Free Republic

A new study by the University of Leipzig sheds a worrying light on the depth of racist and authoritarian beliefs in German society. One in every ten Germans wants their country to be led by a “Führer” (dictator) who applies a firm hand for the common good. Eleven percent of respondents say that Jews have too much influence in society. Twelve percent think Germans are by nature superior to other people. Four in ten people think Muslims should be prohibited from immigrating to the country. …

... "The fact is that in Spain and elsewhere in Europe, voters have come to associate the centre-left with many of the (unpopular) policies traditionally championed by the right: austerity, deregulation, liberalisation, free trade." ...

https://youtu.be/40U6VKq-2yk

The yield on the 10-year benchmark German bund fell into negative territory for the first time ever on Tuesday morning, amid global growth concerns and jitters over the U.K.'s upcoming referendum on its European Union membership. At around 8.30 a.m. London time, the yield hit zero and briefly fell into negative territory as investors continued to flock to safe-haven assets. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions and a negative yield implies that investors are effectively paying the German government for the privilege of parking their cash. By the end of the European trading day, the yield was still...

The European Union’s ambassador to Turkey has quit after criticizing the Turks for their handling of a deal to tackle the refugee crisis, and telling them they should be more like Germans. Under the terms of the controversial pact, Turkey gets cash and visa-free travel to the EU in return for taking back migrants illegally crossing the Mediterranean to Europe. Turkey also wants discussions on it joining the EU to be restarted as the price for its help. The European Commission has set 72 conditions that Turkey must meet to get visa-free travel. But negotiations have stalled over the EU’s...

Justice Minister Heiko Maas said this week that he wants to bring an end to the practice of tolerating polygamous marriages among immigrants in Germany. “No one who comes here has the right to place their cultural entrenchment or religious thinking over our laws,” Maas told Bild newspaper. “Therefore, no multiple marriages will be allowed to be recognized in Germany.” In Germany, marrying another person after you are already married is illegal and punishable by up to three years in prison. …

The German Defense Ministry is taking flak after pictures emerged of soldiers letting very small people play with some very big weapons. It all started at an open-house event in Stetten, Baden-Württemberg at the weekend, where civilians were invited in to learn about the German armed forces, the Bundeswehr. But on Monday, the advocacy group German Peace Society/United Opponents of Military Service posted pictures on Facebook showing small, preschool-aged children being offered the chance to handle some powerful guns on their own. The guns in the pictures included a G36 assault rifle, a USP pistol, and a MP7 submachine gun,...

The price of rock-solid German government bonds has rocketed over fears of a possible Brexit. Interest rates have fallen to record lows meaning investors are looking for safe havens to park their cash. As investors flock to place money in German government 10-year bonds their price has risen The bonds, which are considered a benchmark of financial security, known as Bunds, are now not paying any money back because demand is too high. Today the Bund yielded minus 0.028 percent - meaning it was costing anyone who held the investment.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte today (13 June) admitted a referendum called by euroskeptic groups on whether to back closer ties between Ukraine and the EU had been “disastrous” after voters soundly rejected the pact. “I’m totally against referenda, and I’m totally, totally, totally against referenda on multilateral agreements, because it makes no sense as we have seen with the Dutch referendum,” Rutte told a conference of European MPs. “The referendum led to disastrous results,” he added. …

Each of the Baltic states and Poland will shortly host 1,000 or so NATO soldiers to deter Russian aggression, the Western alliance has said. “We will agree to deploy by rotation four robust multinational battalions in the Baltic states and in Poland. This will send a clear signal that NATO stands ready to defend any ally”, NATO head Jens Stoltenberg told press in Brussels on Monday (13 June). He said the battalions are part of “a much bigger shift in our posture” in reaction to Russia’s behavior in Ukraine. […] The bigger shift includes a rapid reaction force of 40,000...

Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made an impassioned call Monday for Labour Party supporters to vote to stay in the European Union, amid nervousness in the “remain” camp that it is losing momentum ahead of next week’s referendum. Brown, who governed from 2007 to 2010, said Britain should “lead in Europe” and not leave it. Polls suggest the June 23 vote on whether to leave the 28-nation bloc could go either way. The “remain” side has stressed the economic uncertainty that would be triggered by quitting, while the “leave” campaign has focused on unease about the large scale of...

www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1080695.html Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's candidate for Israeli ambassador to Washington, Dr. Michael Oren, supports a unilateral Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and an evacuation of most of the settlements. Oren, a visiting Georgetown University professor, said in a lecture there last month, "The only alternative for Israel to save itself as a Jewish state is by unilaterally withdrawing from the West Bank and evacuating most of the settlements." Oren, a Middle East expert and senior researcher at Jerusalem's Shalem Center, gave a 90-minute lecture entitled "The Gaza Crisis from an Historical and Personal Perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."...

The efficacy and threat level of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel has heightened after Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, Former Israeli Ambassador to the US Dr. Michael Oren stated Monday—and allegedly justifies a withdrawal from Judea and Samaria. Israel’s economic, political, and cultural status has already been damaged existentially across the globe, Oren warned, due to the constant campaigns for “Israel Apartheid Week” on college campuses and European divestment from the Jewish state. […] Hamas consciously declared victory in its PR campaign against Israel several weeks ago, after it encouraged ordinary Gazans to become human shields,...

With hundreds of cases of child brides reportedly coming to Germany among recently arrived refugees, German politicians are considering tightening the rules. Authorities have registered hundreds of cases of children being married to adults before they arrive as refugees in Germany, Bild reported on Saturday. In nearly all of the cases, underage girls had already been married in their homelands to grown men. …

TEL AVIV – A top Islamic State-tied jihadist in the Gaza Strip claimed in an interview on Sunday that he “knows” that Omar Mateen, the Orlando club shooter, was a member of a terrorist organization. Abu al-Ayna al-Ansari, a Salafist movement senior official in the Gaza Strip, claimed he was told that Mateen was a member of one of the groups that fall under the jihadiya Salafiya franchise, meaning the network of loosely-based Salafist jihadist groups such as the Islamic State, Al-Qaeda, and the Al Nusra Front. Ansari made the claim in a pre-recorded interview to air in full tonight...

Why is America so alarmed by Brexit? Lest the reader be in doubt, remind yourself of this. Never before has a sitting US president visited a fellow democracy in a bid to sway an election. Nor, until now, have 13 former US secretaries of state and defence risked addressing a letter to a foreign electorate with the same motive. Ditto eight former Treasury secretaries and five former supreme commanders of NATO. Not only has the US establishment broken its non-interference rule over Brexit, it is stamping on its smithereens. If we did not know better, it might seem the UK...

Danish journalist Iben Thranholm on RT (interviewed by Anissa Naouai): "If you look at our politicians, they are like mothers. I mean, they are embracing, they´re inclusive and they talk about how we should embrace refugees. Of course we should help people that are in need, but they can´t deal with the rapings, they can't deal with terrorism. So, I mean, european politicians look weak, and that is because our culture has become feminized. This militant feminism that has been going on for decades, now has had the consequences that many men here have been brought up to be women...

Britain’s influence in the European Union will be stronger if it votes to remain in the bloc in a June 23 referendum, Prime Minister David Cameron said on Sunday with the latest polls showing Britons almost evenly split over whether to stay or go. One poll published late on Saturday gave a two-point lead to supporters of “Remain” and the other showed those in favor of Brexit were one point ahead. In an interview on BBC television, Cameron — whose “In” campaign has been branded as scaremongering by pro-Brexit supporters for warning of the risks of quitting the 28-nation EU...

The headlines go from bad to worse for the UK and EU establishment as yet another new poll this weekend, by Opinium, shows "Brexit" leading by a remarkable 19 points (52% chose to leave the EU against 33% choosing to keep the status quo). This result comes after 2 polls Friday night showing a 10-point lead for "leave" which sparked anxiety across markets. This surge in "leave" probability comes despite an additional 1.5 million voters having registered this week (which many expected to increase "remain" support). Further anger towards EU was exposed when former cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith warned...

The campaign for Britain to leave the European Union took a 10 percentage-point lead in a poll published late Friday, less than two weeks before the country votes in a referendum. The pound dropped. The survey of 2,000 people by ORB for the Independent newspaper found 55 percent in favor of a so-called Brexit, up 4 points since a previous poll in April, with 45 percent for "Remain," down 4 points. It's the biggest "Leave" lead recorded by ORB in polls for the newspaper. The pound was 1.4 percent lower at $1.4256 at 7:24 p.m. in London. It's the latest...