Sunday, September 26, 2021

Gay Men’s Wedding Rings

With many thanks to Mirror for this image, which is to be found on this web page. The article is a gay rights timeline; it looks back at the milestones bringing us to the point of the legalisation of gay marriage in the United Kingdom and acceptance of homosexuality and gay marriage elsewhere.

"Kiss"


A big thank you to BLOoDyPaRaDiZe and Deviant Art, where this great image is to be found. About Deviant Art, a company which helps artists.

Zwei schöne Männer; ein schöner Kuß

Deux beaux hommes ; un beau baiser / Two beautiful men; one beautiful kiss

Many thanks to El Chulo Dominicano and Pinterest ffor this great photo.

James Taylor : Shower the People | Remastered 2019

Provided to YouTube by Rhino/Warner Records

Mariage pour tous : les Suisses appelés à voter ce dimanche

«Enfant sur commande ? Non au don de sperme et au mariage pour tous», peut-on lire sur cette affiche en Suisse. ARND WIEGMANN / REUTERS

LE FIGARO : Adoptée en décembre dernier par le parlement, l'inscription du mariage entre conjoints du même sexe est soumise au vote populaire. Le texte prévoit également un élargissement de la PMA, de l'adoption et l'accès au don de sperme pour tous.

Elle figure parmi les derniers pays d'Europe occidentale à ne pas avoir légalisé le mariage homosexuel. Dimanche 26 septembre, un référendum appelle tous les cantons à voter pour ou contre l'inscription dans la Constitution du mariage civil entre conjoints du même sexe. Depuis 2004, les personnes homosexuelles avaient la possibilité de s'unir par un «partenariat enregistré». Dans ce cadre, elles pouvaient avoir un nom commun, toucher une part de l'héritage du conjoint ou, depuis 2018, adopter l'enfant de leur partenaire. Mais les défenseurs du mariage pour tous regrettaient une «inégalité de droits».

Le référendum de ce dimanche vise à donner aux couples homosexuels l'accès à l'adoption, et aux couples de lesbiennes la procréation médicalement assistée (PMA). En cas de «oui», la loi instaurera également la double filiation, soit la reconnaissance des deux femmes comme mères, ainsi que l'accès au don de sperme. » | Par Le Figaro | samedi 25 septembre 2021

Saturday, September 25, 2021

European Lorry Drivers ‘Will Not Want to Come to UK’, Warn Haulage Chiefs

THE OBSERVER: Emergency visa plan will not resolve Britain’s road transport crisis, says industry as majority blame Brexit in poll

Cars queue for petrol in Harleston, Norfolk, as food and fuel supply chains are hit by the HGV driver shortage.Photograph: Nils Jorgensen/Rex/Shutterstock

The government’s emergency programme to issue temporary visas to thousands of lorry drivers is far too little to resolve Britain’s supply-chain crisis and is unlikely to attract them to the UK, haulage chiefs have warned.

Downing Street on Saturday night confirmed hastily compiled plans to add 5,000 HGV drivers and 5,500 poultry workers to a visa scheme until Christmas, to help the food and fuel industries with shortages.

However, even as the plans were formally announced, Marco Digioia, the head of the European Road Haulers Association which represents more than 200,000 trucking companies across the continent, told the Observer that “much more would be needed” than a temporary relaxation of immigration rules. “There is a driver shortage across Europe,” he said. “I am not sure how many would want to go to the UK.” » | Jon Henley, Michael Savage and James Tapper | Saturday, September 25, 2021

Of course they won't want to come back to this country after the shabby way we've treated them! We Brits have behaved appallingly! Were I to be in their shoes, I certainly wouldn't want to come back to this xenophobic hellhole either! Brexiteers deserve all they get. Unfortunately, we Remainers will also have to suffer because of their ridiculous decision to vote in favour of Brexit! – © Mark

John Major on Afghanistan, 'Global Britain', and the Tory Party | FT

Sep 6, 2021 • The former prime minister tells the FT Weekend Festival it was 'wrong to leave Afghanistan', discusses Britain's place in the world, and says nationalism in Boris Johnson's Conservative party needs 'rooting out'. John Major attacks ‘strategically stupid’ decision to leave Afghanistan

Arthur Rubinstein - Chopin Nocturne Op. 55, No. 1 in F Minor

Emotional Same-sex Wedding at Rosewood Sandhill

…The emotional wedding of Justin and Jo took place in Menlo Park and was a day filled with lots of emotion, family, traditions new and old and one hell of party.

Phil Collins : Everyday | 2016 Remastered

Provided to YouTube by Laika Network | Views on YouTube: 2,573,503

Secret Histories: LGBTQ Life in Pre-Revolutionary Russia


THE CALVERT JOURNAL: Where can we turn to uncover the pre-history of LGBTQ rights in modern Russia?

It’s difficult to learn about LGBTQ history in a country where the community still struggles with homophobia at all levels of society. Most of the current research on the topic is still carried out by foreign scholars, and most of the [the] historical Russian texts on homosexuality, even when written by prominent scholars and writers, are disregarded. So where can we turn to learn about the phantom queer cultures that laid the ground for LGBTQ life in Soviet and post-communist Russia?

Historian Dan Healey, whose 2001 book Homosexual Desire in Revolutionary Russia was translated into Russian in 2008, argues that despite several prohibitive laws sexuality was considerably less regulated in pre-revolutionary Russia than elsewhere in Europe at that time. Several researchers claim that historical accounts show that before the 18th century, Russian society held rather lenient views toward homosexuality, and that homophobia was at least in part “imported” from Europe by Peter the Great — along with European traditions in food, architecture and fashion. Some argue that it was Peter’s father, Tsar Alexis, who first started persecuting gay people, but the first law that made homosexuality illegal (initially only for men in the army and navy) was signed by Peter in 1716. For civilians homosexuality was made illegal in 1835 — again for men only. However, not only there few recorded cases of these laws were actually applied, but the rapid urbanisation that followed the abolition of serfdom in 1861 allowed for LGBTQ communities to form in the capital, St Petersburg, as well as Moscow and other large cities. » | Text: Tasha Raspopina | Monday, June 3, 2019

ROMANCE OF THE ROMANOVS »

La marche impériale du grand-duc Georges Romanov

Le grand-duc Georges Romanov et sa fiancée, Rebecca Virginia Bettarini, le 15 septembre, dans leur appartement à Moscou. Maria Turchenkova pour Le figaro

Correspondant à Moscou

LE FIGARO : RÉCIT - Le tsarévitch, prétendant au trône impérial russe, épousera le 1er octobre à Saint-Pétersbourg la fille d’un diplomate italien. Des centaines d’invités, dont Vladimir Poutine, sont conviés à l’événement qui remet en lumière la gloire tragique et les querelles dynastiques des Romanov.

Cela fait des siècles qu’un tel événement ne s’était pas produit en ce lieu symbolique. Le 1er octobre, le grand-duc Georges Romanov, 40 ans, prétendant au trône impérial de Russie, épousera religieusement Rebecca Virginia Bettarini, 39 ans, d’origine italienne - Victoria Romanovna, selon son nom de baptême orthodoxe —, en la cathédrale Saint-Isaac de Saint-Pétersbourg. C’est au même endroit, en 1712, dans l’église de bois qui se tenait alors à la place de l’imposante basilique, que Pierre le Grand, «empereur de toutes les Russies», s’était uni officiellement à Catherine Ire.

Durant quatre siècles, la dynastie fastueuse et tragique des Romanov a incarné l’Empire et sa «monarchie absolue tempérée par l’assassinat», selon le mot acerbe du marquis de Custine. La révolution d’Octobre et son cortège d’atrocités, les décennies d’exil, puis les retrouvailles avec la Russie «nouvelle» après la chute du communisme n’ont pas anéanti la longue marche des Romanov. Ils seront des centaines d’invités, avec les représentants des principales familles royales et princières d’Europe, pour assister au mariage sur les bords de la Neva, comme l’explique le grand-duc Georges. » | Par Alain Barluet | vendredi 24 septembre 2021

Réservé aux abonnés

GBT Seniors Tell Their Stories | LA LGBT Center

An Oral History is an ongoing project of the Los Angeles LGBT Center's Senior Services Department. This short film captures the perspective of eleven LGBT seniors in Los Angeles who came of age during a time in which imprisonment, daily discrimination, physical violence and abuse were commonplace. Exemplifying elegant survival, the individuals you will meet in ‘An Oral History’, made the community we have today possible. From the "Daughters of Bilitis" and "Mattachine Society" to the marches led by Frank Kameny and Barbara Gittings, the history of the LGBT movement has often been forgotten, overlooked or ignored. This is an attempt to give voice to and shine the light on the stories and lives of these individuals.

The National Security State Is Devouring Our Democracy with Lawrence Wilkerson

Oct 16, 2020 • Co-sponsored with the Peter S. Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency and the International Scene Lecture Series


WIKIPEDIA: Lawrence Wilkerson.

Merkel Departs: Political Genius or World-class Pragmatist? | To the Point

Sep 23, 2021 • From a token woman in East Germany to the leader of the free world. After four terms, or sixteen years, in office, that same Angela Merkel is stepping aside as German chancellor. So, what will her legacy be? Does she leave behind a Germany more united, or more divided? What are her greatest achievements? And her biggest mistakes? Above all, perhaps: who is the real Angela Merkel and how has she survived so long? Our guests: the Merkel biographers Ursula Weidenfeld, Ralph Bollmann and Andreas Rinke.

Russia Tightens Its Grip on the Internet

BLOOMBERG: Google’s decision to pull a protest election app from Russia before the election is significant in some surprising ways

No nation asks Google to scrub more from the internet than Russia. Over the past decade, Russian officials have requested the removal of nearly 1 million web pages, documents, apps and videos, mostly for reasons Google categorizes as "copyright" or "national security."

Last week, Russia made another request. Russian officials demanded Alphabet Inc.'s Google and Apple Inc. pull a voting app from Alexey Navalny, a jailed politician, that recommends a slate of candidates opposing President Vladimir Putin. A Russian court had ruled Navalny's app was "extremist" and requested its removal from app stores in the country. The companies complied.

It was an unprecedented intervention, and an alarming one for those who see Russia as a growing threat to internet freedoms. Armed men reportedlyspent "several hours" inside Google's Moscow office last week to enforce the order, which came with a threat to arrest Russian staff if the company didn't comply. Some Google employees protested the decision. Historically, Google officials have often spoken out about attacks on the open web—and the company's position as its defender—but Google has said nothing officially about the recent Russian incident.

Also quiet is the person from Google’s history who once had strong opinions on the topic: Sergey Brin. » | Mark Bergen | Thursday, September 23, 2021

Swedish Sticky Chocolate Cake – Kladdkaka


Get the recipe here.

WIKIPEDIA: Kladdkaka.

Is Jesus Christ Just a Myth? | Pagan Christ | Timeline

Jul 25, 2020 • There are 2.1 billion Christians on the planet—roughly one third of the entire human population. At the heart of their religion is the New Testament and the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. To Christianity, the written word is the glue that binds the faith of its followers. So, what if it could be proven that Jesus never existed? What if there was evidence that every word of the New Testament—the cornerstone of Christianity—is based on myth and metaphor? The Pagan Christ investigates these very questions. | Views on YouTube: 1,045,052

La Palma Volcano: Firefighters Retreat as Eruption Intensifies | DW News

Sep 25, 2021 • Volcanic activity on the Spanish island of La Palma has been intensifying again, prompting authorities to step up evacuations. And with ash clouds rising up to four kilometres high, flights have been cancelled for the first time since the volcano began erupting last weekend. With hundreds of homes already destroyed, the Spanish government is promising help for those affected.


La Palma residents warned of ‘evolution of volcanic emergency’: People evacuated from three towns are told they cannot return as volcano has entered new explosive phase »

Boris Johnson Is Finished - and He Knows It

Sep 25, 2021 • Boris Johnson led the Brexit campaign because he saw it as a way of advancing his own career. He expected the referendum to result in a vote to remain. Hence the look of shock on his and Michael Gove's faces the day after the referendum. But he saw an opportunity to become prime minister and pursued this.

Since then, it has become clear that he is incompetent, dishonest and a worldwide laughing stock. His incompetence has led the UK to a desperate place where prices are out of control, shortages of labour are seriously affecting many industries and there is no prospect of a return to prosperity for the UK.

The pandemic together with the sudden hike in gas prices have served to show how weak and vulnerable the UK economy is post-Brexit. The sudden increase of gas prices has gone to show how foolish it has been to allow foreign enterprises and states to buy up our utilities.

Four of the big six power companies in the UK are owned by European governments and other funds, 71% of our water companies are foreign-owned as are more than 70% of our railways.

During Johnson's ill-fated trip to New York and Washington it became clear that he is finished. He is now a loser and the whole world, and increasingly the British population, can see this. He has defeat in his eyes and he realises it is all over. The time for jokes and wisecracks is over. It is only a matter of time before backbench Tory MP's rebel and he will be soon gone.


In Britain, Rising Prices and Shortages Evoke 1970s-Style Jitters

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The nation’s economy is very different from the bleak days of the 70s, but certain parallels are unnerving Britons and loom as a potential headache for Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Motorists lining up for fuel at a gas station in London on Friday. | Daniel Leal-Olivas/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

LONDON — Long lines at gas stations, rising fuel prices, empty shelves in supermarkets and worries about runaway inflation.

Britons have emerged from 18 months of pandemic-imposed hibernation to find their country has many of the same afflictions it had during the 1970s. There is nothing Austin Powers-like about this time machine: Unlike the swinging Sixties, the Seventies were, by all accounts, some of the bleakest days in postwar Britain; even contemplating a return to them is enough to make leaders of the current government shiver.

The sudden burst of doomsaying in Britain is rooted at least as much in psychology as economics. While there is no question the country faces a confluence of problems — some caused by the pandemic, others by Brexit — experts said it was far too soon to predict that Britain was headed for the kind of economic malaise and political upheaval that characterized that decade.

“It’s a combination of things that could, in principle, lead to that, but are quite survivable on their own,” said Jonathan Portes, a professor of economics at Kings College London. “We always talk about the 1970s, but it’s half a century later, and all sorts of things are different.” » | By Mark Landler, Eshe Nelson and Jenny Gross | Friday, September 24, 2021

U.K. Economic Headaches Pile Up From Inflation to Energy Crisis: Gas crisis, Brexit, the pandemic and furlough weigh on growth / Inflation surge adds to pressure on BOE to remove stimulus »

…petrol bosses limit drivers to £30 fuel each while panic-buyers gridlock forecourts and tempers flare at the pumps »

Humorous Gay Quote

Source : Dear Straight People. With thanks.

Leaving Your Partner in No Doubt!

A great expression of love.

Very many thanks to Alex Salgues, Google Images, and Pinterest for this very expressive photo.

Liebe bedeutet…

L'amour veut dire... / Love means…

Many thanks to Andrew Grey, the author of Love Means... No Boundaries on Good Reads, and to Google Images for this expressive image.

Friday, September 24, 2021

Don Winslow Films - #MyLetterToRepublicans

"We are headed back into darkness again as a country because of lies, misinformation and gutter politics."


There’s a sucker born every minute of each and every day! – Mark

Pourquoi l’Australie a peur de la Chine

Le premier ministre australien Scott Morrison. EPA/LUKAS COCH via MaxPPP

LE FIGARO : DÉCRYPTAGE - Face à la constante montée en puissance de la Chine dans la zone indopacifique et aux tensions commerciales de plus en plus fortes entre les deux pays, l’Australie a choisi de renforcer sa coopération militaire avec les États-Unis et le Royaume-Uni.

1. Une diplomatie sous haute tension

Si la deuxième économie au monde s’intéresse particulièrement aux richesses minières et aux productions agricoles australiennes, elle ne cesse par ailleurs d’accentuer son implantation dans les pays du sud du Pacifique, voisins de l’Australie. Au point que l’île-continent - où vivent un peu plus de 25 millions d’Australiens - craint de devenir peu à peu l’arrière-pays d’une Chine de 1,4 milliard d’habitants, située à 4000 kilomètres de ses côtes. Depuis le vote, en 2017, d’une loi sur les ingérences étrangères et le financement de la vie politique qui visait particulièrement l’activisme du Parti communiste chinois en Australie, le torchon diplomatique brûle entre les deux pays.

D’autant plus qu’en arrivant à la tête du gouvernement l’année suivante, le nouveau premier ministre Scott Morrison, bien décidé à freiner les projets d’investissement chinois sur son territoire, a suivi la même ligne et multiplié les passes d’armes. Le 20 avril 2021, il a notamment mis son veto à un accord par lequel l’État de Victoria envisageait d’être partie prenante de la «nouvelle route de la soie» chinoise, provoquant une nouvelle fois la colère de Pékin. Depuis, la liste des litiges entre les deux puissances régionales n’en finit plus de s’allonger. » | Par Cyril Hofstein | vendredi 24 septembre 2021

Réservé aux abonnés

À LIRE AUSSI :

Chine contre Australie: les raisons de l’escalade »

Chopin: Nocturne No.8 In D Flat, Op.27 No.2 | Maurizio Pollini

Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group

Gipsy Kings - Trista Pena

Scenes from the film «Revenge» starring Kevin Costner and Madeleine Stowe Lyrics, music: Andre Reyes, Jacques Baliardo, Jalhoul Bouchikhi, Maurice Baliardo, Nicolas Reyes, Tonino Baliardo | Views on YouTube: 10,886,283

«Ich spreche für die Frauen», sagt der Sprecher der Taliban – was sie wollen, fragt er sie nicht

NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG: Die Taliban versprechen den Frauen Afghanistans Rechte. Doch die Erfahrung lässt bezweifeln, dass sie es ernst meinen. Das könnte ein Stolperstein für die internationale Anerkennung sein, die sie sich erhoffen.

Eine Frau sitzt verschleiert auf dem hinteren Sitz eines Motorrads. Seit die Taliban an der Macht sind, fürchten es viele Frauen, ihr Haus zu verlassen. | Bulent Kilic / AFP

Das gefürchtete Ministerium ist zurück. Über dem Eingang des einstigen Ministeriums für Frauen in Kabul prangt eine neue Tafel: Es ist jetzt das Ministerium zur «Verbreitung von Tugend und Verhinderung von Untugend». Hinter dem Namen verbirgt sich ein Ministerium, das im ersten Taliban-Emirat der neunziger Jahre Schrecken verbreitete: Frauen wurden geschlagen, wenn sie keine Burka trugen, Männer bestraft, wenn ihr Bart nicht genug lang war.

Vergangene Woche protestierte eine kleine Gruppe Frauen vor dem Gebäude, die Taliban liessen sie diesmal gewähren. Die Bilder gingen durch die Social Media und um die Welt. Eine Frau sagte der «BBC»: «Wir wollen nicht, dass das Frauenministerium entfernt wird.» Das Entfernen von Frauen bedeute das Entfernen von Menschen.

Es ist vielleicht der grösste Stolperstein des neuen Taliban-Regimes: Die Welt will wissen, welche Rechte die neuen und alten Herrscher Afghanistans den Afghaninnen gewähren. Viele Frauen haben Angst, sie fürchten einen Rückfall in die neunziger Jahre, die Zeit des ersten Emirats. » | Andreas Babst, Kandahar | Freitag, 24. September 2021

Verwandt.

How Nancy Wake Saved Countless Lives | Enemy of the Reich | Timeline

Nancy Wake: Gestapo’s Most Wanted

Jul 19, 2018 • This is the incredible true story of Nancy Wake, the daring allied spy who became the Gestapo’s most wanted woman in WWII. Codenamed ‘The White Mouse’ for her elusiveness, this international femme fatale was a key inspiration behind Sebastian Faulkes’ celebrated fictional spy Charlotte Gray.

The Buddhist View on Gay Marriage

An intellectual conversation between Khenpo Sodargye and Professor Eyal Aviv.

Die Guillotine | Karambolage | ARTE

Sep 24, 2021 • Im September 1981, also vor vierzig Jahren, hat Frankreich die Todesstrafe abgeschafft. Ein Rückblick auf einen sehr französischen Gegenstand, die Guillotine, die inzwischen überholt ist, sowie auf die entscheidende Parlamentsdebatte, die zur Abstimmung über das Gesetz führte. Autor und Regisseur: Cédric Villain

Democracy Now! Top US News & World Headlines — September 24, 2021


Where is Biden’s Christianity when he deports all these poor Haitians? One of the qualities of a good Christian is to have mercy on people. Biden shows no mercy! But I bet he’ll go to church on Sunday to ask for God’s mercy. Such hypocrisy! – © Mark

French Cooking Academy: Rabbit In Creamy Mustard Sauce | Classic French Recipes

Lapin à la moutarde


Get the recipe here.

Gold - Dokumentation von NZZ Format (1994)

Dec 6, 2016 • Bis heute wurden etwa 100 000 Tonnen Gold gewonnen, was einem Würfel mit einer Kantenlänge von 17 Metern entspricht. NZZ Format zeigt, wie in Südafrika 3500 Meter unter Tag Gold gewonnen wird.

In einer italienischen Fabrik bei Arezzo werden jährlich 80 Tonnen Gold zu Schmuck verarbeitet. Goldraffinierung, Goldtransport und Goldhandel: Schweizer gehören zur Spitze.

In "Swiss made"»: Alte Goldwaschmethoden im Napfgebiet.


Platin: das Edelste der Edlen - Dokumentation von NZZ Format (2004)

Feb 12, 2016 • Unreifes Gold nannte man es und warf es zurück ins Bachbett. Heute aber kommt Platin immer dann ins Spiel, wenn Gold nicht mehr exklusiv genug ist, vor allem in der Uhren- und Schmuckindustrie.

Allein schon die Seltenheit und der immense Aufwand, der zur Förderung und Gewinnung von Platin betrieben werden muss, rechtfertigt den Status als teuerstes und edelstes aller Edelmetalle. Seine besonderen Eigenschaften machen es aber auch in Bereichen des Alltags unverzichtbar, beispielsweise bei der Lösung von Abgasproblemen.

NZZ Format zeigt den Weg des Platins von der Mine in Südafrika bis zum Autokatalysator und zum luxuriösen Schmuckstück.


China Cracks Down on Cryptocurrency, Banning Transactions and Mining.

THE NEW YORK TIMES: China intensified its crackdown on cryptocurrency on Friday, calling all financial transactions involving cryptocurrencies illegal and issuing a nationwide ban on cryptocurrency mining.

In a joint statement by 11 Chinese government entities, authorities vowed to work closely to punish “illegal” crypto mining activities to help prevent the “hidden risks caused by the blind and disorderly development” of the industry and to help the country achieve its carbon reduction goals.

China’s central bank announced that services offering trading, order matching, token issuance and derivatives for virtual currencies would be strictly prohibited. The bank also said that overseas crypto exchanges providing services in mainland China were also illegal.

Less than three hours after the notice was posted by China’s central bank, Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, had dropped by about 7 percent, to around $41,100. » | Amy Qin | Friday, September 24, 2021

Marc Fromager, sur les pas d’Ismérie pour convertir… les musulmans

«De nombreuses conversions se produisent en Asie, en Afrique, au Moyen-Orient… Des chiffres circulent, avancés principalement par les protestants évangéliques qui sont très actifs et moins complexés que les catholiques en matière d’évan¬gélisation», détaille Marc Fromager. © Bruno Levy pour Le Figaro Magazine

LE FIGARO : PORTRAIT - Chaque année, des musulmans se convertissent en France au christianisme. Lancée en 2020, Mission Ismérie, que dirige Marc Fromager, les accompagne dans leur parcours.

Pendant vingt et un ans, Marc Fromager a parcouru la planète alors qu’il dirigeait l’Aide à l’Église en détresse (AED) en France. On le retrouve aujourd’hui à la tête de Mission Ismérie, du nom de cette princesse musulmane, fille d’un sultan égyptien du Caire, devenue chrétienne au XIIe siècle. La structure n’a qu’un an d’existence mais, déjà, un objectif ambitieux que ce quinquagénaire à l’âme missionnaire poursuit avec conviction: il s’agit ni plus ni moins d’annoncer le Christ aux musulmans, en réponse à l’invitation du pape François d’aller porter l’Évangile aux périphéries. Mission impossible? Loin de là, estime Marc Fromager qui connaît trop bien le monde musulman, «sa soif de transcendance, son appétence métaphysique et spirituelle» pour se décourager. «Il est sans doute plus facile de discuter de Dieu avec un musulman qu’avec un athée», lance-t-il. Lors des missions d’évangélisation que nous menons dans la rue, les musulmans sont les premiers à s’arrêter pour discuter. Ils sont surpris de rencontrer des «Gaulois» qui croient en Dieu et se proposent de leur transmettre son message d’espérance, dans une attitude de respect mutuel, d’ouverture et de dialogue. Beaucoup de musulmans ont envie de connaître Dieu.» » | Par Ghislain de Montalembert | vendredi 24 septembre 2021

Réservé aux abonnés

‘Necessary for Security’: Veteran Taliban Enforcer Says Amputations Will Resume

THE GUARDIAN: Nooruddin Turabi, in charge of Afghan prisons, says executions and removal of hands will restart, but possibly not in public

Afghanistan’s Taliban leader Mullah Nooruddin Turabi. ‘No one will tell us what our laws should be. We will follow Islam.’ Photograph: Felipe Dana/AP

The Taliban will resume executions and the amputation of hands for criminals they convict, in a return to their harsh version of Islamic justice.

According to a senior official – a veteran leader of the hardline Islamist group who was in charge of justice during its previous period in power – executions would not necessarily take place in public as they did before.

The Taliban’s first period ruling Afghanistan during the 1990s, before they were toppled by a US-led invasion in 2001 following the 9/11 attacks, was marked by the grisly excesses of its perfunctory justice system, which included public executions in the football stadium in Kabul.

In an interview with Associated Press, Mullah Nooruddin Turabi – who was justice minister and head of the so-called ministry of propagation of virtue and prevention of vice during the Taliban’s previous rule – dismissed outrage over the Taliban’s executions in the past, and warned the world against interfering with Afghanistan’s new rulers.

Under the new Taliban government, Turabi is in charge of prisons. He is among a number of Taliban leaders, including members of the all-male interim cabinet, who are on a United Nations sanctions list.

“Everyone criticised us for the punishments in the stadium, but we have never said anything about their laws and their punishments,” Turabi said in Kabul. “No one will tell us what our laws should be. We will follow Islam and we will make our laws on the Qur’an.”

“Cutting off of hands is very necessary for security,” Turabi added, saying it had a deterrent effect. He said the cabinet was studying whether to carry out punishments in public and would “develop a policy”. » | Peter Beaumont | Friday, September 24, 2021

Barbaric laws for people who live in darkness, for people who are shackled to a bygone age. – © Mark

Afghanistan: Executions will return, says senior Taliban official: The Taliban's notorious former head of religious police has said extreme punishments such as executions and amputations will resume in Afghanistan. »

Furious French Defence Contractor to Seek Compensation over Aukus Deal

THE GUARDIAN: Head of Naval Group attacks Australia’s ‘political’ decision to cancel €56bn contract with his firm

Australia has signed up to an empty promise by agreeing to a US nuclear powered submarine deal for which there is no clear delivery date or technology transfer agreement, the furious head of the French defence contractor Naval Group has warned.

Pierre Eric Pommellet also said his firm will be seeking compensation for Australia’s cancellation of a €56bn (£48bn) contract for 12 new Attack-class submarines, which he described as a purely political decision which came without warning.

His comments to Le Figaro were the latest allegations that Australia’s decision to replace the French contract with the Aukus deal with the UK and US was political rather than defence-based. Australia has implied that the contract cancellation followed a new assessment of the security threat posed by China.

Pommellet said the only tangible point of the proposed new contract “is the decision to acquire nuclear powered boats. When, how, with which partners, which technological transfer? No one knows. Australia, on the other hand, knows what it is losing and what we were committed to building.”

He added: “At Naval Group … we had no warning sign or the slightest information that we were becoming a plan B in favour of a plan A with the United States and the United Kingdom.

“Discussions between these two countries and Australia have undoubtedly been conducted in a very small circle at the highest political level for several months.

“This decision was announced to us without any notice, with incredible brutality.” » | Patrick Wintour | Thursday, September 23, 2021

Crise des sous-marins : le président de Naval Group rompt le silence »

The AP Interview: Hungary Committed to Contentious LGBT Law

Peter Szijjarto, Hungary's minister of foreign affairs and trade, speaks during an interview with the Associated Press at United Nations headquarters, Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021, during the 76th Session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

ASSOCIATED PRESS: UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The right-wing populist government in Hungary is attracting conservative thinkers from the United States who admire its approaches to migration, LGBT issues and national sovereignty — all matters that have put the country at odds with its European partners, who see not a conservative haven but a worrying erosion of democratic institutions on multiple fronts.

Hungary’s top diplomat has a few things to say about that.

In an interview Thursday with The Associated Press on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly’s meeting of world leaders, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said his country would not cede ground on policies that have caused the European Union to impose financial penalties and start legal proceedings against it over violations of the bloc’s values.

“We do not compromise on these issues because we are a sovereign country, a sovereign nation. And no one, not even the European Commission, should blackmail us regarding these policies,” Szijjarto said.

Topping the list of contentious government policies: a controversial Hungarian law that the EU says violates the fundamental rights of LGBT people. That led the EU’s executive commission to delay billions in economic recovery funds earmarked for Hungary — a move Szijjarto called “a purely political decision” and “blackmail.” The law, he says, is meant to protect children from pedophiles and ”homosexual propaganda.”

“We will not make [make] compromises about the future of our children,” Szijjarto told the AP.

The law, passed in June, makes it illegal to promote or portray sex reassignment or homosexuality to minors under 18 in media content. It also contains provisions that provide harsher penalties for pedophilia. Critics say it conflates pedophilia with homosexuality and stigmatizes sexual minorities. » | Justin Spike | Friday, September 24, 2021


Does Hungary really belong in the European Union? The EU is progressive; Hungary, under this regime, is regressive. It is an outrage that the Hungarian government should be conflating being gay with paedophilia! An absolute outrage! It shows these people's ignorance and bigotry. – © Mark

Poland Loses ‘LGBT-free Zone’ as Region Renounces Hate and ‘Guarantees Equality for All’

PINK NEWS: A rural region in southern Poland scrapped a motion opposing “LGBT ideology” after the European Union (EU) threatened to cut funding.

Several Polish regions, towns and cities have adopted hostile resolutions that declare the areas “free from LGBT ideology”. The EU has harshly rebuked the so-called ‘LGBT-free zones’ since they began popping up across Poland in 2019.

On Wednesday (22 September), the regional assembly of Swietokrzyskie voted in a special session to abolish the anti-LGBT+ resolution, Euronews reported.

At the special regional assembly, 25 councillors in Swietokrzyskie passed a new resolution stating that Poland’s constitution guarantees parents the right to raise their children consistent with their beliefs and views. But it stated the constitution also ensures a “guarantee of equality and fair treatment for all”.

LGBT+ activist Bart Staszewski said it was a “great day for Poland and great success of activists and civil society”, the Associated Press reported. » | Maggie Baska | Thursday, September 23, 2021

Verwandter Artikel hier.

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Thanks go to Fanefane and Pinterest for this great photo.

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Dec 27, 2017 • China's gay shock therapy: It's over 15 years since the Chinese Psychiatric Association stopped classifying homosexuality as a mental illness yet some hospitals in China continue to claim they can 'cure' gay people. There's no scientific basis for their claims yet they offer procedures that even include painful electric shock treatment. Shaunaugh Connaire went to Beijing to meet the activists working to expose what's happening in these hospitals.