other cultures, peoples and languages, the Arvika Library and the Education Association NBV are now giving a course in Arabic at Arvika Library.”

April 12: A 33-year-old Arab man and a 34-year-old Turkish woman were prosecuted for a brutal murder in Malmö in the summer of 2015. The victim, a middle-aged Swedish man, had let the woman stay with him at his apartment in central Malmö. The woman was the one who called the police after the murder. However, the prosecutor believes that the murder actually took place 24 hours earlier, and that by the time the police arrived, the crime scene had been “scrubbed.” Both suspects have entered a plea of not guilty, and blame each other for the murder. Their motive remains unclear.

April 14: Gambian citizen Baboucar Mboge, 21, was sentenced to one year in prison for rape, robbery and minor drug-related offenses. He was also sentenced to pay 125,000 kronor (about $14,000) in damages to the woman he raped and mugged. The rape took place four years ago, but it was not until Mboge became a suspect in a robbery against a convenience store in Stockholm that his DNA could be tied to the rape. When questioned by the police, the Gambian claimed that the girl had consensual sex with him on a lawn, and he bragged about “f**king for over ten minutes.” The prosecutor did not ask for deportation.

April 14: Many Muslims in Sweden have been granted damages by the Discrimination Ombudsman (Diskrimineringsombudsmannen), DO, after their refusal to shake hands has led to them not getting a job for which they have applied. But the woman who refused to shake a doctor’s hand, leading to her not getting the physical examination she wanted, did not get any money. The Hässleholm Municipal Court previously convicted the doctor and the company he worked for, and sentenced them to pay the woman 75,000 kronor (about $8,700) in damages, but the verdict was reversed in the Court of Appeals, which said that the DO could not prove that the missed physical examination was due to the woman not shaking the doctor’s hand.

April 14: A 27-year-old scientist at Uppsala University was arrested, suspected of selling poison, munitions and narcotics online. The man, nicknamed “Chemical Ali,” is a German citizen of Turkish descent. He was arrested on suspicion of drug-related crimes, preparing to spread poison (aggravated offense) and breaking the munitions law. He was also suspected of attempted aggravated extortion after sending someone a poisonous substance “while trying to blackmail them.”

April 14: A Syrian asylum seeker was sentenced to two years in prison and deportation for having assaulted a woman in January, at an asylum house in Leksand. The woman had locked herself into a bathroom, but the 34-year old man managed to pick the lock, pull her out, rip off her clothes and rape her. During the rape, the man pulled his victim’s hair and beat her. She retaliated by biting his finger and shoulder. It was only when the man saw his wife outside the window that he stopped.

April 16: When local politicians of the Stockholm suburbs of Spånga-Tensta met the would-be neighbors of a planned asylum house for 600 people, the mood was close to that of a lynch mob. The citizens were concerned about the asylum house, planned right next to a school: “We will fight to our last drop of blood to make sure this plan is not carried out,” said one man, to uproarious applause.

Despite agitated feelings, the politicians had no answers, making the people even more upset. Several shouted: “Answer! Answer our questions! Why are you doing this? Where is your analysis? Are we to risk our children’s health?”

April 17: A soccer tournament for “unaccompanied refugee children” in Jämtland ended in a mass brawl, involving 40 people fighting with iron bars and wooden sticks. At least one person had to be taken to hospital. The police investigation turned up at least seven suspects in the case. “It is plaintiffs and suspects all jumbled together,” police officer Cecilia Modin told local paper, Länstidningen. A couple of days later, the municipality decided not to host any more soccer tournaments for “unaccompanied.”

April 23: An immigrant from the Middle East, Ali Al-Ali, at first evaded being sentenced for kidnapping and robbing a taxi driver as he was, according to public record, only 14 years old at the time the crimes were committed. His two accomplices, who both received six months in juvenile detention, but avoided deportation, stated to the court that Ali Al-Ali is older than 18, and frequently brags about fooling the Swedish authorities. Two days after the sentence, Ali Al-Ali was arrested at a shopping mall in Malmö. At the time, he was accompanied by two other youths, carrying firearms, knives and a balaclava. The other two youths escaped the scene, but Ali Al-Ali, suspected of preparing an armed robbery, is now in police custody.

April 23: The political news editor of the local newspaper, Eskilstuna-Kuriren, Alex Voronov, posted a picture of himself giving the Rabia-sign — four fingers in the air as a salute to the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) — on Twitter. “I have met several MB-politicians who are now behind bars after mock trials,” Voronov tweeted, “and this is of course something that concerns me.”

The paper refused to comment on its editor’s message.

April 23: An asylum seeker from Hagfors was arrested, suspected of, among other things, having kicked his wife in the head. According to the police, the man became angry with his wife because she was trying to learn Swedish. The couple needed interpreter assistance in Dari, a language spoken in Afghanistan.

April 28: After brusquely rebutting a proposal by the Sweden Democrats (SD) to eliminate the two-week long suspension of Sweden’s border controls, the government suddenly announced that the border controls would not be suspended after all. The decision was welcomed by the SD, whose members are critical of immigration, and who assert that border-controls issue has been handled appallingly.

Kent Ekeroth, an SD representative and member of the parliament’s Justice Committee, stated:

“It is pretty comical how the other parties time and again vote no to our motion to remove the waiting period in connection with the identity checks, but it is good that they are now following our lead point by point and copying our suggestions.”

April 27: A 34-year-old Somali, who raped a woman in Gothenburg last year, was sentenced to five and a half years in prison. The man pulled a dark hood over the woman’s head, held a knife to her throat and threatened to kill her. Then he ripped off her clothes and raped her. Afterwards, he stole her cell phone and said, “You could get 10,000 kronor if you come home with me and I could f**k you for a whole day.” Despite the court’s assertion that his crimes are of “a most serious nature,” the man will not be deported.

April 30: The mosque of Imam Abo Raad, identified as the foremost “militant Islamist leader in Sweden,” was subjected to a firebomb attack. The Islamist mosque, located in Gävle, has been highlighted in the local paper, Gefle Dagblad, in a series of articles beginning in the fall of 2015. On March 30, it also emerged that Gefle Dagblad’s editor-in-chief, Anna Gullberg, had received death threats from a close relative of Abo Raad. “This is a direct threat against the freedom of the press,” Gullberg said. “The threats are obviously connected to the articles Gefle Dagblad has published.”

Germany: Christian Refugees Persecuted by Muslims

May 15, 2016

Germany: Christian Refugees Persecuted by Muslims, Gatestone InstituteSoeren Kern, May 15, 2016

♦ Thousands of Christians in German refugee shelters are being persecuted by Muslims, sometimes even by their security guards, according to a new report by the NGO Open Doors.

♦ “A major obstacle to the survey was that many victims were afraid to participate. … Their concern was not only on the possible consequences for them personally and for their families in Germany, but also for their relatives who continue to live in the countries of origin.” — Open Doors report.

♦ “I came to Germany after fleeing my own country in the hope my life would be safer in the face of growing dangers. But in Germany I’ve been threatened more.” — Christian refugee in Germany.

♦ “Despite increased reports about this problem by the media, charities, human rights organizations, church leaders and Christian organizations, German authorities and politicians have hardly ever launched an investigation. Instead, we believe that incidents are deliberately downplayed and even covered up. … Even in police stations, religiously motivated attacks on Christian refugees are not documented as such.” — Open Doors report.

Thousands of Christians in German refugee shelters are being persecuted by Muslims, sometimes even by their security guards, according to a new report, which asserts that in most cases German authorities have done nothing to protect the victims.

The study alleges that German authorities and police have deliberately downplayed and even covered up the “taboo issue” of Muslim attacks on Christian refugees, apparently to avoid fueling anti-immigration sentiments.

The report, “Religiously Motivated Attacks on Christian Refugees in Germany” (Religiös motivierte Übergriffe gegen christliche Flüchtlinge in Deutschland), was produced by the German branch of Open Doors, a non-governmental organization supporting persecuted Christians, worldwide.

The study — which confirms a Gatestone Institute analysis about Muslim-Christian violence in German refugee shelters — documents more than 300 incidents in which Christian refugees in Germany have been physically and sexually assaulted, and even threatened with death, because of their faith.

The report is based on the interviews of 231 Christian refugees conducted between February and April 2016. More than 80% of those interviewed were male and more than half were younger than 30. Most of those questioned came from Iran, Afghanistan and Syria. Nine out of ten of those participating in the survey were Christians with a Muslim background. Of these, the majority had already converted to Christianity in their home countries.

Of those interviewed, 86 said they had been physically assaulted at the hands of Muslim refugees and shelter security staff, many of whom are also Muslim. More than 70 said they had received death threats, 92 had been insulted for their Christian faith and 62 had been subjected to “very loud religious music or prayer,” presumably of the Islamic variety. Others said they had been subjected to physical attacks in the form of punches, spitting, pushing and sexual abuse. Around 75% of those interviewed said that harassment from Muslims is a “frequent” problem.

1599Representatives of the NGO Open Doors, along with other NGOs, hold a press conference to present the Open Doors report “Religiously Motivated Attacks on Christian Refugees in Germany,” in May 2016.

According to Open Doors, the report “only shows the tip of the iceberg” because “many Christian refugees are frightened of facing more difficulties if they report incidents.” Others fear that “the information could get into the wrong hands and cause danger for relatives still living in their home countries.” The report states:

“A major obstacle to the survey was that many victims were afraid to participate. They feared negative consequences in the event that their personal information were to fall into the wrong hands. Their concern was not only on the possible consequences for them personally and for their families in Germany, but also for their relatives who continue to live in the countries of origin.

“Another major obstacle was that many women are reluctant to report sexual assaults because of feelings of shame which are often more pronounced among Middle Eastern women than those in the West.

“To make matters worse, many refugees have had negative experiences with the authorities and police in their countries of origin because of their Christian faith. They are used to being treated as second-class citizens. Now they see that things are no different in many refugee shelters in Germany — a country with freedom of religion — and they not even once received help.

The report includes testimonies from Christian refugees who describe a “constant climate of fear and panic” in German shelters:

  • “I came to Germany after fleeing my own country in the hope my life would be safer in the face of growing dangers. But in Germany I’ve been threatened more.”
  • “At this point I must say that I really did not know that by coming Germany, and only because of my faith, that I would be harassed here as much as in Iran.”
  • “The Muslims paint crosses and underline them with an X to insult us. They throw their garbage in front of our door. They listen to the adhan (Muslim call to prayer) and the reading of the Koran at high volume. We had to abandon our last refugee shelter because of death threats.”
  • “In our refugee shelter, the security guards do not enforce the rules. Every morning at 5AM we are woken up to the sound of the adhan. The situation is getting worse. When you complain, they say this is the Muslims’ right. Also, they insult us with impunity. In our shelter, two of my friends have received death threats. Muslims tore a cross chain from his neck. None of us dares to wear a cross anymore.”
  • “When we collect our welfare stipend, we are pushed to the end of the line. Also in the kitchen, we are the last to eat. After midnight, when we are asleep, they knock on the window and we can no longer go back to sleep because of fear. And the next day during language classes we cannot learn well. Muslims call us mortad (apostates) and steal from the kitchen. They have stolen so much of our food that every room now has a refrigerator.”
  • “I was insulted and physically assaulted by Muslims in our shelter several times. Every time the police had to intervene. The memory of these incidents still weighs on me and I have serious psychological problems, I even attempted to commit suicide. Security guards have insulted our religion and attacked us. I testified as a witness to police. After receiving death threats, we went to police with our pastor and filed a complaint.”

The report includes an account from Gottfried Martens, a pastor in Berlin, who describes incidents of Muslim harassment that occurred in early May — incidents which the police have still not bothered to investigate:

“A Christian couple from Iran was increasingly being bullied by the Afghan leader of an asylum shelter in Berlin. As ‘infidels’ they were not given a bed and were forced to sleep on the floor for months. It finally got to the point that the Afghan devastated their sleeping area and personally destroyed their Christian objects (Easter candle, Bible, parish newsletter).

“Another Christian was harassed by Muslim refugees who chanted the Koran around the clock because of his conversion. Yesterday evening, he tried to kill himself with a razor blade. Fortunately, he was rescued in time.

“Two weeks ago we had to accommodate eight refugees from another shelter. They were threatened with death because they refused to participate in the Muslim ritual prayer in the gymnasium. When the security guards were called for help, they joined together in prayer with those who had threatened the Christians. When the Christians fled the hall as the Muslims were shouting ‘Allahu Akbar‘ [Allah is Greatest], the Muslim security guards banned them from the shelter on the grounds that the Christians had attacked the Muslims.”

According to Open Doors:

“It is alarming that Christian refugees and other religious minorities increasingly are facing the same persecution and discrimination as in their Muslim countries of origin, and not even in Germany can they get the expected protection.

“Despite increased reports about this problem by the media, charities, human rights organizations, church leaders and Christian organizations, German authorities and politicians have hardly ever launched an investigation. Instead, we believe that incidents are deliberately downplayed and even covered up. During confidential discussions with researchers from Open Doors, it has become known that even in police stations, religiously motivated attacks on Christian refugees are not documented as such.”

“As a result, many cases of sectarian violence are not statistically recognized and are not classified correctly in terms of their severity and frequency. This means that a large number of religious-related human rights violations against Christians and other religious minorities are treated as irrelevant.

The report concludes with a number of recommendations for the German government to help ease the burden on Christian refugees:

  • The religious affiliation all migrants should be recorded at the very beginning of the process of registering refugees and that data should be forwarded throughout the process of assigning refugees to accommodations.
  • Religious minorities should be pooled so that the percentage of Christians and other religious minorities in relation to Muslims in refugee shelters is approximately equal.
  • Christians and other religious minorities who are victims of persecution and discrimination should be separately accommodated.
  • The non-Muslim component within the ranks of the security personnel should be increased.
  • Employees and the security staff in refugee shelters should receive regular sensitivity training regarding the causes of religious conflict and the protection of religious minorities.
  • Persecuted Christians should be provided with a list of the names of other Christians to whom they can call upon for help.

Some institutions close to the German government openly dispute Open Doors’s assertions and have provided political cover for the authorities to do nothing to help persecuted Christians.

In March 2016, the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), a center-right think tank that is independent of, but closely tied to Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats, published an analysis entitled, “Christians under Pressure?” (Christen unter Druck?). The report argues that Muslim persecution of Christians in Germany and elsewhere in the world is being exaggerated and in any case cannot be proven:

“In the world context, as in Germany, reliable information on attacks against Christians is difficult to obtain. Reports are mostly subjective and empirically not seriously provable…

“There are probably a number of different reasons for the violence in the refugee shelters: A large number of people are living together for a long time in a confined space without privacy and in stressed conditions. Psychology may also be a contributing factor: worries about the future, language and cultural barriers and the processing of recent memories of flight from their home country. As if this were not already stressful enough, there are situations in which persecutors and persecuted in their countries of origin meet up again at refugee shelters in Germany.

“In addition to sectarian clashes, ethnically motivated conflict situations, for example, repeated clashes between Afghans and Iraqis. Striking is also the large numbers of conflicts involving converted Christian refugees. Only very little is known about hostility against Arab Christians who were already Christians in their country of origin.”

The KAS report advises against separating refugees according to their religious affiliation because it would “send the wrong signal” to newcomers regarding Germany’s commitment to religious liberty: “In Germany there are no cultural or religious exceptions to our understanding of civil liberties… Germany guarantees the freedom of religion… In Germany there is no reason for a person to feel they need to conceal their religious affiliation or that they are not able to convert to another religion.”

The KAS report does not offer any recommendations for eradicating the sectarian violence in German refugee shelters.

At a press conference marking the release of the Open Doors report, Volker Baumann, director of a group called Action for Persecuted Christians and the Needy (AVC), said that up 40,000 refugees in German shelters are being persecuted due to their religious beliefs.

According to Gottfried Martens, the pastor from Berlin, the German government has lost control over the situation. In an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, he said that most Christians who are being persecuted in German shelters dare not file a formal complaint due to fears for their own safety. In those cases where complaints are filed, Muslims file counter-complaints. Moreover, it is hardly ever possible irrefutably to prove incidents of harassment. Thus the vast majority of refugees decide not to complain in order not to aggravate their situation.

Thomas Müller, an analyst with Open Doors Deutschland, concluded:

“Christian refugees from many different countries are trying and failing to find safety in Europe and it is likely that the report only shows the tip of the iceberg. It is clear that many Christian refugees — especially those who are converts to the Christian faith — live in fear of persecution from Muslim refugees who make up the majority of residents in the refugee hostels set up throughout Europe. It is sobering to hear persecuted Christians telling a Western country that they recognize the very same persecution patterns in operation as in their home countries.”

Will America Follow Britain further Into, or away from, the Abyss?

May 14, 2016

Will America Follow Britain further Into, or away from, the Abyss? Dan Miller’s Blog, May 14, 2016

(The views expressed in this post are mine and do not necessarily reflect those of Warsclerotic or its other editors. — DM)

The Muslim invasion is changing European and British demographics to the degree that some countries will soon have Muslim majorities. Will America follow Europe? What about our Publican and Demorat elites? Will we reject them and the unelected bureaucrats they have spawned and empowered? 

America needs to vote for her own version of Brexit this November.

British and European Demographics

Paul Weston is the vile “Islamophobe” who dared to read — aloud and in public — a passage from a book written by another vile “Islamophobe,” Winston Churchill, a couple of years ago. For that, he (Weston, not Winston) was arrested.

So what if Weston spoke accurately? He offended Muslims and that can’t be tolerated. Besides, Britain is terribly “racist” even though Islam is not a race.

Meanwhile, London’s East End is losing its native population and the place looks “less like a British city, more like Baghdad.”

The European Union and Britain

Currently, Mr. Weston of the Liberty GB Party is campaigning for Britain to leave the Europen Union, a force for unrequited love, charity and destruction. So is Nigel Farge of UKIP.

Here’s a long video about the EU and why Britain should leave it. It’s over an hour long but well worth watching. It’s principally about economics, the destructive power the EU has given unaccountable bureaucrats and the stifling of democracy.

As you watch and listen, please consider the similarities and differences between the EU and governance of, by and for the Publican and Demorat Establishment in America. Both have empowered and continue to expand unelected bureaucracies.

I was disappointed that the video does not deal with the immigration problem which will continue to plague Britain if she remains in the EU. Perhaps the topic was seen as likely to displease Britain’s already substantial Muslim population and prompt them to vote to remain in the EU. Remember, London just elected its first Muslim mayor.

Here’s another “Islamophobic” EUophobe:

Democracy and self-governance are seen by far too many as absurdly old fashioned. In Obama’s America, where would we be if governance were taken away from our betters in the Publican and Demorat Establishment and returned to the vulgarian little people? Do we need great Establishment intellects to think for us so that we don’t have to do it ourselves? The vulgarian dummies living in EU member states haven’t had to think for years. Now, with the upcoming referendum, those in Britain l have a chance to do so. We will have a chance this November.

Obama has told the citizens of once-great Britain that membership in the EU is economically and otherwise good for them — perhaps even as good as His presidency has been for citizens of His America. Many disagree with “the smartest person in any room;” those in Obama’s America who do may even elect Vulgarian-in-Chief Donald Trump as President shortly after citizens of Britain who cherish self-governance may vote to exit the EU.

Conclusions

America does not yet have the same Muslim demographic problems as Europe or Britain. Unless we halt or at least reduce Islamic immigration and cease to subsidize it we will eventually. One way to minimize the problem is to get rid of the politically correct “Islamophobia” nonsense and speak of Islam as it is rather than as though it were a benign unicorn.

Islamophobia-copy (1)

The elites of the Publican and Demorat establishment are a big part if the problem. Just as Britain seems to be moving toward leaving the EU, we need to diminish the power of our own elected elites by electing “vulgarians” to replace them. We also need to reduce the very substantial power of the masses of unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats they have empowered. There is no need to replace them.

16/10/09 TODAY Picture by Tal Cohen - Muslims protest outside Geert Wilders press conference in central London 16 October 2009, Wilders who faces prosecution in the Netherlands for anti-Islam remarks pays visit to the capital. The Freedom Party leader said 'Lord Malcolm Pearson has invited me to come to the House of Lords to discuss our future plans to show Fitna the movie.' Wilders won an appeal on October 13 against a ban, enforced in February, from entering Britain. Ministers felt his presence would threaten public safety and lead to interfaith violence. (Photo by Tal Cohen) All Rights Reserved – Tal Cohen - T: +44 (0) 7852 485 415 www.talcohen.net Email: tal.c.photo@gmail.com Local copyright law applies to all print & online usage. Fees charged will comply with standard space rates and usage for that country, region or state.

Britain’s Muddled Priorities?

May 14, 2016

Britain’s Muddled Priorities? Gatestone InstituteDouglas Murray, May 14, 2016

♦ On the one hand, the overwhelming cause of our current security problems is Islamist terror. It is the number one cause of concern to our police, intelligence services and everybody else with the nation’s security at heart. The public expects to be protected from such terror and expects that protection to come from that security establishment.

♦ Yet all the time, a vocal lobby of Muslim and non-Muslim figures tries to pretend that the threat is not what it is, or that an attempt to depict any and all efforts to protect the country — even one phrase said by one actor in one simulated attack scenario – is some terrible crime of bigotry.

♦ An actor saying “Allahu Akbar” in a simulated terror attack may be offensive to somebody’s religion. But if so, what is more offensive to their religion: one actor saying “Allahu Akbar” as part of a simulation, or countless Muslims around the world shouting the same phrase before real attacks in real time?

Sometimes you can see a whole society’s self-delusion in under a minute. Consider a single minute that occurred in Britain this week.

On Monday night, Greater Manchester Police staged a pre-prepared mock terrorist attack in a Manchester shopping centre in order to test emergency responses capabilities, readiness and response times. At one stage, an actor playing a suicide bomber burst through a doorway in a crowded part of the shopping centre and detonated a fake device.

It turned out that the actor pretending to be a suicide bomber had shouted the words “Allahu Akbar” (“Allah is Greatest”) before the simulated attack. This may have helped make the simulation more realistic, but it had an immediate backlash. Nobody complained about the simulated attacks. What disturbed some people was the simulation of the signature Islamist sign-off.

1596A video still from the mock terrorist attack staged on May 9, 2016 by the police in Manchester, England.

Within hours, the simulated moral outrage machine, social media, began deploring the outrageousness of the exercise. Soon, community spokesmen were on the airwaves, deploring the use of the crucial phrase. Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan said,

“[O]n reflection, we acknowledge that it was unacceptable to use this religious phrase immediately before the mock suicide bombing, which so vocally linked this exercise with Islam. We recognise and apologise for the offence that this has caused.”

Greater Manchester’s police and crime commissioner, Tony Lloyd, tried to explain that,

“it is frustrating the operation has been marred by the ill-judged, unnecessary and unacceptable decision by organisers to have those playing the parts of terrorists to shout ‘Allahu Akbar’ before setting off their fake bombs. It didn’t add anything to the event, but has the potential to undermine the great community relations we have in Greater Manchester.”

By now, most of the national papers and the 24-hour news programs were all over the story. That is where the revealing minute happened. On Sky News, interviewer Kay Burley was interviewing one Jahangir Mohammed, who was introduced as a “community worker.” Mr. Mohammed spent some time commenting:

“Like everything, there’s a securitised approach to these things and that’s necessary in training like this. But I think sometimes there’s also a need for them to have a bit of religious and cultural context when they’re doing training like this in a wider setting about the possible implications and the effects on wider society and communities within that society.”

Ms. Burley thanked Mr. Mohammed for his illuminating contribution and went onto the next news item. In other main stories, she said,

“One man has died, three others injured after a knife attack at a train station near Munich. The attacker — a 27-year-old German — shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ according to witnesses, before stabbing people at the station in Grafing. He was overpowered at the scene and is now in custody.”

The combination of these two news stories took about one minute.

Whether or not the Grafing attacker turns out to be a non-Muslim with psychiatric issues, as the press is currently suggesting, or an Islamist with or without such issues, this single minute of broadcast footage says so much about the problem that societies such as Britain’s are now in.

On the one hand, the overwhelming cause of our current security problems is Islamist terror. It is the number one cause of concern to our police, intelligence services and everybody else with the nation’s security at heart. The public expects to be protected from such terror and expects that protection to come from that security establishment. Yet all the time, a vocal lobby of Muslim and non-Muslim figures tries to pretend that the threat is not what it is, or that an attempt to depict any and all efforts to protect the country — even one phrase said by one actor in one simulated attack scenario — is some terrible crime of bigotry.

Of course, there would have been no social media backlash and no swift apology from the Greater Manchester Police if the terrorist simulation had involved a “far-right” terrorist. But there is always a backlash if the scenario reflects the real security threat that all our societies are facing. This is yet another occasion in which the general public’s view of people’s priorities is legitimately raised. Why would any Muslim or anyone else genuinely opposed to terror object to the realistic simulation of such an event? One can see, of course, that it may be offensive to somebody’s religion. But if so, what is more offensive to their religion: one actor saying “Allahu Akbar” as part of one simulation, or countless Muslims around the world shouting the same phrase before real attacks in real time?

If I were a Muslim, I would spend every minute of my waking life trying to persuade my co-religionists not to kill people right after shouting about my Allah. I do not think I would bother for a second if a police force, trying to keep people safe, chose realistically to simulate the behaviour of my co-religionists. It is a matter of priorities, and across Britain and many other countries in the world today, our priorities are now seriously awry.

The EU’s Kiss of Death

May 10, 2016

The EU’s Kiss of Death, Gatestone InstituteJudith Bergman, May 10, 2016

♦ The European Union may yet come to realize that this latest ill-concealed jab at the Central- and Eastern European members of the European Union may signal the beginning of the unraveling of the European Union, an event which, considering the authoritarian structure of the organization, might be a good thing. The EU’s authority comes, undemocratically, from the top down, rather than from the bottom up; it is non-transparent, unaccountable and there is no mechanism for removing European Commission representatives.

♦ “We especially do not like it when people who have never lived in Hungary try to give us lectures on how we should cope with our own problems. Calling us racists or xenophobes is the cheapest argument. It’s used just to dodge the issues.” — Zoltán Kovács, spokesman for Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

♦ By persisting in pushing their agendas on European Union member states that still consider themselves sovereign and not merely provinces of the EU, Timmermans and his European Commission bureaucrats may just have given the European Union its kiss of death.

The European Union is hell-bent on forcing member states to take “their share” of migrants. To this end, the European Commission has proposed reforms to EU asylum rules that would see enormous financial penalties imposed on members refusing to take in what it deems a sufficient number of asylum seekers, apparently even if this means placing those states at a severe financial disadvantage.

The European Commission is planning sanctions of an incredible $290,000 for every migrant that recalcitrant EU member states refuse to receive. Given that EU countries such as Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria have closed their borders to migrants or are in the process of doing so, it is not difficult to discern at whom the EU is aiming its planned penalties.

The EU may yet come to realize, however, that this latest ill-concealed jab at the Central- and Eastern European members of the European Union — if it passes muster by most member states and members of the European parliament — may just signal the beginning of the unraveling of the European Union, an event which, considering the authoritarian structure of the organization, might be a good thing. The EU’s authority comes, undemocratically, from the top down, rather than from the bottom up; it is non-transparent, unaccountable and there is no mechanism for removing European Commission representatives.

The migrant crisis has revealed a deep and seemingly irreconcilable rift between those countries that roughly two decades ago still found themselves on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain and have not forgotten it, and Western European countries spared from a merciless Soviet totalitarianism. The soft Western Europeans, instead, developed politically correct credos of “diversity” and “multiculturalism,” which they intractably push down the throats of those recently released from captivity, refusing to show the tolerance of which they themselves purport to be high priests.

In September, European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans said,

“We should know more about Central European history. Knowing that they were isolated for generations, that they were under oppression by Moscow for so long, that they have no experience with diversity in their society, and it creates fear in the society.

“Any society, anywhere in the world, will be diverse in the future — that’s the future of the world. So [Central European countries] will have to get used to that. They need political leaders who have the courage to explain that to their population instead of playing into the fears as I’ve seen Mr Orbán doing in the last couple of months.”

Exactly because central Europeans were subjected to a totalitarian ideology for half a century, they are rather unenthusiastic about submitting to a new, increasingly totalitarian ideology, especially one which seeks to impose itself as the “only truth,” and in its intolerance is averse to any nonconformity — as Timmermans’ comments make condescendingly clear.

The European Union’s vision of an ideal “multicultural” and “diverse” society seems to be viewed by the central Europeans as humbug, perhaps because they have correctly observed that the “multiculturalism” on display in Western Europe is largely a monoculture of the Islamic variety.

If there is anything at which the Central Europeans became experts during their Soviet internment, it was deciphering the doublespeak of communist apparatchiks, which may account for their adeptness at deciphering the doublespeak coming from Eurocrats such as Timmermans. As the Hungarian Prime Minister’s spokesman, Zoltán Kovács, said in September, “… multi-culturalism in Western Europe has not been a success in our view. We want to avoid making the same mistakes ourselves.”

The magic that the European Union once held for Central European countries, which rushed to join the organization after the demise of communism — believing it to be the very antithesis of what they had just experienced under communist rule — is fast evaporating.

In February, Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said that, “If Britain leaves the EU, we can expect debates about leaving the EU in a few years too.” Three-fifths of Czechs say that they are unhappy with EU membership, and according to an October 2015 poll by the STEM agency, 62% said they would vote against it in a referendum.

In March, after the Brussels terrorist attacks, Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydło said, “I see no possibility at this time of immigrants coming to Poland.”

“Until procedures to verify the refugees are put in action, we cannot accept them,” Rafał Bochenek, a government spokesman, told reporters.

“The priority of the government is the safety of Poles … We understand the previous government … signed commitments which bind our country. We cannot allow a situation in which events taking place in the countries of Western Europe are carried over to the territory of Poland.”

In Poland, 64 percent of Poles want the country’s borders closed to migrants.

1593The European Commission, led by Jean-Claude Juncker and Frans Timmermans (left), is hell-bent on forcing member states to take “their share” of migrants. In March, Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydło (right) bluntly stated: “I see no possibility at this time of immigrants coming to Poland.”

In Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s spokesman, Zoltán Kovács, stated:

“Mr. Timmermans is right that we have not had the same experience as Western Europe, where countries such as Holland, Britain and France have had mass immigration as a result of their colonial legacies. But we would like to deal with our problems in a way that suits us. And we especially do not like it when people who have never lived in Hungary try to give us lectures on how we should cope with our own problems. Calling us racists or xenophobes is the cheapest argument. It’s used just to dodge the issues.”

Even among those Eastern European countries still waiting to be admitted to the EU, the enthusiasm for the EU seems to have dwindled. “The EU that all of us are aspiring to, it has lost its magic power,” Serbian Prime Minister, Aleksander Vucic said in February, “Yes we all want to join, but it is no longer the big dream it was in the past.”

The reactions of countries such as Poland and Hungary are the normal, healthy reactions of nations who wish to remain prosperous, sovereign and safe for the sake of their own citizens. In addition, entertaining no illusions about “multiculturalism,” they appear to have a justifiable apprehension about the detrimental effects of the current migration crisis on national security and finances.

It is not only the newest members of the EU that have begun to realize that is a bad idea to defer decisions about borders and national security to an unelected supranational entity, which appears completely oblivious to the concerns of its member states.

In Norway, the government announced that it will not accommodate any more migrants beyond the 1500 that the country has already agreed to take during the next two years, as part of the EU’s refugee relocation scheme. “We have set a quota for refugees from the EU. Increasing it is not of current interest,” Immigration Minister Sylvi Listhaug said in April. Norway, in fact, has begun paying asylum seekers to return to their own countries.

In Austria, the government is imposing border controls at the Brenner Pass, the main Alpine crossing into Italy, and erecting a barrier between the two countries.

In the face of such resistance from member states, the European Commission’s plan to penalize them for not accepting “their share” of migrants could not possibly be more ill-timed and out of touch. It comes across as a desperate attempt by the EU’s executive body to force its way of handling the migrant crisis onto disobedient EU member states, like an authoritarian parent disciplining its unruly children. There is, however, such a thing as bending something until it snaps. By persisting in pushing their agendas on EU member states that still consider themselves sovereign and not merely provinces of the European Union, Timmermans and his European Commission bureaucrats may just have given the European Union its kiss of death.