Status of the Globe: Scientists say the future for Earth is even more bleak than originally thought - by Richard Hartley-Parkinson

Is the party over ?

A prophetic ‘Warning to Humanity’ giving notice of perils facing the Earth has been issued by more than 15,000 scientists from around the world.

The message, posted online, updates an original Warning from the Union of Concerned Scientists and around 1,700 signatories delivered in 1992.

Today, the global scientific community’s view of the future is even more bleak.

Apart from the hole in the ozone layer, which has now been stabilised, every one of the major threats identified in 1992 has worsened.

Runaway consumption of precious resources by an exploding population remains the biggest danger facing humankind, say the scientists.

They urge ‘scientists, media influencers and lay citizens’ to put pressure on governments to reverse the trend.

A host of environmental calamities are highlighted in the warning notice, including catastrophic climate change, deforestation, mass species extinction, ocean ‘dead zones’, and lack of access to fresh water.

Writing in the online international journal BioScience, the scientists led by top US ecologist Professor William Ripple, from Oregon State University, said: ‘Humanity is now being given a second notice …
We are jeopardising our future by not reining in our intense but geographically and demographically uneven material consumption and by not perceiving continued rapid population growth as a primary driver behind many ecological and even societal threats.

‘By failing to adequately limit population growth, reassess the role of an economy rooted in growth, reduce greenhouse gases, incentivise renewable energy, protect habitat, restore ecosystems, curb pollution, halt defaunation, and constrain invasive alien species, humanity is not taking the urgent steps needed to safeguard our imperilled biosphere.’

In their original warning, scientists including most of the world’s Nobel Laureates argued that human impacts on the natural world were likely to lead to ‘vast human misery’.

The new notice, written as an open-letter ‘viewpoint’ article, won the support of 15,364 scientists from 184 countries who agreed to offer their names as signatories.

The authors drew on data from government agencies, non-profit organisations and individual researchers to set out their case that environmental impacts were likely to inflict ‘substantial and irreversible harm’ to the Earth.

Prof Ripple said: ‘Those who signed this second warning aren’t just raising a false alarm. They are acknowledging the obvious signs that we are heading down an unsustainable path.

‘We are hoping that our paper will ignite a widespread public debate about the global environment and climate.’

Progress had been made in some areas – such as cutting ozone-depleting chemicals, and increasing energy generated from renewable sources – but this was far outweighed by the damaging trends, said the scientists.

They pointed out that in the past 25 years:

•     The amount of fresh water available per head of population worldwide has reduced by 26%.
•     The number of ocean ‘dead zones’ – places where little can live because of pollution and oxygen starvation – has increased by 75%.
•     Nearly 300 million acres of forest have been lost, mostly to make way for agricultural land.
•     Global carbon emissions and average temperatures have shown continued significant increases.
•     Human population has risen by 35 per cent.
•     Collectively the number of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish in the world has fallen by 29 per cent.

Prof Ripple and his colleagues have formed a new independent organisation called the Alliance of World Scientists to voice concerns about environmental sustainability and the fate of humanity.

Source: : Scientists say the future for Earth is even more bleak than originally thought | Metro News

USA: Chemical Industry: The Complete History of Monsanto, “The World’s Most Evil Corporation” – by E Hanzai

Of all the US mega-corps running amok, Monsanto has consistently outperformed its rivals, earning the crown as “most evil corporation on Earth!” Not content to simply rest upon its throne of destruction, it remains focused on newer, more scientifically innovative ways to harm the planet and its people.

1901: The company was founded by John Francis Queeny, a member of the Knights of Malta, a thirty year pharmaceutical veteran married to Olga Mendez Monsanto, for which Monsanto Chemical Works is named. The company’s first product is chemical saccharin, sold to Coca-Cola as an artificial sweetener.

Over the years Monsant has continued its unabated killing spree by creating pesticides for agriculture containing deadly dioxin, which poisons the food and water supplies. It was later discovered Monsanto failed to disclose that dioxin was used in a wide range of their products because doing so would force them to acknowledge that it had created an environmental Hell on Earth.

For the complete historical review of Monsanto and its operations and activities click here 

EU Grassroots Civic Entrepreneurs: Why Europe Needs Civic Entrepreneurs - by Alberto Alemanno and Michael Cottakis

Europe needs a new breed of entrepreneur. Not just tech entrepreneurs who freeride on our personal data before becoming philanthropists. But civic entrepreneurs who dare to empower society without impoverishing it through their innovative ventures. But who is a civic entrepreneur? She’s someone who dares to be entrepreneurial in the part of society that most needs it: our communities. Where people see gridlock and problems, civic entrepreneurs see opportunity and mobilize their communities on a forward path. Their recipe is to forge powerfully productive linkages at the intersection of business, government, education, and community, thus helping to generate new innovative civic institutions, practices and social norms. By operating at the grassroots level, they create collaborative advantages that empower their communities to compete on the world stage.

The question therefore is: how do we empower our civic entrepreneurs?

The efforts of these organisations are admirable, their impact burgeoning, but their collective – pan-European – influence still small. More widespread social innovation, fuelled by Europe’s civic entrepreneurs, will occur only if conditions exist for their mobilisation. We present some ideas on how to empower our civic entrepreneurs, through five concrete initiatives.

1. Connect the dots to attain a critical mass: Despite their limited visibility, there exist hundreds of initiatives across Europe that offer innovative, low-cost solutions to challenges faced by society and its public authorities. Some of them are grassroots associations, others are social enterprises, sometimes do-thanks and emerging transnational political movements, such as DIEM. Unfortunately, these groups typically work across epistemic communities, don’t know each other, and lack opportunities to meet and exchange. To solve this conundrum, public authorities, civil society and businesses must create an enabling environment for mutual exchange. An EU Civic Innovation Fund, topped up by the private sector, can be geared towards fostering these linkages. Rather than being administered at EU level, it should follow a decentralized model closer to potential beneficiaries. This would support both transnational and local civic entrepreneurial projects which demonstrate the ability to bridge communities, and promote a fresh vision of a connected European society.
2. Grow civic entrepreneurs: Being a civic entrepreneur requires training. Yet virtually no university or other institution offers dedicated academic instruction. What about an MCE – Master’s in Civic Entrepreneurship? Or better still, how about mainstreaming civic entrepreneurship into the school curriculum? More critically, how to shift away from a traditional disciplinary offering to a skills-based, hands-on education capable of streamlining civic skills across subjects? Erasmus was a pioneering programme in the mid-1980s. Today it must be substantially broadened, going beyond the student-exchange mode and be transformed – in line with President Macron’s recent proposal – so as to entail a required six-month stay abroad for students (not only in higher education but also in vocational trainings) and professionals. As such, it should include a core-competence component so as to improve EU literacy, foster civic entrepreneurship and include digital education.
3. Empower the local community: Unemployment, particularly youth unemployment, has plagued the EU economy and society since the 2008-9 great recession. Meanwhile, as large metropolises increasingly dominate western economies, our small communities have become isolated and less productive, whilst providing less space for the emergence of start-ups, or the growth of SMEs. EU Growth and Innovation hubs should be set up across the Europe’s regions to combat this. These would involve partnerships between municipal/regional units, private enterprises, universities and civil society. They would allow a space for these cross-sectoral groups to determine and deliver community priorities together. By pooling financial, technical, and human resources, these hubs will be able to coordinate larger more innovative start-up projects than would otherwise be possible, creating more jobs and attracting outside talent. The EU Cohesion Policy might be re-organised around these hubs, directing towards them a substantial portion of funds per budget. The Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) in the UK provide a useful template.
4. Get academics’ hands dirty: While academics have been withdrawing to their ivory towers, historically they have contributed to the challenges of their surrounding communities. Time has come to instil a new culture of academic engagement that might inspire a new generation of scholars willing to turn theory into practice through start-up ventures. Recently, we witnessed the emergence of various civic labs and advocacy clinics. These new actors are dedicated to engaging students to provide free legal, policy and business advice to individuals and organisations that might otherwise struggle to pay for such services. Clinics promoting such entrepreneurship within the academic community should be co-designed and offered by universities and businesses working in tandem.
5. Instil a culture of civic entrepreneurship: Recognition matters. An EU award or titles awarded annually by EU political, business and civil society leaders to high achieving civic entrepreneurs would generate a culture of recognition, inspiring others to undertake projects in the name of the EU good. Today virtually all EU-funded awards tend to be tied to ongoing EU research projects, thus leaving aside a wealth of bottom-up and genuine initiatives.

The nationalist/populist challenge in recent years has raised questions over the sustainability of globalisation. It has demonstrated that Europe’s existing civic institutions are exclusionary and fail to harness the true potential of the communities in which they operate. The result: a growing feeling of powerlessness among citizens. So, a new relationship between politics, people and societies, designed to furnish citizens with the tools for their civic and economic empowerment, must be invented. And, while still early, there are some promising signs.

Europe is witnessing the emergence of new forms of citizen activism and entrepreneurialism. Founded less than a year ago, Pulse of Europe organises meetings of pro-Europeans across the EU, bringing citizens to the streets in support of a united Europe and in defiance of populism. WeMove mobilizes 1 million Europeans on transnational causes, ranging from whistle-blower protection to the safeguarding of Europe’s forests. The Good Lobby is the world’s first advocacy skill-sharing community, connecting professionals with civil society organisations to give the latter a louder voice and training a new generation of citizen lobbyists. The 1989 Generation Initiative, with eight branches across Europe, uses a mix of crowdsourcing, citizen dialogues, and data analysis to produce policy proposals for the consideration of key EU decision makers. The Guerrilla Foundation helps activists and grassroots movements build pockets of resistance, through a participatory model of philanthropic giving. These are but few examples.

The health and survival of our European societies hinge on cultivating innovative, empathetic, caring and thoughtful entrepreneurs who have the effrontery to assert their voices in their own spaces and communities. Evidence points to a burgeoning space composed of civic entrepreneurs willing to rethink and reshape European society from the bottom up. Unfortunately, these initiatives are not supported, not even by EU institutions struggling to keep pace with social change.
Paradoxically only civic entrepreneurs will be able to overcome such an impasse. Demonstrating their worth will enable the breeding of a new generation of European entrepreneurs who measure their success not only in terms of revenues/earnings but their beneficial impact on society and the natural environment.

Read more: Why Europe Needs Civic Entrepreneurs

The Netherlands: Dutch tax inspector allows U.S. multinational to evade $169 mil. in taxes - by Janene Pieters

Dutch Tax Services

A Dutch tax inspector gave United States multinational Proctor & Gamble permission to move 676 million dollars to the Cayman Islands untaxed, Trouw reported on Tuesday based on its own investigation into the so-called Paradise Papers. As a result, the Dutch treasury missed out on 169 million dollars, or over 145 million euros, in taxes, according to the newspaper.

The Paradise Papers is the collective name for 13.4 million documents and emails about tax havens. The data was leaked to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, who shared it with global media through international journalist collective ICIJ.

According to Trouw, this decision, or so-called ruling, was made by a local inspector at the Rotterdam office of the Tax Authority in 2008. The inspector seems to have made the decision by himself, without consulting anyone else. According to the Tax Authority's rules, rulings involving such high amounts must first be submitted to a special team of ruling specialists. The Tax Authority acknowledged to Trouw that this ruling did not comply to the Authority's own rules. The spokesperson could not explain why or how this happened, and did not know whether local inspectors violated the rules in other arrangements with multinationals.

Trouw has the document showing the arrangement with Proctor & Gamble (P&G) in its possession. The American multinational is one of the largest suppliers of household and healthcare products in the world. In the Netherlands the company is known for brands like Oral-B, Always, Pampers and Gilette.

Over the past few years, such Tax Authority rulings were frequently subject to criticism, especially after the revelations of the Panama Papers and so-called sweetheart tax deals with multinationals like Starbucks. The Tax Authority doesn't reveal the content of such agreements, which means that the Tweede Kamer - the lower house of Dutch parliament - can't check the agreements. Despite the criticism, several State Secretaries did not scrap the rulings, as they make it more attractive for foreign companies to settle in the Netherlands, according to NU.nl.

These rulings must, however, comply to strict conditions. Former State Secretary Eric Wiebes of Finance sent a standard format of such rulings to the Tweede Kamer earlier this year as an example. It showed that rulings are subject to requirements like a description of the company's global structure, a signature of a second inspector and a list of conditions the company must comply with to keep the agreement from being annulled.

Trouw showed the agreement with P&G to Jan van de Streek, professor of Tax Law at Utrecht University. According to him, it looks nothing like the example ruling Wiebes sent to the Tweede Kamer. This agreement consists only of a two-page letter written on PricewaterhouseCoopers stationary, which refers only to a telephone conversation with the Rotterdam inspector. There is no sign of the other required data, the list of conditions or the signature of a second inspector.

Note EU-Digest: An interesting point is that in last weeks Parliamentary debate, whereby PM Rutte outlined the plans of the new Government the coming years,  he passionately defended to continue the Dutch Government policy of welcoming US multi-Nationals to the Netherlands with open arms - because as he said "it creates jobs". 

The truth of the matter is that even though there are several multi-national companies located in the Netherlands, most of the Multi-Nationals come to the Netherlands, mainly because the Netherlands is known as a Tax Haven for Multi National Companies 

As to the job creation in the Netherlands by US multi-Nationals referred to by PM Rutte, obviously some jobs are created, but in reality most jobs are the result of local small business activities and trade related business developments within the EU.

Read more: Paradise Papers: Dutch tax inspector allows U.S. multinational to evade $169 mil. in taxes | NL Times

Malta-Mafia State?: as Malta buries journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia EU tells Malta leave "no stone unturned" in finding culprits

Investigative Blogger:Daphne Caruana Galizi, cowardly assassinated

Deutsche Welle reported that the  EU Commission has told Malta its investigation into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia should leave "no stone unturned" as the funeral of the journalist took place. Politicians she probed stayed away. tells Malta

Hundreds of mourners attended the funeral on Friday of Daphne Caruana Galizia, Malta's best-known blogger and journalist and a fierce critic of government and opposition figures. The Mediterranean island observed a national day of mourning as the ceremony took place in Mosta, a town close to the rural home where her car was blown apart.

European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans said Europe's "eyes" were on authorities in Malta where democracy was at stake after the "atrocious" car-bomb murder on October 16.

EU headquarters flew flags at half-mast in honor of Caruana Galizia and "all those who have given their lives for the freedom of speech." On Malta itself a day of national mourning had been declared.

In her last blogpost, published the day she died, Daphne Caruana Galizia signed off with a sentence that seems particularly chilling now.

“There are crooks everywhere you look. The situation is desperate.”

She believed, in essence, that malign and criminal interests had captured Malta and turned it into an island mafia state; she reported on a political system rife with corruption, businesses seemingly used to launder money or pay bribes, and a criminal justice system that seemed incapable, or unwilling, to take on the controlling minds behind it all.

EU headquarters flew flags at half-mast in honor of Caruana Galizia and "all those who have given their lives for the freedom of speech..
 
Note EU-Digest: May she rest in peace and may those who planned her assassination and those who placed the explosive device under her car be found and brought to justice.

EU-Digest

The Extreme Right in the EU: Why do Far-Right White Nationalists Support Zionism?

Wilders:Extreme Right, Nationalist or just an opportunist?

The success of Sebastian Kurz in Austria's recent election means that the extreme right Freedom Party, the FPO, will likely join the governing coalition. 

 Populist right-wing parties are on the rise in many European countries in recent years. 

These parties include the Party of Freedom in the Netherlands headed by Geert Wilders, the National Front in France headed by Marine Le Pen, the Sweden Democrats headed by Jimmie Akesson, and more. Although highly nationalistic in their politics, these right-wing parties are very similar to each other. They share an Islamophobic and xenophobic ideology, and very interestingly, they all share a strong support for Zionism and for the state of Israel.

 Michael Colborne wrote an article for the Haaretz newspaper with the title "Rise of a New Far-right: The European 'Philosemites' Using Jews to Battle Muslims," to address the seeming contradiction in the European far-right. Indeed, there really is no difference between philo-Semitism and anti-Semitism. 

There is no such thing as positive racism. The far-right groups did not replace their hatred of Jews with the hatred of Muslims. They continue to hate both groups. Richard Silverstein told The Real News about how the election of President Trump emboldened those groups in the United States.R. SILVERSTEIN I think that the anti-Semites in the United States are affiliated with the alt-right movement that you correctly associated with Breitbart, and this alt-right movement includes a very big cadre of anti-Semites, and they feel empowered by Trump's victory and his nativist, kind of populist, extremist kind of views. 

That's why a lot of the anti-Semitic attacks are happening, and they're very much linked to the attacks on the Muslim community, which is why American Jews should really be making common cause with Muslims. SHIR HEVER: White nationalism has its roots in Europe in the 19th century as it developed and took form in order to serve as justification for European colonialism. In those European countries that had smaller and fewer colonies, such as Germany, Italy, and Hungary, white nationalism turned inwards in the form of fascism, implementing the strict, hierarchical, colonial structure on their own citizens. It sought to find its enemies within and turned on minorities. 

During the Second World War, an unprecedented industrial genocide was perpetrated against Jews, against Sinti and Roma, against homosexuals and lesbians, against people with mental disabilities, and against others who were deemed enemies of the state. Since Jews were targeted above all other groups during this genocide, and since the State of Israel, which was founded three years after the Holocaust, defines itself as a Jewish state, it raises the question of why does the European racist right-wing support the State of Israel? 

Aren't they on completely opposite sides? There are two explanations for this. 

One is that the Zionist movement and the State of Israel seek to convince Jews from all over the world to migrate to the State of Israel. The prospect of European Jews and North American Jews leaving their homes and moving to the Middle East appeals to many racist groups. 

The second explanation for the alliance between the Western far-right and the State of Israel is that Israeli policies towards immigrants, towards Arabs and towards Muslims, are precisely the kind of policies that the European and North American far-right would like to implement. President Trump, during his campaign for the presidency, commented on Fox & Friends on how the US can and should imitate Israeli racial profiling.DONALD TRUMP: Our local police, they know who a lot of these people are. 

They're afraid to do anything about it because they don't want to be accused of profiling, and they don't want to be accused of all sorts of things. You know, in Israel they profile. They've done an unbelievable job, as good as you can do.

Read more: Why do Far-Right White Nationalists Support Zionism?

Spain-Catalan Conflict: In Belgium for 'safety', axed Catalan leader is summoned to Spain court

Spain's top criminal court on Tuesday (Oct 31) summoned Catalonia's axed separatist leader for questioning, hours after he appeared in Brussels insisting he remained the "legitimate president" of a region now under direct rule from Madrid.\

The National Audience in Madrid, which deals with major criminal cases, summoned Carles Puigdemont and 13 other former members of his administration, dismissed by Spain's central government last week, for Thursday and Friday.

The 14 are then set to be placed under formal investigation.

On Monday, Spain's chief prosecutor said he was seeking charges of rebellion - punishable by up to 30 years behind bars - sedition and misuse of public funds.

But the 54-year-old Puigdemont is in Brussels, where he surfaced after reportedly driving hundreds of kilometres to Marseille in France and taking a plane to the Belgian capital.

At a packed and chaotic news conference at the Brussels Press Club earlier on Tuesday, Puigdemont said he was there "for safety purposes and freedom" and to "explain the Catalan problem in the institutional heart of Europe."

"We want to denounce the politicisation of the Spanish justice system, its lack of impartiality, its pursuing of ideas not crimes, and to explain to the world the Spanish state's serious democratic deficiencies," he said.

He denied that he intended to claim asylum but said he and several other former ministers who travelled with him would return only if they have guarantees that legal proceedings would be impartial.

If Puigdemont and his former ministers fail to appear in court as requested, Spanish prosecutors could order their arrest.

And if they are still in Belgium when that happens, Spain could issue an international arrest warrant.

The National Audience also gave Puigdemont and his former ministers three days to pay a combined deposit against potential penalties of €6.2 million (US$7.2 million).

Read more: In Belgium for 'safety', axed Catalan leader is summoned to Spain court - Channel NewsAsia

Spain's direct rule takes hold in Catalonia as secessionists accept elections

"The party is over" for Carlos Puigdemont

Reuters reports that Spain's direct rule over Catalonia took hold smoothly on Monday as employees ignored calls for civil disobedience to turn up for work, and secessionist parties agreed to stand in new elections, implying acceptance that the regional government was dissolved.

Ousted Catalan President Carles Puigdemont travelled to Belgium with several other members of his sacked administration, a senior member of Spain's ruling People's Party said. After a day of rumours on his whereabouts, Umberto Gambini, the head of office of Catalan legislator Ramon Tremosa, on Monday said, "He is in Brussels.Yes confirmed.

Spain's state prosecutor, Attorney-General Jose Manuel Maza, called for charges of rebellion and sedition, as well as fraud and misuse of funds, to be brought against Catalan leaders.

Some of the most prominent ousted Catalan leaders, including Puigdemont and Vice-President Oriol Junqueras, had said they would not accept their dismissal. But their respective parties, PdeCat and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, said on Monday they would take part in the election, a tacit acceptance that parliament had been dissolved.

A call for widespread civil disobedience from the main civic groups behind the secessionist campaign failed to attract many followers. Most public sector workers such as teachers, firefighters and the police started worked as normal on Monday and there was no sign of widespread absenteeism.

A trade union, Intersindical-CSC, which had called for a general strike in Catalonia, said on Monday it had cancelled it.

There were no signs of any spontaneous demonstration taking place.

Two opinion polls also showed support for independence may have started to wane. A Sigma Dos survey published in El Mundo showed 33.5 per cent Catalans were in favour of independence while a Metroscopia poll published by El Pais put that number at 29 per cent. This compared to 41.1 per cent in July according to an official survey carried out by the Catalan government.

Opponents of secession largely boycotted the Oct. 1 referendum, when participants voted overwhelmingly for independence on turnout of 43 per cent.

Note EU-Digest: It is hoped that the Belgian Government puts the rebellious Catalan leaders back on an airplane to Spain, where they can be prosecuted for inciting rebellion against the legitimate government of Spain.

Read more: Spain's direct rule takes hold in Catalonia as secessionists accept elections - World - CBC News

Spain: Catalonia: Not one country in the world has so-far recognized Catalonia's declaration of independence

Carles Puigdemont: "to be or not to be?

Spain’s Senate on Friday voted to grant Madrid powers to impose direct rule on Catalonia, shortly after the semi-autonomous region’s parliament approved a motion declaring independence
.
Herewith are five questions about what it means to make a unilateral declaration of independence:

Known by its acronym UDI, the term was first coined in 1965 when the former Rhodesia’s minority white government declared unilateral independence from British colonial rule.

The process itself is when a new state is established within an existing country, declaring itself sovereign and independent without the consent of the entity, country or state from which it is seceding.

“Any entity has the right to declare its independence. But to become a state that of course requires a territory, a population and authorities,” said Jean-Claude Piris, a Brussels-based international law consultant and former EU legal services director for 23 years.

“But what matters most is recognition by the international community,” he said. “Everyone has the right to issue a declaration of independence, but that in itself has no international consequence.”
Piris said very few countries will recognize Catalonia and “I guarantee you no one will recognize them” in the EU.

“Therefore it will remain an empty declaration: Catalonia will not be represented in international organizations, they will not sit in the EU, they will not be able to do anything and legally they will remain part of Spain,” he said.

Is Catalonia’s UDI legal and what will happen next: -

“What matters now is what will happen nationally and in the streets,” said Piris.

“Are there going to be demonstrations, barricades? Will people accept and submit” if Spain triggers Catalan guardianship . . . “or will there be violence?”

Spain “experienced a civil war not so long ago and just before World War II,” Piris pointed out.

If Catalonia becomes an independent state the implications “cannot be underestimated” said Narin Idriz, a researcher at the Hague-based Asser Institute
.
“All European Union member states cherish their territorial integrity, they will not want the same thing to happen to them, therefore it will be very difficult to find any support,” she said.

Bottom-line: at this point deposed Catalan leader Mr.Carles Puigdemont declaration of independence is not recognized by any country, and he personally risks arrest if he continues to defy the Spanish Constitution.

EU-Digest

Spain-Catalonia says it will defy orders from Spanish government - by Julien Toyer, Paul Day

Catalonia will defy attempts by Madrid to enforce direct rule on the region in a dispute that is raising fears of unrest among Spain's European allies.

The Spanish government has invoked special constitutional powers to fire the regional government and force elections to counter an independence drive. A vote in the national Senate to implement direct rule is due on Friday.

But leaders of the secessionist campaign said a referendum on 1 October, in which 43 per cent of the electorate voted, gave them a mandate to claim independence from the rest of Spain.Also notable is that only 1 in 3 Catalans participated in the referendum, with most opponents of secession staying at home.

Note EU-Digest: With only 43 % (1 in 3) of the voters in Catalonia coming out to vote in this illegal and dubiously organized referendum, the Catalan Government can certainly not claim they have a clear mandate to become independent, and one can only hope the leadership of this "movement" will be arrested and put to trial.  

Catalonia says it will defy orders from Spanish government when it imposes direct rule | The Independent

China-EU Cargo Train Services: 700 China-Europe freight trains to depart Xinjiang in 2017

Volumes of freight travelling between China and Europe by rail are rising quickly. Between 2013 and 2016 cargo traffic quintupled in weight. In the first half of this year the value of goods travelling by train rose by 144% compared with the same period in 2016. Western firms have been keen to embrace rail freight because it helps them to lower costs, says Ronald Kleijwegt, an expert on the industry.

In the case of high-tech electronics, for example, which consumers like to receive quickly, making them on China’s coast and air-freighting them to Europe is extremely pricey.

How worried should shipping firms and airlines be? Kazakhstan’s national rail company, KTZ, says it will have capacity for 1.7m containers to pass through the country between Europe and China each year by 2020; that is a tenth of the volume currently carried by sea and air between the two. In the longer term, a full modernisation of the existing main three rail routes from China to Europe could produce 3m containers a year in capacity.

But there are reasons to doubt that will happen. For one thing, China plans to stop handing out government subsidies for additional rail-freight capacity from 2020, which will slow the network’s expansion. Sea freight has little to fear in the near term, says Soren Skou, chief executive of Maersk, the world’s biggest container-shipping line. Trains may take away some future growth from ships, he concedes, but not their existing business.

Air cargo is more vulnerable. Last year, 180,000 tonnes of cargo traveled on trains to western Europe from China (the remainder was destined for Russia and eastern Europe). That is a small fraction of the 52m tonnes that came by sea, but a big chunk of the 700,000 tonnes that came by air.

Much of that air cargo could switch to rail in future, says Mr Kleijwegt, with one important proviso—that Russia would need to lift the retaliatory sanctions it placed in 2014 on imports of Western food, which stop most foodstuffs from traveling by land between Europe and China. That is unlikely for the time being. But it was only a decade ago that people thought the idea of freight trains between Europe and China was a joke, says Mr Kleijwegt—and no one laughs at that any more.

Read more: 700 China-Europe freight trains to depart Xinjiang in 2017[1]- Chinadaily.com.cn

Poland: Amnesty International (AI) slams Poland for undermining freedom of assembly

Protest in Poland against Human Rights abuses by Government

Rights group AI has published a damnireport into measures taken by the Law and Justice government that have weakened the rule of law in Poland. In particular it called on Warsaw to respect the right to free assembly.

The report "Poland: on the streets to defend human rights" focuses on several demonstrations against the government's policies since late 2015, when the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) government came into office.

Amnesty alleges Polish police and justice authorities have suppressed anti-government protesters. The report was based on observations by Amnesty monitors at some protests and interviews with protesters.

The report published on Thursday notes that Polish authorities have carried out prolonged ID checks of protesters, depriving them of their freedom of movement.

"The Polish government is trying to instill fear in those who want to peacefully protest," Barbora Cernusakova, a researcher with Amnesty International who monitors Poland, said.

"[It] is cracking down on peaceful protesters in a blatant attempt to dissuade further protests," amnesty said in a report published on Thursday.

Read more: Amnesty International (AI) slams Poland for undermining freedom of assembly | News | DW | 19.10.2017

Spain: Catalonia Rebels Ignore Spanish Government Ultimatrum: Spain to suspend Catalan autonomy

The Spanish government on Thursday vowed to go ahead with taking direct control of Catalonia after accusing regional President Carles Puigdemont of failing to comply with its ultimatum to clarify whether he had declared independence.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said in a statement that he will convene a cabinet meeting on Saturday to propose a series of measures under the framework of Article 155 of the Constitution — which allows “all measures necessary to compel” a region to abide by the law— and send them to the Senate for approval.

“The Spanish government has noted … the refusal of the president of the Generalitat of Catalonia [the regional executive] to comply with the requirement … to report in a clear and precise way if any authority of Catalonia had proceeded to declare independence,” the statement said.

Read more: Spain to suspend Catalan autonomy – POLITICO

Austria's election: Europe reacts to Sebastian Kurz victory

Sebastian Kurz Austria's new political leader 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel congratulated Sebastian Kurz on his victory and the "energetic" modernization of his party, which is aligned with her Christian Democrats.

She declined to comment on which coalition arrangement she wanted to see, but said the Freedom Party's strength would be a "major challenge" for its Austrian rivals.

Merkel said the challenge posed by the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany was "manageable" compared with the FPÖ's strength. She hoped for close cooperation with Kurz at the European level.

Hungary's foreign minister Peter Szijjarto was full of praise for his Austrian counterpart and "friend" Kurz, who at 31 is expected to become Europe's youngest national leader following an election victory on Sunday.

"He's hijacked neither by hypocrisy nor by political correctness. He's always honest, he's always very direct and I think it's very necessary currently, that European leaders speak directly," Szijjarto told reporters in Brussels.

Szijjarto welcomed Kurz's stance on migration as close to that of Budapest and expected Austria to work more closely with anti-immigration eastern and central European states including Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. East-West divides over migration policy have strained unity in the bloc.

Note EU-Digest: 
It is sad to see that some of the Governments of the EU's Eastern and Central European States, occupied by the Nazi's in the second world war, " indirectly" seem to have copied some of the policies and laws of their former Nazi occupiers, particularly in relation to some of their present immigration policies.  

These laws were implemented in Nazi Germany and their occupied territories (1933–45) based on a specific racist and religious doctrine, asserting the superiority of the Aryan race, which claimed scientific legitimacy.  

The Nazi laws qualified Muslims, Africans and other minorities as "Untermenschen (sub-humans)" . It is important for the EU Parliament and EU Commission to make clear, that laws by EU member states, which ban immigrants from entering into the EU, based on their ethnicity or religion, in any way or form, should not be allowed to see the light of day.. 
 

Read more: Austria election: Europe reacts to Sebastian Kurz victory | News | DW | 16.10.2017

Spain Readies Forces Able to Arrest Catalan Leader Today if He Declares Catalan Independence - S.R Smyth and E.Duarte

Viva España un miembro de la Unión Europea

Spanish police are ready to arrest Catalan President Carles Puigdemont immediately if he declares independence in the regional parliament, according to two people familiar with the government’s plans.

While a final decision on whether to act has not yet been taken, Spain’s National Police force has elite officers deployed in Catalonia who are prepared to join a raid if Catalan police try to shield Puigdemont, said one of the people. If Puigdemont makes a statement that falls short of immediate independence, the government in Madrid may stay its hand.

The president is likely to use the words “declaration of independence,” but they will probably be qualified or hedged in some way, according to another person familiar with his plans. The Catalan government spokesman declined to comment on Puigdemont’s speech at a press briefing in Barcelona on Tuesday.

Puigdemont is due to address the regional legislature at 6 p.m with many of his supporters looking for him to announce a new republic to follow through on the illegal referendum held on Oct. 1. With his core supporters demanding he make good on the illegal vote for independence and officials in Madrid urging Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to finally crack down on the separatist campaign, Puigdemont’s rebellion may be running out of road.

Rajoy has insisted all along that he’ll use only proportionate force in relation to the separatist government in Barcelona. Even so, prosecutors have been exploring charges of sedition against other separatist leaders including Jordi Sanchez, head of the biggest pro-independence campaign group. Sedition carries a jail term of up to 15 years.

The National Police and the Civil Guard have sufficient officers in place to overcome any resistance they might meet, according to one of the people familiar with the government’s preparations. Both people asked not to be named discussing confidential plans.

Read more: Spain Readies Forces Able to Seize Catalan Leader Today -

EU: Danish government backs burqa ban

Denmark’s coalition parties, the Liberal (Venstre) and Liberal Alliance, both back a public ban on garments that mask the face, including the burqa and niqab.

As reported by The Local, the stance by Liberal Alliance represents a shift in the party’s official line on the issue. As for the Venstre, the senior party in the government, had waited before the announcement of an official line with opinion divided amongst its MPs.

“We in the Liberal party will support a ban on masking that will be forthcoming. It is not a religiously defined ban on masking, but the burqa and niqab will obviously be covered by it,” political spokesperson Jakob Ellemann-Jessen said according to DR.

Liberal Alliance, which was also previously against the proposal, has followed Venstre in pronouncing its support.

“Everyone agrees that the burqa is an expression of extreme oppression of women,” party leader Anders Samuelsen wrote in a Facebook post.
 
“Now there is a majority in parliament that thinks the burka/veiling should be fought… So if a ban like this is possible in practice without harming ourselves or our own values, then yes, LA will vote for it,” Samuelsen continued.

While burqas cover the face entirely with the wearer seeing through a mesh in the material, the niqabs have a slit through which the wearer’s eyes can be seen.

Read more: Danish government backs burqa ban

EU-Russia Relationship: Brexit Could Open the Door to Russia Joining the EU (and why not?) - by Cyrus Sanati

Could Russia become a full member of the EU?

A little over a year Cyrus Sanati  wrote in an OpEd for Fortune Magazine:  "Britain’s exit from the European Union opens the door to a possible Russian entry—a “Rentry” or perhaps “Russ-in”—into the (now) 27-member club. While it could take years, even decades, before the Russian Federation could meet all the criteria under the so-called Copenhagen Criteria to join the EU as a full member, it is far more likely to occur now with the U.K. out of the picture."

"Obviously the question now is: "why not? "

Tempting Russia with EU membership would do far more to elicit better behavior from Moscow than the weak economic sanctions the EU currently imposes on it. Russia’s entry would not only be a boon for trade in the region, but it would also finally make Europe a true superpower with the ability to take on China and the U.S. both economically and militarily.

At first blush, it might crazy to think “Rentry” could happen. After all, tensions between Russia and the EU are arguably at their highest level since the end of the Cold War. Last week, amid Russia’s continued aggression in the Ukraine, the EU extended its long-running banking sanctions against Moscow for another year.

Retaliatory Russian sanctions against EU foodstuffs will remain in effect as well, costing the EU agri-food sector billions of euros in lost revenue. Meanwhile, net foreign direct investment flows between Russia and Europe are now at their lowest level in nearly two decades, going from $80 billion in 2013 to almost nil last year.

And if the economic tension wasn’t bad enough, the Baltic states and Poland, which are all EU (and NATO) members, have increased their defense spending considerably following Russia’s invasion of the Crimea two years ago. They are increasingly concerned that Vladimir Putin, Russia’s long-standing leader, might try to reenact the opening scene of World War II and invade their territories. This might be paranoid, but it’s not totally off-base.

Still, despite the increased tensions and simultaneous crash in energy prices, Russia remains the EU’s fourth-largest trading partner and the EU continues to be Russia’s biggest trading partner; total trade between the two was nearly €209 billion in 2015, according to figures from the European Commission.

If energy prices rebound, which will happen sooner or later, those trade figures will explode. Back in 2012, before energy prices crashed and before sanctions were imposed, annual trade between the two equaled €338 billion, making Russia the EU’s third largest trading partner behind the U.S. and China.

If there was truly free trade and open borders between Russia and Europe, that number could easily double or triple in just a few years.

It will be hard for the sides to continue dismissing each other given their close geographical proximity and historical ties. Indeed, half of the European Union was either directly or indirectly ruled from Moscow at some point in the last century. As such, much of the infrastructure needed for trade—such as pipelines, roads, and railroads—are already connected. Today, Russia supplies nearly all he natural gas for many of the eastern members of the EU, as well as the bulk of Germany’s needs. As Germany continues to retire its nuclear and coal power plants, this link will only grow more important.

"The question is therefore not if, but when will both the EU and Russia start looking at their relationship in a more serious way, despite all the negative rhetoric coming from Washington about Russia."
 
EU-Digest

Europeans think they know America – but the gun control debate shows how little we do - OpEd by Suzanne Moore

The need for using guns is spoon fed into most American kids 

When I first went to my friend Sherry’s house for dinner, I couldn’t help noticing tiny holes all over the white kitchen cupboards. She was a new friend, my only friend, actually, as I had just moved to Miami.

Her mother came in and saw me looking and said: “That’s where Shane shot himself up.” Shane was Sherry’s cousin. Her mother was mostly annoyed that he had used Sherry’s dad’s gun. Whether this was an accident or a suicide I was too polite to ask. He was 16.

When Sherry’s dad sat down at the table, he showed me his huge collection of guns. One rifle after another. I sat there nodding, wondering what to say.

The American dream was what my father had offered my mother. Escape from small-town Suffolk to a place of Pontiacs and huge fridges. She liked Americans so much she married two of them, with an English man in between. “He bought me a lovely little handbag pistol,” she said of my father. This was as glamorous to her as the menthols she smoked: a special ladies’ gun.

This casual relationship to gun ownership is different in different parts of the US. For the US is several different countries. When, later in the 80s, I moved to New York, gun violence was seen as a black crime.

I had moved to the US because it seemed to offer everything I already knew and more. But very quickly I knew that this was an extremely alien culture. It is an illusion of popular culture that makes us think it isn’t. Somehow, though,  Europeans still think they “know” America because they once had brunch in Manhattan. Americans are just like us but with bigger portions, some still say. We can prescribe our liberal solutions to their terrible problems if they would only listen.

This is delusional. The unknowability of the US, even to itself, has been brought into focus by Donald Trump’s election. Nowhere is it more apparent than in the debate around gun control. An angry white man is in the White House. And angry white men who murder scores of people with guns are not terrorists, apparently.

The reaction to these massacres is that more people go out and buy guns to protect themselves. This mentality is incomprehensible to many of us. Never mind North Korea, Americans excel at killing each other with guns and opioids. The terror that they fear is coming over some mythical wall is in fact rooted inside their own culture.

The same figures are rehearsed after every massacre. It is estimated that the US has the highest number of privately owned guns in the world – in 2012, there were thought to be about 300m, held by about one-third of the population (enough for every man, woman and child in the country to have a gun). The second-ranked country is Yemen. In the US, 18 young people are killed every day by guns. Meanwhile, suicide – the majority by gun – is the second most common cause of death for Americans between 15 and 34.

One of the saddest parts of Gary Younge’s devastating book Another Day in the Death of America is when parents of children gunned down speak of relief. The mother of Tyshon Anderson, who was shot in a gang-related incident at 18, says: “I don’t have to worry about him being out there killing nobody else or nobody else trying to kill him.”

Every right-minded liberal can point to Australia, where gun control has brought the homicide rate right down. Legislation would implement background checks for gun ownership and yet …
Gun fairs are visited as if by Victorian anthropologists. Who are these people? The National Rifle Association is powerful, and, of course, the militias were out recently in Charlottesville. This is not “left-behind” America, but it is a part we find utterly foreign.

The anti-centralised state narrative may be wrapped in second-amendment bluster, but part of the problem with gun control is precisely this word “control”. Obamacare is rejected again as something to do with control. I offer no solution to the massacres. I don’t particularly like the US’s reliance on cars either, but I can’t see the country without them.

The now-familiar argument in the US on gun control is that of two different nations circling each other. It seems to me much of the US cannot be understood as a developed nation. Look at the levels of inequality, the infant mortality rates, the addiction, the self-inflicted wounds. The absolute rejection of a centralised state is part of its notion of freedom. That this culture is not ours, that it is something entirely different, gets brought home time and again.

When I was being taught to shoot by an American ex-cop, he emphasised that children must learn how to behave around guns. At what age, I asked him, did he think they should have their first gun?

“Three” he said.

Note EU-Digest: Let us also not forget that the US has coined the phrase "collateral damage" when they carpet bomb thousands of innocent civilians to their death in areas of conflict, they have basically created themselves in the name of "democracy" .

EU-Digest

EU - Radioactivity: Spike in radioactivity measured in Germany, other European countries

German authorities have measured an increase in radioactive material in the air. Officials say there is no risk to human health whatsoever, but are puzzling over its source.

There has been an increase in radioactivity measured in the air across parts of Central and Western Europe over the past week, Germany's Office for Radiation Protection said.

Since September 29, a slight increase in the isotope Ruthenium-106 has been measured in the air in Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland and France.

The low levels do not pose a threat to human health, the Office for Radiation Protection said. It also stressed that the source could not be an accident at a nuclear power plant.

Officials do not know the cause of the elevated radiation levels, but they believe it may have originated from Eastern Europe.

Read more: Spike in radioactivity measured in Germany, other European countries | News | DW | 05.10.2017

EU: Macron’s vision for Europe is progressive

Earlier this week, the French President Emmanuel Macron laid out his vision for the next stage of European Union (EU) integration, offering up a model that is indeed utopian and is a natural progression of the experiment that has been under way since the days France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium came together to create the nascent European Economic Community in more than five decades ago.

But the reality now is that the EU is struggling to achieve the lofty goals envisioned by those who created the body. Now, the EU is strained by Britain’s decision to leave, and by the pressures brought to bear by eastern and central European nations who struggle with the full democratic and social requirements of membership of the bloc. The euro too is in need of reform, and some of the 19 nations who use the common currency include both the strongest economically and the most heavily indebted.

But Macron has a vision. It includes a European Central Bank able to issue its own bonds, a finance minister responsible for the bloc’s budget, and a joint defence strategy. Yes, Macron’s visions is a bold one — and one that one day the EU will adapt — just not right now. Germany and its newly re-elected Chancellor Angela Merkel will like the sentiment of greater political and social integration, resetting the natural balance of the EU back under a Paris-Berlin axis. But it will be a hard sell to Merkel who must force a coalition at home to appease the forces and voters of the right. Neutrality too is enshrined in the constitution of Ireland, so a common defence strategy or European army would run counter to its principles.

And for the next year, Brussels and its eurocrats will be consumed by the mechanisms and effects of Brexit.So unfortunately Macron's vision will be put on hold, but hopefully not forgotten.

Read more: Macron’s vision for Europe is progressive | GulfNews.com