Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Inside Story: World Wide Web: Global Force for Good?
Exclusive: Dick Cheney on How Obama Is Handling Ukraine
Monday, March 10, 2014
L'argent russe de « Londongrad » influence le pouvoir britannique
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Tells West: 'Drop Your Illusions About Iran'
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| Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's Prime Minister |
Benjamin Netanyahu accused the West of failing to condemn Iran's involvement in an intercepted weapons shipment on Monday because it wanted to delude itself that the country's leaders had changed course.
Standing beside an array of rockets, mortars and bullets seized from a ship that sailed from Iran, the Israeli prime minister said the international community was guilty of "hypocrisy" for failing to speak out while loudly denouncing Israel for continued settlement building.
"At most I heard a few faint condemnations of Iran from the international community," he said[.]
"In contrast if we build a balcony in Jerusalem we hear harsh condemnation from the international community."
Mr Netanyahu was speaking at a naval base in the southern Israeli port of Eilat, where the arms haul was ceremoniously showcased in an event intended to draw the maximum propaganda value from the seizure of a merchant vessel on March 5 that Israel says was carrying supplies destined for Palestinians militants in Gaza. » | Robert Tait, Eilat | Monday, March 10, 2014
Pope Says Catholic Church Should Not Dismiss Gay Marriage
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| Pope Francis |
Pope Francis says the issue of gay marriage should be studied and not dismissed out-of-hand, a senior Roman Catholic cardinal has revealed.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the outspoken archbishop of New York, said Pope Francis had told him: “Rather than quickly condemn them, let's just ask the questions as to why that has appealed to certain people."
Archbishop Dolan stressed that the Pope had not shifted the Catholic Church’s position on same-sex unions.
"It wasn't as if he came out and approved them,” he told the NBC television network in the US.
But the Pope wanted senior Church leaders to “look into” the issue and to scrutinise the reasons why many countries have legalised same-sex marriages. » | Nick Squires, Rome | Monday, March 10, 2014
Clash of Russia & NATO Interests? Khrushchev's Great-granddaughter Talks Crimea
WORLD POLICY INSTITUTE: Nina Krushcheva »
Ukraine Crisis: Russia Warns US against 'Hasty' Sanctions
In a phone call with his US counterpart John Kerry, Mr Lavrov said imposing sanctions on Moscow would harm the US.
Pro-Russian troops have been in control of Crimea for the last week.
Earlier, a stand-off involving pro-Russian soldiers at a Ukrainian military base outside Sevastopol reportedly ended without incident.
Crimea's parliament announced on Thursday it would hold a referendum on 16 March on whether to join Russia or remain part of Ukraine.
Russia's parliament has promised to support Crimea if it chooses to become part of Russia.
The vote has been denounced as "illegitimate" by the interim government in Kiev, which took power after President Viktor Yanukovych fled to Russia last month in the wake of mass protests against his government and deadly clashes with security forces.
In their telephone conversation on Friday, Mr Lavrov warned Mr Kerry against taking "hasty and unthought-through steps capable of causing harm to Russian-US relations", Russia's foreign ministry reports. (+ BBC video) » | Saturday, March 08, 2014
Ukraine Crisis: I'm Prepared to Hit City to Punish Putin, Says David Cameron
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| David Cameron and Angela Merkel meet ahead of a European leaders emergency summit on Ukraine |
Sanctions will be imposed on Russia within days unless it loosens its grip on the Ukrainian territory of Crimea, David Cameron announced today.
The City of London and the defence industry could suffer as a result Britain has learnt from history that it must “stand up to aggression” and cannot stand by “when nations are trampled over”, the Prime Minister said.
Britain, the EU and the US are drawing up a list of Russian officials who will see their off-shore bank accounts frozen and banned from travelling to the West unless it steps back from annexing the Crimean peninsula. Defence co-operation is also under review, with a presumption that arms contracts will be scrapped.
Mr Cameron, speaking after talks in Hanover with German President Angela Merkel, said he would “ratchet up the pressure” on Vladimir Putin if he attempts to “legitimise” a Russian-backed referendum on Crimea leaving Ukraine on Sunday.
Downing Street said that any sanctions would be aimed at individuals but sources said that this would be unlikely to mean President Putin could be targeted. » | Matthew Holehouse, Political Correspondent | Monday, March 10, 2014
McCain Blasts Obama’s 'Total Misreading' of Putin
Comprendre les frontières de l'Ukraine en 2 minutes
Source: Le Figaro | Par Julien Licourt, Laure Kermanach | dimanche 09 mars 2014
Al-Qaeda Unveils New Magazine Aimed at Western Jihadis
Al-Qaeda is starting an English language magazine as part of a fresh effort to recruit and inspire Western jihadis to launch attacks in their own countries, according to security analysts.
A video posted on YouTube uses the words of Malcolm X to justify violent struggle, before announcing the name of the magazine, Resurgence.
It appears to be modelled on Inspire, an online publication produced by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which has carried messages from Osama bin Laden, bomb making directions and tactics for launching “lone wolf” attacks.
However, the new magazine appears to be the first English language magazine from the group’s core leadership and is advertised with a slick video from as-Sahab, its media production house. Analysts believe it marks a shift from al-Qaeda's recent focus on Syria. » | Rob Crilly, Islamabad | Monday, March 10, 2014
Inside Story: North Korea Poll: Politics or Propaganda?
No Saudi Gays Allowed? 'US Violates Its Own Principles to Please Monarchy'
'We Cannot Let Putin Get Away with This,' Says Polish Minister
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| Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski |
“We cannot let Putin get away with this,” says Radek Sikorski, Poland’s Foreign Minister. His Oxford English is perfect, his tone decisive. “By annexing Crimea, Russia is forcing a major change of boundaries on Europe. It means the breaking of the post-Cold War consensus. That is verboten.”
Vladimir Putin, lacking Mr Sikorski’s linguistic skills, does not understand “verboten”. He has been taunting the west for days now, placing troops on Ukrainian soil to defend -- as he puts it -- ethnic Russians there from the “nationalist mob” who overthrew President Viktor Yanukovych. The annexation of Crimea, the southernmost region in Ukraine, looks inevitable to Sikorski: “The timetable for the Kremlin’s annexation of the region is accelerating daily.” Putin knows America and the EU are in thrall to Russia’s money, oil and gas. He reckons that with huge economic interests at stake, no one will fight for Ukraine’s sovereignity.
But Putin has underestimated EU unity, says Sikorski. “I’m seeing William Hague on Monday. We are as one on Ukraine. We cannot allow Putin to redraw the map of Europe along ethnic lines. Europe is based on the principle of overcoming borders rather than redrawing them. No one has the unilateral right to move borders in response to presumed ethnic grievances. We’ve seen what happened when a European leader tried to do that before: the peoples of the Soviet Union paid one of the biggest prices for this.” » | Cristina Odone | Monday, March 10, 2014
Chodorkowski stellt Gesuch an Schweizer Behörden
Der russische Kreml-Kritiker und ehemalige Ölunternehmer Michail Chodorkowski will sich in der Schweiz niederlassen. Chodorkowski hat ein entsprechendes Gesuch eingereicht, wie seine in Zug ansässige Kommunikationsagentur gegenüber der Nachrichtenagentur sda sagte.
Wo er das Gesuch gestellt hat, wollte die Agentur nicht sagen. Das Verfahren sei im Gang. Man werde zu gegebener Zeit informieren, hiess es weiter. Zurzeit hält sich Chodorkowski in Kiew auf. Am Sonntag rief er Russen und Ukrainer zum Einlenken im Krim-Konflikt auf. » | bru/sda/AP | Montag, 10. März 2014
Robert Gates on Ukraine Crisis, 'Reset' with Russia
Sunday, March 09, 2014
North Koreans 'Vote' in Elections - Singing, Dancing and Reciting Poetry
Sen. Mike Lee on Reigning in Obama's Expanding Power
Huckabee: We've Become the Shakiest Gun in the West
America – From Freedom To Fascism (2011)
Gambia President Rejects English Language
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| President Yahya Jammeh has given Gambian public sector workers a weekly extra day off |
Gambia's president said that he wants to implement a policy change that would shift the country's language from English to a local language.
"We no longer subscribe to the belief that for you to be a government you should speak English language. We should speak our language," President Yahya Jammeh said during the swearing-in ceremony of Gambia's new Chief Justice that aired on state-run Gambia Television Services on Friday.
The announcement comes months after the West African country announced it is withdrawing from the Commonwealth, a collection of 54 nations made up largely of former British colonies, saying it would "never be a member of any neo-colonial institution."
The United Kingdom recently warned its citizens of rising anti-British rhetoric from the president, who last year accused the former colonial power and the United States of organizing coup attempts in the West African nation. The allegations were denied. » | AP | Sunday, March 09, 2014
Why Does Islam Get Special Treatment in Australia? - "A Cruel Culture"
Putin More of a 'Leader' Than Obama?
Saturday, March 08, 2014
Is Obama's 'Weakness' to Blame for Russia's Aggression?
We Christians Live in Fear in Syria
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| The Armenian St. Kevork in Aleppo was burnt during fighting between rebel fighters and Syrian government forces |
Today, the first Sunday of Lent, will see churches crowded across the globe. But here in Syria, where St Paul found his faith, many churches stand empty, targets for bombardment and desecration. Aleppo, where I have been bishop for 25 years, is devastated. We have become accustomed to the daily dose of death and destruction, but living in such uncertainty and fear exhausts the body and the mind.
We hear the thunder of bombs and the rattle of gunfire, but we don’t always know what is happening. It’s hard to describe how chaotic, terrifying and psychologically difficult it is when you have no idea what will happen next, or where the next rocket will fall. Many Christians cope with the tension by being fatalistic: that whatever happens is God’s will.
Until the war began, Syria was one of the last remaining strongholds for Christianity in the Middle East. We have 45 churches in Aleppo. But now our faith is under mortal threat, in danger of being driven into extinction, the same pattern we have seen in neighbouring Iraq.
Most Christians who could afford to leave Aleppo have already fled for Lebanon, so as to find schools for their children. Those who remain are mostly from poor families. Many can no longer put food on the table. Last year, even amid intense fighting, you could see people in the streets running around endlessly trying to find bread in one of the shops. Read on and comment » | Antoine Audo * | Saturday, March 08, 2014
* Bishop Antoine Audo SJ is the Chaldean Bishop of Aleppo and president of Caritas Syria
My comment:
May God bless you, Bishop, for your sterling work; and may God bless the Christians of Syria.
I wish that our politicians would show the courage to do something meaningful to help you, instead of supplying arms to the rebels.
The Christians of the Middle East have been ignored for far, far too long. The de-Christianization of the ME is one of the tragedies of modern times. After all, the Middle East is the birthplace of Christianity. A ME without Christians would be a very sad ME indeed. – © Mark
This comment appears here too.
Chris Wallace Discusses Phone Call Between Obama, Putin
Too Much? German Schools Plan to Teach 'Sexual Diversity', Parents Outraged
Garry Kasparov: Putin Will Go 'As Far As He's Allowed To Go'
Muslim Censors Move to Ban 'Noah'
YNET NEWS: Hollywood blockbuster 'Noah' faces ban in Arab world: Censors in Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE banned film as Islam objects to depictions of holy figures in art. Similar bans expected in Egypt, Jordan and Kuwait. » | Reuters | Saturday, March 08, 2014
As Ukraine Crisis Escalates, Obama and Biden Go on Vacation?
Putin Attempting to Re-establish Russian Strength?
Friday, March 07, 2014
Les Russes bombardés par la propagande du régime
«La vérité est de notre côté»: c'est un cri du cœur qu'a lancé Dmitri Kissilev, le présentateur vedette de la chaîne Rossia 24, dimanche dernier, au plus fort de la crise ukrainienne. La sentence de l'homme qui passe pour l'un des chefs d'orchestre de l'appareil de propagande pro-russe, était formulée juste après la diffusion d'un sondage constatant la forte hausse de la cote de popularité de Vladimir Poutine et celui d'un commentaire hostile au pouvoir «sauvage» installé à Kiev, avec «l'aide des Américains». Quelques jours plus tôt, cette chaîne d'information continue s'était illustrée en interrompant brutalement, en direct, un député de Crimée expliquant que les tensions dans la péninsule étaient provoquées par les autorités locales.
Cette vision unilatérale du conflit russo-ukrainien est la seule accessible à l'immense majorité de la population, quotidiennement abreuvée par les chaînes de télévision publiques. Le quotidien gouvernemental Rossiskaya Gazeta n'est pas en reste. Celui-ci a accusé des activistes pro-Maïdan d'avoir piraté son site, inaccessible vendredi matin. Dans ces médias qui relayent les mots d'ordre du Kremlin, les troupes russes présentes en Crimée sont transformées en «groupes locaux d'autodéfense». » | Par Pierre Avril | vendredi 07 mars 2014
Krise in der Ukraine: Steinmeier sendet klare Worte nach Moskau und Kiew
Lage zwischen Russland und Westen bleibt angespannt
German President Apologizes for Nazi-era Massacre
A visibly emotional German president laid a wreath Friday at a monument in northwestern Greece to villagers massacred by German soldiers during World War II, at the end of a three-day visit that combined political talks with efforts to bring closure to wounds from the German wartime occupation of Greece.
Joachim Gauck expressed "shame" at the 1943 atrocity at Ligiades, where Nazi troops executed dozens of villagers, including months-old babies, in reprisal for a partisan attack: "With shame and pain I ask the families of those murdered for forgiveness in Germany's name."
The German president emphased: "I pay my respects to the victims of the monstrous crimes mourned here and in many places across Greece." » | Associated Press | Friday, March 07, 2014
Pentagon Confronting Putin with 'Second Best' Units?
Netanyahu on Ukraine Situation, Seized Iranian Arms Shipment
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