A Moroccan national was arrested in northern Italy on Thursday on suspicion he was planning an attack on Milan's synagogue. The 20-year-old suspect identified as JM was arrested in the city of Brescia after investigators identified him as a possible terrorist after monitoring web sites offering forums and documents on how to conduct jihad.
Are we not allowed to know his full name?
Police said the arrest of the man who has lived in the Brescia area since he was six years old, was necessary because of "worrisome elements of a terrorist plan."
Investigators said they had intercepted messages in which the man discussed a "jihad mission.''
Documents on his computer included information on police surveillance of Milan's synagogue.
Italian police are coordinating their investigation with London police who have arrested a woman who was in contact with the suspect, police said.
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Out in the real world this would be known as counterfeiting and the perps would end up doing long jail terms. But in the Alice in Wonderland world of the Euro this is perfectly acceptable.
Google translate. Continued on Page 47
#1
Actually, as yet another sign of the unicorn farts on which the whole euro fantasy was built, member states print their own euros - not the ECB. The country it was minted in is marked on each bill and coin. A German friend and I were speculating a couple of years ago that if Greece was not allowed to exit, they'd have to resort this, and a Greek euro would become worth a fraction of a German euro.
Unfortunately, you can't tell the difference with the kind that is "minted" electronically.
#4
IMHO, this is more a political move than economic, and a balls-out nuclear threat at that. Set aside for the moment what the profligate Greek government may or may not deserve, and consider only that it remains a sovereign nation.
The EU is keeping Greece chained in for the sake of the "European project," not for the good of Greece, which would be best served by a return to the drachma.
The EU is flatly selling Greece down the river in the name of an ideal that was unachievable from the start. This is Greece's reminder to the EU that they have the power to retaliate. "Let us go, or we will drown you in worthless euros, and make your economies look like ours."
Clever. I doubt they'll be in the eurozone much longer.
Four Polish soldiers acquitted last year of killing eight civilians in Afghanistan are to face a second trial. The eight civilians, including women and children, died in the village of Nangar Khel when Polish troops opened fire on a wedding party in August 2007.
Military prosecutors appealed to the Polish supreme court after seven soldiers were cleared of war crimes in June last year. The judge has upheld the acquittal of three of the soldiers.
Three young children were among those killed when Polish soldiers, members of the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf), attacked the village in Paktika province, south-eastern Afghanistan, with mortar rounds and automatic weapons.
The judge said the men had given conflicting reports about the shelling, at times saying they were responding to Taliban fire, at others saying they were following orders or that their ammunition was faulty.
Prosecutors said the attack on the village happened several hours after a Polish convoy had come under fire in the area following the explosion of a roadside bomb, injuring two of its troops. Up to 24 mortars were apparently fired at the village of Nangar Khel, one of which hit a house that was said to be hosting a wedding party.
The incident shocked many in Poland, but several retired army generals expressed surprise at the supreme court ruling. Some said they believed all the men are innocent, while one argued that they had not shot unarmed civilians like the rogue US soldier last Sunday but had been given set targets.
The seven men were put on trial but cleared of war crimes last June because of lack of evidence.
The BBC's Warsaw correspondent Adam Easton says it was the first time Polish soldiers had been accused of violating the Hague and Geneva Conventions protecting civilians.
The men accused were from Poland's 18th Airborne-Assault Battalion and prosecutors initially called for sentences of between five and 12 years. In defence, they said they had come under fire and had been aiming to hit Taliban militants, insisting that the civilian deaths had come from faulty mortar equipment.
Prosecutors said the deaths took place some time after a different patrol had come under attack.
"The court has overturned the ruling and is forwarding the case for a new review," Judge Wieslaw Blus told the supreme court in Warsaw on Wednesday, explaining that the initial trial had not taken into account all the evidence relating to the four men.
Why not? The news account doesn't say, but you'd think that would be the first question to be asked -- well, second question, after "why are we trying these men a second time after they were acquitted?"
The three men whose acquittal was upheld included the group's captain, who had not been at the scene at the time of the shooting, and two privates who were following orders and had not intended to kill civilians, Polish media report.
The four men facing a retrial have been named as Andrzej Oscieki, Lukasz Bywalec, Damian Ligocki and Tomasz Borysiewicz.
Poland has about 2,500 troops serving as part of the 130,000-strong Nato-led force in Afghanistan.
Continued on Page 47
#1
I don't know that any country other than the USA has a firm concept of double jeopardy in order to protect individual rights against the government.
In downloadable game, players can use 'Anne Frank card' to colonize West Bank, 'Jewish stinginess' card to gain resources.
But it's thought-provoking satire, which make the antisemitic tropes ok, no matter what those stupid Jews might think.
A Dutch public broadcasting network last month offered its viewers a board game featuring Israeli settlers who use "Jewish stinginess" and "the Anne Frank card" to colonize the West Bank.
Organizations combating anti-Semitism have called on the Dutch government to persuade the network, VPRO, to halt the downloading of the board game.
A VPRO representative said the game was not anti-Semitic, but rather a thought-provoking satire.
The game, titled "The Settlers of the West Bank," is based on the multiplayer hit "The Settlers of Catan," first released in Germany in 1995. The Dutch variant appeared in 2010 on the VPRO website -- a self-described liberal-Protestant network.
In the game, the user is a settler trying to expand his community and mine diamonds and Dead Sea mud while producing textile and bulldozers. Players can use the "Jewish stinginess" card to force competitors to hand over resources. The instructions refer three times to the "nation's typical mercantile spirit."
Terrorist attacks are described as a natural result of settlement expansion. "Saw wood, and you get wood chips: Not everyone's happy with the Israeli settlements. Least of all the terrorist," the instructions explain. "Terrorist attacks" cost players resources.
The settler may also use the "Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad card" to avoid losing resources to a terrorist and simultaneously draw resources from other players. The Anne Frank House is a "winning point" for the settler.
The game first appeared on VPRO's website for younger viewers and was prominently reposted last month. The network explained the reposting by saying: "It's one of the items everyone loves to hate."
"Criticism of the settlement movement cannot appear in the form of anti-Semitic stereotypes," said Joël Serphos, chairman of the Dutch youth organization CiJO -- For Israel, for Peace. Serphos added that this "gave the wrong impression, that criticism on settlements is rooted in anti-Semitism."
Serphos, whose organization opposes settlement expansion, called on the Dutch Education, Culture and Science Ministry to compel the network to remove the game from its website and apologize for its publication.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center strongly condemned VPRO for publishing the "disturbing" game.
"It would be more likely as a product of neo-Nazis or Ahmadinejad," Dr. Shimon Samuels, the center's director for international relations, told The Jerusalem Post.
References to Jewish stinginess, the exploitation of minerals and the "contemptuous misuse" of Ann Frank's House as a "winning point" were "anti-Semitic tropes," Samuels said.
The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science provided 89 percent of VPRO's budget of 51,973,000 euros in 2010.
"This funding makes the Netherlands the largest financier of hate incitement among youth in Europe," Samuels said.
The Wiesenthal Center has written to Viviane Reding, the European Commission's vice president for justice, fundamental rights and citizenship, urging her "to take all available measures to press The Hague to withdraw its funding from VPRO for as long as it serves as a vector for racism."
Queried by the Post, VPRO Communications Manager Marina Alings defined the game as "satire." VPRO is of the opinion that "although the item 'The Settlers of the West Bank' could have done with some more delicate detailing, it is not fitting to earmark it as anti-Semitic," she said.
The VPRO Dorst youth section "ironically commented on the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict with its satirical item," Alings said.
Alings added that VPRO did not seek permission from the designers of the original game before releasing the Dutch variant. "Since 'The Settlers of the West Bank' was made with such an unmistakable hint to the board game 'The Settlers of Catan,' the VPRO did not feel it was necessary," Alings said.
Freek Manche, front man for the Dutch Education Ministry, said "the minister of education, culture and science has no opinion about this specific game." He added that the minister would not ask to remove the item from the website since it is not her responsibility.
Manche said that VPRO told the ministry that the website that offers the game was developed by young editors of the weekly magazine VPRO Gids, which does not receive a government subsidy, but is financed through membership fees from VPRO's approximately 300,000 subscribers.
In the Netherlands, the original board game, "The Settlers of Catan," is marketed by the 999 Games company.
PR representative Saskia de Lint told the Post the firm "wants to stay out [of the issue] because we do not wish to take a stand." She added: "We deeply regret the use of the game by [the young viewer platform of] VPRO."
De Lint would not say if the firm views the distribution of the Dutch game as copyright infringement, nor whether 999 Games would ask VPRO remove the controversial content.
Calls and emails to the original game's distributors in the US and Germany were not immediately returned. The company's US representatives were at a retail convention in Las Vegas and were not immediately available for comment.
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#2
Strange; at least one US firm licensed Catan to produce a religious-themed version. I think it was from Mormon theology. I can't imagine its European publishers letting this go without royalties. Actually, considering that it's a German game, I can't imagine the publisher not stepping on these toads, out of guilt if nothing else.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
03/15/2012 7:23 Comments ||
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#3
Really? This?
Well, I look forward to the day when you all are under shariah law in that "noble" country.
Facebook post by German leader of the opposition Sigmar Gabriel (who is currently visiting Israel):
"Sigmar Gabriel, SPD
Ich war gerade in Hebron. Das ist für Palästinenser ein rechtsfreier Raum. Das ist ein Apartheid-Regime, für das es keinerlei Rechtfertigung gibt." Google's translation:
"I was in Hebron. This is a legal vacuum for Palestinians. This is an apartheid regime, for which there is no justification." My translation:
"I've just now visited Hebron. For Palestinians this is a space where they enjoy no legal protection/rights. This is an Apartheid regime for which there is no justification whatsoever." Perhaps Mr Gabriel is sorry the Juice didn't learn their lesson from the Hebron Massacre.
Apparently not one of his party's heavier thinkers, he spent a number of years as SPD's "Representative for Pop Culture and Pop Discourse".
#1
Well, not only are the Nords acting stupid, but now the KRAUTS have decided to join the "kill the juice" band wagon AGAIN?
I think I know what to do with the nuclear stockpile if I hear this steaming shit from Germany again.
Not three Germany's are worth one Israel. Remember that and do not forget I was on German soil for four year protecting you assholes that started two world wars from the Russians.
Fuck you Germany. Just fuck you. And fuck the Nords too.
#3
It is true that Gabriel spent some time in the wilderness when he was demoted to Pop Culture rep.
However he is a professional politician, the archetypical 'sleazy politician.'
He's the leader of the Social Democratic Party now, no back-bencher, and this was a calculated escalation in the German political establishment's anti-Israel rhetoric.
#4
Apparently he's never driven through an "apartheid regime" in his own country - housing projects where "asylum seekers" (illegal immigrants) live, at taxpayer expense, while awaiting approval of their applications. Pleasant little neighborhoods, until the Paleos moved in. Everywhere they go, they turn it into a slum. Germany remains pretty much Judenrein, so whose fault is it?
Germany is not really judenrein. There are thriving jewish communties in several German cities. However, the jewish population is only about 0.2% compared to the 4.0% of the country that is moslem.
and thus for a politician with no honesty who wants to be elected, it makes sense to appeal to the moslems
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
03/15/2012 19:54 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
