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Credit downgrade deals fresh blow to Greek economy by John Hadoulis Wed Dec 16, 4:09 pm ET ATHENS (AFP) – Greece was hit with a credit rating downgrade on Wednesday in a fresh blow for the government as it grapples with a crisis that has raised wider fears over debt levels in other European economies. Greek trade unionists meanwhile prepared to take to the streets on Thursday in a show of force against austerity measures unveiled earlier this week by Prime Minister George Papandreou in a bid to tame spiralling debt levels. International ratings agency Standard and Poor's (SP) lowered...

A "must view" video showing an outspoken British politician criticizing the EU and its new Foreign Minister, on November 25'th of this year. Video contains some remarkably candid and unflattering comments regarding the establishment of the European Union. Running time just over nine minutes.

They may be focused on global warming in Copenhagen, but in many other parts of Europe the focus at the moment is more on how to warm up. Temperatures in Moscow have plunged to minus 21 degrees celsius (minus 70 fahrenheit) after the city had its warmest December day in recorded history earlier this month. The average winter temperature in Moscow is minus two degrees celsius (minus 25 fahrenheit).

Britain is the only European country President Barack Obama can really count on to respond positively to his plea for NATO to provide extra forces for Afghanistan. So why is it, then, that the Obama administration can barely conceal its disdain for a nation that, by its deeds, time and again proves itself to be America's staunchest and most reliable ally? Shortly before Mr. Obama's Afghan policy speech at West Point earlier this month, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced Britain was sending another 500 troops to that beleaguered country, bringing the total number of British troops to around 10,000....

Turkey’s political elite is obsessed with joining the European Union. But senior players in the EU – in a rare moment of clarity amid their delusional fantasies of a federal Europe – are reluctant to let in a country which is increasingly hard to distinguish from the rest of the Islamic world. Here’s a tip for Turkish campaigners for EU membership: if you want to win over Herman Van Rompuy, best not set up your headquarters in a building confiscated from your country’s oppressed Orthodox Christian minority. This how the Un:dhimmi website reports the controversy: Unbelievable but true: the headquarters...

THE land of Goethe and Schiller has become the nation of "yeah but, no but" as purists complain that the Germans have forgotten how to speak their own language correctly. Already irked by the influx of English words into their vernacular, defenders of the EU's most widely spoken first language are finding themselves driven to despair by the inability of their fellow citizens to master even basic German grammar. The world of Vorsprung durch Technik is already in turmoil over a controversial spelling reform which has been boycotted by many publishers and two German regions. To add insult to injury,...

BONN, Germany (Reuters) - The European Union must boost economic growth and commit to fighting climate change to ensure the survival of its social model and of the planet, the new EU President Herman Van Rompuy said on Thursday.

BRUSSELS – European Union leaders on Friday urged international action against Iran because of its refusal to cooperate over its nuclear program, as the threat of new sanctions looms.

BRUSSELS (AP) -- European Union leaders called for a global financial transaction levy and more responsible banking pay in the hopes it could help buffer against future market crises, according to a joint statement published Friday. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said there was "growing support" across the world for such a levy and that other EU nations were supportive of Britain's plans for a one-off tax of 50 percent for all bonuses of more than more than 25,000 pounds ($40,800.) France says it will follow suit -- and called on others to join them. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said,...

With a Conservative Government the favourite to take power in Britain next year, Baroness Ashton of Upholland is racing against time to establish a pan-European diplomatic service before David Cameron can clip its wings. Some European leaders and MEPs want the new External Action Service (EAS) that she will oversee to become a federal Foreign Office for the EU with full consular powers, making it Europe’s pre-eminent presence around the world. But the battle is on to shape it before a possible change of government in Britain. “We would like everything in place before David Cameron becomes Prime Minister,” said...

EU leaders agreed Friday to commit euro2.4 billion ($3.6 billion) a year until 2012 to help poorer countries combat global warming, as they sought to rescue their image as climate change innovators and bolster talks in Copenhagen. French President Nicolas Sarkozy says the offer "puts Europe in a leadership role in Copenhagen," where international negotiators are seeking a long-term way to slow the warming of the planet. All 27 members of the European Union will commit money to a short-term fund for poorer countries, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said after two days of difficult talks at a summit in...

The Lisbon Treaty is Ratified The Lisbon Treaty is a reformatted "treaty" to replace the constitution thatfailed ratification owing to the French and Dutch rejection of it a few years ago. As is typical for the EU, they merely repackaged it, renamed it, and passed it by having the individual nation's parliaments approved it, instead of allowing the people to vote on it (Ireland was an exception to this). Jean Monnet, the true founder of the EU, suggested that to obtain passage of significant matters in the EU; never allow the people to vote onthe issue. That advice is now...

Hedge Funds Target Euro Zone's Weak BY JOANNA SLATER, GREGORY ZUCKERMAN AND CASSELL BRYAN-LOW The sudden spotlight on troubled government borrowers is presenting a long-awaited payday for investors who placed early bets against countries now under pressure. Investors including Balestra Capital Ltd., Hayman Capital Partners LP, North Asset Management LLP and Pivot Capital Management Ltd. have been anticipating such flare-ups for at a year or longer, betting that some countries would emerge from the financial crisis in much worse shape than others. Those bearish positions had led to a difficult 2009, as investor confidence picked up and rivals gained by...

Baroness Vadera: 'I Still Have Nightmares About The Financial Crisis'Baroness Vadera, the adviser to the G20 Presidency, has warned that some of Europe's biggest banks have yet to "come clean" on the extent of their losses and could still provide shocks to the financial system. By Louise Armitstead Published: 9:14PM GMT 08 Dec 2009 The former Government minister and one of the architects of the British efforts to rescue the financial system, told a high-level business conference in Sussex: "I don't think we are through it yet… an IMF study showed at the middle of this year that banks had...

Trilateral Commission member Lykke Friis will head and chair the United Nations Copenhagen meeting in December, this confirms that there will be a pushing towards a new world order, when it is not someone from Bilderberg heading some government agenda then we see people from the Trilateral commission running things. Mario Borghezio ranted the other day at the lack of transparency in the EU government as the head and the first president of the EU is a also a Bilderberg member that was not elected by the people of the EU but rather selected by a group of secretive globalists....

Athens, Greece, Dec 4, 2009 / 06:55 am (CNA).- The head of the Greek Orthodox Church has voiced his opposition to a court ban on crucifixes in classrooms in Italy and will hold an emergency synod to lay out a plan of action to combat the ban. Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece said that the European Court of Human Rights (EHCR) had ignored the role of Christianity in Europe’s history. According to the BBC, he added that majorities, not only minorities, have rights.The Orthodox Church fears the EHCR ruling could trigger similar rulings about the public display of...

LONDON — Eleven men were arrested and a policewoman was taken to hospital Saturday after violence broke out at a far-right group's demonstration against Islamic extremism in central England, police said. The 29-year-old policewoman hurt her arm while policing a cordon at the protest by the English Defence League in the city of Nottingham, but no one else was seriously hurt in the skirmishes, Nottinghamshire police said. About 500 members of the EDL, a marginal group which has staged a number of demonstrations against radical Islam in recent months, sang the English national anthem and football songs as they gathered...

When secularists parade with the European Union flag they are unwittingly honouring the Immaculate Conception Belgium is a wonderful country but one can’t always tell that when in Brussels. This city is the least example of how wonderful the country as a whole is. I don’t think even the residents of Brussels want to be there. I walked across one of the many plazas scattered throughout this, one of the three capitals of the European Union, when I spied a shop festooned completely, in and out, with the European Union flag. The EU symbol is so ubiquitous throughout Europe that...

Opinion polls in Europe show that the Swiss referendum would have also won in France, Holland, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria. The no to the minaret is a no to the increasing (and never satisfied) Islamist demands. The European population thinks differently and wants its leaders to reaffirm its identity. The no to the minarets is an invitation to true dialogue. Paris (AsiaNews) - The outcome of the Swiss referendum has aroused a wave of inquiries and questions Snip... Typically politicians have reacted negatively, criticizing this vote. Instead, people in Europe have been in favour of the outcome. Some sites...

Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President, sends his regrets — but he is unable to meet Gordon Brown in Downing Street today as planned because of a longstanding engagement. With the President of Benin. Mr Sarkozy promised Mr Brown that he would visit London to calm fears that the City is about to be saddled with French-style regulation. But amid his gloating over the appointment of a Frenchmen to the key Brussels job overseeing financial reforms, his visit today has been abandoned. A spokesman for Mr Sarkozy cited “longstanding” engagements, including a meeting with President Dr Thomas Yayi Boni of Benin,...

Nicolas Sarkozy has pulled out of a planned trip to London on which he was supposed to calm fears that French-style regulation will be imposed on the City. It was reported this morning that Mr Sarkozy was to make a short visit to Number 10 to smooth relations in the wake of his gloating about the appointment of former French minister Michel Barnier to the EU’s internal market portfolio. But a spokesman for the French president said: “Nicolas Sarkozy will not go to London tomorrow. “There will be a meeting between Brown and Sarkozy on the sidelines of the European...

We woke up in a different country today. Alright, it doesn’t look very different. The trees still seem black against the winter sun; the motorways continue to jam inexplicably; commuters carry on avoiding eye contact. But Britain is no longer a sovereign nation. At midnight last night, we ceased to be an independent state, bound by international treaties to other independent states, and became instead a subordinate unit within a European state.

Talk about partitioning Kosovo remains taboo. Almost everyone officially rejects the idea - the Albanians, the Serbs (in both Serbia and Kosovo), and the EU and U.S. However, only the Albanians probably really mean it and only if it applies to carving out pieces of “their” Kosovo and not so much as it might apply to the partitioning of Kosovo from Serbia. The Western Europeans and U.S. stand against partition arguing that Kosovo is a unique case and maintaining that Kosovo is and can be a flourishing multi-ethnic democracy. (Some EU members, and perhaps some in EU Brussels, may actually...

Alistair Darling has delivered a blunt warning to the EU’s new French finance chief against meddling with the City of London. As Nicolas Sarkozy gloated over impending curbs on the City, the Chancellor said that such moves would drive financial services out of Europe. The French President’s glee at the appointment of Michel Barnier as Commissioner for the Single Market took on an edge of menace yesterday when he said that unfettered City practices must end. “Do you know what it means for me to see for the first time in 50 years a French European commissioner in charge of...

The European Union's Lisbon Treaty has come into force with the aim of streamlining EU decision-making. The first EU president also took office along with the bloc's new foreign policy chief. The European Union welcomed the Lisbon Treaty with a ceremony in Lisbon, Portugal where the text was first signed. Getting all 27 EU states to ratify it however, was a long and arduous process that was only completed last month. The new treaty lays out a series of fundamental changes within the European Union, including creating the bloc's first permanent president. That job has gone to former Belgian prime...

Monday November 30, 2009 UK Christian Relationship Counselor Sacked for Opposing Same-sex Partnerings By Hilary WhiteLONDON, November 30, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A Christian marriage counselor has joined the burgeoning ranks of those in the UK who have been sacked for their Christian religious beliefs. Gary McFarlane, a 48-year-old solicitor and part-time counselor with a relationship counseling charity, was sacked when he refused to endorse same-sex relationships as equivalent to those of heterosexual couples. McFarlane has lost his chance at appeal with the Employment Appeal Tribunal in which he claimed unfair dismissal and discrimination contrary to the Employment Equality (Religion...

We woke up in a different country today. Alright, it doesn’t look very different. The trees still seem black against the winter sun; the motorways continue to jam inexplicably; commuters carry on avoiding eye contact. But Britain is no longer a sovereign nation. At midnight last night, we ceased to be an independent state, bound by international treaty to other independent states, and became instead a subordinate unit within a European state. Yes, a European state. Take a quick dekko at the definition set out in Article One of the1933 Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States: “The...

The Foreign Ministry warned Tuesday morning that a Swedish-led attempt to have the European Union recognize eastern Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian Authority will backfire. The draft proposal, expected to be placed on the EU table next week, would damage efforts to reach peace with the PA and damage the EU’s standing as a trusted entity, ministry spokesman Yossi Levy said.

The Lisbon Treaty is Ratified The Lisbon Treaty is a reformatted "treaty" to replace the constitution thatfailed ratification owing to the French and Dutch rejection of it a few years ago. As is typical for the EU, they merely repackaged it, renamed it, and passed it by having the individual nation's parliaments approved it, instead of allowing the people to vote on it (Ireland was an exception to this). Jean Monnet, the true founder of the EU, suggested that to obtain passage of significant matters in the EU; never allow the people to vote onthe issue. That advice is now...

The latest initiative by our "Children's Secretary", Ed Balls, is to abolish what remains of fact-based teaching of history and geography in our schools. He plans to "roll them together into themed lessons on social issues such as global warming" (funny how that seems to seep into everything nowadays). The ruthless drive of educational progressives to eliminate history-teaching from schools has been under way since the 1960s. The aim is to ensure that children know nothing about their country's past or how the world came to be as it is, leaving their minds blankly open to whatever vacuous progressive claptrap...

The European Parliament is scheduled to give Wednesday the 'green light' on annulment of Schengen visas for Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro as of December 19, Slovenian MEP Tanja Fajon, who prepared the visa liberalization report for Western Balkan countries, told MIA. Fajon said she was certain that the European Parliament would adopt the report, including Slovenia's proposal for annulment of Schengen visas on December 19 instead of the European Commission proposal of January 1. "I believe it is very realistic to expect that citizens of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro will be able to travel freely in the EU as of...

A German couple who tried to teach their children Christian values at home has been fined by a Kassel court for refusing to send them to school. The couple from the Hessian village of Archfeld bei Herleshausen has seven children between the ages of two and 17, who they told the court they had hoped to “give the Bible their unlimited trust” through lessons at home. Rosemarie (43) and Jürgen D. (48) were sentenced on Wednesday to pay a daily €1 fine for 60 days for defying the country's compulsory school attendance. The ruling was a lenient judgement compared to...

Wednesday November 25, 2009 Britain's Chief Rabbi Warns of Fall of Europe due to Demographic Collapse By John-Henry WestenLONDON, November 24, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Speaking at the Annual Theos Lecture in London on November 4, Britain's Chief Rabbi Johnathan Sacks, warned that Europe was bound to meet the same fate as ancient Greece due to its abysmal failure to inspire larger families. "Parenthood involves massive sacrifice: of money, attention, time and emotional energy," he said.  "Where today, in European culture with its consumerism and its instant gratification 'because you're worth it,' in that culture, where will you find space...

November 26, 2009 Baroness Ashton denies taking funds for CND from Soviet Union Baroness Ashton of Upholland’s past came back to haunt her yesterday when the European Union’s new foreign affairs chief was forced to deny taking funds from the Soviet Union during her days as treasurer for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Lady Ashton, a surprise choice for her post, was challenged to deny that she had contact with Russian sources while she was in charge of its accounts at the height of the Cold War. The Times has learnt that concerns about her CND involvement are felt across...

Central Asia faces a broad range of security challenges. Due to the region’s position at the crossroads between Russia, China, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and the Caspian Sea it is confronted with a range of trans-national issues such as drug trafficking, human trafficking, organised crime and terrorism. Central Asia also encounters specific regional threats including scarcity of water resources for generating power and irrigation purposes, which is currently causing tension. On a national level the five Central Asian republics face the threat of instability due to bad governance and the harsh impact of the economic crisis.

John Kerry, Orrin Hatch and 57 other senators have written to the European Commission accusing it of taking too long to approve Oracle's takeover of Sun in order to deliberately damage US business. In an open letter Senator John Kerry (Mass) said: "The EC is within its sovereign rights to set the rules for operation in its market [thanks John], but with our Department of Justice having made a compelling case that the merger does not pose a threat to competition, it is fair to ask the EC for the basis on which a delay on decision making is warranted...

The leaders of the U.S., China and India should be 'shoved' into a room at next month's global warming summit - and not allowed out until they reach an agreement, according to John Prescott. Europe's climate change envoy revealed his controversial approach ahead of the UN Climate Change conference in Copenhagen in two weeks. Sixty state leaders will seek to thrash out the main points of a deal to follow the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which aims to reduce countries' CO2 emissions. However, Labour's Mr Prescott, former deputy prime minister, tonight said it was imperative the U.S., China and India attend....

In accepting his appointment to be the first permanent president of the European Council in the European Union, Herman Van Rompuy affirmed his belief that the new world order would be dominated by international organizations that would seek to destroy the last vestiges of nation-states on the face of the globe...

Catching Up With Rich Nations November 18, 2009 Poland is beginning to catch up with the most affluent countries in Europe and worldwide, according to data by Eurostat, the European Union's statistics office. The data show that Poland's 2008 GDP per capita was 57 percent of the EU average, ranking the country fourth from the bottom in a league table of all EU nations. Latvia, which has been hit hard by the crisis, is just behind Poland with per-capita GDP at 56 percent of the EU average. Bulgaria and Romania, with 40 percent and 46 percent of the EU average...

The saying goes… “Just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean that they aren’t after me!” And indeed those who have tried to warn us of a coming one world rule have been roundly criticized, patronized and ostracized to the point of exclusion from any intelligent debate regarding the subject. Fact is the subject of one world government is treated as if it is some science fiction notion. Which begs the question, how does anyone who pooh-poohs the idea of one world government explain the comments coming from the newly installed president of the European Union, Herman Van Rompuy who as a...

Azerbaijan and Armenia held a presidential summit on Sunday amid warnings that a full blown war is brewing over a festering territorial dispute. Azerbaijan and Armenia held a presidential summit yesterday amid warnings that war was brewing between the countries over a festering territorial dispute. Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, said the negotiations in Munich were a final attempt to avert a military confrontation. They were convened by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe as part of efforts to find a peaceful solution to a problem that has divided the two former Soviet republics since the 1991...

New World Order of worldwide oppression and the spread of worldwide Communism Video at site

.....A closer look at Belgium, the laboratory of Europe, shows, however, that the country lacks more than patriotism. It also lacks democracy, respect for the rule of law, and political morality..... ....I am not sure what happened next, however. Maybe word had reached the leadership of the Christian Democrat Party that Herman, a brilliant economist and intellectual, was considering leaving politics; perhaps they made him an offer he could not refuse........ Our paths crossed at intervals until 1990, when the Belgian Parliament voted an extremely liberal abortion bill. The Belgian King Baudouin (1930-1993), a devout Catholic who suffered from the...

The intention of postmoderns to destroy real people, with their natural loyalties, traditional morality, and inherited cultural preferences, is the same everywhere. Its specific manifestations may be different in the United States and Serbia—the homes of our two interlocutors and my good friends—but the underlying motivation is identical. It is Christophobia, the incubator of countless secondary pathologies that are imposed and celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic under the label of diversity. Having suffered countless disasters and progressive disintegration during the modern era, how may Christian civilization be effectively revived? “For true-blooded Western conservatives, this is the overarching question...

A UKIP petition demanding a referendum on Britain's membership of the EU has been launched in the biggest-ever call to arms on the right to have a say over Europe. People will be given the chance to sign up to the petition online, by post or in the street at UKIP stalls run by party supporters. UKIP Leader Nigel Farage said: "This is a real chance for the people of Great Britain to show whoever forms the next Government that they are sick of being lied to and that they want a say over our continuing membership of the European...

How does EU President compared to US President? See for yourself

European Union leaders have named two relatively unknowns to be the first permanent EU president and foreign minister. Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy will be the new president and EU Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton was appointed foreign policy chief. Both names were approved by consensus Thursday at a summit in Brussels. Diplomats say both are compromise candidates with little foreign policy experience. Britain had been insisting on a famous name - specifically former British Prime Minster Tony Blair - to be president. Other members wanted someone who they say would be less divisive as the EU looks for a...

Tony Blair was out of the running as Europe's first president on Thursday after Gordon Brown dropped the former Prime Minister as his candidate. The Prime Minister made the decision after accepting that Mr Blair had no chance of winning the new post. Instead, he was backing another Briton - Baroness Cathy Ashton, the EU trade commissioner - to become the EU's foreign affairs chief, his spokesman said. She had earlier won support from European Socialist parties for the foreign policy job, making her front-runner for the post, the second top job being allocated by EU leaders at a summit...

The poetry-loving favourite to become the first president of Europe, Herman Van Rompuy, is also a hard-line opponent of Turkey's bid to join the European Union because it is an Islamic country. Herman Van Rompuy, Belgium's Prime Minister, has in the past spoken out against Turkish EU membership because, he warned, it would dilute Europe's Christian heritage. His position on the issue is so strong that he has won the support of Vlaams Belang, the controversial far-right Flemish anti-immigrant party in Belgium.

The world is becoming unsafer by the day. Before the end of November, half a billion new terrorists will be added to the list kept by the US government. On November 30, one day before the Lisbon Treaty is scheduled to take effect, the ministers of justice of the EU's 27 member states will sign yet another security agreement with the US. It is supposed to be an essential weapon in the global “War on Terror” the US claims to be fighting. Under the new agreement, the US government will get access to all the banking data of all Europeans....