Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Friday 5 February 2016

The European Union Times


Posted: 05 Feb 2016 04:58 AM PST

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, is to meet his Roman Catholic counterpart, Pope Francis, during a historic visit to Latin America. The groundbreaking meeting is to happen in mid-February in Cuba.
The meeting between heads the two major Christian churches would be an unprecedented move to mend a millennium-long rift between the Western and Eastern branches of the religion, which started with the Great Schism of 1054.
Persecution of Christians in the modern world is the main issue for the two leaders to discuss, the Russian Orthodox Church said. Christians are among the minorities suffering at the hands of groups adhering to radical Islamist ideology in places like Iraq, Syria and Somalia.
In addition to Cuba, Patriarch Kirill’s Latin American tour from February 11-22 includes Paraguay, Chile and Brazil. The meeting with Pope Francis will happen on February 12.
“The intersection of the routes allowed this meeting to be organized,” commented Metropolitan Hilarion, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church’s Foreign Relations Department.
The pontiff will make a stop in Cuba on his way to Mexico.
The meeting has been in preparation for two decades and both Moscow and the Vatican agreed that some neutral country would be most suited for it. Austria and Hungary were among those considered, but Cuba was eventually chosen. The Patriarch and the Pope are expected to sign a joint declaration after the talks.
The Holy See called the upcoming meeting a “sign of good faith” and called on all Christians “to pray to God to bless the meeting,” the Vatican said in a statement.
For the Russian Orthodox Church the meeting will be the biggest foreign affairs event since reuniting in 2007 with the Russian Orthodox Church outside Russia after a 90-year split.
The Great Schism formalized the break of communion between the Latin and Greek parts of Christianity after years of accumulating differences over theology, jurisdiction and ritual. The division endured over centuries, with mutual anathemas declared by the Pope and the Patriarch of what was then Constantinople (now Istanbul) in 1054 nullified only in 1965.
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Posted: 05 Feb 2016 04:52 AM PST

UK’s BBC channel is launching a new reality show devoted to the scenario of WWIII. The authors of the project say that the show is based on real events, although the plot has little in common with reality, at least for the time being.
In the show, Russian troops “invade” Latvia as a reason to start a nuclear war. Latvia’s NATO allies – the UK and the USA – take efforts to protect the country. They discuss various options for showing resistance to Russia, including the nuclear one. As a result, the conflict evolves into a global and destructive war.
The critics of the project say that it was initiated to maintain the fear of “Russian aggression.”
The modern world is close to the global cataclysm as never before, researchers at “The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists” believe. The association was founded in 1945 at the University of Chicago to estimate the probability of potential threats to the world.
Noteworthy, analysts from US-based Rand Corp. presented two reports about the possibility of a nuclear war between NATO and Russia. The researchers took account of indicators of military simulations and efficiency of military drills of both sides.
The researchers concluded that the shortest time, during which Russia could reach Estonia to subsequently fight NATO back was equal to 36 hours.
If the alliance is “luckier,” the Russian armed forces will reach the Baltic States in 60 hours. The experts suggest that Russia will strike from the Western Military District that borders on the Baltic States to win time before the NATO’s response. As many as 22 Russian battalions could be involved in the operation in the above-mentioned military district. NATO has only 12 battalions in the Baltic region, and seven of them are inferior to Russia from the point of view of their tactical and strategic mobility.
NATO does not have a tank force in the region. This is another aspect that makes NATO’s confrontation with Russia difficult. There are tanks in all units of the Russian army, the report said.
The forces of the North Atlantic Alliance in the Baltic Region are also inferior to Russian artillery and maneuverability.
However, Russia should pay attention to NATO’s aviation, as NATO has been increasing the presence of its aviation in Europe. At the same time, the alliance will also need to conduct a highly efficient ground operation, Business Insider said.
Noteworthy, Russian Ambassador to Latvia, Alexander Veshnyakov, commented on the reports about the new BBC reality show.
“This is an absolutely contrived scenario that pursues political goals: to engage in an information war to demonize Russia, to justify requests from the military and political lobby to increase NATO’s defense spending in Europe and to discredit all political forces in Latvia, in Europe, that do not share a biased attitude to Russia,” the diplomat wrote on his Facebook page.
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Posted: 05 Feb 2016 04:47 AM PST
The US National Nuclear Security Administration says nuclear secrets have been dumped in trash cans for years at the Y-12 National Security Complex.
The US National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has slammed a contractor for compromising the country’s nuclear secrets by dumping loads of classified documents into unprotected trash cans.
The security blunder was first discovered in June 2014, when a worker at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee found highly sensitive documents inside a trash bag marked for disposal along with other junk materials, the Daily Beast reported on Wednesday.
A more thorough inspection found 19 more documents in the bag that were either classified or contained sensitive details.
Further investigation by the NNSA revealed that nuclear secrets had been thrown away with lax security at the plant for more than 20 years.
The documents detailed how the department’s employees and contractors worked with nuclear explosive materials, such as highly enriched uranium, stored at the facility.
That bag and many others were awaiting burial in an open landfill where Y-12 workers routinely dump garbage that poses no risk on national security.
“(They) then decided not to search any additional containers because they were, given the prior results, presumed likely to contain additional classified information,” said the Energy Department’s enforcement in a preliminary notice of violation issued Tuesday.
Earlier this week, Frank Klotz, head of the NNSA, wrote a letter to the contractor named Babcock & Wilcox Technical Services, citing the company for three violations, although it was replaced by another contractor in July 2014.
“Actual or high potential for adverse impact on the national security,” and “a significant lack of attention or carelessness” with the potential to harm national security were some of the mishaps outlined in the notice.
“Some workers indicated that this process for discarding work-related paper had always been in place (i.e., for over 20 years) until discovery of the security event,” the notice added.
Klotz initially threatened to fine the company nearly a quarter-million dollars. But after negotiations Klotz forgave the $240,000 in proposed fines, arguing that the company had suffered enough.
He noted in his letter that the NNSA withheld bonus money from Babcock & Wilcox in fiscal year 2014 for “numerous safeguards and security issues, including deficiencies in B&W Y-12’s information security program.”
Protection of nuclear secrets and materials kept at Y-12 has closely been investigated since July 28, 2012, when an 82-year-old nun and two other peace protesters penetrated the facility and drew graffiti on a storage vault full of weapons-grade nuclear materials.
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Posted: 05 Feb 2016 04:43 AM PST


Mass protests over the TPP in New Zealand did not pass by without humor and tomfoolery; a day after thousands took to the streets of Auckland, Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce was hit in the face with a sex toy thrown by a woman, while speaking at Waitangi.
Joyce was an easy target, giving an interview to the press, following the February 4 signing of the TPP agreement, hailed as “the biggest trade deal in a generation.”
But several thousand protesters had gathered earlier to march against the agreement, and a sizable presence was at Waitangi as well, four hours north of the original march, in Auckland.
Shouting “that’s for raping our country,” the woman threw a huge pink rubber penis, hitting Joyce square in the face. Security quickly led her away.
Joyce said this was the first time an object had been hurled at him, despite projectiles not being uncommon in politics.
“We actually thought it was a little bit humorous at the end of it all,” the minister told journalists.
“New experiences in politics every day, it’s the privilege of serving,” he added.
Dildo-dispatcher Josie Butler, though, has a bone to pick with Joyce, and she’s a frequent visitor at demonstrations. Asked about the sex-toy tactic, she told TVNZ: “I am worried about patient rights because of the price of medications going up.”
Like Butler, activists continue to oppose the TPP on the grounds it might lead to job losses, stagnant wages and increasing inequality.
Waitangi is also an indigenous celebration, commemorating the signing of the treaty between the Crown and the indigenous Maori people.
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Posted: 05 Feb 2016 04:34 AM PST

Swedish officials found ISIS graffiti on the wall of a school this week.
The graffiti warned, “Pray to Allah or die” and included an ISIS flag.
Breitbart London reported:
What appears to be an Islamic State battle flag has been painted on the wall of a school along with the words’ Pray to Allah or Die’, reports Sweden’s state radio.
Police were called when the graffiti was discovered, but at present they have no suspects for the crime, admits a spokesman. The headmistress of the school told media the sign made her feel “uncomfortable”.
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Posted: 04 Feb 2016 02:14 PM PST

The head of the North Atlantic Alliance made a rather provocative statement about Russia. According to Jens Stoltenberg, Russia, in addition to large-scale military exercises, simulated nuclear strikes, in particular, on Sweden in March 2013.
“As part of its overall military build-up, the pace of Russia’s military maneuvers and drills have reached levels unseen since the height of the Cold War,” Stoltenberg wrote in the report.
Russia conducted 18 major exercises, some of which involved more than 100,000 troops. According to the NATO chief, the drills were conducted to simulate nuclear strikes on NATO and its partners.
Meanwhile, US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said that the Pentagon was planning to receive $ 3.4 billion in 2017 to support US allies and their forces in Europe against the backdrop of Russia’s policy in Ukraine. Thus, the Pentagon plans to increase defense spending four times.
Later, US President Barack Obama officially announced the increase of support for allies in Europe to 3.7 billion dollars “to curb the Russian aggression.” However, Josh Earnest stated that one should interpret the move as a failure of diplomacy in its relations with Russia.
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Posted: 04 Feb 2016 01:12 PM PST

Don’t put too much credence is Trump’s loss in the Iowa caucus.
It really isn’t significant.
Why?
Because the votes in Iowa were restricted to registered Republican voters and a lot of them are sticking to the party line.
Trump’s support among Republicans is out on the periphery.
The Democrat establishment knows a lot of registered Democrats favor Trump. According to The Upshot by Civis Analytics, a Democratic data firm, Democrats in the South, Appalachia and the industrial North support Trump.
In early January Mercury Analytics, a research company with clients that include MSNBC and Fox News, conducted an online poll. It revealed a full 20% of Democrats said they would go against the party line and vote for Trump in a general election.
Independents are a large factor as well.
An IVN poll conducted in September showed 25.9% of them going for Trump.
“Some of the polls that show heavy support for Trump have also shown him doing better among self-identified independents who lean Republican than among regular GOP voters. At least some of those independents may not be in the habit of voting in primaries and caucuses, which could make a robust turnout operation even more necessary,” the Los Angeles Times noted in December.
Polls can be inaccurate and fickle, of course, but the upside for Trump is he has a lot of support among people who don’t figure into party metrics.
Trump’s numbers will rise when voting begins in open voting states.
Cruz and Rubio don’t stand a chance.
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Posted: 04 Feb 2016 01:05 PM PST

Monday was not a good day for Donald Trump. His infamous phrase ‘loser’ came back to haunt him when he was forced to admit defeat to rival Ted Cruz in the Iowa caucus after weeks of being billed as the Republican frontrunner.
But on Tuesday, it emerged that Trump’s name had reportedly made it on to a list of nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize – alongside figures such as Pope Francis and a campaigner for Isis rape survivors.
Trump’s reported nomination comes after he made a number of inflammatory and divisive comments in the run-up to the caucus. The billionaire business magnate enraged millions by proposing Muslims be banned from entering the US and has been praised by patriots for his comments about illegal immigration and Mexican migrants, with one of his most infamous pledges being to build a “big beautiful wall” between the US and Mexico.
Kristian Berg Harpviken, a Nobel watcher and head of the Peace Research Institute in Oslo, told Reuters the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has also been tipped for an award, alongside Colombian peace negotiators, US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation.
He also a claimed to have seen a letter submitted by an unidentified US nominator who proposed Trump for “his vigorous peace through strength ideology, used as a threat weapon of deterrence against radical Islam, Isis, nuclear Iran and Communist China”. He did not list Trump as one of the candidates who actually has a chance of winning.
Thousands of people are eligible to submit nominations for the Peace Prize. The Norwegian Nobel committee typically receives more than 200 nominations, according to the Associated Press.
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Posted: 04 Feb 2016 12:57 PM PST

The United States has warned that North Korea is preparing to launch a long-range missile, dismissing official statements from Pyongyang to the United Nations that the launch will actually involve a satellite.
Satellite imagery has indicated that North Korea is preparing to conduct rocket launches later this month from a test site known as Tongchang-ri. The movement of rocket components at the site has led to wild speculation about Pyongyang’s intentions.
On Tuesday, North Korea attempted to put the rumors to rest in a statement to the United Nations.
“We have received information from the DPRK regarding the launch of earth observation satellite ‘Kwangmyongsong’ between 8-25 February,” said a spokeswoman for the UN’s International Maritime Organization.
A separate UN agency, the International Telecommunication Union, was also informed that North Korea plans to launch a satellite into non-geostationary orbit that will have a functional duration of four years.
Yet this has done little to comfort officials in Washington, who are convinced that a satellite launch is a cover for a long-range missile test. This is based partially on allegations that a communications satellite launch in 2012 was accomplished with a long-range rocket.
“Our concern though is that they do a space-launch but really it’s the same technology to develop ICBMs [intercontinental ballistic missiles],” said a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A separate US State Department official, also speaking anonymously, stressed that any North Korean satellite launch will be an “egregious violation” of its international obligations.
North Korea maintains that it has every right to pursue its own space program.
Last week, US Senator Cory Gardner said that Pyongyang’s upcoming test is meant to demonstrate North Korea’s ability to strike the American mainland.
“While [the head of US Northern Command Adm. William Gortney] has said they [North Korea] had the miniaturization capabilities and the ability to deliver to the US mainland, they haven’t tested it to the degree to prove that,” Gardner told Sputnik.
“We anticipate they will continue to do that.”
Last month, North Korea also drew scrutiny for conducting its fourth test of a nuclear bomb. While Pyongyang claimed that it was the first successful test of a hydrogen bomb, most experts examining the seismic effects determined it to be a less powerful atomic explosion.
The United Nations is considering the implementation of new sanctions over the nuclear test. If Pyongyang pursues a satellite launch later this month, the United States may push for additional penalties.
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Posted: 04 Feb 2016 12:28 PM PST


A Mayor in the German town of Bad Schlema prompted fury when he responded to a grandfather’s concern about young girls being sexually harassed by migrants by responding; “don’t provoke them”.
The exchange occurred during a raucous municipal council meeting last week which ended with residents demanding the Mayor step down over his comments.
With public opinion on the 1.1 million migrants Germany has taken in over the last year souring after the mass molestation of women in Cologne, a grandfather stood up at the council meeting to ask Mayor Jens Müller, of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party, whether measures would be taken to stop the harassment.
“I have a question regarding the school… about Physical education in the school gym”, the man stated . “My Granddaughter, she’s under ten — and it’s also happened in a nearby town, that’s right — the girls have been harassed by the refugee ‘children’, the ‘asylum seekers’.”
“They get harassed from the windows [of the shelter] and things like that. How will this be in the summer? When the School girls wear less clothing?” he asked.
“That’s easy; just don’t provoke them and don’t walk in these areas”, the Mayor responded.
The rest of the attendees immediately began booing, but the Mayor subsequently doubled down on his idiocy, suggesting that Germans were equally to blame when he commented, “Do you think this [sexual harassment] doesn’t exist among Germans”.
“You’re not allowed to walk in your own city anymore. Go home, boy. Who the hell elected you,” shouted the grandfather. “The migrants come here and we’re not allowed to walk here any more!”
Another woman called for the Mayor to step down as the crowd became increasingly more irate, leading Müller to threaten to call the police and “evacuate” the building.
“It seems that the mood has shifted,” Müller subsequently acknowledged, labeling the incident “scary”.
As we reported back in September last year, schools in German have been sending letters to parents asking them not to let young girls wear shorts or short skirts so as not to provoke “attacks” by migrants staying in nearby “refugee” centers.
One wonders what the next piece of advice German officials will suggest in order to prevent sexual attacks – maybe telling parents to dress their children in a full Burka?
The Mayor’s comments are outrageous but are nothing out of the ordinary when it comes to how some prominent German officials have responded to criticism.
German Interior Minister Ralf Jaeger asserted that conservatives who criticized the wave of migrants flooding into the country on Internet chat rooms were “just as awful” as the migrants who sexually molested women in Cologne.
Last month, feminists in Cologne responded to the mass molestation by predominantly Muslim migrants that occurred on New Year’s Eve by visiting the city’s largest refugee center and handing out roses as a “gesture against xenophobia”.
Another feminist group in Cologne responded to the attacks by denouncing “German born men”.
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Posted by Roberto Abraham Scaruffi at 19:16