Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Friday, 25 September 2015

The European Union Times


Posted: 24 Sep 2015 07:10 AM PDT

EU apparatchiks on Tuesday approved a plan that will force countries in Europe to take hundreds of thousands of so-called asylum-seeking refugees.
From The New York Times:
The dissenters were the ministers representing the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. Under European law, three of the countries — the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia — would be required to accept migrants against their will, said one European Union diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity shortly after the vote.
The Times describes countries in opposition as “intransigent.”
Germany and France led the charge in favor of the “compulsory approach to resettling refugees” and “absorbing” them.
In addition to opposing the newly crafted authoritarian rule, dissenting nations say the European Union is exploiting the crisis to take control of sovereign immigration control.
Eastern Europe Unable to Manage Huge Influx of Illegal Migrants
The establishment media insists the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia are “selfish” for not taking in the migrants.
However, as Marcin Zaborowski, an executive vice-president of the Centre for European Policy Analysis in Warsaw explains, there are a number of issues the EU and the establishment media are ignoring:
Several reasons help explain this reluctance, and most of them are missing from the coverage. First, central and eastern European states are already taking a huge number of both refugees and migrants from Ukraine. While many Poles work in British hospitals and cafes, in Poland’s service sector it is the Ukrainians who are doing many of the jobs. The same is true for other states of the region and few raise complaints.
Second, the decision of Angela Merkel to issue a broad welcome to the refugees is seen in central and eastern Europe as counter-productive and escalating the influx. This is why there is a reluctance to share in the implications of Berlin’s decision. Now as Germany is reintroducing checks on the border with Austria and as the entire concept of Europe with no internal borders is under threat, it seems that Berlin’s invitation to refugees was a little premature.
Third, central and eastern Europeans have little tradition of dealing with refugees from non-European cultures and lack the required infrastructure. The UK, France and Germany have for years been adjusting their systems – healthcare, education, language training – to assimilate migrants from all over the world. But for central and eastern Europe, which has no colonial past and is made up of mostly small and ethnically homogeneous nations, this is quite a new challenge. Even with all the tradition and experience in western Europe the success rate is mixed. None of this is to say that central and eastern Europe should not accept a bigger share of responsibility. What Europe requires, however, is solidarity and co-ordinated action – not just in distributing the existing refugee numbers but in preventing a humanitarian crisis from occurring.
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Posted: 24 Sep 2015 06:51 AM PDT

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Wednesday rejected what he called German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s “moral imperialism” in Europe’s migrant crisis.
Orban, known for his tough stance on migrants, accused Merkel of trying to impose her vision of an open EU on the rest of the bloc, AFP reported.
“The most important thing is that there should be no moral imperialism,” he said during a visit to the southern German state of Bavaria.
There is a growing east-west split within the EU after ministers – over opposition from eastern European states, including Hungary – forced through a controversial deal Tuesday to share out 120,000 refugees, AFP reported.
“We’d accept Germany either allowing all migrants in or not allowing any in. But whatever Germany decides should only apply to Germany,” Orban said. His country had a “democratic right” to a different approach in the migrant crisis.
“We are Hungarians however, we cannot think with German minds. Hungary should have the right to control the impact of a mass migration,” he said. “The Hungarian people don’t want this. We ask that the wishes of Hungarians be respected.”
Orban instead revisited a plan that includes persuading Greece to hand over its borders to EU countries willing to help police them, as well as separating asylum-seekers from “economic migrants” before they reach the passport-free Schengen zone, AFP reported.
He also proposed involving countries around the world to take in their share of the hundreds of thousands of refugees who have overwhelmed places like Italy and Greece.
To prevent migrants from entering, Hungary has built a fence at its border with Serbia and passed laws allowing imprisonment for those who cross illegally. Last week, police used a water cannon and tear gas to turn away migrants.
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Posted: 24 Sep 2015 06:34 AM PDT


German media outlets are refusing to broadcast information about rapes committed by Muslims over fears that the hundreds of thousands of migrants flooding into the country might be offended and that such content could enflame tensions.
As we reported last week, numerous prominent welfare organizations in Germany warned that women and children were being raped at a migrant camp in Hessen, but the issue received very little press attention in comparison with the overwhelming positive coverage that has characterized the media’s treatment of the refugee crisis.
As the Gatestone Institute reports, Germany’s top public broadcaster ZDF has decided to censor such information. A prime time crime show called Aktenzeichen XY, which seeks public help in identifying criminals, refused to run a segment about a “darker skinned” rape suspect.
Editor in chief Ina-Maria Reize-Wildemann explained the decision, remarking, “We don’t want to inflame the situation and spread the bad mood. [The migrants] don’t deserve it.”
One wonders whether Reize-Wildemann thinks the future victims of the rapist who is now more likely to go free “deserve it”.
“German media is in lockstep with the government, giving happy-talk and a positive spin on migrant crisis of gigantic proportions hitting Europe,” writes Vijeta Uniyal. “Mainstream media in Germany are not merely willing executioners of Merkel’s open border policy, they are ideological players committed to breaking any opposition to the plan.”
Earlier this month, a 7-year-old girl was raped by a north African migrant in a German park, a story that also received little media attention.
School in Germany situated near migrant camps are warning girls not to wear shorts or skirts so as not to offend migrants and provoke “attacks”.
The media has also framed entire issue as the “Syrian refugee crisis,” when only one in five of the refugees are Syrian and most of them are economic migrants fleeing to a higher standard of living.

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Posted: 24 Sep 2015 06:05 AM PDT

At least 453 people have been killed and nearly 720 others injured in a crush during Hajj pilgrimage rituals outside Mecca.
According to Saudi disaster officials, the incident occurred in Mina, near Mecca, at 9 am local time (0600 GMT) after two large masses of pilgrims coming down streets 204 and 223 fused together.
The incident took place as people were heading to participate in the symbolic stoning of Satan.
Over 220 ambulances and 4,000 rescue workers have reportedly been sent to the location.
“Work is underway to separate large groups of people and direct pilgrims to alternative routes,” the Saudi Civil Defense said.
‘Iranians among the dead’
Meanwhile, Sa’eed Ohadi, the head of Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization, has said that at least 43 Iranians have been killed and 60 others wounded in the crush, according to ISNA.
Separately, an Iranian deputy foreign minister has announced that a special commission has been set up by the Islamic Republic to follow up on the case of the Iranian pilgrims in Mina.
‘Saudi authorities responsible’
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for Arab and African affairs, said the Iranian Embassy in Saudi Arabia, the Consulate and all other relevant organizations are actively working to determine the fate of the Iranian victims of the Thursday incident.
Amir-Abdollahian held the Saudi authorities responsible for the deadly incident, and said they should promptly act to manage the crisis.
“The imprudence on the part of relevant Saudi authorities to provide security for the pilgrims cannot be ignored,” he said.
Some two million people are currently in Mecca for this year’s Hajj pilgrimage.
Some 360 pilgrims lost their lives during the same ritual in Mina back in January 2006
This comes days after a massive construction crane collapsed into Mecca’s Grand Mosque, killing more than 100 people and leaving over 200 others wounded.
Separately, on September 21, a fire at a 15-story hotel in Mecca forced the evacuation of some 1,500 people. A fire also broke out at another hotel in the city days earlier, which left a number of foreigners injured.
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Posted: 24 Sep 2015 05:24 AM PDT

With each passing day, The Kremlin seems less and less interested in observing any niceties with regard to how it describes Russia’s military involvement in Syria.
Initially, it seemed likely that Moscow would go the Ukraine route by providing logistical support and lurking behind the scenes while officially denying – or at least downplaying – its role in the conflict. Over the course of the last two weeks, it’s become increasingly clear that Russia now intends to make no secret of its intention not only to stabilize the Assad regime but in fact to turn the tide completely with the provision of advanced weapons and equipment including combat aircraft, tanks, and drones.
The only remaining question was how long it would be before Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem made an official request for ground troops, allowing Moscow to abandon all pretense that Russia isn’t officially at war and while we may not have reached that point yet, you can’t very well build a forward operating base and not staff it which is why now, according to FT, Moscow is set to send 2,000 troops to Latakia as part of the mission’s “first phase”. Here’s more:
Russia is to deploy 2,000 military personnel to its new air base near the Syrian port city of Latakia, signalling the scale of Moscow’s involvement in the war-torn country.
The deployment “forms the first phase of the mission there”, according to an adviser on Syria policy in Moscow.
The force will include fighter aircraft crews, engineers and troops to secure the facility, said another person briefed on the matter.
Three western defence officials agreed that the Russian deployment tallied with the numbers needed to establish a forward air base similar to those built by western militaries in Afghanistan.
Here’s more, from The New York Times, on the buildup at Latakia:
The deployment of some of Russia’s most advanced ground attack planes and fighter jets as well as multiple air defense systems at the base near the ancestral home of President Bashar al-Assad appears to leave little doubt about Moscow’s goal to establish a military outpost in the Middle East. The planes are protected by at least two or possibly three SA-22 surface-to-air, antiaircraft systems, and unarmed Predator-like surveillance drones are being used to fly reconnaissance missions.
Russia has military presences near Latakia and in Tartus.Russian Moves in Syria Widen Role in MideastSEPT. 14, 2015
“With competent pilots and with an effective command and control process, the addition of these aircraft could prove very effective depending on the desired objectives for their use,” said David A. Deptula, a retired three-star Air Force general who planned the American air campaigns in 2001 in Afghanistan and in the 1991 Persian Gulf war.
In addition, a total of 15 Russian Hip transport and Hind attack helicopters are also now stationed at the base, doubling the number of those aircraft from last week, the American official said. For use in possible ground attacks, the Russians now also have nine T-90 tanks and more than 500 marines, up from more than 200 last week.
“The equipment and personnel just keep flowing in,” said the American official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential intelligence reports. “They were very busy over the weekend.”

On Monday, the Russian embassy in Damascus came under mortar fire. That attack, Moscow says, did not emanate from ISIS but rather from other anti-Assad forces backed by “external sponsors”:
The Russian foreign ministry said a shell, which landed near its embassy on Sunday but caused no casualties, came from Jobar, which is held by anti-Assad fighters who were not allied with Isis and had “external sponsors”.
“We expect a clear position with regard to this terrorist act from all members of the international community, including regional players,” the ministry said. “This requires not just words but concrete action.”
It added that the fighters’ “foreign sponsors” were responsible for using their influence on “illegal armed formations”.
Clearly, “foreign sponsors” is a reference to Assad’s US-backed regional enemies including the Saudis, Qatar, and Turkey among others and this certainly seems to indicate that the Russians will not be prepared to tolerate attacks on their assets by groups who enjoy the support of the US-backed coalition. Of course quite a few of the groups battling for control of Syria are supported either directly or indirectly by the US and its regional allies which means that even if Russia manages to avoid direct confrontation with the handful of troops the US overtly backs, avoiding confrontations with the troops covertly supported by the US and other state actors will be impossible by definition, as they, just as much as ISIS, are angling for the ouster of Assad.
Meanwhile, the French took the absurdity to a whole new level on Monday when Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius claimed that the country’s plans to begin bombing Syria were born out of concerns for “self defense”. Here’s the quote:
“We received specific intelligence indicating that the resent terrorist attacks against France and other European nations were organized by Daesh [Arabic derogatory term for IS] in Syria. Due to this threat we decided to start reconnaissance flights to have the option for airstrikes, if that would be necessary. This is self-defense.“
And so, as the violence escalates and Syria looks set to become the stage for a not-so-cold war pitting Russia and its regional proxies against the US and its regional proxies, we close with the following graphic which (partially) quantifies the human cost of geopolitical wrangling gone horribly awry:

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Posted by Roberto Abraham Scaruffi at 12:36