European Politics > Ukraine's Ultra-Nationalism Must Be Dealt With; Colonial Assassination; American Politics and Europe Freezing in the Dark

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Russia calls for pan-European sanctions against Ukraine

over Nazi glorification

Europe must unify in response to resurgence of far-right ideology in Ukraine,

Moscow says

Activists of various nationalist parties carry torches during a rally in Kiev, Ukraine on January 1, 2022.

© AP / Efrem Lukatsky

A top Russian legislator has called for a pan-European response to the glorification of Nazism in Ukraine, after far-right activists held a torch-lit march in Kiev marking the birthday of a controversial WWII Hitler collaborator.

The rally to celebrate Stepan Bandera, held in Ukraine’s capital over the weekend, has been condemned by State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin. It also drew the ire of the Israel, which described it as an “insult” to victims of the Holocaust

“It is unacceptable when, in the 21st century, Nazi leaders are glorified again, those who organized atrocities, were Nazi collaborators, burned villages to the ground, killed elderly people, women, children and babies,” Volodin wrote in a Telegram post.

European countries must come with a unified response to the resurgence of ultra-nationalism in Ukraine and elsewhere, Volodin stressed, mulling the idea of slapping Kiev with sanctions for allowing such events. The country is “increasingly sliding toward a state based on a nationalist ideology,” he added.

“What is happening in Ukraine must be condemned by the European Parliament, PACE [the Council of Europe] and the OSCE PA. Its leadership must be held accountable for the promotion of nationalism, sanctions must be imposed, everything must be done to stop its resurgence in Europe,” Volodin stated, promising to raise the issue with European lawmakers during upcoming inter-parliamentary meetings.

Those overlooking such a trend in Ukraine must be held accountable as well, the official said. While Volodin did not mention anyone in particular, he said it was “horrifying” that some “NATO countries” have been supplying weapons to Ukraine despite its far-right drift.

Thousands of Neo-Nazi activists took part in the torch-lit march on Saturday night, as they marked the birthday of Stepan Bandera, a former leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). The insurgent group, responsible for massacres of ethnic Poles, Jews, and Russians, was aligned with Hitler's Germany during WWII.

Nazi collaborator Bandera is regarded by Ukrainian nationalists as a ‘hero’ who strived to create an independent Ukrainian state. He was assassinated in Munich, Germany in 1959 by a Soviet agent in retaliation for the OUN’s war crimes.

The glorification of those who supported Nazi ideology, insults the memory of the victims of Holocaust in Ukraine,” Israel’s Embassy in Kiev insisted in a Facebook post. However, so far there has been no official reaction to the pro-Nazi march from either the EU or the US.

Belgium complicit in killing of popular African leader

New evidence shows Belgium turned a blind eye as its officials plotted the assassination of Burundian PM Prince Louis Rwagasore in 1961

FILE PHOTO: PM Prince Louis Rwagasore led Burundi to independence from Belgium

but was assassinated by on October 13, 1961. © AFP / BELGA

Belgium has “overwhelming responsibility” for the killing of Prince Louis Rwagasore, the popular Burundian leader who sought to unite the country’s ethnic groups as it gained freedom from the colonial power, new evidence shows.

Weeks after being elected prime minister in a landslide, Rwagasore, the 29-year-old son of a former king, was assassinated in October 1961. The governing Belgian elite masterminded the shooting while Brussels turned a blind eye, according to archived records uncovered by Flemish sociologist Ludo De Witte.

Although the shooter, a Greek national, and five accomplices were executed, De Witte said that probes by the Belgian colonial court, the government of independent Burundi, and the UN all neglected Belgium’s role in the killing, which led to decades of war, ethnic tensions, and instability.

Publishing his findings in a book titled ‘Murder In Burundi’, De Witte noted that then-Belgian governor Roberto Regnier had told a post-election crisis meeting of senior Belgian officials and allies in the Belgium-friendly Christian Democrat party (CDC) that “Rwagasore must be killed.”

According to the author, the CDC saw his words as an invitation. Regnier’s remarks were apparently confirmed by four people at that meeting to a 1962 inquiry by prosecutors in Brussels. But that report had not been published until De Witte unearthed it during a five-year investigation into the murder.

It also appears the UK was at least aware of the danger faced by Rwagasore, with Britain’s then-ambassador James Murray writing in a 1962 dispatch that influential Belgians had “an almost pathological hatred” of the charismatic leader, who they believed would harm Belgian-Burundian relations. Murray noted that Regnier’s “words... go very far in the direction of incitement to murder,” according to De Witte.

The book also accuses then-Belgian foreign minister Paul-Henri Spaak – today celebrated as a founding father of the EU – of ignoring Regnier and other conspirators on a “war footing” with Rwagasore. It also finds fault with King Baudouin, who “moved heaven and earth” to commute the assassin’s death sentence to life imprisonment.

Last October, a special commission into Belgium’s colonial past admitted it paid “limited attention” to Burundi and Rwagasore’s killing. De Witte attributed this to a “reticence” among the country’s elite to “confront the reality” of colonization.

Was that the real reason for the reticence? Or, did it have more to do with the suspicions that Brussels was deeply involved in the murder? Certainly, the reality of colonization had nothing to do with democracy or the welfare of the people. It had strictly to do with greed.

Meanwhile, a Belgian Foreign Ministry spokesperson did not respond to the book’s charges, but told The Guardian that the government was waiting for parliamentary recommendations before adopting a policy position.

American Partisan Politics Could Upset the European Union's Cohesiveness

US Democrats won’t back sanctions against Nord Stream 2 pipeline – media

FILE PHOTO: Workers aboard the layer vessel Fortuna celebrate welding the last pipe of the two strings of the

Nord Stream 2 Pipeline. © Nord Stream 2 / Axel Schmidt

Despite consistently criticizing the Nord Stream 2 project, for many years, American Democrats are reportedly planning to derail next week’s vote on US sanctions against the Russian-backed natural gas pipeline.

The party is making the U-turn because it doesn’t want to weaken President Joe Biden’s position in ongoing security discussions with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, Politico suggested on Wednesday.

Senators have apparently decided that imposing curbs on Nord Stream 2 now could undermine unity among America's allies in Europe, and remove Biden’s key leverage in negotiations with the Russian leader.

A bill that would force the US president to impose restrictions on the pipeline within 15 days – including travel limitations, asset freezes, and bans on doing business with American firms – is being promoted by Republican Senator Ted Cruz. He needs the support of at least 10 Democrats for it to pass the 60-vote threshold and become law. 

Moscow and Washington engaged in talks late last year in the wake of US claims that Russia is preparing an invasion of Ukraine.

The Kremlin has denied such an intention, labelling it an attempt to stir “hysteria" and demanded written guarantees from Washington and NATO that the US-led bloc will cease its eastward expansion and activities near the Russian border.

Putin and Biden held both a virtual meeting and a separate phone call in December, with Russia-US talks on security guarantees planned for Geneva, Switzerland on January 9 and 10.

“At this point it’s very important, as we’re looking at potential Russian action in Ukraine, for us to work very closely with our allies, and Germany is one of those very important allies. And so I think the amendment is ill-timed,” Jeanne Shaheen, a senior Democratic senator from New Hampshire, told Politico.

Germany believes the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which is already completed and is just awaiting certification, to be essential for its energy security. Berlin supported the project for years despite opposition from the US, which wants Europe to buy its own liquefied natural gas, which is more expensive, and less reliable, than the product supplied by Russia.

“This isn’t about Russia. This is about a Cruz-Trump agenda to break up the transatlantic alliance,” Chris Murphy, a top Senate Foreign Relations Committee member, pointed out.

He was backed by Democratic whip, Senator Dick Durbin, who said “I have no lost love for Putin and Russia, but I don’t want to do anything that’s going to hurt our security.”

Cruz has already said that voting against sanctioning Nord Stream 2 would be a “cynical decision” on the part of the Democrats, which would only prove that they “put partisan loyalty above US national security interests.”

National security interests? Seriously? It is financial bullying and that's all it is. If it has anything to do with the break-up of NATO, I'm all for it, but I don't think that is what its about.

“The only problem with the legislation is the president is a Democrat. They all voted for it when the president was Trump. If the president was still Trump, every single Democrat would vote for it,” the Republican senator argued.

This Week's Global Terrorist Stories 20-3 > 7 Attacks; 152 Dead; 181 Injured

7 attacks, 152 dead, 181 injured - past 2 weeks

Violence in Plateau State, Nigeria Escalates with more Muslim Fulani Herdsmen Attacks

Morning Star News

JOS, Nigeria – At least 32 people were killed and a pastor’s house and church building were burned down in two nights of attacks this week by Muslim Fulani herdsmen in Plateau state, Nigeria, sources said.

The Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) building and home were destroyed in an attack on predominantly Christian Marish village on Monday evening (Jan. 27), one of three communities in Bokkos County hit in armed assaults that began the previous evening, area residents said. The attacks were the latest bloodshed in an escalation of violence in Plateau state, where herdsmen killed Christians in Riyom and Mangu counties earlier this month.

Herdsmen killed 17 people in Marish and Ruboi villages on Monday after killing 15 people in an attack on Kwatas on Sunday (Jan. 26), Titus Ayuba Alams, former speaker of the Plateau state House of Assembly, told Morning Star News….

Five people were wounded in the attacks and several houses were burned, area resident Theophilus Mancha told Morning Star News.

“A pregnant woman and 16 others have been killed,” Mancha said.

Kwatas, Marish and Ruboi are suburbs of Bokkos town, about 15 kilometers (nine miles) southwest of Plateau State University, Bokkos.

Kelly Kanang, another area resident, confirmed that Fulani herdsmen launched the attacks.

Benjamin Dogo of Kwatas informed Morning Star News in a text message, “Our people have been killed again. About 15 of the dead have been evacuated to the mortuary along with many others that sustained injuries during the attack on Sunday night.”

State police said 13 persons were killed and five injured in the attack on Kwatas. Police spokesman Ubah Gabriel Ogaba on Monday confirmed the attack by “unknown gunmen” on Kwatas in a press statement.

Ruboi and Marish were attacked after police issued the statement, and officers have provided no details on those attacks….

Nigeria ranked 12th on Open Doors’ 2020 World Watch List of countries where Christians suffer the most persecution but second in the number of Christians killed for their faith, behind Pakistan.

Plateau State, Nigeria

19yo rookie soldier named suspect in French police station

knife attack, after ISIS threat phone call

FILE PHOTO French police officers in Paris. January 2020. © AFP/Christophe Archambault

A 19-year old serviceman was named a suspect in the attack on a gendarmerie station in France, which took place after police received a threat of a massacre in the name of Islamic State.

The suspect was “a young soldier who was completing his two months of initial training and was on probation,” Defense Minister Florence Parly confirmed on Tuesday. She added that the man was not on duty during the attack.

The prosecutor in the northeastern city of Metz Christian Mercuri told reporters that the 19-year-old alleged culprit joined the army in early December.

The knifeman wounded a gendarme at the local station in Dieuze, not far from Metz, on Monday. He himself was shot twice by the same officer and hospitalized. Several hours before the attack, the local gendarmerie received a phone call, in which a man said that he was a soldier and an Islamic State member, and warned about an incoming “carnage” in the jihadist group’s name. The possible link between the suspect and the caller has not been confirmed as of yet.

The incident has renewed questions whether the authorities are effective in monitoring and weeding out potential radicals. “This radicalized individual was not detected in time. The dysfunction [of the government] is serious and a threat to our security,” Eric Ciotti, a lawmaker from the center-right ‘the Republicans’ party, wrote on Twitter.

Former convict Cherif Chekatt, who went on a rampage and killed five people in Strasbourg in 2018, was on terrorist watch when he committed the crime. Likewise, Salah Abdeslam, one of the masterminds behind the deadly 2015 attack on the Bataclan theater in Paris, had a long criminal history.

Last month, a senior member of the Syrian Islamist militant group Jaysh al-Islam was detained after having entered France on an Erasmus student visa, according to AFP.

Man Wearing Fake Bomb Stabs 2 in London in a

'Terrorism-Related' Attack

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London Terror Suspect Was Being Tailed by Police Before He Stabbed 2 People

and Was Shot Dead

BY GREGORY KATZ AND DANICA KIRKA / AP 

(LONDON) — A man recently released from prison after serving time for terrorism-related offenses strapped on a fake bomb and stabbed two people on a busy London street Sunday before being shot to death by police, officials said.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Lucy D’Orsi said police identified the attacker as 20-year-old Sudesh Amman. He had been convicted for publishing graphic terrorist videos online and had stockpiled instructions on bomb making and knife attacks, according to police.

Officers had been trailing Amman at the time of Sunday’s attack, D’Orsi said, but were unable to head off the bloodshed in the commercial and residential south London neighborhood of Streatham, where Amman struck outside a major pharmacy on a busy shopping afternoon.

Undated handout photo issued by the Metropolitan Police of Sudesh Amman. Police in London say a man who strapped on a fake bomb and stabbed two people on a London street before being shot to death by police was recently released from prison, where he was serving for terrorism offenses. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Lucy D’Orsi said police are ”confident" the attacker was 20-year-old Sudesh Amman. Metropolitan Police/AP

The incident in London recalled a November stabbing attack carried out by another man who had served prison time for terrorism offense. Two were killed in that attack.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said measures will be introduced Monday to bring “fundamental” change to the way people convicted of terrorism offenses are handled in prison and afterward.

The only real thing you can do with radicals is to keep then confined, segregated from the population until they renounce Islam completely. Since that's never going to happen in a PCMad world, all other actions are band-aids on a bleeding artery.

“The suspect had been recently released from prison where he had been serving a sentence for Islamist-related terrorism offences,” D’Orsi said of Sunday’s attacker.

It seems likely the victims will survive Sunday’s attack. D’Orsi said a stabbing victim in his 40s thought to be in life-threatening condition has improved. She said the victim is no longer in danger and that a woman who had been hospitalized has been released.

One other female victim is still in the hospital with lesser injuries police believe were caused by flying glass after the attacker was shot dead.

D’Orsi said the incident started at 2 p.m. “Armed officers, who were part of a proactive counterterrorism operation and were following the suspect on foot, were in immediate attendance and shot a male suspect dead at the scene,” she said.

She said police saw a device strapped to the attacker’s body and called in specialist officers who quickly determined the purported explosive device was a hoax.

Officials praised the police action but questions are likely to be raised about why the officers trailing Amman could not prevent his attack.

Video from the scene appeared to show three undercover police officers in an unmarked car making a quick stop just after the attack.

Bell Reberio-Addy, a member of Parliament who represents Streatham, said the attacker had been under surveillance “for some time.”

D’Orsi said there was no “continuing danger” to the public, but the area remained cordoned off as the investigation continued. The usually busy area was deserted as the public heeded police requests to stay away.

The drama about 5 miles (8 kilometers) south of central London marked a departure from recent terror attacks in the British capital that took place near landmarks such as London Bridge and the Houses of Parliament.

The attack caused chaos and panic on what had been a typical Sunday afternoon, with the streets filled wish shoppers.

Karker Tahir said he was at work when he saw police chasing a man down Streatham High Road, the area’s main shopping district.

“They kept telling him, ‘Stop! Stop!” Tahir said. “But he didn’t stop, and then I saw that they shot him three times. It was horrible seeing it. The man was on the floor and it looked like he had something, which police said may be a device. Police came to us and said, ‘You have to leave the shop because he has a bomb in his bag.’”

Images shared on social media showed a man lying on the sidewalk outside a pharmacy.

Stephen Roberts, a former deputy commissioner for the Metropolitan Police, said if the stabbings were carried out by a “self-starter” — someone acting alone — it means any city in the country is vulnerable to a similar sort of low-tech attack.

In November, British authorities lowered the national terror threat level to “substantial,” meaning an attack is considered likely. That is the third-highest rung in a five-step system used by British authorities and marked the first time since August 2014 that the threat level had been so low.

It was lowered because of the belief that the threat of British jihadis returning to the country from Syria had been reduced by events there, including the Islamic State group’s loss of territory.

It is not clear if the two attacks since then will lead the independent analysts who make recommendation to the government to suggest raising the level

London Mayor Sadiq Khan urged community resolve in the face of another attack. “Terrorists seek to divide us and to destroy our way of life,” he said. “Here in London we will never let them succeed.”

I wonder if they already have succeeded? ISIS has claimed Amman as one of their own. 

Also Sunday, police in Belgium shot a woman who stabbed and wounded passersby in the city of Ghent, but prosecutors said there was no suspicion of terrorism or a link to what happened in London.

"No suspicion of terrorism' because of 'voices in her head'. But those voices sound an awful lot like radicalized Muslim voices. See story immediately below.

Streatham, London

2020 Ghent stabbing - Belgium terrorist attack

From Wikipedia, 

This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedia's deletion policy.

A stretch of Bevrijdingslaan, Ghent on the left of the image is seen from 2014; this is the street where the attack unfolded

Attack type
Stabbing
Weapons Knife
Deaths 0
Injured 5 (including the perpetrator)
Assailants 1 female
Motive Auditory verbal hallucination

On 2 February 2020, a woman with a knife attacked two people, one of whom was stabbed in the stomach, on Bevrijdingslaan in Ghent, Belgium. A police patrol in the vicinity intervened. The attacker was shot through the hand by police who then handcuffed and arrested her. A man was also arrested at the scene and is believed to be involved in the attack. The injured were treated before being taken to hospital. Their conditions were not life-threatening.

On 3 February, the East Flanders Parquet announced that the woman had earlier injured two people with a knife in the Ghent suburb of Mariakerke. Around 15:55 local time, a 26-year-old man was stabbed in the Oranjeboomlaan, resulting in life-threatening injuries. Around 16:05, a 37-year-old woman was injured in the Korte Rijakkerstraat. The Parquet said it pursues an arrest and prosecution for attempted murder—a possible motive would be a voice in her head that told the suspect to make as many victims as possible.

'As many victims as possible', is what Muslim terrorists usually attempt to do. Radicalized Muslims are criminally insane, or, another way of putting it, they are demonized. Voices in ones head are often the sign of the presence of demons, as is terrorizing as many people as possible. 

It's curious they have not released the names of the two who were arrested. Any bets on their being middle-eastern of North African? Are the Belgian police and government still protecting Muslim migrants at the expense of Belgians?

Other attacks in late January 2020:

Wikipedia

2020 Ma'rib attack: A mosque on the grounds of a military training camp was targeted with drones and missiles during evening prayers when dozens of people were inside praying. 111 Yemeni soldiers and five civilians were killed and 148 became injured in the attack. The attack was blamed on the Houthis.

2020 Afgooye bombing: A suicide car bomber targeted a place where Turkish engineers and Somali police were having lunch. 4 people were killed in the attack, and 20 were injured. Most of the casualties were police officers. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility.

'Antisemitic' Belgian Carnival Gives Up UNESCO Status So They Can Continue Mocking Jews

Aalst mayor: Mocking Jews ‘unavoidable’ in the 2020 carnival

By ROSSELLA TERCATIN
The Jerusalem Post

Giant figures depicting Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel (C) and other politicians are seen during

the 87th carnival parade of Aalst February 15, 2015. The Aalst Carnival, which is inscribed on the

Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, often shows informal groups

(photo credit: YVES HERMAN / REUTERS)

A Belgian town that sparked outrage for featuring an antisemitic float in its renowned carnival has decided to renounce their UN cultural heritage status after dealing with the accusations, the German publication DW reported on Sunday.

The mayor of Aalst, Christoph D’Haese, also said it is “unavoidable” that Jews will be mocked again in the 2020 edition.

Aalst Carnival was added to UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2010.

The UN body was scheduled to vote on removing the centuries-old event from its cultural heritage list on December 12, in a move that would have marked the first time in the history of the organization that an entry was up for delisting.

However, the town decided to give up its designation on its own accord. According to German publication Deutsche Welle, D’Haese said that city officials “have had it a bit with the grotesque complaints.”

Grotesque complaints!!! But they have no trouble with the grotesque caricatures of Jews.

In a statement quoted by Belga news agency, D’Haese said “We are neither antisemitic nor racist. All those who support this are acting in bad faith. Aalst will always remain the capital of mockery and satire.”

Aalst has been at the center of a major controversy after one of the 2019 carnival floats presented effigies of grinning Jews holding money with rats on their shoulders.

According to JTA, a float in 2009 featured men dressed like Orthodox Jews wearing fake hooked noses and Palestinian symbols, while the 2013 edition had revelers dressed like Nazis holding canisters labeled “Zyklon B” walking alongside caged revelers dressed like Nazi concentration camp prisoners. Zyklon B was the poison used by the Nazis to kill Jews in gas chambers.

The event attracts tens of thousands of people every year and is famous for being provocative.

And, somehow, they find that funny!!!!??? Good grief! Belgium has a growing community of Muslims, many of which are radicalized or sympathetic to jihad. It appears Belgium politicians, at least those in Aalst, are playing up to these potential terrorists rather than the Jews who have lived in peace in Belgium for nearly 2000 years. Go figure!

“We are on a very dangerous slippery slope when people can decide what can be laughed at,” the mayor said, before adding that more Jewish ridicule is to be expected in the next edition of the carnival.

D’Haese also called the Jewish organizations that criticized the carnival “a power apparatus,” according to the Belgian paper De Standaard. “They are well organized. We have received messages from all over the world, often not in the friendliest terms.”

Rabbi Menachem Margolin, head of the Brussels-based European Jewish Association, said “despite the widespread criticism, despite the clear grotesque antisemitic imagery, despite the opportunity to at least acknowledge the wrong and hurt caused, the mayor of Aalst has consistently remained defiant and mocking. It is sad that when given the opportunity to put things right and return the carnival to universal values of decency, they instead prefer to put themselves outside of the pale. So be it. What we are witnessing tonight is a face-saving exercise, a classic example of someone jumping before they were pushed.”

French Islamic Militant Who Attacked Jewish Museum in 2014 Sentenced to Life

By Darryl Coote

Security was on alert at the Brussels Palace of Justice during the sentencing Monday of Mehdi Nemmouche, the man convicted last week of killing four people at the Jewish Museum of Belgium in 2014. Photo by Stephanie Lecocq/EPA-EFE

(UPI) -- A French man convicted of killing four people at a Jewish museum in 2014 has been sentenced to life in prison.

Mehdi Nemmouche, a 33-year-old militant who'd previously fought in Syria for the Islamic State, was found guilty last week of "terrorist murder" for the anti-Semitic massacre of four people at the Jewish Museum of Belgium on May 24, 2014. It was the first terrorist attack on European soil by an individual who had fought for the group in Syria.

He was arrested in Marseilles, France, six days after the shooting. Shortly after, he was extradited to Belgium to stand trial.

When asked for comment following his sentencing Monday, Nemmouche said, "life goes on," BBC News reported.

Accomplice Nacer Bender, 30, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for having helped plan the attack and supply Nemmouche with the weapons he used during the crime.

"I am ashamed to have crossed paths with [Nemmouche]," Bender told the court following sentencing. "He is not a man, he is a monster."

And you are a monster's assistant!

Nemmouche had claimed to be innocent, and his lawyer attempted to paint his client during the two-month trial as having been set up by foreign intelligence agencies in a conspiracy targeting Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency.

Nemmouche also faces separate kidnapping charges in France for detaining four French journalists from June 2013 to April 2014 in Islamic State-controlled Aleppo, Syria, prosecutors said.

Astonishing AntiSemitic Float in Carnaval Parade in Belgium

Belgian carnival float features puppets of grinning Jews,

a rat and money bags

BY CNAAN LIPHSHIZ  

A parade float at the Aalst Carnaval in Belgium featuring caricatures of Orthodox Jews atop money bags

March 3, 2019. (Courtesy of Brussels Times)

I had to check other sources to see if this hardly believable story was true, and, sure enough, it appears in other publications including the Brussels Times. 1939 is approaching once again in Europe.

(JTA) — Participants in a street celebration in the Belgian city of Aalst paraded giant puppets of Orthodox Jews and a rat atop money bags.

Dutch Chief Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs condemned the float Sunday at the annual Aalst Carnaval street celebration as “shocking.” It contains “typical, anti-Semitic caricatures from 1939,” he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

The umbrella groups representing Flemish and French-speaking Jews in Belgium, FJO and CCOJB respectively, complained to the federal UNIA watchdog on racism about the display. “In a democracy like Belgium, there is no room for such things, carnival or not,” they wrote.

The group Vismooil’n created the two puppets as their 2019 theme for the Aalst carnival, the local edition of celebrations that take place throughout parts of Europe and Latin America annually in anticipation of Lent, the 40-day period before Easter. Participants prepare floats and dance routines, parading them through town on Carnaval.

The Vismooil’n group, a veteran participant that specializes in hyper-realistic puppets, created the display to address rising prices, they told a Belgian blogger last month. They titled the work “Shabbat Year.”

The display features two giant puppets with streimels, hats favored by some Orthodox Jews, in pink suits. They both have sidelocks. One of the puppets is grinning while smoking a cigar and extending a hand, presumably to collect money. That puppet has a white rat on his right shoulder. Both puppets are standing on gold coins and have money bags at their feet.

In the background is a round window reminiscent of the architecture of many European synagogues and a small box resembling a mezuzah on its right-hand side.

“Everything has become so expensive [we thought that] if we do 2019, there would be no more money left for next year,” a member of the group was quoted as saying. “So we all went quiet until we smartly decided to go for the Shabbat Year and that was that. So simple.”

In 2013, a different group designed for the Aalst carnival a float resembling a Nazi railway wagon used to transport Jews to death camps.

The people who designed the float, known as the FTP Group, marched near the float dressed as Nazi SS officers and haredi Orthodox Jews. A poster on the wagon showed Flemish Belgian politicians dressed as Nazis and holding canisters labeled as containing Zyklon B, the poison used by the Nazis to exterminate Jews in gas chambers in the Holocaust.

How is this possibly OK in a democratic country? If these people don't end up in jail it will be because antisemitism has become quite acceptable in Belgium, the heart of the EU.

Belgium Outlaws Muslim and Jewish Animal Slaughtering Practices

In Belgium “the law is above religion.”

Islamic Backlash in Belgium

Beef carcasses hang in a slaughterhouse that produces kosher and halal meat. © Reuters/Kacper Pempel

A ban on the Muslim and Jewish methods of ritually slaughtering animals has come into force in Belgium. Supporters of the move herald it as a humane development while critics have slammed it as an attack on religious freedom.

The ban brings Belgium in line with European Union regulations that require animals to be stunned, so they can’t feel pain, before slaughter. However, Jewish and Muslim religious laws require that animals are conscious when they are killed.

Kosher and Halal methods of slaughter involve the animal being killed with a single cut to the neck which severs critical blood vessels. Advocates claim the animal loses consciousness in seconds and it doesn’t suffer during the process.

Approximately 500,000 Muslims and over 30,000 Jews live in the small European country, which has a population of 11.3 million. Leaders of both communities have railed against the new law and are challenging it in Belgium’s Constitutional Court.

Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, the president of the Conference of European Rabbis, said the ban is proof that “radical Islam has won.”

“We are in the midst of an attack on the freedom of religion. The European capital has, with its laws and lack of tolerance for minorities, proven that radical Islam has won,” he said, as cited by Israel National News.

“We managed to block many [similar pieces] of legislation in other countries in Europe and attempts to pass bills in the European Parliament and initiatives in the the EU’s agencies.”

Avital Chizhik Goldschmidt ✔

@avitalrachel

 Today is the last day that kosher meat can be prepared in Belgium's Jewish communities - that's approx. 40,000 Jews.

"A sad day for the Jews of Europe, a sad day for religious freedom in Europe," @europeanrabbis president Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt (my father-in-law) wrote.

However, that stance was dismissed by animal rights activists. Ann De Greef, director of Global Action in the Interest of Animals, said that in Belgium “the law is above religion.”

“They want to keep living in the Middle Ages and continue to slaughter without stunning – as the technique didn’t yet exist back then – without having to answer to the law,” she said to the New York Times. “Well, I’m sorry, in Belgium the law is above religion and that will stay like that.”

Most EU countries have religious exceptions to the EU’s stunning requirement. However, Belgium is joining Sweden, Denmark and Slovenia among the nations that do not make allowances; while in Germany and the Netherlands, the exceptions are very limited.

The new law applies to the country’s Flanders region and a similar ruling will come into force in the Wallonia region in August, meaning the religious slaughtering practices will be outlawed across the country.

This is one of the first occasions that comes to mind where 'New Age activists', in this case animal rights activists, have come out against Muslim practices. I'm certain acting against Jewish practices was no big step for them, but against Islam, that's another matter.

Belgian PM Resigns After UN Migrant Pact Row Results in No Confidence Motion

Islamization Backlash - in Belgium?

Belgian PM Charles Michel ©  Reuters / Eric Vidal

Belgium’s Prime Minister Charles Michel has announced his immediate resignation after a no-confidence motion against his government was introduced.

Speaking to the parliament, Michel admitted that his call for a “coalition of the willing” to govern until the next election – scheduled for May 2019 – had “not been heard,” adding that he would respect this outcome and resign.

His speech received standing ovation, according to the Belgian media.

Michel's decision came after the opposition Green and Socialist parties tabled a no-confidence motion against his government. The move was allegedly provoked by the ruling coalition’s failure to agree on some budget proposals.

The Belgian government was already weakened earlier this month, when the center-right New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), which is actually the largest political force in the parliament, quit the ruling coalition citing disagreements with its partners over the controversial UN Migration Pact. Michel had to reshuffle his cabinet and planned to make his government continue its work as a minority one.

The UN-backed pact that has turned out to be a stumbling block for the Belgian government was approved by more than 160 nations in Marrakech, Morocco earlier in December.

Some nations have openly opposed it, while many others, including Belgium, witnessed widespread protests of their citizens against it. The US, which was the first to openly oppose the pact, said the agreement was “dead even before it's been signed.”

Although the text is not legally binding and is regarded as more of a declaration, the pact is worded in a way that encourages domestic courts and authorities to consider it when making decisions based on interpretations of their laws.

Such provisions have prompted Austria, Hungary, Israel and several other countries to reject the pact. Critics claim that the deal is inadequate for managing global migration flows and might negatively affect their national immigration policies.

Iranian Diplomat Arrested over Alleged Paris Bomb Plot

Corruption is Everywhere - even in Iranian politics, it seems

By Daniel Uria 

Police in Germany arrested an Iranian diplomat who was suspected of being involved in a plot to bomb an

Iranian opposition event in France. File Photo by Tobias Arhelger/Shutterstock.com

UPI -- An Iranian diplomat was arrested in Germany in connection with a plot to bomb an Iranian opposition event in France.

The diplomat, identified as 47-year-old Assadollah A., was stopped by police while driving a rental car on a highway in the state of Bavaria on Sunday, a Berlin-based journalist told VOA.

Belgian authorities said the Iranian diplomat was detained in Germany on Monday as a contact of a Belgian married couple of Iranian heritage. The couple was arrested earlier by Belgian police in Brussels after they were caught with 500 grams of TATP explosive and a detonator hidden in a toiletries bag.

Belgian prosecutors identified the couple as 38-year-old Amir S. and 33-year-old Nasimeh N. and charged them with attempted terrorist murder and preparing a terrorist act for plotting to bomb a Saturday meeting of the National Council of Resistance of Iran.

A fourth suspect was also arrested in France in connection to the plot authorities said was targeting the event near Paris, which was attended by U.S. President Donald Trump's attorney, Rudy Giuliani, The Guardian reported.

The NCRI is led by Iranian exile group Mujahedin-e Khalq, which advocates the "overthrow" of "religious dictatorship" in Iran, and accused the Iranian government of coordinating the attack.

"The conspiracy of the terrorist dictatorship ruling Iran to attack the grand gathering of the Iranian resistance in Villepinte, Paris, was foiled," the secretariat of the NCRI said.

The arrests came as Iranian President Hassan Rouhani embarked on a tour of Europe.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif dismissed the accusations as false in a post on Twitter Monday.

"How convenient: Just as we embark on a presidential visit to Europe, an alleged Iranian operation and its 'plotters' arrested. Iran unequivocally condemns all violence and terror anywhere, and is ready to work with all concerned to uncover what is a sinister false flag ploy," he wrote.

Anything is possible these days. 

Belgium's interior minister, Jan Jambon, said there had been no threat to the country and offered praise to police, security and judicial services for their "rapid and effective intervention."

Bavaria, Germany

Ecuadorian Court Orders Arrest of Former President Rafael Correa

Corruption is Everywhere - at the highest level in Ecuador?

By Danielle Haynes

Former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa dismissed an arrest warrant issued for him, saying prosecutors have no evidence he was involved in a plot to kidnap a political rival. File Photo by Alejandro Ernesto/EPA-EFE

UPI -- An Ecuadorian court ordered the arrest of former President Rafael Correa over his alleged involvement in a failed plot to kidnap a political rival in 2012.

Judge Daniella Camacho of the National Justice Court of Ecuador said she alerted Interpol of a request to extradite Correa, who lives in Belgium with his wife.

Prosecutors accuse the former president of being behind the brief kidnapping of Fernando Balda in Bogota, Colombia, where the former lawmaker fled to avoid tensions with Correa. Balda said five men attempted to kidnap him but Colombian police halted the plot.

Balda traveled to Colombia to avoid charges of being involved in a failed coup against Correa in 2010. Balda was sentenced to one year in prison.

The former president, who led Ecuador from 2007 to 2017, denied the charges and said there was no evidence against him.

"How much success will this farce have at the international level?" Correa said. "Don't worry, everything is a matter of time. We will overcome!"

Belgium Detains 2 for Plotting Terrorist Act in Paris, seize 500g of ‘Mother of Satan’ Explosives

© Reuters

Two people were arrested in Belgium for plotting a bomb attack at a conference in Paris, prosecutors announced. The couple allegedly carried 500 grams of explosives reportedly similar to the type used in other major attacks.

The suspects, who have Belgian citizenship and are of Iranian origin, were identified as Amir S., born 1980, and his wife Nasimeh N., born 1984. They were snatched by police in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre municipality in Brussels suburbs on Saturday.

During searches police say they found some 500 grams of TATP (Triacetone Triperoxide) explosives and a detonation device in their car. The notoriously-unstable TATP, sometimes known as the ‘Mother of Satan’, has been used in a number of terrorist attacks, including the November 2015 Paris attacks and the May 2017 Manchester Arena bombing.

The couple, who are residents of the town of Wilrijk - 356 km from the Belgian capital, has already been charged with “attempted terrorist attack and preparation of a terrorist act,” the prosecutor added. The alleged target was a meeting of an Iranian opposition group scheduled in Paris June 30. The event was attended by some 25,000 people.

A number of people, who had allegedly made contact with the two suspects, were also detained in other EU states, according to Belgium prosecutors. A diplomatic worker at Iran’s embassy in Vienna was detained in Germany, while three other people were snatched by French police. Two of them were released after interrogation, while one man remained in police custody.

Tehran has condemned “all violence” and expressed readiness to cooperate in uncovering the “sinister false flag ploy,” with Foreign Minister Javad Zarif taking to Twitter and raising questions over the timing of the arrests.

“How convenient: Just as we embark on a presidential visit to Europe, an alleged Iranian operation and its ‘plotters’ arrested,” Zarif said.

France has been plagued by a series of terrorist attacks over the past few years and has remained in state of emergency since 2015. Apart from smaller-scale terrorism-related incidents, such as stabbings and car rammings, France endured several full-blown attacks, which took a heavy toll on civilians.

The largest one took place in November 2015, when a group of Islamic State terrorists attacked several targets in Paris, killing 130 people and injuring over 400. Another major attack occurred in July 2016, when a terrorist plowed a heavy cargo truck though a crowd of people, celebrating the Bastille Day, killing over 80 revelers and injuring hundreds more.

Belgium itself was not spared by the terrorism surge, with an IS-linked group striking Brussels airport and metro station in coordinated suicide bomb attacks in March 2016. The attackers also used the notorious TATP compound, killing 32 and injuring nearly 350 people.

2 Police Officers, Woman, Gunman Dead in Belgium Terrorist Shooting

Just moments after posting a story about France releasing radicalized Muslims from prison, we get this from Belgium where, apparently, a radicalized Muslim, out of prison on a pass, kills 3 people and wounds two more, all but one were police officers.

As I wrote in the previous story, radicalized Muslims should be declared insane and locked up for the rest of their lives in a secure asylum.

By Sara Shayanian  | 

A bomb squad arrives at the scene following a shooting in Liege, Belgium on Tuesday.

Photo by Michel Tonneau/EPA-EFE

UPI -- A gunman shot dead two police officers Tuesday after taking a woman hostage in Belgium, authorities said.

The shooter, released from jail Monday, was on leave for a short period of time when the standoff in the town of Liege began.

Officials said two female police officers stopped the 30-year-old gunman. He disarmed one of the women and began shooting -- killing both officers and a 22-year-old female bystander.

The attacker fled from the scene and took a cleaning woman hostage at the entrance of a nearby high school, authorities said. Two police officers were injured in a shootout there and the gunman was killed. The hostage was not harmed.

A teacher at the school, identified as Vincent by Belgian outlet La Libre, said he evacuated more than 800 students from the building.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel condemned the violence.

"Violence cowardly and blind," Michel said in a tweet. "All our support for the victims and their loved ones. We are monitoring the situation with the security services and the crisis center."

Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon said the country's anti-terrorist crisis center is monitoring the situation.

Belgian authorities consider the shooting to be a terror attack.

Liege is an industrial city close to the German border in the French-speaking Wallonia region of Belgium.

Burqa Ban Legislation Gains Enough Support to Pass in Denmark

Danish burqa ban: Which EU states is Denmark set to join with face veil restrictions?

© Global Look Press

The Danish ruling coalition parties have expressed their support for the full-face veil ban. As Denmark is set to ban the Muslim conservative garb, which EU countries will it join?

The liberal Venstre Party, the senior member of the ruling coalition, has announced its support for the ban on wearing full-face veils in public places following a party meeting dedicated to the issue Friday.

“The forthcoming ban on face covering will receive backing from Venstre,” the liberal party’s spokesman, Jakob Ellemann-Jensen, told the Danish broadcaster DR, adding that it will be “not a religiously defined ban but it will still obviously cover burqa and niqab.”

Earlier, some high-ranking members of the party, including its deputy leader, Kristian Jensen, and the Higher Education and Science Minister Soren Pind, opposed the measures but now Ellemann-Jensen said the party is “united” in its support for the move.

The stance of another coalition member, the libertarian Liberal Alliance (LA), has also drastically changed. The party that opposed the ban just last month, arguing that it might isolate Muslim women and prevent them from leaving their homes altogether, now also said it would back such an initiative.

“Everyone agrees that the burqa is an expression of extreme oppression of women,” the party leader, Anders Samuelsen, wrote Friday in a Facebook post. He went on to say that his party is “in favor” of the ban, if the Danish authorities could impose it “without harming ourselves and our values.”

By expressing their support for the ban, the Liberals and the LA join the Conservatives and the right-wing populist Danish People’s Party who already back it, thus securing a parliamentary majority and opening the way for Denmark to become the latest European country to introduce such a ban.

A recent poll commissioned by DR in late September showed that 62 percent of the Danish population are in favor of such a ban, while fewer than one in four oppose it.

In the meantime, half a dozen EU states have already introduced similar nationwide bans, while in some other countries restrictions on wearing face-covering veils exist at a regional level.

Which EU states have nationwide bans?

Austria has so far become the latest European country to ban wearing full-face veils in public places as the law called the ‘Anti-Face-Veiling Act’ came into force in the Alpine country on October 1. Those found in violation of the legislation could face a fine of €150 ($175).

The law defined by the authorities as “religiously neutral” and also banning people from wearing balaclavas, covering their faces with scarves or even wearing medical masks without sufficient reasons still provoked an angry reaction from the local Muslims.

The first country to introduce the ban, which is still often deemed to be controversial, was France that barred Muslim women from wearing full-face veils in public as early as in 2011. Belgium almost immediately followed suit and introduced a similar ban later the same year.

Both countries, however, eventually landed in court over the controversial move. In both cases, Muslim women challenged the bans in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). However, the judicial body upheld France’s burqa ban in 2014, ruling that the preservation of an idea of social cohesion was a “legitimate aim" of the French authorities.

In 2017, the court also ruled in favor of Belgian authorities in a similar case by saying that the ban “doesn’t violate European human rights law.” In the meantime, opponents of the ban also found more ingenious ways to express their discontent with it. 

A French businessman of Algerian origin, Rachid Nekkaz, has long been calling on Muslim women to defy the face veil bans introduced in European countries. He also offered to pay their fines and even established a special fund to deal with the issue.

According to Nekkaz, he already pays fines for Muslim women wearing face veils in public places in defiance of the ban in France, Belgium and the Netherlands. In his latest move, he also vowed to do the same for women in Austria.

Dutch lawmakers approved a ban on wearing face veils and other face-covering garments in certain public places such as schools, hospitals or government buildings in November 2016. The ban, however, does not cover such situations as wearing burqas on the street, but applies only to specific situations, in which face recognition and proper communication are “essential.”

Bulgaria outlawed “wearing in public clothing that partially or completely covers the face” in public places just months before the Netherlands, in September 2016, citing security concerns. Those found in defiance of the ban in Bulgaria could face fines of up to 1,500 leva (about $860) and be stripped of social benefits.

According to some reports, Latvia also failed to overcome temptation to ban the controversial peace of closing even though only three women reportedly wear the garment in the entire Baltic state. This fact, however, did not stop the Latvian lawmakers from claiming that burqa poses a “serious” security risk for Latvia and undermines its culture. 

Germany is likely to follow soon.