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

Spain-Catalonia: Tens of thousands rally in Spain to avoid Catalan split

Tens of thousands of people joined protests across Spain on Saturday calling for an end to the political crisis that has rocked the country since Catalan authorities held a barred independence referendum last Sunday.

In 50 cities, including Madrid and Barcelona, thousands of people gathered under the motto "Let's talk" and called for leaders from Madrid and Barcelona to enter peaceful negotiations to end the crisis. Organizers urged the crowds at both sites to wear white T-shirts and not to bring any Spanish or Catalan flags.

Ninety percent of those who voted opted for independence, according to the official vote tally released by the Catalan government on Friday. But turnout was only 43 percent. The final figures approximated the preliminary results released immediately after the referendum.

Former Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez on Saturday joined calls for Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to invoke Article 155 of the constitution. The article is described as being "for exceptional cases only" such as when a region’s failure to obey laws "gravely damages Spain’s general interest." It has never been invoked before.

On Tuesday, Spain's King Felipe VI accused the Catalan authorities of "disloyalty" and said the central government needed to ensure "constitutional order."

Read more: Tens of thousands rally in Spain to avoid Catalan split | News | DW | 07.10.2017

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

EU-US Data transfers: Ireland asks Europe's top court to rule on EU-U.S. data transfers - by Conor Humphries

Ireland A Proud Member Of The EU

Ireland’s High Court on Tuesday said it would ask the EU’s top court to decide whether to ban the way in which Internet firms such as Facebook (FB.O) transfer users’ data to the United States in a case with major implications for companies.

The case is the latest to question whether methods used by large tech firms such as Google (GOOGL.O) and Apple (AAPL.O) to transfer data outside the 28-nation European Union give EU consumers sufficient protection from U.S. surveillance. 

Data privacy is under the spotlight after revelations in 2013 by former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden of mass U.S. surveillance caused political outrage in Europe. 

Irish High Court Judge Caroline Costello said she had decided to ask the European Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling in the case. 

“European Union law guarantees a high level of protection to EU citizens ... they are entitled to an equivalent high level of protection when their data is transferred outside of the European Economic Area,” she said.

The Irish Data Protection Commissioner’s office initially became involved after Austrian law student and privacy activist Max Schrems made a complaint in Dublin about Facebook’s handling of his data in the United States. 

The judge said the Irish Data Protection Commissioner “has raised well-founded concerns that there is an absence of an effective remedy in U.S. law compatible with the requirements of Article 47 of the Charter (of Fundamental Rights).” 

She said that a newly created U.S. ombuds person dealing with Europeans’ complaints about U.S. surveillance did not eliminate those concerns. 

Costello also said she was not delivering any value judgment on the data protection laws in the EU or United States.

Note EU-Digest: Facebook and other US social media companies don't seem to take EU Privacy laws serious. Facebook was recently fined by Spain for €1.2m for breaking privacy laws. Facebook, Google, Twitter, and other US web companies have been told tthat the weak US privacy Laws are not applicable in the EU, and a;so ordered  to crack down on hate speech and speech inciting violence and terrorism — but this time, the EU is taking things a step further. The European Commission has issued guidelines for web companies to follow, and it’s warning the companies that, if they don’t comply, this could lead to some huge fines. 

Read more: Ireland asks Europe's top court to rule on EU-U.S. data transfers

Europe: What do Islamic Parties Want? - by Judith Bergman

Rome Mosque

Gatestone Institute, a Non-Profit organization based in New York, USA, recently published an in-depth look at Islam in Europe, written by Judith Bergman - a columnist, lawyer and political analyst.

Ms. Bergman gives some interesting insights into the political development of the Islam community in Europe.

The Gatestone Institute is a non-political international policy council and think tank dedicated to educating the public about what the mainstream media fails to report in promoting:

• Institutions of Democracy and the Rule of Law;
• Human Rights
• A free and strong economy
• A military capable of ensuring peace at home and in the free world
• Energy independence
• Ensuring the public stay informed of threats to our individual liberty, sovereignty and free speech.

Gatestone Institute conducts national and international conferences, briefings and events for its members and others, with world leaders, journalists and experts -- analyzing, strategizing, and keeping them informed on current issues, and where possible recommending solutions.

Ms Bergman in her report on "What do Islamic Parties in Europe Want?" writes: 

*Sweden's Jasin party is not unique. Islamist parties have begun to emerge in many European countries, such as the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, and France.

*In the Netherlands, Denk ran on a platform against the integration of immigrants into Dutch society (instead advocating "mutual acceptance", a euphemism for creating parallel Muslim societies); and for establishment of a "racism police" that would register "offenders" and exclude them from holding public office.

    "I consider every death of an American, British or Dutch soldier as a victory". — Dyab Abu Jahjah, leader of a group called Movement X and possibly starting an Islamist party in Belgium. The Belgian political magazine Knack named Jahjah the country's fourth-most influential person.

*The "I.S.L.A.M" party, founded in 2012, is working to implement Islamic law, sharia, in Belgium. The party already has branches in the Brussels districts of Anderlecht, Molenbeek and Liege. The party wants to "translate religion into practice".

*In France, as the journalist Yves Mamou recently reported, the PEJ has already approved 68 candidates and wants to abolish the separation of church and state, make veils mandatory for schoolgirls in public schools, introduce halal food in all schools and fight "Islamophobia".

*Sweden's brand new first Islamic party, Jasin, is aiming to run for the 2018 parliamentary elections. According to the website of the party, Jasin is a "multicultural, democratic, peaceful party" that is "secular" and aims to "unite everyone from the East... regardless of ethnicity, language, race, skin color or religion". Jasin apparently knows what the Swedes like to hear.

In an interview, the founder and spokesperson of the party, Mehdi Hosseini, who came from Iran to Sweden 30 years ago, revealed that the leader of the new political party, Sheikh Zoheir Eslami Gheraati, does not actually live in Sweden. He is an Iranian imam, who lives in Teheran, but Jasin wants to bring him to Sweden: "I thought he was such a peaceful person who would be able to manifest the peaceful side of Islam. I think that is needed in Sweden," said Hosseini.

The purpose of the Jasin party, however, does not appear to be either secular or multicultural. In its application to the Swedish Election Authority, the party writes -- with refreshing honesty -- that it will "firstly follow exactly what the Koran says, secondly what Shiite imams say". The Jasin party also states that it is a "non-jihadi and missionary organization, which will spread Islam's real side, which has been forgotten and has been transformed from a beautiful to a warlike religion..."

In mid-September, the Swedish Election Authority informed Jasin that it failed to deliver the needed signatures, but that it is welcome to try again. Anna Nyqvist, from the Swedish Election Authority, said that a political party with an anti-democratic or Islamic agenda is eligible to run for parliament if the party's application fulfills all formalities. Nyqvist considers it unproblematic that the leader of the party lives in Iran. "This is the essence of democracy, that all views should be allowed. And it is up to them to choose their party leader", Nyqvist said.

Sweden's Jasin Party is not unique. Islamist parties have begun to emerge in many European countries, such as the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, and France.

In the Netherlands, two Dutch Turks, former members of the Socialist party, founded a new party, Denk, only six months before the Dutch parliamentary elections. Despite the short timeframe, they managed to get one-third of the Muslim vote and three seats in parliament. The party does not hide its affinity for Turkey: Criticism of Turkey is taboo just as is their refusal to name the Turkish mass-slaughter of the Armenians during the First World War a genocide. The party ran on a platform against the integration of immigrants into Dutch society (instead advocating "mutual acceptance", a euphemism for creating parallel Muslim societies); and for establishment of a "racism police" that would register "offenders" and exclude them from holding public office.

In Austria, Turkish Muslims also formed a new party, the New Movement for the Future (NBZ), established in January 2017. According to its founder, Adnan Dincer, the NBZ is not an Islamic party or a Turkish party, despite being composed mainly of Turkish Muslims. Several of the party's Facebook posts are written only in Turkish. Dincer has made no secret of the fact that his party strongly backs Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whom it publicly supported at the time of the coup attempt in August 2016, and the subsequent clampdown by the Erdogan government.

In Belgium, several Islamic parties are preparing to run in the next elections. Dyab Abu Jahjah, apparently behind one of them, while not having presented a formal platform yet, has said he wants to "be part of an egalitarian radical renaissance that will conquer Brussels, Belgium, Europe and the whole world, with new politics of radical equality... defeat the forces of supremacy... of sustained privileges ... of the status-quo... in every possible arena".

Jahjah is a Lebanese immigrant, who emerged on the European scene, when he founded the now defunct Brussels-based Arab-European League in 2001. It was a pan-European political group aiming to create a Europe-wide "sharocracy" -- a supposedly sharia-based "democracy". In 2001, after the September 11 terror attacks, Jahjah said that he and many Muslims had felt a "sweet revenge feeling". In 2004, Jahjah said that he supported the killing of foreign troops in Iraq. "I consider every death of an American, British or Dutch soldier as a victory". He has also been opposed to the assimilation of Muslims, which he has described as "cultural rape".

Jahjah used to be considered a Hezbollah-supporting extremist, and, although he describes himself as a "political friend" of Jeremy Corbyn, he was banned from entering Britain. In Belgium, however, he is seen as a respectable activist, leader of a group called Movement X, and formerly with his own weekly column in the Belgian daily De Standaard. The Belgian political magazine Knack named Jahjah the country's fourth-most influential person, just behind Manchester City footballer Vincent Kompany. In January 2017, however, De Standaard fired Jahjah after he praised a terror attack in Jerusalem. "By any means necessary, #freepalestine," Jahjah had tweeted after an Muslim ISIS-affiliated terrorist plowed a truck through a crowd of young Israeli soldiers visiting Jerusalem, killing four and injuring countless others.

Jahjah will likely experience fierce competition from the "I.S.L.A.M" party, founded in 2012, and working to implement Islamic law, sharia, in Belgium. The party already has branches in the Brussels districts of Anderlecht, Molenbeek and Liege. The party wants to "translate religion into practice". One member explained that, "It's no coincidence that we started in Brussels. Here there are a lot of Muslims... who are not allowed to come forward with their identity too much...They are therefore frustrated. That can lead to radicalization".

 The party has put forth a mayoral candidate for the Brussels municipal elections in 2018: Michel Dardenne, who converted to Islam in 2002. In his program, Dardenne speaks mainly of how much the party respects Belgian democracy and its constitution, while simply wanting to help an undefined populace against "the elites". He may have found it easier to appeal to "progressive" non-Muslims that way. Brussels, 25% Muslim, has enormous potential for Islamic parties.

 In France, several Islamic parties are also preparing to run in elections. One party is the PEJ, established in 2015 by French-Turkish Muslims and reportedly connected to Recep Tayyip Erdogan's AKP. As the journalist Yves Mamou recently reported, the PEJ has already approved 68 candidates and wants to abolish the separation of church and state, make veils mandatory for schoolgirls in public schools, introduce halal food in all schools and fight "Islamophobia".

The obvious question is :How many Europeans are even paying attention to their agendas?
 
Read more : Europe: What do Islamic Parties Want? from the Gatestone Insitute