Free Republic

Jean-Claude Juncker, the next head of the European Commission, plans to implement a new digital strategy for the Continent. Europe, he believes, needs to become better equipped to defend itself from the US and Asia. […] Part of Juncker’s agenda will be to ensure that Europe challenges market abuse by American Internet giants with greater self-confidence. More important, however, will be for the EU to start cleaning up its own backyard. Juncker wants to take advantage of a broad consensus among European politicians to put enough muscle in the EU’s digital market that European companies can stand up to competition...

This is the second part of the article "The Looting of Italy" by Italian journalist Alessandra Nucci. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ How the Looting WorksI will venture to suggest that there must be a blue-print out there on how to manage a country after a revolutionary takeover, such as what has been done to Italy (and to Venezuela? Cuba? China? Russia?) I would say that basically, after A) overwhelming the system (the Cloward-Piven strategy), the revolutionary leader will aim at B) impoverishing the middle class in order to prevent its every chance of rebelling. This can be done in various ways, which...

This is an article that was written and sent to me by Alessandra Nucci, an Italian journalist and friend. It describes what the European Union has done to Italy. Since it's a very long article, I've broken it down in 4 parts. Here is the first part. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ How would you feel if for years you had been picking up shipwrecked penniless migrants from Africa, dumped by criminal agents all over the Mediterranean, ferrying them to your shores and taking them in by the thousands, only to see yourself made the butt of sarcasm, reproaches and even pecuniary fines...

[TRANSLATION] POROSHENKO STATES TERMS OF EU CONDITIONS FOREIGN PRESS ON POROSHENKO According to Western observers, Peter Porošenku with his knowledge of English helped in dialogue with world leaders. The circumstances of the signing of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and EU and the historical parallels with the first world war - overview of the foreign press on June 28. POROSHENKO AND RUSSIA The probability of zaprovaždennâ sanctions against Russia increased after President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko accused Russia in promoting separatists, who are waging a war in the east of the country, wrote the British Guardian. "Freely communicating in English...

Ukraine on Friday finalized a European Union trade agreement, the deal that led to the ouster of former President Viktor Yanukovych and a Russia-fueled national crisis earlier this year. President Petro Poreshenko, elected in May, called the agreement a huge step forward for the country. "This is one of the most important days in the time since Ukraine won independence. We use this possibility to modernize the country," he said, according to reports. "But we need only one thing — peace and security." The deal would allow free trade between the Ukraine and the European Union and would require Ukraine...

KYIV, June 27 /Ukrinform/. Ukraine and the EU have completed the signing of the Association Agreement, particularly its economic part, which foresees the creation of a deep and comprehensive free trade area, a Ukrinform correspondent in Brussels has reported.

Signing ceremony of the Association Agreements with Georgia, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine EU leaders sign Association Agreements with the Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova Iurie Leanca, and the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. The political part of the agreement with Ukraine was signed in March.

The United States will enact legislation giving European Union citizens the right to sue in the United States if they think their private data was released or misused, the U.S attorney general said on Wednesday. "The Obama administration is committed to seeking legislation that would ensure that ... EU citizens would have the same right to seek judicial redress for intentional or wilful disclosures of protected information and for refusal to grant access or to rectify any errors in that information, as would a U.S citizen," Attorney General Eric Holder told reporters. "This commitment - which has long been sought...

KYIV, June 23 /Ukrinform/. The European Union will send a civilian security mission to Ukraine. [....] "The Council agrees to establish a Common Security and Defense Policy mission to assist Ukraine in the field of civilian security sector reform, including police and rule of law," the foreign ministers of EU member states said.

The White House believes that the election of a new House leadership team has opened up an opportunity to pass immigration reform this summer, presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett said Friday. Jarrett said the change necessitated by Rep. Eric Cantor’s (R-Va.) surprising primary loss gives new life to immigration reform. -snip- But Jarrett said in discussions with business leaders in recent days that “nobody has said to me they thought his defeat was because of immigration reform.” In recent days, Jarrett shared a dinner with News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch and a breakfast with the Business Roundtable to discuss the topic....

Russia’s aggressive propaganda machine keeps churning out falsehoods, provocations and outright lies about the situation in Ukraine. In spite of being repeatedly exposed, it shows no signs of slowing down. Disinformation is being laid on thick and poured out in a variety of forums: streaming down from the Kremlin, to Russia’s mainstream media, on to bloggers, down to useful idiots and hordes of paid trolls, who plague comment sections of articles about Ukraine and spread vitriol, hatred and blatant lies all over the social media.

School health services in the small Swedish city of Norrköping have found 60 cases of female genital mutilation (FGM) among schoolgirls since March, with evidence of mutilation found in all 30 girls in one class, 28 of the most severe form. In Sweden, where the EU’s Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) says that FGM “is considered to be a serious problem,” the law enables genital examination of children to be carried out without parents’ consent. ... FGM became widespread in Sweden in the early and mid-1990s with the influx of Somali migrants

Greece has launched a multi-billion euro claim against one of Germany’s biggest defence firms who sold the financially-beleaguered country four submarines in a complicated deal which has become symbolic of the country’s economic woes. The controversial deal has threatened Greece’s position in Nato, according to well-placed sources, led to the criminal prosecution of the country’s defence minister and the resignation of a senior Naval figure. The Telegraph today publishes photographs of the four submarines, which are still unfinished in a Greek shipyard almost 15 years after they were first ordered. It can now be disclosed that the Greek Government has...

The international bankers want Putin’s head and they have $20,000,000,000 painful reasons. A recent revelation by a French source details Putin’s incredible double coup that made Russia gain $20 billion in a few days and recover most of the shares owned by West European and American investors in Russia’s largest energy companies. The foreign (American and European) ownership of a large portion of shares in the energy industry meant that almost half of the revenues of the gas and oil industry did not go into the coffers of the Russian Federation, but into the pockets of Western financial ‘sharks,’ as...

JERUSALEM – Members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIS, were trained in 2012 by U.S. instructors working at a secret base in Jordan, according to informed Jordanian officials. The officials said dozens of ISIS members were trained at the time as part of covert aid to the insurgents targeting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. The officials said the training was not meant to be used for any future campaign in Iraq. The Jordanian officials said all ISIS members who received U.S. training to fight in Syria were first vetted for any...

Like Quebec, Ireland, or Boston, Spain has epitomized the fading of Catholic faith. In the twentieth century, religious practice in Spain fell sharply, especially as the country transitioned to democracy and resentment of the Church’s support for Franco’s dictatorship surfaced.Recently, however, the downward trend has stopped and is recovering. According to Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (CIS), the proportion of Spaniards attending Mass has increased from 12.1 to 15 percent between 2011 and 2012. In absolute terms, the number of Spanish Catholics attending Mass weekly grew by an astonishing further 23 percent between 2012 and 2013, according to CIS. Meanwhile, between...

How far down the rabbit hole will we have to follow the mad hare before we realize that we are in a lunatic asylum?On May 12th, I posted an article titled Bureaucratic supremacy, the U.S. and the European Union, suggesting that even though the United States of Obama is not a member of the European Union (EU) it is becoming increasingly similar. Unelected bureaucrats already "enact" more laws than does the Congress, which has transferred much of its legislative power to them. How much further can we fall down the hole before we begin the difficult climb back up? The following video was...

The European Central Bank launched a raft of measures on Thursday to fight low inflation and boost the euro zone economy, cutting rates, imposing negative interest rates on its overnight depositors and offering banks new long-term funds. The ECB cut all its main rates to record lows in a drive to fight off the risk of Japan-like deflation and bring down the euro's exchange rate. For the first time, it will charge banks 0.10 percent for parking funds at the central bank overnight. It stopped short of large-scale asset purchases known as quantitative easing for now, but ECB President Mario...

The European Union and United Nations on Tuesday offered public backing for the Palestinian unity government sworn in a day earlier in Ramallah. Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Robert Serry, said during a meeting with PM Rami Hamdallah that the UN backs the unity government and hopes it will meet the needs of Palestinians in the West Bank Gaza and East Jerusalem. Hamdallah assured Serry that the government would commit to all previous agreements signed by the PLO. The office of the EU High Representative said in a statement that the government was an “important step in...

Just when you thought that Italy’s crazy government couldn’t get any more insane, it hit on a gimmick for improving the international perception of its economy. Just include the black market in its GDP. Never mind that the black market isn’t taxable, difficult to estimate and not exactly a good thing. Italy is changing how it calculates its gross domestic product, a measurement of the overall economy, to include black market activity — everything from prostitution to illegal drug sales to smuggling and arms trafficking. Economists predict illegal sales will add 1.3 percentage points to GDP this year.Hey, it’s one...