As the Muslim community celebrates Eid al-Fitr - it's also almost 500 years since Martin Luther's Reformation

While the Muslim community celebrates Eid al-Fitr, also known as Eid ul-Fitr or Eid celebration that marks the end of Ramadan (a holy month of fasting observed by Muslims) - it is also almost 500 years ago since Martin Luther's Protestant Reformation revolutionized the former dogmatic, legalistic Christian thinking;

One of the greatest achievements of the Reformation movement was that it brought forward the need for "educated faith"

As Martin Luther would have said:"You can now ask questions. You can be critical about the church. You yourself can read the Bible and sharpen your own conscience". Maybe, as we wish our Muslim brothers and Sisters a Şeker Bayramı, we also pray for them that they will be blessed in finding their own Martin Luther.

Almere-Digest

Britain: Is US-UK Trade Bill Now In US Congress, One Week After Brexit Legal?

Despite claims that the US would banish Britain to the “back of the queue” if it dared to leave the European Union, Congress is already considering measures to boost trade with the UK.

A bill to lock down current trading arrangements, and fire the starting gun on a bilateral deal, was introduced to the US Senate yesterday.

The United Kingdom Trade Continuity Act mandates the US to keep trading on exactly the same terms after Britain leaves the EU.

It also urges the President to start fast-track talks with the UK, with the aim of concluding a bilateral trade deal in just one year.\

The bill was introduced by senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Tom Cotton (R-AR), who said strengthening the so-called special relationship is in the interest of both nations.

It comes after a string of nations made positive noises about stepping up UK trade within days of it ditching the EU, which removes the ability of member states to strike their own deals.

The crucial section of the bill reads: “Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President should initiate negotiations with the United Kingdom with the goal of reaching a final comprehensive bilateral trade agreement by the date that is one year after such date of enactment; and the President should make every effort to negotiate such an agreement expeditiously.”

While the bill has no power to compel the President to do anything, it would be a strong sign that the US prioritizes closer economic relations with the UK.

In a statement on the bill, Senator Lee said: “Our nation’s special relationship with the United Kingdom has promoted economic prosperity and security in both countries for over a hundred years.

The legality of the bill, however, is questionable, since Britain has not yet formally put EU article 50 up for implementation, and is consequently still tied to EU laws, which does not allow member states of the EU to instigate their own trade negotiations.

EU-Digest 

Spain: Brit expats in Spain stunned and fearful after Brexit win

Britain has voted to leave the EU, by an expected margin of 52 percent to 48 percent, sending shockwaves around Europe.

After it initially appeared that the "Remain" campaign was on course for victory, the results that drifted in throughout the early hours of Friday morning, proved that many opinion polls, the bookmakers and political experts had got it wrong.

The result send the value of the pound crashing, recording it's biggest drop in over 30 years. Financial forecasters believe it will tumble even further throughout the day.

While the result will have major bearing on the future of Europe and on the futures of Britain's political parties, it will also have a major impact on the lives of many Brits living throughout the EU.

The fall in the value of the pound will have severely hit the value of pensions - often the only form of income for British expats and may make it unaffordable for many to stay abroad.

“I just can’t believe it, what will happen to the UK now and to our rights as Brits living and working abroad?” said Mary Reid, a primary school teacher from the Midlands living in Madrid.

“One of the first things I am going to do is consult a lawyer and see where I stand on getting Spanish nationality,” said the mother-of-one.

Carrie Frais, the Barcelona-based founder of MumAbroad Spain voiced the fears of many expat mothers who had chosen to bring up their children in Spain.

"I am truly shocked by the outcome of the referendum. Speaking on behalf of many British mothers who have chosen Spain as their adoptive country we know how important the UK is to the livelihoods and jobs of those working in the tourism and property sector, not to mention all the other thousands of industries which have gained from British investment here," she told The Local.

"The weakening of the pound is bound to have a significant and immediate effect and no-one can be sure of other restrictions imposed on UK investment in Spain in the future, not to mention the future of British people living and working here. It is indeed worrying times," she said.

Becoming a Spanish citizen requires giving up your British nationality and passport. 

This form of requiring nationality requires the person concerned to have been a legal resident of Spain for an uninterrupted period of ten years immediately prior to the application

According to Spain’s Foreign Office applicants must prove “good citizenship” and “a sufficient degree of integration in Spanish society” - which includes being able to speak Spanish and taking part in social activities with Spaniards.

Applications must be submitted to the Civil Registry of the place of residence.

Once you have been approved, you have to swear your loyalty to the King and promise to obey the Spanish constitution and laws. 

You also have to renounce your previous nationality.

One way to drastically shorten the waiting time to gain Spanish nationality is to be married to a Spaniard.

If you have been married to a Spaniard for at least one year, you can apply for Spanish nationality, also via the Civil Registry in your place of residence.

You have to still be married to a Spaniard upon application, no separated or divorced people need apply.

Widows and widowers of Spaniards can also immediately apply for Spanish citizenship.

Brit expats in Spain stunned and fearful after Brexit win - The Local

Suriname president acts to again avoid trial in 1982 deaths - by Pieter Van Mael

Bouterse, Suriname's President stops his own murder trial 

President Desi Bouterse sought again Wednesday to prevent authorities from putting him back on trial for the abduction and summary execution of 15 political opponents when he was the military dictator of this South American nation.

Bouterse instructed Suriname's attorney general to immediately halt proceedings against him, invoking an article of the constitution that allows the president to issue such an order in the interests of national security.

The action follows a June court ruling that invalidated an amnesty law pushed through parliament by Bouterse's supporters after he was elected president. The court ordered the resumption of the trial against him and 24 co-defendants.

Since then, the political mood has been tense amid expectations that the president would seek to prevent the case from moving forward. Bouterse had said the trial poses a danger to the internal security of the country, which is struggling through a recession because of the sharp drop in commodity prices.

Justice Minister Jennifer Van Dijk-Silos confirmed that the government had invoked Article 148 of Suriname's constitution in the matter but declined to discuss the decision.

Bouterse said little as he entered and left a closed session of parliament. "Every decision has its advantages and disadvantages," he said, without providing details.

A court session in the case was scheduled for Thursday but it was not immediately clear how the judges would react to the government's action.

"We are shocked, not only because of the president's decision, but also because it was unanimously backed by the entire government," said Eddy Wijngaarde, whose brother, Frank, was among those killed by the regime. "We had hoped at least some ministers would have refused to back the president's latest attempt to make the trial impossible."

Bouterse and 24 allies from his time as a military dictator in the 1980s avoided trial until November 2007 on charges stemming from the execution of the 15 prominent political opponents, an event known locally as the "December killings" that stunned the lightly populated nation on the northern tip of South America.

The former strongman returned to power in 2010 when he was elected president by parliament. Two years later, lawmakers passed an amnesty law and court proceedings were put on hold in a decision that outraged human rights activists.

Bouterse, who was re-elected by parliament last year, has accepted what he calls "political responsibility" for the military's killing of the 15 well-known journalists, lawyers and union leaders but said he was not present when the executions took place. Witnesses in the trial have disputed that claim.

Read more: Suriname president acts to again avoid trial in 1982 deaths - Houston Chronicle

The Netherlands: Istanbul Daesh attack: Flags at half mast as Dutch show solidarity with Turkey

City halls in Amsterdam, Utrecht, The Hague and Rotterdam are flying the Turkish flag at half mast to show solidarity with the victims of Tuesday evening’s bloody airport attack in Istanbul.

At least 41 people were killed in the blasts and the shootings, including several foreigners. King Willem-Alexander and queen Maxima have sent their condolences to everyone affected by the airport attacks. In a joint statement, the couple expressed their deepest sympathy with all the families who have been affected, both inside and outside Turkey.

The Hague mayor Jozias van Aartsen has written to the Turkish ambassador to express his condolences. ‘I hope that the Turkish people can find the strength to recover from this extremely tragic situation,’ he said.

Read more:Turkish flags at half mast as the Dutch show solidarity with Istanbul victims - DutchNews.nl

Turkey: At least 28 innocent people killed, 60 injured by "derelicts" as blasts rock Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport

Istanbul: Daesh Deranged Murderers Killing Innocent People

 At least 35 people have been killed and 60 more injured in two blasts that rocked Istanbul’s Ataturk airport, according to Turkish officials. The explosions were reportedly suicide bomb attacks.

The blasts occurred in the airport’s International Arrivals Terminal. 

A Turkish official confirmed to Reuters that two explosions have hit the airport. According to some Turkish media, the blasts were terrorist attacks targeting two separate locations in the airport.

Twenty-eight people have lost their lives in the blasts that hit the airport, Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin said, Turkey’s NTV channel reported.

More than 60 people have been injured, six of them seriously, in explosions at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, according to the Turkish state Anadolu news agency.

Many people caught in the blasts and near the airport posted photos and videos from the scene, showing the destruction caused by the explosions as well as people hiding in various places in search of safety.

Gunfire was heard from the car park near the airport, CNN Turk reports, citing the witnesses. Four armed men were reportedly seen running away from the terminal building after the explosions, according to Turkey’s NTV channel.

Note EU-Digest: Whoever eventually gets  blamed for this cruel act can only be regarded as totally deranged murderers. 

Read more: Over 20 killed, 60 injured as blasts rock Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport — RT News

The Netherlands: Why does Anti-Islam and Anti-Immigrant Geert Wilders' hides his Indonesian roots?

Geert Wilders in his yonger days

Dutch newspaper "de groene Amsterdammer reported that for years there have been rumors circulating that in reality Geert Wilders is an 'Indo' (an Indonesian-European, an ethnic mix that originated when the Dutch colonised Indonesia).

A Dutch genealogist said he had found several Indonesian ancestors of theright-wing populist Dutch politician known for his rabid anti-immigrant and anti-Islam ideas. Now anthropologist Lizzy van Leeuwen describes how his roots can be seen as the driving force behind his outspoken views.

In an article in the left-wing weekly De Groene Amsterdammer Van Leeuwen asks: "Is it possible that the post-colonial and family history have made Wilders what he and his politics are today?" The article is an intellectual attempt to analyse what drives Wilders to say that "all immigration from Islamic countries should be halted" and that "all fundamental problems in the Netherlands are related to immigration".

Wilders now dies his hair peroxide blond -

The conclusion reached by Van Leeuwen is that these statements - plus the fact that he dies his hair peroxide blond - are indeed related to his genealogical link to the largest Islamic country.

Geert Wilders' increasing popularity made his Party for Freedom the second largest Dutch party in European parliament in June. Known for his anti-establishment and anti-immigration politics, Wilders has been calling himself a 'Dutch freedom fighter'. But given that his mother's roots lay outside of the Netherlands, Van Leeuwen says a sense of 'displacedness' is the recurring, underlying motive in his statements.

The 6-page article reveals that Wilders' grandmother, Johanna Ording-Meijer, came from an old Jewish-Indonesian family and that Wilders lied about this in his 2008 biography. However, Van Leeuwen, an expert on the position of Indo-Dutch people in the post-colonial age, goes beyond the notion that a politician known for judging others on their ethnic roots can himself be traced to foreign ancestors.

Van Leeuwen went into the national archives to find the sad story of Wilders' grandfather on his mother's side. Johan Ording was a regional financial administrator in the Dutch colony who suffered several bankruptcies and was fired while on leave in the Netherlands in 1934. He was reduced to begging when the government refused to give him a pension, but later made it to prison director. Van Leeuwen suggests that Wilders is out to avenge the injustice done to his grandfather.

But more than anything, he was defined by his Indo-roots, she says. Indonesia was a Dutch colony until 1949 and many mixed-race people moved to the Netherlands after the Indonesian independence. Van Leeuwen describes how these people were put in the same 'cultural minority' box with labour immigrants from Turkey and Morocco, whom they felt no connection to at all. More so, they had always felt very patriotic about the Netherlands and harboured strong sentiments against Islam, the dominant religion in their motherland.

Van Leeuwen explains how this group has long been part of extreme-right movements (many supported the Dutch Nazi party NSB in Indonesia in the 1930s) while others belonged to the far-right of the right-wing liberal party VVD. She puts Wilders' statements in the conservative and colonial tradition of this group, which strongly believed in patriotism and "European values".

Van Leeuwen's analysis goes beyond the personal level: "The fact that Wilders obviously operates in a post-colonial political dimension, without it being recognised, says a lot about how the Netherlands dealt with, and still deals with the colonial past. Keep quiet, deny, forget and look the other way have been the motto for decades. Because of that, no one could imagine that what happened in Indonesia 50 years ago could still have its impact on modern-day politics."

And the hair? Van Leeuwen says his died mop is a "political symptom not taken serious enough". She thinks it was a brilliant move to step away from his Indonesian roots and hide his post-colonial revanchism. Although this may also be an example of his "classic Indo identity alienation."

Wilders has not responded to the publication.



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