Satirical magazine includes cartoon suggesting Kurdi might have grown up to be a sexual abuser
A cartoon in the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has caused online shock by suggesting drowned toddler Alan Kurdi would have grown up to be a sexual abuser like those immigrants allegedly involved in the assaults in Cologne.
As Mein Kampf returns to Germany, the world is again awash with hatred | Paul Mason
“Down with useless and harmful mega-projects,” reads the banner carried by No Elettrodotto protesters. Image from the No Elettrodotto 380 kV Villanova-Gissi Facebook page.
German chancellor Angela Merkel confirms at least eight German victims and nine seriously injured in a suicide bombing attack in Istanbul, saying the ‘fight against terror’ will prevail. A total of ten victims were killed in the Sultanahmet district. Germany has since issued an urgent travel warning to its citizens telling them to avoid gatherings or landmarks in Istanbul and Turkey as a whole
MAIN FOCUS: Will Cologne change Germany’s refugee policy? | 11/01/2016
In the wake of the mass sexual assaults on women on New Year’s Eve, the coalition government in Berlin is discussing consequences such as tighter deportation regulations for criminal foreigners this Monday. Some commentators advise the German government to stick to its level-headed migration policy. Others accuse Merkel of sparking an invasion and jeopardising European cohesion.”
Spain is facing several weeks of political paralysis before somebody gets to form a government – with or without new elections. But fragmentation and dysfunction will continue in the coming years. Español.
Mariano Rajoy, Spanish Head of Government. Matthias Oesterle/Demotix. All rights reserved
Spain celebrated general
MAIN FOCUS: How should Germany react to Cologne? | 12/01/2016
Twelve days into the new year the debate over the right response to the attacks in Cologne continues. Some warn that the left in particular should no longer ignore the people’s fears. Others call for German Chancellor Angela Merkel to resign and believe Germany will have to abandon its values so as not to endanger Europe.
You can ban Ukraine’s communists, but you can’t beat them.
What do you do when your national media is state controlled? For Belarusian ‘non-State’ media the answer has been to broadcast from neighbouring Poland. Here’s Euroradio’s story.
The Polish President Andrzej Duda signed the controversial media law put forward by the national-conservative PiS government on Thursday. Next week the European Commission will examine what steps it can take to counter what it views as a threat to the rule of law in Poland. The criticism from Brussels is a conspiracy against the PiS government by EU elites, some commentators believe. Others hope a broad alliance can bring Warsaw to its senses.
It seems fitting that as I start piecing together the fragments of interviews and notes gathered over the past months that it has been just over a year since Estonia’s innovative e-Residency program began, which is where my fascination with Estonia began and this story starts. As someone who has lived in three countries and has projects and personal connections all over the World, the concept of being a ‘virtual’ citizen, if only for business purposes, was instantly appealing. I won’t go into detail on the program itself, but I want to start digging beneath the surface of Estonia by…
Poland’s right turn: inexplicable madness or rational response?
Western commentators see the ‘sudden’ right-wing turn of Poland as a so-passé mixture of nationalism, populism and deficits of democracy. But the truth is very different.
Committee for the Defence of Democracy (KOD) protest in Gdasnk against Law and Justice’s (PiS) attempt to change constitutional law. Demotix/Michal Fludra. All rights reserved.Apparently, a mysterious infectious disease has spread across Central and Eastern Europe. Countries, which for years after the fall of communism were examples of an accomplished transition to the ‘Western world’, have been sliding, one after another, into inexplicable madness.
The refugee crisis has triggered a diplomatic row between Greece and certain ‘new’ member-states from Central and Eastern Europe. What doess this tell us?
Humanitarian assistance to Syrian refugees at Idomeni, Greece, August, 2015.
The EU said it will host emergency talks Wednesday (6 January) with Denmark, Sweden and Germany about new migrant border checks that have sparked fresh concerns about Europe’s Schengen passport-free zone.
The English make up 85% of the UK’s population, with London home to a population equal to that of Scotland and Wales combined and an economy closely linked to Europe. But the capital and its country are at odds when it comes to Europe. Analysing patterns and differences of opinion in England, and especially the outlook of Londoners, is therefore vital to understanding how the UK will vote in the forthcoming referendum – and how the UK’s countries, regions and peoples will deal with the outcome.
The police in Cologne have received more than 100 complaints from women who claim to have been robbed and sexually assaulted by men of “Arab or North African appearance” on New Year’s Eve. Some commentators blame German Chancellor Merkel’s liberal immigration policy for the attacks. For others the sudden rush of concern about women’s safety is just a cover for racism.
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