Category: Europe

Kicking Scotland in the teeth

Prime Minister David Cameron on Sunday ruled out giving Scotland another independence referendum despite spectacular gains by Scottish nationalists in a UK-wide election, saying Scots had “emphatically” rejected a breakaway only last year.

Cameron, who was re-elected with a surprise outright majority last week, said he would ensure that further powers would be granted to Scotland according to an existing plan. But he dismissed the idea that Scots might get another independence referendum anytime soon.

“We had a referendum. Scotland voted emphatically to stay in the United Kingdom,” Cameron told Channel 4 News.

“There isn’t going to be another referendum,” he said, saying the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP), which won 56 of 59 parliamentary seats in Scotland last week, had made clear that election was not about securing another vote.

Scots rejected independence in September 2014 by 55-45 percent after a lengthy and divisive campaign. Some nationalists said afterwards that the question had been decided for “a generation.”

The startling success of the SNP, which all but wiped out the Labour Party in Scotland last week, has renewed speculation it might push for another referendum, perhaps in the run-up to a Scottish parliamentary election next year.

Source: Reuters

EU to share burden of massive influx

The European Union’s executive body is to unveil radical new proposals on immigration, imposing migrant quotas on the 28 countries of the union under a distribution “key” system set by Brussels.

The plan, which is supported by Germany and will be fiercely resisted by Britain’s new Conservative government, will be launched by the European commission on Wednesday in response to migrant boats crisis in the Mediterranean.

The bold move by Brussels comes as the EU draws up plans for military attacks in Libya to try to curb the flow of people across the Mediterranean by targeting the trafficking networks. The EU’s top diplomat is to unveil an attempt on Monday to secure a UN mandate for armed action in Libya’s territorial waters.

Britain is drafting the UN security council resolution that would authorise the mission, senior officials in Brussels said. It would come under Italian command, have the participation of about 10 EU countries – including Britain, France, Spain and Italy – and could also drag in Nato, although there are no plans for the initial involvement of the alliance.

While there is broad support within the EU for the military plans, the proposals for sharing the immigration burden are highly controversial and divisive.

The policy document, obtained by the Guardian, demands new and binding rules establishing a quota system of sharing refugees among the member states.

The migration agenda declares: “The EU needs a permanent system for sharing the responsibility for large numbers of refugees and asylum seekers among member states.”

Source: mg.co.za

Merkel, Zuma in Moscow for V-day celebrations

Ukraine’s settlement and possibilities for the restoration of cooperation between Russia and Germany will be high on the agenda of talks in the Kremlin on Sunday between Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is arriving in Moscow to attend celebrations in honour of the 70th anniversary of the World War II Victory.

Before the talks, the two leaders together will lay wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the Kremlin wall.

Putin also spoke of the ‘Immortal Regiment‘ initiative’s importance earlier, while marching with over 300,000 people in Moscow’s Red Square, Saturday. “It was born not in cabinets, nor in administrative structures, but in the hearts of our people,” Putin told the interviewer.

“The sides will discuss, in particular, measures to boost trade and economic relations,” he said. In 2014, for the first time in recent years, a 6.5% decline in the Russian-German trade turnover volume was recorded, to $70.1 billion, compared to the previous year.

At the same time, the Russian economy has accumulated more than $21 billion of German investment. There are more than 6,000 companies with German participation operating in Russia, including about 800 – with 100% German capital. The volume of Russian investment in Germany is about $850 million.

The Kremlin also says the two countries have the traditionally intense cultural and humanitarian contacts and inter-regional cooperation.

The meeting with Merkel will complete the four-day “marathon” of international meetings that Putin has held on the sidelines of the Victory Day celebrations.

Since May 7, he has held talks with the leaders of the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), as well as with the leaders of Cuba, Mongolia, China, India, Vietnam, the Czech Republic, South Africa, as well as with the UN Secretary-General.

The South African president arrived in Moscow on Friday to join in commemorations of the 70th anniversary of the Allied victory.

Zuma urged on Saturday to endorse a “meaningful” reform of the United Nations to build a more just world order, the presidency said in a statement.

Meanwhile Martin Charmoy, head of Prosperity Capital Management fund in London, predicted that trade between Russia and China will reach $200 billion in the next several years.

Russia and China are quickly becoming close friends, a growing threat to European markets, Martin Charmoy, head of Prosperity Capital Management fund in London, said.

The analyst also predicted that trade between Russia and China will reach $200 billion in the next several years.
“Russia and China are becoming best friends,” Charmoy concluded.

Meanwhile, the analysts said European companies that once were very successful in the Russian market are losing their positions due to sanctions and the geopolitical situation.

This week during the Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow, a wide range of agreements in the trade, economic and energy fields were inked. The main issue on the agenda was an agreement to couple the Eurasian Economic Union and the Silk Road projects.

Last year, Russia’s gas-producing giant Gazprom and Chinese CNPC signed a deal to supply China with 38 billion cubic meters of gas per year over the next 30 years.

The total sum of the contract is estimated to be $400 billion, the largest Gazprom contract ever. The gas price is attached to the oil price. The supplies are planned to start in four to six years.

Source: Sputnik News/Itar-TASS

Some Swedes plan pig farm to keep Muslims out

Opponents to a proposed asylum center in the Swedish town of Gullberg came up with a plan to deter Muslim immigrants from coming.

Residents in the Swedish town of Gullberg opposed to controversial plans to build a center to house asylum seekers in the town, sent a letter to the Swedish Migration Board threatening to build a pig farm next to the building if the plan goes ahead, reports Sveriges Radio.

The letter, signed by ‘The interest group for Gullberg’s survival,’ outlined plans to build the farm next to the disused school building in the municipality of Mark, with “only an electric fence between the animals and the school, of about 20 meters.”

“It’s probably an impossible situation for certain religions. Above all Muslims.”

Politician Henry Sandahl, from the Mark branch of Sweden’s Countryside Party told P4 that though he had nothing to do with the letter, he supported the sentiment:

“It’s as big an inconvenience to asylum applicants if they are not comfortable with the pigs as it is for neighbors to get 60 asylum seekers. The principle is the same, they are both a nuisance but on different planes.”

The proposal was criticized by experts on Islam, including Ake Sander, a Professor of Psychology at the University of Gothenburg, who told the TT news agency:

“This is nonsense and shows just how very little they know about Islam.”

“It is one thing when Muslims try to stay away from pork, alcohol or gambling but there is nothing [in the Koran] that says you cannot be near pigs.”

The Swedish Migration Board told Sveriges Radio in a statement that it had no comment on the plans for the adjacent land, and did not want to engage in a debate about the pig farm proposal.

Last month, the Migration Board estimated between 68,000 and 80,000 people will apply for asylum in Sweden this year, having revised down an earlier prediction of between 80,000 and 105,000 people.

According to figures from Eurostat, Sweden has the highest proportion of asylum requests as a proportion of its population of all European countries, with 8,432 applications for every million inhabitants. Last year, four countries: Sweden, Germany, Italy and France, accepted around two-thirds of the EU’s asylum applications.

Source: Sputniksnews

EU to set up global court for investor disputes

The EU’s trade chief has unveiled plans to set up a global court to decide on disputes between investors and governments in a bid to defuse one of the main controversies in the ongoing EU-US trade talks.

A “concept paper” published on Tuesday (May 5), drafted for trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom, stated that the EU should “pursue the creation of one permanent court,” to rule on so-called investor state dispute settlement (ISDS).

The EU executive is keen to make clear that investor protection rules offer no guarantees to businesses that the legal regime in which they invested will remain the same. It also wants to include an article in the transatlantic trade and investment partnership (TTIP) stating that governments are free to pursue public policy objectives without fear of being sued.

Meanwhile, it also calls on arbitration panels to be more like the traditional court system, with permanent litigators and tenured judges ruling on cases.

The EU proposal is similar to that advocated by Germany’s economy minister Sigmar Gabriel, one of the strongest critics of ISDS.

Gabriel has called for a public trade and investment court to replace the current system of private arbitration, and to enable appeals against arbitration rulings.

Speaking at a hearing with MEPs in March, Malmstrom commented that, in the future, governments should be expected to nominate “a limited list of trustworthy arbiters who would decide on all TTIP investment cases”.

A multilateral court would “be a more efficient use of resources and have more legitimacy,” she added.

In a blog post on Tuesday, Malmstrom described the ‘traditional ISDS system’ as being “not fit for purpose in the 21st century”.

“Our new approach ensures that a state can never be forced to change legislation, only to pay fair compensation in cases where the investor is deemed to have been treated unfairly,” she added.

Malmstrom will present her proposals to MEPs on the International Trade committee on Wednesday and to trade ministers the following day. If approved, they could form the basis of negotiations with the US.

ISDS has become one of the most hotly-disputed elements in the EU-US trade talks, which have now completed their ninth round. Critics of the process say that arbitrations are carried out in secret by trade lawyers, and that it allows companies to sue governments that pass social protection legislation that could harm their investments.

Campaigners frequently point to a ongoing case brought by tobacco giant Philip Morris against the Australian government over new legislation requiring plain packaging for cigarettes sold in the country.

Following rising concern about the regime, the commission opened the three-month online consultation last March and suspended discussions on ISDS with US trade officials.

In January, the commission published a 140-page report from the consultation, to which 97 percent of submissions were opposed to the inclusion of ISDS.

However, EU governments are parties to around 1,400 of the 3,000 international investment agreements that are currently in force across the world, and the commission is under pressure from the US government to include investor protection in any agreement.

Source: EU Observer

Russian, Chinese warships enter Black Sea

For the first time in history, Chinese and Russian navies will begin a significant joint naval exercise in The Mediterranean Sea in mid-May.

Citied by RT, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng said that “The aim is to deepen both countries’ friendly and practical cooperation, and increase our navies’ ability to jointly deal with maritime security threats,” but diplomatically added “these exercises are not aimed at any third party and have nothing to do with the regional situation.”

Against a background of this week’s “upgraded Japan-American military relationship” following Abe’s visit to Obama, as one analyst notes, “the geopolitical significance of its exercising alongside Russia will not be lost on the U.S. and NATO.”

While it was unclear if directly related to the upcoming “historic” drill, the Bosphorus Navy Blog reports that in what is a comparable “first” yesterday two warships from Peoples Republic of China were seen passing through the Bosphorus, and entering the Black Sea.

NATO promptly responded and hours ago AP reported that a top NATO commander said the alliance will briefly move its allied joint force command from Italy to Romania – which has a historic Black Sea port in the town of Constanta – as NATO continues to react to Russia’s moves in Ukraine.

Admiral Mark Ferguson, Commander of Allied Joint Force Command based in Naples, Italy, said the command will be based in Cincu, central Romania, for 12 days in June, to support a NATO exercise involving 1,000 troops from 21 NATO states.

Cincu is Romania’s largest military shooting range, some 180 kilometers (112 miles) northwest of Bucharest.

Source: Zerohedge

British Labour Party holds segregated event

While Ed Miliband dreamt about multiculturalism in Britain, supporters joined hands in Birmingham for a segregated rally.

A Labour MEP for the West Midlands, proudly tweeted a picture of a Labour rally in Hodge Hill, in which seven Labour representatives spoke at a packed Islamic community centre.

The picture clearly shows that men and women were seated separately in the audience, during what was supposed to be an event to encourage political engagement.

This issue did not go unnoticed by the party’s critics, with many taking to Twitter to ask why Labour, which claims to be a party for equality, would support segregated audiences.

Alas the party is staying quiet. A party spokesman was contacted on Saturday night and asked to clarify Labour policy on gender segregation. They are yet to respond.

Actually none of the Labour candidates have been willing to comment on the subject. Jack Dromey, Shadow Minister for Communities and Local Government, and husband of leading Labour feminist Harriet Harman blocked questions on Twitter.

Orthodox branches of both Islam and Judaism require men and women to sit separately in their religious services, but the rally wasn’t a religious service.

Ed Miliband, a Jew, had vowed that upon being elected, Labour would make Islamophobia a crime. Curiously many Muslims believe that the Holocaust never happened.

The last Labour government tried to make it a crime to ‘disrespect’ Islam, at the behest of clamorous Muslim pressure groups.

Labour relies on the Allah block vote in very many constituencies and especially the postal votes of Muslim constituents who do not speak English.

Miliband has almost the least parliamentary experience of all the leaders of the three main parties since the Second World War.

He has had surgery “to change his voice”, as he suffers from a speech impediment, but his voice has not improved. Despite the official account, some maintain that Miliband has had cosmetic surgery done on his nose instead.

Marine says Le Pen should no longer speak for party

France’s National Front chief Marine Le Pen said Sunday her father should “no longer be able to speak in the name of” the party, as a bitter public feud between the two continues.

Jean-Marie Le Pen infuriated some last month by reiterating his long-held view that the Nazi gas chambers were merely a “detail of history”, as well as making other controversial remarks defending the “white world”.

Previously he hailed the outbreak of Ebola in Africa as welcome. His latest comments also come in the wake of a recent controversial interview with Ursula Haverbeck on Germany’s ARD channel in which Haverbeck claims that the “Holocaust was the biggest pack of lies in history“.

Le Pen earlier praised French wartime leader Philippe Petain, who collaborated with the Nazis.

Marine condemned the comments as “political suicide” and a highly-publicised spat between them saw the 86-year-old party founder forced to pull out of upcoming regional elections.

“Jean-Marie Le Pen should no longer be able to talk in the name of the National Front, his comments are against the fixed (party) line,” she told French radio.

Marine Le Pen has been actively trying to distance the party from its racist and anti-Semitic image as she plans her bid for the next French presidential election in 2017.

Jean-Marie Le Pen was conspicuously dropped from a line-up of National Front leaders on stage during the party’s traditional May 1 rally in Paris.

But determined to upstage his daughter, he nevertheless strided uninvited onto the podium to take the ovation of the crowd.

“I think that was a malicious act, I think it was an act of contempt towards me,” Marine said Sunday.

Jean-Marie Le Pen has been summoned Monday to appear before the party’s top executive authority, which will examine whether to take action against him following last month’s comments.

The FN’s honourary president was in hot water just days before because allegations emerged that he had stashed 2.2 million euros in a secret Swiss bank account.

Some protesters also tried to take the stage at the event, but the old patriarch upstaged the opportunists.

Katie Hopkins’ ‘viscous, xenophobic & racist’ journalism referred to ICC

A UK law society has stepped up its pursuit of the Sun and its ‘Nazi propaganda’ spouting columnist Katie Hopkins over alleged anti-migrant hate speech, referring both to a powerful international court usually reserved for war criminals.

The Society of Black Lawyers, which originally reported the column written by Hopkins and published by the Sun just hours before 800 migrants drowned in the Mediterranean, has referred the case to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The SBL’s efforts come after UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said the column – in which Hopkins referred to migrants as “cockroaches” – recalled Europe’s darkest days of fascist hate speech and “Nazi propaganda.”

“The case is an exceptionally strong one as the incitement of racial hatred in Hopkins’ unfounded rant illustrated her xenophobic views on the issue surrounding migrants in general,” SBL committee member Shireen Khan told RT.

“This is further portrayed from the numerous articles that are published by the Sun newspaper that are anti-immigrant and majority of the time simply untrue.”

Khan is confident the ICC, which is best known for investigating atrocities in the Balkans and Africa, will take SBL’s referral very seriously.

“I believe that the ICC will take up this case fully as they have a duty to investigate such matters especially the seriousness of this case, which is further emphasized by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’ endorsement of our report.

“There is also a strong evidential basis on which SBL have brought this claim. It is quite a sad reality that [the] majority of the time racist abuse is unreported as a crime and secondly is hidden behind the ideas surrounding freedom of speech.”

Khan said the legitimization of anti-immigrant rhetoric under the banner of free speech was a scourge that had become all too common.

She pointed out that Hopkins’ controversial views proved infectious in some quarters, saying they were almost immediately echoed on LBC radio.

“Katie Hopkins’ column was published in the paper but it was then echoed in a viscous, xenophobic and racist tirade on radio, which led to exposure to further parts of society who may be disillusioned in thinking that immigrants are the cause of all destruction our country is facing.

“This has led to some of the most vulnerable people in the world being turned away from the support that they are entitled to under international law. These migrants trying to come to the EU are fleeing persecution, war and death.”

“Immigrants do not deserve to be the scapegoat of this country’s problems and it’s about time we stopped making them it.”

She blasted reactionary anti-immigrant elements within UK politics, arguing they were to blame for creating the political space in which such views could be aired without due criticism.

Airbus to court over NSA/BND espionage

European aviation consortium Airbus said it would file criminal charges over industrial espionage, following reports that US and German foreign intelligence spied on the industry giant.

“We are aware that as a large company in the sector, we are a target and subject of espionage,” the company said in a statement to AFP on Thursday. “However, in this case we are alarmed because there is concrete suspicion of industrial espionage.”

The move follows reports in Bild newspaper and Der Spiegel news magazine based on intelligence documents, claiming US spy agency, the NSA, deliberately targeted Airbus and Eurocopter – also run by the French-based company. The reports additionally revealed Berlin was aware of the espionage and kept quiet since 2008.

Following the allegations, Airbus “asked the German government for information.”

“We will now file a criminal complaint against persons unknown on suspicion of industrial espionage,” the company said.

It is alleged the German Foreign Intelligence service (BND) collaborated with the NSA in providing information about Airbus’ industrial secrets. The German media reports also alleged BND used the Bad Aibling monitoring station in Bavaria not only to spy on industrial business, but also to eavesdrop on the French president, the French foreign ministry, and the European Commission.

A French foreign ministry spokesman was quoted by DW as saying: “We are in close contact on this issue with our German partners.”

The German public and the political elite were furious following the 2013 disclosures by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, into the NSA hack of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cell phone. Yet while promising to respond, Germany has done nothing so far.

Gay cartoonist says he will no longer insult prophet

Cartoonist Luz, who drew Charlie Hebdo’s front cover picture of Mohammed following the massacre of the satirical weekly’s editorial team by jihadists in January, has told a French magazine he will no longer draw the prophet.

The gay cartoonist and lover of Charb, one of the cartoonists killed in the attack, insisted that he was not scared of reprisals. “The terrorists did not win,” Luz told Les Inrockuptibles.

“They will have won if the whole of France continues to be scared,” he told AFP, accusing the “far-right” National Front of trying to stir up fear in the wake of the attacks.

“I will no longer draw the figure of Mohammed. It no longer interests me,” he told Les Inrockuptibles magazine in an interview published on Wednesday.

“I’m not going to spend my life drawing (cartoons of Mohammed).”

Luz’s cover image in January portrayed Mohammed with a sign saying “Je Suis Charlie” under the words “All is forgiven”.

The issue came out a week after the attack by jihadists on the magazine’s office left 12 dead. It had a print run of eight million, a record for the French press.

Before the attack the magazine faced closure.

China inks huge arms deal with Russia

China and Russia, as part of closer strategic ties, have finalized a long-awaited deal for very long range S-400 surface to air missile (SAM) system. The deal is not only the largest Sino-Russian arms deal in over a decade, but S-400 missile defense capabilities would provide China with a quick missile defense upgrade at the moment neighboring states like North Korea acquire more ballistic missiles, and the U.S. and Japan look to buy stealthy anti-ship missiles.

In April 2015, both Anatoly Isaikin, CEO of Russia’s arms sales Rosoboronexport agency, and Du Wenlong, a senior member of the PLA Academy of Military Science, have stated that China will take delivery of the S-400 SAM. The Moscow Times reports that the deal was negotiated for $3 billion, to deliver 6 S-400 battalions. With each battalion consisting of 6 transport erector launch (TEL) vehicles, China would have 36 launch vehicles.

The S-400 is the longest range SAM system in the world. It first entered into Russian service in 2007, and has capability to intercept ballistic missiles and high speed aircraft, while its 91N6E can locate and track stealth aircraft at standoff (100km+) distances. The most infamous of the S-400’s three missiles is the 40N6, which has an astounding range of 400km. The 40N6’s extreme range would allow S-400 TELs on China’s coast to shoot down aircraft anywhere over Taiwan. The smaller 250km-ranged 48N6 and 120km-range 9M96E2 missiles are also equally lethal against fighters, bombers, early warning and electronic warfare aircraft, as well as cruise and ballistic missiles.

The S-400 will supplement China’s Russian-made S-300 and domestic HQ-9 long-range SAMs, while its 30K6E command system can even interlink with other Russian made SAMs, like the S-400 and TOR-M1, both of which China already fields. The S-400s would likely be operated by the PLA Air Force (PLAAF), which has historically operated China’s land based long-range air defense systems. While the 40N6’s long range could theoretically cover all of Taiwan’s air space, they would most likely protect major bases like the Hainan submarine pens, important cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, or hide within the inland mountains of Fujian and Guangdong Provinces.

The deal is significant to regional security as well as geopolitics. China’s improved air defense capabilities will greatly complicate any efforts to conduct aerial operations or missile attacks against the Chinese mainland, even with stealthy drones, longer-ranged cruise missiles, or new bombers, all part of the new US “third offset” plan. In wartime, the S-400 could even support Chinese airstrikes by knocking out enemy fighters flying above their own bases and cities. On the strategic level, the S-400 sale would facilitate Sino-Russian cooperation, as well as facilitate other sales and joint projects like submarines and space operations.

Source: Popular Science

Senior rabbi warns against Putin’s ouster

A senior Russian rabbi warned of grave danger to Jews if Russian President Vladimir Putin is swept from power.

Alexander Boroda, head of the Chabad-affiliated Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, made the warning Friday during a talk at Moscow’s 9th annual Jewish learning event organized by Limmud FSU.

“The Jews of Russia must realize the dangers inherent in the possible collapse of the Putin government, understand the rules of the game and be aware of the limitations,” Boroda said at a sessions, according to a translation provided by Limmud FSU.

The Moscow conference, which drew 1,400 participants, opened Friday at the state-owned Klyasma resort just outside the Russian capital.

Boroda’s Federation is among several Russian Jewish organizations that credit Putin for facilitating efforts to re-consolidate Russia’s Jewish community of 350,000 after decades of communist repression.

Under Putin, dozens of synagogues have been renovated with government support and a massive Jewish museum was opened in Moscow with state funding.

“In Russia, there is virtually unlimited freedom of religion and the Jewish community must ensure this situation continues,” Boroda said. “The support for religious institutions is wider than in the United States and defense of Jews against manifestations of anti-Semitism is greater than in other European countries. We do not have the privilege of losing what we have achieved and the support of the government for the community.”

All Russian Jews and especially those considering action against the Putin administration, Boroda said, “must understand the grave dangers that they take upon themselves and the potential consequences.”

Source: Haaretz

Stockholm Marathon runs away from racism accusations

Accusations of racism have forced organisers of the Stockholm Marathon to change their proposed plan to give prize money to only Nordic runners.

The organisers had previously announced that the race, which is due to take place on May 30, would be a “Nordic international competition” and that prize money could only be won by Nordic runners.

The decision prompted widespread criticism, with Norwegian sports columnist Andreas Selliaas calling the move “as close to racism as it’s possible to come.”

The organisers had hoped that the new format, which was to be used every second year, would encourage and improve Nordic competitors.

Aside from being excluded from the prize pot of 250,000 Swedish crowns (R351,078), officials also said that non-Nordic athletes would not receive any appearance fee. They hoped this policy would discourage African runners who dominate the sport from showing up.

If a non-Nordic runner still showed up and won the race under the policy, then the prize money would have gone to the first Nordic finisher.

But on Thursday the organisers made a u-turn and said prize money would be available to all participants.

“The criticism has forced a rethink. If a non-Nordic runner wins, we are going to open the wallet in the same manner,” Stockholm Marathon spokesman Lorenzo Nesi said in a statement.

No Nordic man has won the Stockholm Marathon since Sweden’s Anders Szalki crossed the finish line first in 2001.

Source: Reuters