Politics In the EU > The two most powerful members of the EU are women and they're blondes. There should be a joke in there somewhere, but I can't find it.

 

EU members could revolt against Kallas’ powers – FT

The bloc’s foreign service is reportedly seen as “dysfunctional” under its current chief

Published 11 Jun, 2026 12:11 | Updated 11 Jun, 2026 14:07

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, Brussels, Belgium, May 18, 2026. ©  Dursun Aydemir / Anadolu via Getty Images

EU member states could seek to curtail the powers of the bloc’s diplomatic service, headed by Kaja Kallas, amid concerns among officials that the body is “dysfunctional,” the Financial Times has reported.

The European External Action Service (EEAS) was launched in 2010 as a kind of collective foreign ministry for the EU, overseeing international relations, aid programs, and intelligence gathering and analysis.

France has outlined possible reforms of the EEAS for consideration by member states, the FT reported on Thursday.

One option would return some of the service’s functions to the European Commission and national governments, although this would require unanimous approval by member states. Another proposal, which supporters say could be implemented without changing EU treaties, would limit the autonomy of the EEAS chief and loosen her control over more than 140 missions the EU maintains worldwide.

“Capitals are annoyed and want an effective way for us to act in unison externally,” one of five officials cited by the FT said. “It is clear that [the EEAS] doesn’t work the way it should in today’s world. It is dysfunctional,” another said.

Read more

EU’s ex-top diplomat quits college post over fraud charge

Commenting on the report, Russian presidential adviser Kirill Dmitriev said Kallas has “succeeded in annoying everyone.”

Kallas and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have reportedly been locked in a tug of war over who should steer EU foreign policy. The former German defense minister is said to have outmaneuvered the former Estonian prime minister in the bureaucratic battle, taking direct control in key geographic areas and pushing for a new intelligence body that would answer directly to her office.

Kallas accused of going off-script on China

Kallas has on several occasions made remarks on sensitive issues, including relations with China, that appeared to reflect her own views rather than the EU’s agreed position, while also advancing proposals some officials considered unwarranted, the FT said.

Last year, Kallas criticized the administration of US President Donald Trump for arguing that Ukraine could not defeat Russia militarily even with continued Western aid and sanctions. “If you’re saying that we collectively are not able to really pressure Russia…, then how do you say that you’re able to take on China?” she asked. The moderator at the Hudson Institute event joked that the remark would be removed from the recording.

Read more

Arrogance and downfall: Germany gets a well-deserved UN put-down

In May, Kallas denounced Beijing for what she described as “coercive economic practices” and claimed that the West’s inability to compete with Chinese companies was a “disease.” She compared government subsidies to increasing a cancer patient’s morphine dosage and urged retaliatory measures – chemotherapy in her metaphor.

EU and China at economic loggerheads

French President Emmanuel Macron made a state visit to China last December, followed by a similar trip by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in February. The leaders of the EU’s two largest economies brought with them major industrial figures, who signed significant deals with Chinese counterparts.

The EU’s stated policy toward China is to “de-risk” economic ties. However, the turbulence that the Trump administration has added to the global economy, along with the doubts it has raised over NATO protections, has pushed European nations to reassess their positions.

Read more

Can China turn Serbia into a European high-tech hub?

In a separate story on Thursday, the FT reported that Beijing has canceled two senior meetings with EU officials on trade issues scheduled for this month. The British newspaper said the gestures were part of Chinese deterrence against measures proposed by Brussels to reduce trade deficit. The gap widened to €1 billion ($1.15 billion) a day in 2025, with EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic calling it “unsustainable.”

EU chose Kallas as a Russia hawk

Kallas stepped down as Estonian prime minister after her popularity at home sank, partly due to a scandal involving her husband’s business interests in Russia. She joined von der Leyen’s second commission in December 2024 as an official who “eats Russians for breakfast,” as some media outlets put it.

The EU is currently debating who should represent the bloc in any direct negotiations with Russia. When asked last month whether she wanted the role, Kallas said the debate itself was a Russian “trap,” adding that her job description is “in the treaties.”

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Von der Leyen suffers new ‘Pfizergate’ judgement

The European Commission was wrong to make its Covid vaccine deals in secret, according to the opinion from the EU’s highest court

Published 11 Jun, 2026 18:46 | Updated 12 Jun, 2026 09:10

Ursula von der Leyen delivers a press statement in Brussels, Belgium, June 9, 2026 ©  Getty Images;  Dursun Aydemir

The European Commission should have revealed the details of its Covid-19 vaccine contracts with drugmakers to the public, an adviser to the EU’s highest court has declared. Among the contracts was a deal with Pfizer that Commission President Ursula von der Leyen negotiated via text message.

In an opinion published on Thursday, Advocate General Athanasios Rantos argued that the commission’s insistence on secrecy made it impossible to know whether its vaccine negotiators had any conflicts of interest with the pharmaceutical companies that they procured the shots from.

The commission signed six advance purchase agreements with pharmaceutical companies – including Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Moderna – between 2020 and 2021. The contracts were worth a combined €71 billion ($82 billion).

When Green MEPs and more than 3,000 members of the public demanded information about the negotiation process, the commission redacted the names of all of its negotiators and many of the contract clauses. The commission’s lawyers have argued that these redactions were made to protect the negotiators from “conspiracy theorists.”

Conspiracy theorists have a habit of leaking the truth which would be disastrous for the crooked negotiators.

Read more

EU members forced to pay billions for von der Leyen’s Covid deal

The commission lost a legal battle to keep these details secret in 2024, but appealed the decision up to the Court of Justice of the European Union. Rantos’ opinion is not legally binding, but will inform the court’s final ruling.

Last year, the court ruled against von der Leyen in the ‘Pfizergate’ case, which centered around her negotiations with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla. In 2021, von der Leyen told the New York Times that she had been negotiating a €35 billion deal for 900 million Covid vaccine doses with Bourla via sms messages.

The newspaper sued for access to the messages, arguing that von der Leyen could have used sms messaging to bypass EU transparency laws. The commission claimed that the messages had been lost, but the court ruled last May that the EU’s executive body failed to provide “credible explanations enabling the public and the Court to understand why those documents cannot be found.”

Von der Leyen survived a no-confidence vote initiated by right-wing parties in the European Parliament over the scandal last July.

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Ozzone 6-7 > The disciple who abides in Jesus is the will of God, and what appears to be his free choices are actually God’s foreordained decrees. But be sure you abide in Him.

 

Ozzone 5-27 > Do you really know the risen Saviour?

 

Bits and Bites From Around the World > Insurance Co. shamed in Russia; PETA Worries Bovine Baseball Beasts Bullied; More Power for Hapless Harris - Sharpton

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Russian mother ordered to pay for repairs to train that mowed down 15-year-old son

has bill scrapped after public outcry – reports

29 Oct, 2021 18:19

© Unsplash / Sasha Yudaev

A Russian woman was reportedly told to cover maintenance costs after her son was killed by a high-speed train, with insurance bosses’ requests for compensation only withdrawn after the firm came under fire in the press.

In a statement issued to journalists on Friday, insurance company Rosgosstrakh said that it is now looking to return around 400,000 rubles ($5,645) paid by the family of the tragic boy since the 2019 incident. While the company insisted it is legally bound to collect funds on behalf of its clients, the statement said that “unfortunately the automated collection process may not take into account the social consequences for a particular person or family.”

The response, published by Moscow’s TV Dozhd, registered as a foreign agent by Russia’s Ministry of Justice, comes amid a public outcry after details of the case came to light. According to reports, the schoolboy was killed while walking across a ground-level pedestrian crossing at a railway station just outside Moscow. The 15-year-old is said to have been wearing headphones and did not hear the high-speed train coming down the tracks on its way into the Russian capital.

The young man, whose name has not been released, was thrown around 50 meters from the collision and died before emergency workers could get to the scene, sources say. According to Dozhd, Rosgosstrakh compensated the owner of the train, Russian Railways, for maintenance work in the aftermath of the fatal incident, and elected to collect damages from his family, alleging that he had violated station rules by being on the track.

“In order to avoid transfer of collection to the judicial stage and an increase in the amount of debt, you need to pay an amount of 400,972.37 rubles within 10 days from the date of receipt of this letter,” a letter to the family reportedly reads. The company is now looking into the best route to return the funds to the bereaved mother.

It is so good to see that the conscience of Russian people is growing. There have been a few such stories where people have stood up for those badly treated. 40 or 50 years ago, such a thing would never have happened.

‘This can’t be real’: MLB fans in hysterics as animal rights watchdog

PETA deems the term ‘bullpen’ insensitive to cows

And they should have mentioned that "dugouts" are insensitive to dead and buried people!

28 Oct, 2021 18:42

The 'bullpen' could change names to be more respectful to cow rights © Bill Streicher / USA Today Sports via Reuters | © Agustin Marcarian / Reuters

Animal rights group PETA has called on baseball chiefs to change the term 'bullpen' to something a little less offensive to cows, such as 'arm barn', after complaining that the word "mocks the misery of sensitive animals".

And, I'm sure they are really upset about it!

PETA, or the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, have long positioned themselves as a voice for mistreated animals – something which only the most sociopathic in society would fundamentally disagree with.

But the watchdog has occasionally come under fire for what some see as overstepping their boundaries when it comes to ethics and animal rights.

And judging by the latest decree by the group, this seems to be one of those occasions. 

"As the World Series turns into a pitching duel, PETA is pitching a proposal to the baseball world," they announced.

"Strike out the word 'bullpen,' which references the holding area where terrified bulls are kept before slaughter, in favor of a more modern, animal-friendly term. PETA's suggestion? The arm barn.

"Words matter, and baseball 'bullpens' devalue talented players and mock the misery of sensitive animals," added PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman.

"PETA encourages Major League Baseball coaches, announcers, players, and fans to changeup their language and embrace the 'arm barn' instead."

According to RT Sport's analysis, the term 'bullpen' has been used in baseball since the 1870s – and has since migrated to several other definitions, also including holding cells used by police to detain criminals.

It has also been used by Marvel comics to describe their array of writers – 'The Marvel Bullpen' – as well as its original meaning as a holding pen for, well, bulls.

Given that the term has been associated with baseball for around 150 years, it would take a gigantic effort to change the word at this point in time – and surely the term 'arm barn' isn't the one that's going to replace it.

"Does PETA know what baseballs and baseball gloves are made with?" asked one fan in response to the report.

"The cows must have discussed this during their recent town hall meeting," joked another. "Just very upset and finally had enough."

"They got this from [satirical site] The Onion... this can't be real," said a third.

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Democratic agitator Al Sharpton leans on Biden to give

Kamala Harris ‘more positions of power’

Oh, God! Help us!

29 Oct, 2021 00:05

©  Reuters / Evelyn Hockstein

MSNBC host and Democrat power-broker Al Sharpton has called for US President Joe Biden to “use” VP Kamala Harris more effectively going forward, despite her perceived failure to handle her existing responsibilities at the border.

Sharpton, whose National Action Network is a powerful player in Democratic Party politics, has called for Harris to be better deployed within the Biden administration. In an interview with The Root on Tuesday, he expressed dissatisfaction with the “marginal positions” and called for Biden to give the first-ever black and female VP “more positions of power,” suggesting “her being in charge of voting was important,” but that something more was required.

“I would like the president to put her in charge of the voting package and criminal justice. Also, he needs to put Kamala at the forefront of the George Floyd bill that he promised to get through,” he said, referring to a police reform bill that died in Congress last month. Neither party could reach an agreement on the legislation, and Biden has pledged to examine “further executive actions” in the hope of pushing some parts of the package through.

Harris “was a prosecutor and a state attorney general, so she knows the criminal justice system and understands both sides,” Sharpton opined, adding that “she is also a Black woman in the time of Breonna Taylor and other Black women who have suffered racism, so I think that she should have those assignments and be able to get certain things to Congress.”

However, Harris’ tenure as California state attorney general was not exactly kind to black women. They were more likely to be caught up in her infamous anti-truancy campaign, which saw parents locked up when their children failed to attend school. Despite attempting to distance herself from the program, video of her laughing over the initiative surfaced during the 2020 presidential primaries, helping sink her campaign. Harris’ office also attempted to cover up a massive scandal within the state’s crime lab and infamously attempted to withhold DNA evidence that could have exonerated a death row prisoner.

Despite her controversial criminal justice record, Sharpton insisted he wanted to see Harris “thrive,” vowing to “communicate that to the president,” but discreetly. 

“It would be unwise for me to have her at my event and use that as a platform to raise the issue, so instead, I will speak directly to the President,” he reasoned.

Harris was tasked earlier this year with managing the immigration crisis at the US-Mexico border, an assignment she largely ignored for several months as unprecedented numbers of migrants streamed into the country. An all-time record of 1.7 million arrivals have been detained in the fiscal year 2021.

While the Biden-Harris administration initially adopted a welcoming posture toward the crowds of immigrants surging into the US illegally, Harris was forced to roll back the welcome mat, belatedly telling the masses “Don’t come” or “you will be turned back.” However, neither Mexican nor American authorities have thus far been able to halt the human tide, and a thousands-strong caravan broke through a border crossing between Mexico and Guatemala last week, headed for Mexico City and ultimately the US.

The Biden administration has quietly readopted some of its predecessor’s border policies, despite running on a platform that denounced them as “racist.” Next month, the White House will reinstate Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy, requiring migrants to wait out their asylum proceedings there instead of being permitted to live freely in the US while awaiting their court hearing. Attempts to revoke it were stopped in court in August, after Texas and Missouri filed lawsuits arguing the reversal had led to an uncontrollable influx of illegal immigrants.

European Politics > Jersey Can Freeze in the Dark This Winter; Migrants Crossing the Channel Double; Beirut in Black

..

France will reduce electricity supply to Jersey this winter, Paris warns,

unless fishermen granted licences for British waters

8 Oct, 2021 09:02

French fishermen repair their nets at Boulogne-sur-Mer (FILE PHOTO) © REUTERS/Charles Platiau

France’s European affairs minister has claimed Britain is failing with Brexit, but French fishermen must not pay for the UK’s misfortune as he demanded more fishing licences for gallic trawlers and warned of electricity cuts.

Speaking on Friday, outspoken French European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune said his government would hold firm against Britain and continue to demand more fishing licences.

The European minister said that France may be forced to cut electricity, although not totally, to the Channel Island of Jersey – a self-governing dependency of the United Kingdom – during the winter as part of a “targeted” retaliation in the fishing dispute. 

Focusing on the UK, Beaune told BFM TV that “They failed on Brexit. It was a bad choice.” He contended that French fishermen must not pay for Brexit and said that France would withhold turkey at Christmas.  

“We will hold firm. The Brits need us to sell their products,” he added. 

Prime Minister Jean Castex has already warned that France would review bilateral cooperation with London unless the UK granted French fishermen all the licences they demand in British waters. French fishermen have also threatened to block the gateway port of Calais and the Channel Tunnel rail link unless more licences are granted in the next 17 days.

“As far as French fishermen in northern France are concerned, in the absence of any results, the blocking of the port of Calais and exports to the United Kingdom for the period leading up to Christmas is an option,” said Olivier Lepretre, the president of the fishing committee for the northern Hauts-de-France region, on Wednesday. 

Reducing the number of European fishing vessels in British waters was an important component of the Brexit movement. While the UK is looking to see its own fishing industry grow as European vessels slowly lose access under the Brexit agreement, many have called for an overall reduction of trawler activity to allow fishing stocks to recover.

Non-profit organization Oceana has reported that six of the top 10 most economically important fish stocks for the UK are overfished or their stock biomass is at a critical level. Similar reports have raised questions about the effectiveness of the EU’s fisheries policy which governed Britain’s fish-rich waters until Brexit. 

French minister says UK ‘hasn’t paid a penny’ towards

stopping migrant crossings

9 Oct, 2021 21:15

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin meets police involved in the fight against illegal immigration at Loon-Plage, France, October 9, 2021 © AFP / Francois Lo Presti

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has accused Britain of withholding millions of pounds in funding to stop migrant boats crossing the English Channel. He said France’s authorities have cracked down on the crossings anyway.

Speaking to reporters in the coastal town of Loon-Plage on Saturday, Darmanin said that “the UK has not paid one penny to us” since Home Secretary Priti Patel offered France £54 million ($73 million) in July to stem the flow of migrants across the English Channel.

The “British government has not paid, for now, what was promised,” Darmanin continued, adding “The English are people of honour, so I am certain that it is an accounting delay.”

Darmanin spoke a day after Sky News filmed multiple boat launches from the beaches of Calais, while French police officers stood by and watched. More than 17,063 people have crossed the English Channel in small boats this year, according to recently released figures from the Home Office – more than double the 8,460 who crossed last year. In September alone, 60 boats with 4,638 people on board between them successfully made the journey.

However, Darmanin insisted on Saturday that France has clamped down, stopping 65% of crossings over the last three months compared to 50% in the months before. More police have been deployed, he said, and migrant camps in and around Calais have been dismantled.

“It has been more than 20 years since France has overseen the border for our British friends,” Darmanin said. “We have succeeded in largely reducing the pressure from immigration. And what we see in Calais and Dunkirk now is nothing like what we saw five or six years ago,” he added, referring to the hordes of migrants that streamed into northern France in a bid to reach the UK at the height of the 2015 European migrant crisis.

The minister suggested that Britain also has a role to play in stemming the tide, and should “reduce its economic attractiveness for migrants who want to work in the UK.”

Patel told the Tory Party Conference this week that France “is a safe country” and she will “turn back the boats.” However, France refuses to intercept boats or take back those turned around by British authorities, and Border Force vessels operating in the channel currently ferry stranded migrants to safety in the UK.

Loon-Plage, FR

Lebanon in complete darkness after 2 power stations shut down,

blackout will ‘continue for few days’

9 Oct, 2021 11:41 / Updated 9 hours ago

FILE PHOTO. BEIRUT, LEBANON. © Getty Images / Rafael Yaghobzadeh

Due to fuel shortages, two of Lebanon’s biggest power stations were forced to shut down on Saturday, leaving the crisis-hit country in the dark, an official source has said.

The blackout in the country of almost six million is expected to last for several days, the government source told Reuters.

“The Lebanese power network completely stopped working at noon today, and it is unlikely that it will work until next Monday, or for several days,” the official told the agency.

The authorities will attempt to use the military’s oil reserves so the power plants can temporarily resume operations, he said, but warned that it wouldn’t happen anytime soon. 

The affected Deir Ammar and Zahrani power stations had been providing 40% of Lebanon’s electricity, according to their operator, Electricité Du Liban.

The facilities ran out of fuel because the government lacked foreign currency to pay foreign energy suppliers. Ships carrying oil and gas had reportedly refused to dock in Lebanon until payments for their deliveries had been made in US dollars.

The Lebanese pound has sunk by 90% since 2019, amid the economic crisis, which has been further deepened by political deadlock. Rival factions haven’t been able to form a government in the 13 months since the deadly blast in the port of Beirut, only finding common ground after the approval of a new cabinet in September. 

The power-supply situation had been dire in the country before the complete blackout, with residents able to get electricity for only two hours a day.

Some residents have been relying on private diesel generators to power their homes, but such hardware has been in short supply in the country.

Neighbours don't seem to be rushing to Lebanon's aid. Perhaps because they are afraid the money will disappear into some off-shore accounts.

Ozzone - 5-5 > Judgement, Love, Salvation, Good News, Power of God, Discernment

 

“It is not for us to figure out the reason for the difficulty,” – This, I believe, is generally true, however, those with the spiritual gift of discernment often have it revealed what the stumbling block is that prevents someone from coming to Christ.

Once, at an Alpha retreat, God gave me insight into several people in my group. That evening I lead 5 people to the Lord, almost all of whom were dramatically changed.

The next session He showed me the fear in the eyes of an Indo-Canadian woman, which I rebuked and then lead her to the Lord. The following week she was a dramatically different woman, proclaiming that she had had the best week of her life.

Turkish Magazine Calls for Revival of CALIPHATE Amid Hagia Sophia Conversion, Gets Slammed for Peddling 'Unhealthy Debate'

For several years now I have been accusing President Erdogan of having the ambition to rebuild the Ottoman Empire with himself as Caliph. Recommissioning the Hagia Sophia as a Muslim mosque seems to be part of that plan. This magazine article could also be a testing of the waters to see what kind of reaction there was. Don't be too confident in the immediate response, Erdogan will be watching the secondary responses to see where support for the Caliphate is coming from.

Islam - Current Day - Bible Prophecy Fulfilled Today? High Profile Muslim Fired

Could this very day be the fulfillment of the prophecy - "But when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION standing where it should not be..."?

The controversial Gerçek Hayat cover. Twitter/@aDilipak

A Turkish pro-Islam magazine is in hot water after bringing the cause of a caliphate back to life with the cover story of its latest issue. The Ankara bar association has accused it of calling for an insurrection.

The Turkish legal body filed a criminal complaint against Gercek Hayat magazine, asking prosecutors to investigate it. It alleged that the magazine's editor-in-chief, Kemal Ozer, and columnist Abdurrahman Dilipak, have instigated hatred and called for an armed rebellion against the Turkish state. 

At the center of the accusation is the latest issue of the magazine, published on Monday, which features a cover stating: "Get together for caliphate. If not now, when? If not you, who?" An interview with Dilipak, a veteran Turkish conservative journalist, is one of the lead stories in the edition.

"Get together for caliphate. If not now, when? If not you, who?"

A caliphate is a state dedicated to the cause of Islam, seeking to be a unifying and defending force for all Muslims. The word had received plenty of negative attention in recent times since the terrorist group Islamic State claimed the title for itself.

Historically, four major caliphates existed, the latest being the Ottoman Empire. Modern Turkey was founded by Kemal Ataturk on the ruins of this fourth caliphate as a modern secular republic that had cast away the outdated institutions of its predecessor.

Arguing for revival of a caliphate is a political hot-button topic in Turkey, so the Gercek Hayat publication was met with skepticism even from the conservative side. Spokesman for the ruling AK Party, Omer Celik, said the magazine was seeking "unhealthy polarization" by questioning Turkey's founding principles.

Some outrage came even before the issue was published, and was based on a preview of the magazine's cover tweeted by Dilipak. Prominent Turkish journalist Ismail Saymaz said on Sunday that Turkey was not a country "to be ruled by a handful of radicals," and that the people behind the Gercek Hayat issue "are not even aware of what kind of fire they were playing with."

Ozer, the magazine's editor-in-chief, said critics of the story were misinterpreting it. "Our journal demands that the countries of Islam come together, just as Europe has come together and established a union, just as others have made similar ones. Our call has nothing to do with any country," he said. The release of the issue didn't seem to appease critics, however.

The Caliphate cover story and the furor that followed comes on the back of Turkey's decision to convert the Hagia Sophia, one of its national treasures, back into a functioning mosque. Originally constructed as a Christian church, it was converted into an Islam house of worship after Constantinople fell to the Ottomans. Ataturk transformed the building into a museum in 1935.

Erdogan's Ottoman Empire Ambitions Suffering from His Own Eroding Base

Ajit Sahi

It is easy to understand Erdogan's desperate attempt to stoke religious sentiments by converting the Hagia Sophia museum into a mosque. With this decision, he is merely trying to deflect attention from Turkey's worsening economic situation over the last several years which is now bringing him electoral defeat after electoral defeat.

In fact, Erdogan is today politically at his weakest since first winning power in 2003. His party, the AKP, has been steadily losing support among the voters. Last year, his party was twice defeated in the mayoral election in Istanbul, Turkey's biggest and most populous city. When the first election saw the AKP candidate lose by a slim margin, Erdogan simply refused to accept that decision and forced his hand-picked election authorities to call a second election. The reelection, held three months after the first, saw the AKP lose by a decisive and massive margin. Erdogan's party also lost elections in many other cities.

There is no doubt that Erdogan has more support in Muslims outside of Turkey, who likely see in him the closest figure who can return a pan-Muslim (and pan-Islamic) rule like the Ottoman Caliphate once used to be, than in his own country. Like Narendra Modi, Erdogan, too, has tried to control independent pillars of democracy, from the judiciary to the central bank. Erdogan made his son-in-law the country's finance minister in 2018, and the economy has gone worse since then.

Last month, Turkey had an inflation rate of 12%, which is most certainly an under-assessment. Turkey's currency, the Lira, has fallen 13% against the US dollar this year. Last year, the Lira had fallen by 20% against the USD, and 20% the year before, in 2018. Whereas Erdogan led a massive economic expansion program from 2003, the picture is now far less rosy. In 2008, Turkey's share of the world's economy was 1.2%. Today, it is 0.89%.

Unemployment has been persistently high in Turkey. The government claimed this week that unemployment rate has fallen to 12.8% in May, which, though in itself high, is still underreporting. Unnerved by the coronavirus, Erdogan forbid businesses from sacking employees while allowing unpaid leave. So millions sitting at home without any income are counted as "employed".

In fact, the number of employed persons dropped by about 2.6 million people during March-May this year compared with the same period last year. The overall employment rate declined by nearly 5% to 41%. Worryingly, the youth unemployment rate, including people ages 15 to 24, rose 1.2% hitting 24.4% in April, the Turkish Statistical Institute said yesterday.

At the macroeconomic level, Turkey is steeped deep in debt. The government and the private corporations together owe nearly half a trillion dollars in debt. Turkey's overall GDP is only slightly higher at USD770 billion. With a falling economy, it is becoming harder for both the government and the private sector to service debt.

Across industry, margins of profit have sharply dropped. Investment has been continuously drying up. Businesspeople are postponing expansions. Even farming has hugely suffered under Erdogan.

That is why, like Modi, Erdogan has been muzzling free press, putting journalists and activists in prison, purging universities of independent-minded academicians, accusing every opponent of being a "Western plant".

Many non-Turkish Muslims think Erdogan is the chosen global leader for all Muslims. For now, however, Erdogan is just trying to save himself in Turkey, and all he can think of is turning a church-turned-mosque-turned-museum into a mosque in order to revive his support.

Corruption is Everywhere - Certainly in the Canadian Prime Minister's Office

A Prime Minister's Office drunk on its own arrogance: Robyn Urback

Six months ago, Trudeau told Canadians that a report his office pressured the AG was 'false.' He lied

Robyn Urback · for CBC News Opinion 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said a report that his office tried to pressure Jody Wilson-Raybould into intervening

in the SNC-Lavalin case was 'false.' It was not. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

It's hard to fathom what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was thinking on the morning of Feb. 7, when he stood before reporters and categorically declared, 

"The allegations in the Globe story are false."

The Globe and Mail was the first to report that Trudeau's office attempted to pressure his justice minister and attorney general, Jody Wilson-Raybould, into intervening in the corruption and fraud case of SNC-Lavalin.

That day, he knew that Wilson-Raybould, who he'd shuffled out of the Justice Ministry three weeks earlier, had been repeatedly approached by members of the Prime Minister's Office about her reluctance to get involved.

He was told by Wilson-Raybould herself at a meeting in September 2018 of her concerns about his staff attempting to interfere in a criminal matter (though he would later say he couldn't specifically recall the remark).

And surely he knew, or should have known, that repeatedly reminding the attorney general of the potentially cataclysmic political and economic costs of failing to secure a remediation agreement for an important Quebec company constituted inappropriate pressure. 

Nevertheless, there was clearly a concerted effort to see her reconsider her position. That much was fact, and Trudeau knew it on February 7. 

Power & Politics✔

@PnPCBC

 Trudeau:  "The allegations in the Globe story are false. Neither the current nor the previous attorney general was ever directed by me or by anyone in my office to take a decision in this matter." #cdnpoli

Yet he stood before reporters that morning and called the report "false."

Not "misleading." Not "unfair." Not "half the story." 

"False." Wrong. Fake news. 

How 4 ex-Supreme Court justices got caught up in SNC-Lavalin affair

Trudeau vs. Dion: How the PM and ethics commissioner differ on the SNC-Lavalin affair

That was, in fact, a lie. The PMO did press Wilson-Raybould to seek a remediation agreement for SNC-Lavalin, and that pressure was inappropriate and contrary to the Conflict of Interest Act, as Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion concluded in his report on the affair, published Wednesday.

Trudeau knew that the Globe's reporting couldn't reasonably be called "false," even if perhaps he believed it somewhat skewed. But he lied and told Canadians it was wrong anyway. 

Cozy relationship

With hindsight, it seems silly to make such an unequivocal statement about something easily verified. But a belief in one's own righteousness, along with a record of previous political infallibility, can make a prime minister and his staff do some very silly things. 

To wit: For months, the prime minister insisted that actions taken by his office were always in the interest of Canadians; it wasn't about currying favour with powerful Quebec company but simply about keeping good jobs in Canada.

Dion's report, however, chronicles an awfully cozy relationship between the PMO and SNC-Lavalin in which the two seem less like government-and-lobbyist than players on the same team.

Remediation agreement SNC-Lavalin's idea

In fact, it was SNC-Lavalin that suggested, back in February 2018, that a new remediation agreement regime — one that could benefit them — be included in the upcoming budget, in the interest of expediency. The government obliged: an amendment to the Criminal Code was included in the budget implementation bill and received royal assent within months.

Is Trudeau in for another hit in the polls because of the SNC-Lavalin ethics report?

5 things we learned from Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion's report on Justin Trudeau

That summer, Ben Chin, the chief of staff to the minister of finance, reportedly tried to get an update on the status of a remediation agreement on behalf of an anxious SNC-Lavalin. Chin was told by Wilson-Raybould's office that an inquiry itself could be perceived as improper interference on the independent nature of the prosecution service. 

And in December 2018, PMO senior adviser Mathieu Bouchard exchanged text messages with an SNC-Lavalin representative who wanted an update on a dinner conversation between Wilson-Raybould and then-principal secretary Gerald Butts — the one in which Wilson-Raybould said she told the PMO to stop pressuring her office about SNC-Lavalin. Bouchard reported to the rep that the door was still open to a remediation agreement (it was not). 

'Someone like' Beverley McLachlin

Dion's report also revealed that while Trudeau and Butts had been imploring Wilson-Raybould to seek an opinion from "someone like" former Supreme Court chief justice Beverley McLachlin, discussions had already taken place between McLachlin, SNC-Lavalin's lawyer and the PMO (as well as another retired Supreme Court justice). 

Butts failed to mention that fact during his testimony before the justice committee back in March. Instead, he testified that, "All we ever asked the attorney general to do was consider a second opinion." Perhaps if he had more time he would have added: "And we already vetted and approved those second opinions on her behalf."

'I take responsibility,' Trudeau says in wake of damning report on SNC-Lavalin ethics violation

Timeline: SNC-Lavalin and Jody Wilson-Raybould

Trudeau welcomes ethics probe but won't cooperate

(Trudeau always says what people want to hear, and then does what he wants. He said yesterday that he accepted responsibility, but then refused to admit that he did anything wrong and refused to apologize).

On top of it all, we learned that despite the "welcome" Trudeau publicly offered Dion's probe, the ethics commissioner, in fact, encountered some trouble accessing relevant information and testimonies.

Call these lies-by-omission. Or maybe half-truths. Together, they're a chronicle of a PMO drunk on its own arrogance, so convinced of it own moral virtue that it can rationalize trading text messages with a criminally charged organization over a pressure campaign on the attorney general.

Liberals block new SNC-Lavalin ethics probe as Trudeau insists his team is 'more united than ever'

This is a leadership, as we have since learned, that will kick members out of caucus for having the audacity to speak out against the prime minister, and will lie to Canadians about the veracity of a news report that has since proven true.

And it's a prime minister who, when asked if he will apologize for it all, chooses to respond with an answer to a question no one asked: "I can't apologize for defending Canadian jobs." As if, six months later, anyone is buying those lines anymore.

A quick summary

So, SNC-Lavalin, a major engineering and construction company, a global player, got caught paying graft to the son of Muammar Qaddafi for a Libyan project. Being convicted would mean SNC could not bid on federal Canadian projects for up to 10 years, although they could still bid on provincial projects. They have already been blacklisted by the World Bank.

So, SNC lobbies the Trudeau government to pass a new law to allow SNC to pay a fine without being held criminally responsible, and therefore not losing its ability to bid on federal Canadian projects. The Liberal government thought this was a great idea and immediately implemented the new law by hiding it in the back pages of the 2018 spring budget. A law which would allow wealthy and powerful people and corporations to avoid facing justice.

All is good in SNC's world until they heard that Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Reybould was not onboard with the plan. SNC was unhappy; Trudeau was unhappy - many of SNC's employees lived in his own riding in Montreal. If Trudeau was unhappy, everyone in the PMO and the Finance Minister's office was unhappy. The law they snuck through Parliament was for nothing if JWR didn't play along.

Consequently, Trudeau shuffled JWR out of the Justice portfolio. He needed a minister to retire in order to do that and his old friend, Scott Brison, took the bait. It's hard to say what Brison got out of the deal, but if the timing seems too coincidental to be coincidence, that's because it is. That resulted in the JWR shuffle. Maybe I should put that to music.

Robyn's column details the rest of the story very well.

Pride and arrogance and a typical Liberal attitude that 'the end justifies the means', should spell the end of this government. But I fear there are too many Trudeau supporters who also believe 'the end justifies the means', that he will finish, at least, in second place in the October elections. If so, he will form the next government as all parties in the House besides Conservatives are far-left and will not coalesce with a Conservative Prime Minister. The only other party that might cooperate with the Conservatives is the fledgling People's Party - a party that just might bring honesty and integrity to the House.