Free Republic

If Europe wants to phone America on the Gaza crisis, who does it call? Not George Bush, who has two weeks left in the White House. And not Barack Obama, who has been mute on Israel’s military action, although the world looked to him immediately the conflict filled the screens. “Nobody at home in Washington”, ran one US headline on the turmoil. “President-elect Obama is closely monitoring global events, including the situation in Gaza, but there is one president at a time,” said Brooke Anderson, his chief national security spokeswoman. This is disingenuous. Even if silence is meant only as...

Even before Israel launched attacks on Gaza last week, Barack Obama’s incoming national security team understood that the consuming demands of crises could all too easily eclipse the transformational agenda on foreign affairs that Mr. Obama advanced during the campaign. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, instability in Pakistan and the threat of nuclear proliferation in Iran would have been more than enough to crowd out any thought of long-range planning. Now the Middle East is in flames again. And yet a wide range of foreign policy experts are urging the new president to look beyond the smoke and the...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/Behind+the+Headlines/Ttragedy_school_Jebaliya_6-Jan-2009.htm Behind the Headlines: The tragedy at the school in Jebaliya 6 Jan 2009 An initial inquiry by forces on operating in the area of the incident indicates that a number of mortar shells were fired at IDF forces from within the Jebaliya school. In response to the incoming enemy fire, the forces returned mortar fire to the source. Preliminary Background Briefing Today, a reported 30 Palestinians were killed in a heartrending tragedy at a school in Jebaliya. Initial investigations indicate that Hamas terrorists fired mortar bombs from the area of the school...

PARIS – Government officials and Jewish leaders are concerned the conflict in Gaza may spill over into violence in Europe, with attacks reported against Jews and synagogues in France, Sweden and Britain. Assailants rammed a burning car into the gates of a synagogue in Toulouse, in southwest France, Monday night. A Jewish congregation in Helsingborg, in southern Sweden, was attacked Monday night by someone who "broke a window and threw in something that was burning," said police spokesman Leif Nilsson. And on Sunday slogans, including "murderers ... You broke the cease-fire," were daubed on Israel's Embassy in Stockholm.

PARIS (AP) - Signs are mounting that the conflict in Gaza is starting to spill over into violence in Europe's towns and cities, with assaults against Jews and arson attacks on Jewish congregations in France, Sweden and Britain. Assailants rammed a burning car into the gates of a synagogue in Toulouse, in southwest France, on Monday night. A Jewish congregation in Helsingborg, in southern Sweden, also was attacked Monday night by someone who "broke a window and threw in something that was burning," said police spokesman Leif Nilsson. Neighbors alerted rescue services before the fire took hold. Someone also started...

Putin orders cuts to Europe-bound gas supplies through Ukraine by Christopher Boian Christopher Boian Mon Jan 5, 3:22 pm ET MOSCOW (AFP) – Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered gas giant Gazprom to start cutting supplies to Ukraine bound for European consumers in response to Kiev's alleged siphoning from pipelines. At a meeting in Putin's residence outside Moscow, Gazprom chief executive Alexei Miller said the company would do its best to make up for the shortfall by sending more gas to Europe through Belarus, Poland and Turkey. "Start reducing it from today," Putin told Miller, referring to a...

NJSC “Naftogaz of Ukraine” received facsimile warning from Gazprom OJSC concerning the reduction of natural gas supply volumes for the European users on 65,3 million c. m. per day to 221,8 million c. m. per day. Thus, from the 4th existent points of Russian transit gas entrance on the territory of Ukraine ( GMS Sudzha, GMS Valuyki, GMS Pisarivka and GMS Sokhranivka) only one GMS Sudzhais left in action. It means that Gazprom OJSC actually reduced the volumes of natural gas transit to the European users. Thus, the Russian company threatens to reduce gas-supplies to the countries of Europe, namely:...

Divisions in Europe about Israel’s incursion into Gaza were laid bare yesterday when the EU failed to coordinate a united response and rival peace missions headed to the region. President Sarkozy of France, who has led calls for a ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, prepared to travel to Jerusalem today at the start of a four-day freelance mission. Meanwhile, the Czechs, leading the official EU diplomatic visit which was due to start in Cairo last night, caused confusion by calling the Israeli move defensive, then insisting later that this was a misunderstanding and joining the general call for...

The Bank of England is this week poised to cut interest rates to the lowest level in its 300-year history, in the latest sign of the severity of the economic crisis. By Edmund Conway Bank of England, expected to cut interest rates this week to their lowest level in the institution's 300-year history. Photo: Getty Images The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is widely expected to use its two-day meeting this week to cut the benchmark Bank rate below its current 2pc level – the first time this has been done since the Bank was founded in 1694. The radical move...

In recent months, according to Michèle Alliot-Marie, the interior minister, intelligence services have detected a "radicalisation of extreme Left-wing movements that could go as far as (the perpetration) of acts of violence." "Every time there is a weakening of the far-Left and notably the Communist party, one sees a resurgence of a certain number of small groups that are much more extremist, much more radical," she warned recently. Experts close to the government have drawn parallels with the Action Directe group, which carried out dozens of attacks in the early 1980s, or the Baader-Meinhof gang. They say the threat from...

Perhaps nothing so clearly highlights the differences in perspective between Old Europe and the still first generation free Eastern Europeans like the current conflict in Israel. The Western Europeans who were given their freedom by hundreds of thousands of American soldiers are busy condemning Israel and ignoring hundreds of rockets fired by Hamas into Israel. The French, who hate everything good, lead the way...

The word “bankrupt” originally came from Italy, deriving from banca rotta, or broken bench. When a medieval moneylender could not pay his debts, his bench was broken in two, sometimes over his head. Things are not quite so brutal these days, but European countries still deal with insolvent firms far more harshly than America does, and most such firms end up in liquidation. They often treat creditors badly too, meaning that neither side ends up satisfied. Observers worry that Europe will cope with the coming flood of defaults far less effectively than America, meaning a slower recovery. Standard & Poor’s...

LONDON – Protesters turned out across Europe Sunday to demonstrate against Israel's air assault on the Gaza Strip, while European leaders called on Israel and Hamas to end the bloodshed. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said this was a "dangerous moment" and called for an immediate cease-fire by both Israel and Hamas, which controls Gaza.

Anglican Bishops Blame Labor Government for policies that have lead to the breakdown of Family. How absurd! The Anglican Community has reduced itself to a farce in its ordination of women, gays and lesbian bishops and selling its empty churches to Islamic activists for establishment of mosque and sharia law and now blame government for the breakdown of family. This is what occurs when tradition and culture are allowed to collapse into a meaningless acceptance of diversity and objective truth is mocked and reviled. As Chesterton remarked "he who believes in everything believes in nothing" and this is what has...

- And so many Christian ones? The institution of the Nobel Prize is one of the few things that's just as big outside Scandinavia as it is within the old land of the Vikings. (There will probably never be a McLutefisk, I guess..) In similarity with most members of this forum, I don't think people like Al Gore belong in the company of (other Nobel laureates) like Einstein, Fermi, Wałęsa, Hemingway, Marconi, Bohr, and Churchill. The older and wiser I have become, the more I've realized we Europeans often look up to the wrong kind of Americans (- but we...

LANCASTER, UK, December 22, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A UK Catholic Bishop has carried out his threat to de-fund the formerly Catholic charitable organisation that had been attached to his diocese over their decision to begin considering homosexual partners in their adoption services. Bishop Patrick O’Donohue of Lancaster in North West England, wrote in an open letter to the adoption agency that the date of his resignation from the board “will forever be etched” in his memory “because it was on that day that the relationship between the Diocese of Lancaster and Catholic Caring Services suffered an irretrievable breakdown.”In his letter,...

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands – Amsterdam hosted a Christmas celebration for its gay community on Sunday featuring a nativity tableau with a male Mary in drag that church organizations denounced as an affront to traditional values.

It is only a matter of time before Hamas and its Palestinian sympathizers are called to account for the death and destruction wrought by thousands of missiles they have fired into Israeli cities, towns and kibbutzim over the past three years. On November 25th, TIME magazine reported that the Bush administration is in the process of establishing relations with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas and has warned Israeli Prime Minister Olmert against resorting to any military action against it or Iran before he leaves office. If true, the US and Israel are on a collision course. Nations not only have...

BERLIN (Reuters) - The odds of a "white Christmas" in temperate parts of the northern hemisphere have diminished in the last century due to climate change and will likely decline further by 2100, climate and meteorology experts said. Even though heavy snow this year will guarantee a white Christmas in many parts of Asia, Europe and North America, an 0.7-degree Celsius (1.3 Fahrenheit) rise in world temperatures since 1900 and projected bigger rises by 2100 suggest an inexorable trend. "The probability of snow on the ground at Christmas is already lower than it was even 50 years ago but it...

How the Catholic Church Built Western CivilizationTHOMAS E. WOODS, JR.From the role of the monks to art and architecture, from the university to Western law, from science to charitable work, from international law to economics, How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization delves into just how indebted we are as a civilization to the Catholic Church, whether we realize it or not. By far the book’s longest chapter is "The Church and Science." We have all heard a great deal about the Church’s alleged hostility toward science. What most people fail to realize is that historians of science have...

I found this searching on the phrase "Grand Canyon of Europe". This isn't the only place that came up, but in my opinion, it probably qualifies. (Others were Goruppu Gorge on Sardinia and the Gorge d'Ardeche, France.) Canyon pictures are notoriously difficult to capture the scale of the place, so I'll try a couple. This is in northern Greece, up toward Albania. Building in front is a monastery. This last one is half-size; click for full size.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly split over the issue of gay rights on Thursday after a European-drafted statement calling for decriminalization of homosexuality prompted an Arab-backed one opposing it. Diplomats said a joint statement initiated by France and the Netherlands gathered 66 signatures in the 192-nation assembly after it was read out by Argentina at a plenary session. A rival statement, read out by Syria, gathered some 60.

<p>GENEVA (AP) - Islamic proposals to ban criticism of religion, which have gathered strength since the publication of cartoons of the prophet Muhammad two years ago, threaten to derail an already troubled U.N. anti-racism conference planned for next year. The European Union rejects suggestions by Algeria—backed by other Muslim and African countries—that limits on free speech are needed to stop the publication of offensive articles and images.</p>

STRASBOURG (AFP) – The European Parliament on Wednesday approved the EU's climate change package, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020, lifting the last hurdle to the ambitious plan. Six texts on the package, already agreed by the 27 European Union member states, were passed by a large majority of the MEPs present. "We have sealed the climate package," said European Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering, after the vote. The so-called "20-20-20" climate package, which Europe hopes will serve as a model to other nations, will oblige EU nations to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent...

At least in this case study from Absurd Britannia, the backtracking began almost immediately. "Mother told to take down her Christmas lights... in case they offend her non-Christian neighbours," from the Daily Mail, December 16 (thanks to James): A woman has spoken of how she was told to remove her Christmas lights by a housing association worker - in case they offended her non-Christian neighbours. Dorothy Glenn decorates her home in South Shields with hundreds of festive lights every year, including a giant tree and a 4ft Santa Claus. But she was left stunned this year when a South Tyneside...

Nicolas Sarkozy has sparked a diplomatic row by attacking the 'wounding and outrageous' refusal of the Czech president to fly a European Union flag from Prague Castle. The French president sided with federalist Euro-MPs who are engaged in a bitter feud with Vaclav Klaus, the Czech president and a Eurosceptic. Senior MEPs, including the president of the European Parliament, Hans Gert Poettering, caused a diplomatic incident ten days ago after demanding that Mr Klaus hoist the European flag over his residence during bad tempered talks in Prague. "It was a wound, it was an outrage to see that flags had...

10,000 Polish women get abortions in Britain Ten thousand Polish women had abortions in Britain last year, it has been reported, in procedures which are thought to have cost the NHS between £5million and £10m By Jon Swaine Thousands of the women are thought to have come to Britain specifically for the procedure, which is illegal in Poland. People coming to Britain as temporary workers are given a National Insurance number, which allows them to register with a doctor and have NHS treatment. Britain is thought to be a particularly popular destination as terminations can be carried out as late...

How low will they go?? As low as laser blinding Greek Police: "A riot policeman is aimed at with a laser light pointer during riots outside the Athens Polytechnic. Small bands of Greek rioters hurling firebombs attacked an environment ministry building, shops and banks in Athens on Saturday during an eighth day of protests following the killing of a teenager by police." And that's not all: "A warning from Serb intelligence about the mobilization of an extremist Islamic organization in Greece has put the Greek authorities on high alert. Several days ago, Serb intelligence briefed a Serb parliamentary Committee that...

Angela Merkel today joined the rest of the EU in signing up to an €200 billion rescue plan for Europe’s economy – as the British ambassador in Berlin complained formally about her finance minister’s outspoken criticism of Gordon Brown’s VAT cut. Mrs Merkel, the German Chancellor, gave her support to an EU-wide recovery plan across the 27 member states, suggesting that she is planning to increase the level of tax cuts in Germany in the New Year as the recession deepens. Jose Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission, called for talks with the incoming US administration of Barack...

ZURICH, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Geneva-based banks and investment funds have lost more than 5 billion Swiss francs ($4.22 billion) in the alleged $50 billion fraud by former Nasdaq chairman Bernard Madoff, Swiss newspaper Le Temps reported on Saturday. Union Bancaire Privee (UBP), a leading bank for investment in funds of hedge funds, has lost about 1 billion Swiss francs, said Le Temps, which spoke to various unnamed banking sources for its article. A spokesman for UBP said the bank had no comment with regards to the article. UBP had 127 billion Swiss francs of assets under management at the...

Shockwaves expose the fragility of finance in Europe Noriko Hama (Maincihi) How has an integrated Europe responded to the current financial upheaval? Has it displayed its unity as a community? While various perspectives on these questions have livened up the pages of Europe's financial newspapers and publications, what is the real story? It is my belief that Europe, to put it bluntly, has hardly demonstrated unity and instead has put its lack of teamwork and institutional flaws on display. The financial turmoil spread in full force from the U.S. to Europe at the end of September. The bankruptcy of Lehman...

<p>WASHINGTON (CNN) -- More than 170 people around the globe, including at least 61 in the United States, have been arrested in a major operation targeting international child pornographers, officials said Friday.</p>

The Swedish government will offer automotive companies Skr25bn ($3.1bn, €2.4bn, £2.1bn) in loans and loan guarantees to ensure the future of domestic car manufacturing. The move follows the announcement of thousands of redundancies in the Swedish automotive sector and reflects the continuing uncertainty over the future of Saab and Volvo. Both marques are loss-making and their US parents, GM and Ford, are seeking $14bn in emergency aid from the US government. Volvo, which was sold to Ford in 1999, announced this week that it had finalised 2,700 redundancies in Sweden out of a global cost-cutting programme of 4,600, about one-fifth...

BRUSSELS — At a summit meeting of European Union ministers on Thursday, Ireland agreed in principle to hold a second vote on an accord intended to strengthen the union, but opponents vowed to defeat any such measure. The accord, called the Lisbon Treaty, was rejected by Irish voters in June. Alone among the union’s 27 member states, Ireland put the treaty up for referendum, but because all members must ratify the treaty, it cannot pass unless the voters of Ireland can be persuaded to change their minds. Opponents of the treaty, including Libertas, a group that led the first “no”...

Leaders of the European Union are said to be close to a compromise agreement on how to achieve ambitious targets to fight global warming. They are attempting to agree a mechanism whereby the EU could cut carbon emissions by 20% by 2020. They have also agreed in principal a 200bn-euro economic stimulus package..... ------------------------- ....At the end of a first day of talks at the summit in Brussels, EU leaders moved closer towards agreement on the so-called "20-20-20" package to tackle climate change after concessions were made to limit its impact on struggling industries. Patnow power plant near Konin, Poland...

There are peaceful Muslims, of course, but there is no such thing as a peaceful Islam. “This religion has always been characterized by sadism and terror. Decapitations, executions and cutting off limbs are the order of the day in Islamic countries. Everyone who claims the opposite, does not know anything about the Islam.” These are the words of Nasseh Abdulkarim, a former professor at the Iraqi university of Sulei Maneia.

The Western world has never taken Islam with the full seriousness it has earned. Down through history, once Islamic armies have conquered a land, with very few exceptions, that land has remained Muslim. A Christian will wish in vain that the great circle of Christian lands around the Mediterranean (and on up into Syria, Iraq, Iran, and northwards into Georgia) had not fallen irretrievably into Muslim hands, most of them before 732 A.D. For Christians who think that the future of the world favors movement in their direction, a study of the latent dynamism of Islam is not a little...

<p>POZNAN, Poland, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's man at a U.N. climate conference in Poland said the United States and Europe could jointly lead on climate protection.</p> <p>"Europe is a vital partner and can and will be critical in efforts" to help curb climate change, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., Thursday told reporters on the sidelines of a major climate conference in the western Polish city of Poznan. Kerry said under Obama, the United States would rejoin the global climate-protection effort with full force.</p>

FOURTEEN suspected al-Qaeda terrorists were detained in Brussels today before Gordon Brown was due to meet EU leaders. The sweep came just hours before a summit brought together the heads of the 27 EU countries in Brussels. One of the suspects is believed to be a suicide bomber mounting an operation "from which he was not expected to come back". It is thought a terror attack was being planned – but the target has not been revealed. Nearly 250 police officers raided 16 locations in the capital and one in the eastern city of Liege overnight. Computers, data storage equipment...

"Belgian police arrest Al Qaeda terror suspects," from Agence France-Presse, December 11 (thanks to Alex): AFP - Belgian police on Thursday arrested 14 suspected Al-Qaeda members, including a man believed to have been planning a suicide attack, officials announced, as EU leaders gathered in Brussels. "We don't know where the suicide attack was to take place," federal prosecutor Johan Delmulle told reporters. "It could have been an operation in Pakistan or Afghanistan, but it can't be ruled out that Belgium or

Greece slipped deeper into turmoil, with a fifth day of clashes between youths and police, plus a general strike, as two police officers were charged in connection with the killing of a teenager that sparked the unrest. Despite a vow by Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis to restore order, demonstrators battled security forces outside the Greek parliament as the nationwide work stoppage halted flights in and out of Greece and closed banks, schools and some hospital services.

ABSTRACT: Just as the U.S. gets a new President who promises to reverse years of climate change neglect, with Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore at his side, American environmental experts worry that Europe's resolve on climate change is substantially weakening. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has gone out of her way to show herself as a climate saviour. But those times are over. Now, with heads of state and government from the European Union gathering in Brussels at the end of the week to approve the bloc's climate goals, Merkel has begun singing a different tune. She said that she...

A Muslim lawyer has launched an extraordinary rant against Christmas, branding the celebration 'evil'. Hate preacher Anjem Choudary claimed the festival was the 'pathway to hell' and urged his followers to boycott it. 'In the world today many Muslims, especially those residing in Western countries, are exposed to the evil celebration Christmas,' he raged in a sermon broadcast on the internet. 'Many take part in the festival celebrations by having Christmas turkey dinners. 'Decorating the house, purchasing Christmas trees or having Christmas turkey meals are completely prohibited by Allah. 'Many still practise this corrupt celebration as a remembrance of the...

More evil and violence from the ‘religion’ of ‘piece’. No wonder muslim kids grow up so full of hate and venom, the very people charged with protecting them are beating them down in the name of allah. Gee what a shocker there… Muslim children are being beaten and abused regularly by teachers at some British madrassas - Islamic evening classes - an investigation by The Times has found. Students have been slapped, punched and had their ears twisted, according to an unpublished report by an imam based on interviews with victims in the north of England. One was “picked up...

AugustReview.com [Editor's note: members of the Trilateral Commission and companies with Commission representation appear in bold type.] Since 1973, this writer has made inquiry as to the location and ownership of the vast stores of monetary gold (400 oz., .999 pure bars) in the world. There has not been a formal audit on Fort Knox, for instance, since the Eisenhower administration. Official statistics on gold holdings are often contradictory. Getting plain answers from any Central Bank in the world, including the Fed, is virtually impossible. This paper points out a pattern of manipulation that has been clearly observed by many...

Until recently, the USA's foot-dragging was about the only thing stopping the Western World from jumping off a cliff over the increasingly preposterous global warming hoax. But with the last grownups scheduled to leave Washington next month, Europeans have been forced to drop the sanctimonious posturing and defend sanity. Chancellor Angela Merkel has been keen to promote herself as a tough actor on climate change, but with a new EU climate deal in the making, she's issued a new caveat: It must not jeopardize German jobs. Merkel used to exploit the hoax with the worst of them, even traveling to...

And now for a world government By Gideon Rachman Published: December 8 2008 19:13 | Last updated: December 8 2008 19:13 I have never believed that there is a secret United Nations plot to take over the US. I have never seen black helicopters hovering in the sky above Montana. But, for the first time in my life, I think the formation of some sort of world government is plausible. A “world government” would involve much more than co-operation between nations. It would be an entity with state-like characteristics, backed by a body of laws. The European Union has already...

PRAGUE: On a recent night at Big Sister, which calls itself the world's biggest Internet brothel, a middle-aged man selected a prostitute from an electronic menu on a flat-screen television, pressing his index finger against it to review the age, hair color, weight and languages spoken by the women on offer. Once he had chosen an 18-year-old brunette, he put on a mandatory burgundy terry cloth robe and proceeded to one of the brothel's luridly-lit theme rooms, an Alpine suite decorated with foam rubber mountains covered with fake snow. Nearby, in the brothel's cramped control room, two young technicians used...

A rising tide of (Muslims) migrants unsettles Athens   By Niki Kitsantonis Published: October 2, 2008 ATHENS: About 80,000 migrants have traveled to Greece this year and decided to stay illegally, according to the authorities, who say the country can no longer handle the task of guarding the European Union's southeast flank.   While initial problems with the flood of migrants from Africa and the Middle East who are desperate to enter Europe centered on the Aegean islands, migrants are now wreaking havoc in the capital.   The historic center of Athens has been riven by several street battles in...

Christmas tree torched in Athens riots By Emma Alberici and Helena SmithPosted December 9, 2008 07:13:00Updated December 9, 2008 08:55:00 People flee from a burning Christmas Tree in Syntagma Square in Athens. (AFP: Aris Messinis) Video: Greek protests enter third day (ABC News) Related Story: Fresh rioting hits Greek cities Rioters have torched a large Christmas tree in central Athens at the end of a third day of violent demonstrations in Greece.The tree, in Syntagma Square, was set on fire amid riots in the Greek capital in protest over the death of a 15-year-old boy who was shot by police...