Why Italians are fed up with Europe

Joep Bertrams

 

The rise to government of Eurosceptic parties is the consequence of austerity policies made in the name of cleaner public finances and of the euro convergence criteria.

Two Eurosceptic forces are now governing Italy. On one hand the 5-Star Movement, the anti-system party of Luigi de Maio founded by the humorist Beppe Grillo. On the other, far-right xenophobic Liga led by Matteo Salvini. How could this have happened? How did one of the European Union’s six founding members, host of Treaty of Rome in 1957, and for a long time the EU’s most Europhile country, give a parliamentary majority to groups so hostile to European integration?

Trump Takes On The Deep State

This is an article that merits a lot of attention. It explains what Donald Trump is really up against: A renegade “Deep State” that does what it wants, regardless of who is President, and can outlast many presidencies.

For archiving purposes, the article will remain in full here.

 

The tweet heard ’round the intelligence world.

 

 

• Donald Trump engages in war of words with outgoing CIA head
• Trump policies on trade, foreign policy depart from longstanding norms
• Past events point to policymaking powers beyond elected officials
• Russian relations a major sticking point between Trump, much of gov’t
• Aggressive stance towards China could result in enormous market volatility

Last Sunday, US president-elect Donald Trump launched one of his now-trademark series of broadsides against the CIA, claiming that the latest series of leaks concerning his alleged misuse of a Moscow hotel suite previously occupied by president Barack Obama was a “complete fraud”.

Trump then compared the US intelligence regime to Nazi Germany in a tweet that called the leak, which alleged various colourful activities involving prostitutes, “fake news […] one last shot at me”.

France’s premier warns of new attacks, 15,000 people on police radar

PARIS (Reuters) – French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Sunday there would be new attacks in France but proposals by former president Nicolas Sarkozy to boost security was not the right way to deal with threats.

…

“This week at least two attacks were foiled,” Manuel Valls said in an interview with Europe 1 radio and Itele television on Sunday.

France mulls banning foreign financing for mosques

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls says an indefinite prohibition on foreign financing of mosques is under consideration amid predictions of more terror atrocities after the murder of a priest in a Normandy church by ISIS supporters.

Time to take sides in the war within Islam

Paris – French Prime Minister Manuel Valls was right when he recently said that there is no good excuse for jihad. Rejecting the culture of excuses, said Valls, also meant resisting the temptation to dwell on explanations of the jihadi impulse.

And Valls was right again on April 4 when he warned against the danger of an ideological victory for Salafism, the doctrine underlying jihad, which views Europe (and, within Europe, France) as prime ground for proselytizing.

WARNING: Sick Islamic State terrorists could pose as MEDICAL WORKERS to attack HOSPITALS

Don’t think the same couldn’t happen in America. The bad guys have always plans such as this, which aren’t limited to hospitals. Kindergartens, universities, movie theaters, etc… are all targets by islamic terrorists. Thousands of terror cells are already in and awaiting the green light to strike where it hurts America the most, morally, socially and economically.

 

ISLAMIC State jihadis could impersonate firefighters and medical staff to stage horrifying attacks on hospitals, it has been claimed.

Belgian authorities fear the savage terror group could be planning a Paris-style massacre in hospitals in Brussels – and government ministers have warned emergency services that terrorists could slip in undetected by impersonating them.

Reports have suggested hospital chiefs have been advised to ensure uniforms cannot be stolen and to update emergency plans and lists of doctors and senior staff.

Austerity or Democracy

ATHENS/BERLIN (Own report) – At Berlin’s insistence, Greece will not receive debt relief and will be forced to submit – contrary to the Greek population’s “No” last Sunday – to Germany’s austerity dictate, or exit the Eurozone. This is what the Eurogroup decided at its summit yesterday evening. Debt relief, as French Prime Minister Manuel Valls had been still considering yesterday afternoon, is out of the question, announced German Chancellor Angela Merkel following the meeting in Brussels. Athens will also have to present detailed austerity proposals by Thursday. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker explicitly declared, “if the Greek government is not doing what we expect” a “Grexit” will be initiated. According to insiders, cash will be available at Greek banks only for another two days. By withholding ECB emergency funding, Greece can be driven into collapse, at any time. Just prior to the summit, leading economists signed an appeal to Chancellor Merkel, asking her to stop the “never-ending austerity” – to no avail. In the meantime, even Washington has intervened in the debate. A special EU summit, convened for Sunday, will take the final decision on Greece’s future.

Forget Grexit, “Madame Frexit” Says France Is Next: French Presidential Frontrunner Wants Out Of “Failed” Euro

There has been some confusion why Germany and the Eurozone are so strict in negotiating with France and unwilling to concede even to the smallest of what they deem as outlandish Greek demands. The reason is not so much whether Spain or even Italy, both countries with soaring unemployment, a lost generation and a sweeping movement against “austerity”, follow with comparable demands should Europe concede to Tsipras, but France, where the frontrunner for the next president, the National Front’s Marine Le Pen, has just warned that not only is a Grexit inevitable, but that France would follow shortly.

Here it is worth reminding that one of the biggest European concerns with Greece is not so much its resolute attitude toward Greek demands which Europe can easily squash and force a regime change by cutting off ELA to Greek banks forcing a prompt and violent coup d’etat, but dealing with political parties who promise anything and everything just to be elected, in the process pushing aside Europe’s preferred technocrats who will do the bidding of Brussels without the smallest objection.

The Islamization of France in 2014

The Muslim population of France reached an estimated 6.5 million in 2014. Although French law prohibits the collection of official statistics about the race or religion of its citizens, this estimate is based on several recent studies that attempt to calculate the number of people in France whose origins are from Muslim majority countries.

This implies that the Muslim population of France is now roughly 10% of the country’s total population of 66 million. In real terms, France has the largest Muslim population in the European Union.

Consequently, Islam was an ever-present topic in newspaper headlines during 2014. What follows is a chronological review of some of the main stories about the rise of Islam in France during 2014:

On January 1, Interior Minister Manuel Valls announced the most anticipated statistic of the year: a total of 1,067 cars and trucks were torched across France on New Year’s Eve, a “significant reduction” from the 1,193 vehicles that were burned during the annual ritual on the same holiday in 2013.

Car burnings, commonplace across France, are often attributed to rival Muslim gangs that compete with each other for the media spotlight over who can cause the most destruction. An estimated 40,000 cars are burned in France every year.

Will Germany Abolish Itself and France Commit Suicide?

Sarrazin wrote that Islamic immigrants threaten Germany’s freedom and prosperity because they are unwilling to integrate and rely overwhelmingly on welfare benefits. The book hit a nerve with the German public. It sold over two million copies and became one of the most widely read books ever published in Germany.

Ziemmour’s book argues that France is being destroyed by immigrants who refuse to assimilate; by political correctness that stifles all debate and by supranational organizations such as the EU, which are undermining the French nation state and the French economy. Its sales are breaking all records.

Four years ago, Thilo Sarrazin, a renowned German central banker, who was also a long-time member of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), shocked the German establishment when he published a book in which he argued that Islamic immigration is undermining German society. In the book, Deutschland schafft sich ab [Germany Abolishes Itself], Sarrazin wrote that Islamic immigrants threaten Germany’s freedom and prosperity because they are unwilling to integrate and rely overwhelmingly on welfare benefits.

Germany warns of war in Europe

Germany warned of war in Europe on Monday, with vice chancellor Sigmar Gabriel stating the continent was being “dragged” into a “smouldering conflict” with Russia over Ukraine.

Gabriel – at an event commemorating World War I with French Prime Minister Manuel Valls – warned of resurgent nationalist forces both within Europe and “in its neighbourhood”.

He said that good news several months ago from Ukraine – including an end to bloody violence against protesters – had since given way to “an ongoing military confrontation” and the realization that “Russia is apparently willing to let tanks cross European borders.”