Image 01 Image 03
Sign In or RegisterLogout

Europe Tag

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 08, 2016 6 Comments
President Barack Obama wants NATO to "stand firm" against Russia until the Kremlin has fully complied with ceasefire agreements in east Ukraine. He also promised 1,000 troops to Poland for extra security:
"In Warsaw, we must reaffirm our determination — our duty under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty — to defend every NATO ally," Obama said.

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 07, 2016 6 Comments
NATO will meet in Warsaw to show unity against Russia and approve a Baltic force, but the Brexit referendum could take center stage as some believe a weaker European Union means a weaker NATO. Poland always wanted a NATO summit, especially since Russia has flexed its muscles. But unfortunately, the Brexit referendum may take a starring role with the leaders along with a possibility of Donald Trump joining them next year:
“Since 1999, when Poland joined NATO, this is the most important summit for us,” said Tomasz Szatkowski, Poland’s deputy minister of defense. “It provides for the actual presence of Western allies in Poland.”

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 07, 2016 5 Comments
The United Kingdom will have its second female prime minister after David Cameron resigned when the kingdom voted to leave the European Union. The second ballot pushed Home Secretary Theresa May and Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom to the front. Justice Secretary Michael Gove came in third, thus eliminating him from the race. Conservative members will vote for the next prime minister and announce the winner on September 9.

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 07, 2016 7 Comments
Believe it or not, Germany never had decent rape laws until now. It took numerous rapes and sexual assaults for the country to establish a "No means No" law. Now a woman can claim she was raped even if she did not fight back. Yes, before this, a woman had to fight back in order to claim rape. They also classified "groping as a sex crime and makes it easier to prosecute assaults committed by large group."

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on July 07, 2016 1 Comment
According to a latest intelligence report, Germany harbours an alarmingly large number of Islamic terror operatives on its soil. Germany is home to about 300 Hamas and 950 Hezbollah members, the annual report of Germany's domestic intelligence agency -- the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) -- reveals. The report was released last week by German interior Minister Thomas de Maizière and President of BfV, Hans-Georg Maassen. “The supporters of Islamist-terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, who aim is to destroy the Jewish State of Israel, are focused on their region of origin [Middle East] and primarily conduct acts of terrorist violence there [Authors translation],” says the 317-page long annual intelligence report.

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 06, 2016 17 Comments
German activist Selin Gören said she lied to the police about her attackers because she did not want racists to use her story as an excuse to keep out refugees. The men attacked the spokeswoman for Linksjugend Solid, a left-wing German youth organization, at a playground late at night in Mannheim. She immediately called the police, but told them German speaking men robbed her. Her boyfriend, though, became mad at Gören for lying and encouraged her to tell the truth.

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 05, 2016 12 Comments
The Swedish police face over 40 reports of rape and sexual assault at two music festivals over the weekend in Karlstad and Norrköping. The police have identified seven suspects described as "foreign young men." The victims are mostly under 18-years-old with three under 15. The youngest victim is only 12-years-old.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on July 05, 2016 9 Comments
“You never want a serious crisis to go to waste,” Chicago Mayor and long-time Obama confidant Rahm Emanuel once said. Despite being rejected by the UK voters in the last month’s referendum, top bureaucrats running the European Union want to do precisely that. Since Brexit results, they have unveiled plans to build an EU Army, expand the entitlement programmes, and boldest of all -- calls to create a unified EU Government, a pan-European Superstate. What was once confined to the realm of myth and conspiracy theory, is now being proposed from the helm of the EU. On the day of the Brexit result, President of EU Parliament Martin Schluz and German Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel published a detailed proposal calling for reconstituting the EU into a European Government. Both Gabriel and Schulz are leading members of Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) that is currently in a coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU). Having tied its lot to Merkel’s policy of open borders, SPD’s poll numbers have hit a historic low. The proposal co-published by two of the Europe’s most powerful politicians wants to wrest remaining economic powers away from the national governments, creating an ‘Economic Schengen’ zone.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on July 04, 2016 14 Comments
I have been following the antics of "AG's United for Clean Power," a group of Democratic states attorneys general spearheaded by former Vice President Al Gore, who are threatening Big Oil and climate change skeptics with racketeering statutes. Despite scholarly reminders of this tactics' obvious constitutional abuses and outcries from proponents of First Amendment rights and sound science, the Democratic Party Platform Drafting Committee is keen to adopt the approach.
The committee unanimously adopted a “joint proposal calling on the Department of Justice to investigate alleged corporate fraud on the part of fossil fuel companies who have reportedly misled shareholders and the public on the scientific reality of climate change.” I.e., it wants to criminalize courageous people who still believe it’s okay to think independently, at least about allegedly dangerous manmade global warming.

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 02, 2016 7 Comments
Austria's highest court ruled for a do-over of the presidential election runoff after it found discrepancies in the mail ballots. The mail-in ballots made former Green Party chief Alexander Van der Bellen president with 50.3% of the vote over Freedom Party candidate Norbert Hofer. Constitutional Court head Gerhart Holzinger said the court noted "that the irregularities affected nearly 78,000 votes — more than twice the margin separating the two candidates." From Reuters:

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 30, 2016 4 Comments
Turkish officials have said the three Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) terrorists who attacked Atatürk Airport came from Russia, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan. They also identified the mastermind as Akhmed Chatayev from Chechnya. From Fox News:
Akhmed Chatayev was identified by the pro-government Yeni Safak newspaper as the organizer of the coordinated assault, which killed 44 and wounded more than 200 others at Turkey’s Ataturk Airport. Turkish officials did not immediately confirm he was involved in the attack, and it was unclear if Chatayev was one of the airport bombers, in custody or on the run.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 29, 2016 6 Comments
The terrorist attack at Istanbul's Atatürk Airport left 41 dead, including 10 foreign nationals, and 239 injured. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım has said that the evidence they have points to the Islamic State as the culprits.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 29, 2016 12 Comments
British Prime Minister David Cameron told Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn to leave his post, a day after his party passed a no confidence motion against him. "It might be my party's interest for him to sit there, it's not in the national interest and I would say, for heaven's sake, man, go!" he said at the House of Commons. (Video after the jump)

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 29, 2016 14 Comments
United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage, who also led the Brexit campaign, told off the European Union parliament with much glee on Tuesday. Britain voted to leave the EU in a historic vote last Thursday. He said:
"Isn't it funny. When I came here 17 years ago and I said I wanted to lead a campaign to get Britain to leave the EU, you all laughed at me but you are not laughing now," Mr Farage told Members of the European Parliament (MEPs).

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 28, 2016 21 Comments
Turkish officials have confirmed a terrorist attack has killed 36 people and injured 147 others at Istanbul's main airport in the international terminal. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim blamed Islamic State for the attack. https://twitter.com/AFP/status/747978224563433472 One of the suicide bombers "first opened fire with a Kalashnikov then detonated himself" near the entrance. Istanbul Ataturk is the third largest airport in Europe and a major hub for international travel.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 24, 2016 18 Comments
So last night the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. Of course, everyone has an opinion. When I say everyone I mean everyone. This is by far the best reaction. Of course, I'm biased since I'm American. https://twitter.com/GlomarResponder/status/746146090198700033 Second best tweet:

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 23, 2016 35 Comments
The United Kingdom has voted to stay or leave the European Union. They closed the polls and people have started counting the votes. The results remained close, but the Leave campaign is inching closer and closer to reality. https://twitter.com/BBCBreaking/status/746186028239683585 https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/746187969980076033 This is the best #Brexit tweet so far: https://twitter.com/GlomarResponder/status/746146090198700033

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 22, 2016 19 Comments
Members inside GOP presumptive presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign said that Paul Manafort has taken over as campaign manager:
Three people close to the campaign said some of Trump's staff viewed Lewandowski as opposing strategic changes and staff hires urged for the general election campaign by Paul Manafort, a strategist hired in April partly for his experience on presidential campaigns that Lewandowski lacked. The three, a campaign staffer and two people in regular contact with Trump advisers, spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized by Trump to discuss the firing. Manafort will take over as campaign manager, said Carl Paladino, co-chairman of the campaign's operations in New York state. "Paul's in charge," Sean Spicer, the Republican National Committee's communications director, said in an interview.
Trump brought in Manafort in late March as an advisor. People may not know Manafort, but those like me who have covered Ukraine since 2013 know the name all too well since he once advised ex-President Viktor Yanukovych. The man who advised the Moscow-backed president of Ukraine is now managing the campaign of the GOP candidate. While Manafort has consulted numerous unsavory individuals, Yanukovych remains fresh since his downfall has led to the worst tensions between the West and Russia since the Cold War.
Accessibility by WAH