USA - Donald Trump: Lock him up! If Trump refuses to leave the scene after his defeat, there's an obvious solution - by Amanda Marcotte

Trump's desperation to keep his name in the headlines — and to keep money and adoration flowing from his gullible supporters — is bad news. While it's true that Trump's divisiveness and authoritarianism is a symptom of the country's increasingly toxic culture war, and not the principal cause, it's also true that he's throwing gasoline on the fire and making things worse. By keeping up a constant stream of lies and conspiracy theories, Trump is training nearly half the country to believe that lying in the service of MAGA is no sin. He's helping to radicalize conservatives who might otherwise have had some attachment to reality and common sense, and creating permission for the right to be openly anti-democratic and bigoted in ways it largely shied away from before.

No, in order to heal the nation, Trump needs to be prosecuted. Biden will have to swallow the unpleasant pill of weathering bad-faith accusations and negative media commentary, by both hiring people who have the guts to do it and letting them loose to do their job. Unity cannot be achieved by letting bad people get away with crimes. We need a reckoning, and real justice, before the process of healing can begin.

Read more: Lock him up! If Trump refuses to leave the scene after his defeat, there's an obvious solution | Salon.com

EU CONSUMERS RIGHT TO JUSTICE VERSUS BIG BUSINESS MANIPULATIONS

Don’t let big business rob EU consumers of their right to justice 

Read more at: 

 https://www.euronews.com/2018/12/04/don-t-let-big-business-rob-eu-consumers-of-their-right-to-justice-view

Banking Industry: still free wheeling

The book:The U.S." Government and the Major Banks:Justice for Sale at the Bazaar-By Frank Vogl "

notes: 

"To date, not a single top banker has been put on trial, let alone sent to prison, for the frauds perpetrated by the institutions they lead". 

Obviously the question is Who is kidding whom ?- 

Bottom-Line: Hanky - Panky Capitalism still alive and well.

EU-DIGEST

US Foreign Policy: ISIS and European Refugees Crises A Direct Result of Iraqi War

Blair and Bush launch Iraq war based on false information:

Why are Governments keeping silent about the undeniable fact that the terrorism and security crises Europe is facing comes as a direct result of the Iraqi war.

Also,  as more and more innocent victims die as a result of terrorism in Europe and around the world, Governments need to recognize the facts and identify the culprits who provided false information to the so-called "coalition of the willing" which resulted in  more than a million civilian and military deaths.

During the years following the aftermath of the Iraqi war it should be crystal clear to our political leaders that military actions are not the answer to solving any political crises  So far this strategy has only increased the security problems around the worls and resulted in a very unstable political and social environment..

Across Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Turkey people have crossed borders and traveled many kilometres within their own country to find respite from war.

Millions have crossed continents and have ended up in Europe seeking that same respite. By and large it's taken Europe by surprise. Opinions vary on how to deal with the crisis. Some say Europe and the US should step up. Others say the rich Gulf states should use their enormous wealth to help.

The fact remains: why is no Government leader in the US or Europe backing the obvious that a strategic mistake was made by the invasion and occupation of Iraq?  Can our Governments still be trusted ?

March 2003 was the pivotal point. Based on controversial evidence that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction (WMD), the war drums beat loudly.

The WMD claim was eventually publicly discredited by the CIA's own Iraq survey group report . That report proved whispers and intelligence community doubts from the time that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

But it wasn't just those who questioned the evidence. Mass opposition from the British and American public concluded in marches in various Western capitals opposing the war.

Those voices went ignored and in March 2003, the then US president George Bush Bush  and the British prime minister Tony Blait  met in the Azores, Portugal, with the Spanish prime minister, and set into motion events that now include the dead body of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi that washed up on a Turkish beach.

The Arab Spring was officially launched when Mohamed Morsi, who became Egypt's first democratically elected president, was toppled by the military in 2013. Initially it was not religious or even violent in nature.

It was popular anger at dictators propped up by the West coupled with frustration at the lack of economic development.

Down the dictators fell, and with them, decades of religious suppression. That religious fervour found expression in anger at the US' role in Iraq.

Suddenly religious groups were able to speak freely, and freely they did, mainly about the US and its role in the region.

Then when the protests reached Syria, President Bashar al-Assad knew he didn't want to suffer the same fate as his Arab counterparts.

The West quickly abandoned him and said no negotiations while he was in power. Left with little choice he moved on those that opposed him in a violent and bloody manner.

The Iraq war was the war too far - the one that has changed the Middle East.

It was the war that solidified and unified disparate young men from different countries into following the path of violent jihad.

Had the Iraq war not happened, then Saddam Hussein would have been contained as he was.
This dictator was a threat to freedom and to his own people, but was no longer a threat to his neighbours.

The leaders of ISIL and other radical groups would have found death in Afghanistan or prison elsewhere. However, hindsight and "what if" are the words of those that have the luxury of not living in a tent.

The Iraq war did happen.

The refugee crisis is happening.

Now the only questions the world perhaps should be asking is how we can bring about a political solution to the war in Syria and how we bring all sides to the table.

What the refugee crisis has done is force the Western European public to think. Whether they can force their governments to act and bring about a solution is another question.

The architects of the Iraq war still say their actions had nothing to do with the current crisis.

It is high time that the US, EU members states and other Nations, including China and Russia step up to the plate and let international justice take its course by prosecuting those who lied about the weapons of mass destruction, for war crimes. 

In the same breath, these nations under auspices of the United Nations should also declare the Middle East a nuclear and military free zone and weapon sales to this area should be prohibited.

The NATO, which has outlived its cold war purpose should be disbanded,  and replaced by a Multi-National Development Network to initially benefit the populations of Middle Eastern and North African Nations, and eventually also other nations ravaged by famine, war or tribal conflicts.

All this might sound like a utopian fantasy or unattainable dream, but it is certainly worth the effort and a far more productive proposition than enriching the weapons industry which is killing millions of innocent civilians around the world today.

EU-Digest

EU: Justice for atrocity and economic crimes: can the EU deliver? - by Javor Rangelov, Marika Theros, and Nataša Kandić

With the partial exception of the Holocaust, European states have done little reckoning with their own legacies of abuse inherited from war and repressive rule in Europe and the former colonies.
  
At the June Summit, which will take place after the UK Referendum, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, will present the results of her global review of external strategy. As part of the review process, the Human Security Study Group, at the LSE, which is convened by Mary Kaldor and Javier Solana, has presented a report entitled From Hybrid Peace to Human Security: Rethinking the EU Strategy Towards Conflict together with twelve background research papers .

Conflicts are at the sharp end of contemporary crises. Refugees, extremist ideologies, criminality and predation are all produced in conflict. Contemporary conflicts are sometimes known as ‘hybrid wars’ or ‘new wars’ in which classic distinctions between public and private, government/regular and rebel/irregular, and internal and external break down. They are best understood not as legitimate contests of wills (the twentieth century idea of war) but as a degenerate social condition in which armed groups mobilise sectarian and fundamentalist sentiments and construct a predatory economy through which they enrich. Identifying ways to address violent conflict could open up strategies for dealing with broader issues.

In this special openDemocracy series, the Human Security Study Group outlines the main conclusions of our report in our introductory essay together with six essays based on some of the background papers. These essays include: an analysis of the conceptual premises of the Global Review (Sabine Selchow); three essays on specific conflict zones – Syria (Rim Turkmani), Ukraine (Tymofiy Mylovanov), the Horn of Africa (Alex de Waal); the importance of the EU’s justice instrument (Iavor Rangelov); and how EU cyber security policy is human rights focused rather than state focussed (Genevieve Schmeder and Emmanuel Darmois). 

Few issues galvanise citizen action and activism in conflict-affected areas like justice for atrocity crimes and economic crimes. This high demand for justice reflects the criminalised character of both the violence and the war economy in today’s conflicts. Most people on the ground experience conflict as daily encounters with different forms of abuse and predation that make their lives profoundly insecure. 

Read more: Justice for atrocity and economic crimes: can the EU deliver? | openDemocracy

Sweden jails two ISIS men for life for crimes in Syria - by Robert Hackwil

Two men have been jailed for life in Sweden for committing acts of murder in Syria. They are the first to be jailed for terrorist crimes committed in the country.

The men, both Swedish, deny the charges and at least one says he will appeal.

They are accused of beheading and cutting the throats of two men in Aleppo in 2013.

One insisted he had gone to Syria to fight against the Assad regime, but film emerged of him and his colleague enthusiastically taking part in acts of savagery.

It had been kept by the youngest of the accused on a USB key at his home in Gotenburg.

Both men lived in Sweden’s second city, which has sent over 120 people to fight in Syria, making it one of Islamic State’s main recruiting centres in Europe.

Read more: Sweden jails two men for life for crimes in Syria | euronews, world news

Guantanamo: Pentagon blocking Guantánamo deals to return Shaker Aamer and other cleared detainees

The Pentagon is blocking the return of UK permanent resident Shaker Aamer and two other longtime Guantánamo Bay detainees for whom the US Department of State has completed diplomatic deals to transfer home, the Guardian has learned.

American and UK diplomats reached an agreement in late 2013 for the return of Aamer, who has spent more than 13 years at the infamous detention facility without charge, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the understanding.

But even as the White House pledged to make his case a priority after a personal plea from David Cameron, Barack Obama’s defense secretaries have played what one official called “foot-dragging and process games” to let the deals languish.

Pentagon chief Ashton Carter, backed by powerful US military officers, have withheld support for sending Aamer back to the UK.

The ongoing obstruction has left current and former US officials who consider the detainees a minimal threat seething, as they see it undermining relations with Britain and other foreign partners while subverting from the inside Obama’s long-stifled goal of closing the infamous detention facility.

Some consider the White House indecisive on Guantánamo issues, effectively enabling Pentagon intransigence ahead of the release of a long-awaited strategy for closing the facility before Obama’s presidency ends.

Two of the men being kept at Guantánamo were cleared by a 2010 government review, in which the Pentagon participated, that found them to pose little threat to US or allied national security. Aamer is among them.

Administration officials said the Pentagon has never formally opposed the transfers, an act of outright resistance to a high-profile presidential commitment that risks reprisal. The transfers have the backing of the US Justice Department, the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Read more: Pentagon blocking Guantánamo deals to return Shaker Aamer and other cleared detainees | US news | The Guardian

The Netherlands: 'Ban EU criminals from the Netherlands'

The opposition Socialist Party SP wants to bar convicted criminals from other EU countries from returning to the Netherlands.

The Volkskrant newspaper reports that the measure is intended to crack down on criminal gangs from Eastern European countries. SP MP Sharon Gesthuizen:

EU-Digest

Dutchman Van der Sloot gets 28 years for Peru murder

A Peruvian court on Friday sentenced Dutch national Joran van der Sloot to 28 years in prison for murder of a young woman he met at a Lima casino.

Prosecutors had asked for a 30-year sentence for first-degree murder and theft in the May 30, 2010, killing of Stephany Flores. She died five years to the day after the unsolved disappearance of U.S. teen Natalee Holloway on the Caribbean island of Aruba.

The 24-year-old van der Sloot, who pleaded guilty in the Flores death on Wednesday, was also ordered by the Lima court to pay $75,000 in reparations to the family of the 21-year-old victim. He said he reserves the right to appeal.

For more: Van der Sloot gets 28 years for Peru murder - World - CBC News

In Europe, Disquiet Over Bin Laden and U.S. by STEVEN ERLANGER

No European government has condemned or criticized the killing of Osama bin Laden by American commandos, but the questions raised about the changing details of his death sharpened considerably after the White House revealed that he did not fire a weapon, was not armed and did not use a woman as a protective shield.

For more: In Europe, Disquiet Over Bin Laden and U.S. - NYT STEVEN ERLANGE

Washington Post: Guinea narcostate revealed in TV confessions - cocaine sent to Europe in the country's diplomatic pouch - by Rukmini Callimachi

For the complete report from the washingtonpost.com click on this link

Guinea narcostate revealed in TV confessions - cocaine sent to Europe in the country's diplomatic pouch - by Rukmini Callimachi

As the people of Guinea sat transfixed before their TV sets, top government officials one after another confessed to their role in a lucrative international cocaine trade. Organized by a military junta that seized power three months ago, the confessions offer unprecedented insight into an exploding drug trade in West Africa, one that connects coca leaves grown in South American fields to cocaine users in European.

A recent United Nations report found that at least 46 tons of cocaine have been seized en route to Europe via West Africa since 2005, bringing profits that sometimes exceed the entire defense budgets of countries it passes through. Before that time, less than a ton a year was seized from the entire continent. "The vast majority of cocaine that is destined for Europe is now going through West Africa," said Michael Braun, who was the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency's operations chief when he retired in October. Note EU-Digest: Although there have been warnings about ongoing large drug shipments from South America via Africa to Europe for many months now, very little seems to be done on the European end of this criminal trade route. It is high time serious attention is given by the European political and judicial establishment to stop this exploding drug trade which has gotten totally out of hand.

AP: Dutch say unlocked bike not enticement to steal

For the complete report from the AP click on this link

Dutch say unlocked bike not enticement to steal

The Dutch Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of a bicycle thief who stole a decoy bike planted by police. Lawyers for the convicted thief — a repeat offender who was sentenced to 22 days in jail — had argued that leaving the bike unlocked amounted to entrapment. But the five-judge court has rejected that, saying the man wasn't personally targeted.Tuesday's court ruling said placing an unlocked decoy bike didn't make the suspect do anything he had not intended doing beforehand.

The Telegraph: Carla Bruni taunted Rachida Dati over seduction of Nicolas Sarkozy, claims book - by Peter Allen

Rachida Dati, France's Justice Minister

For the complete report from the Telegraph click on this link

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the French first lady, taunted one of the country's most senior women politicians about her failure to seduce President Nicolas Sarkozy, a new book claims.Following a New Year's Eve dinner at the Elysée, Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy and Miss Dati were walking in the palace's private apartments when the then Miss Bruni is said to have pointed at Mr Sarkozy's bed and said: "You'd have loved to occupy it, wouldn't you?" The book says the women "who were just getting to know each other, were also learning how to detest each other". Miss Dati a Muslim and France's Justice Minister was a close friend of Mr Sarkozy's ex-wife, Cécilia Ciganer-Albéniz, who called her "my little sister" - making the new Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy dislike her even more.

Two decades ago Rachida Dati, a French daughter of north African immigrants, got married to a man that she barely knew. It was not quite an arranged marriage. It was a marriage "to please her family". She immediately regretted her decision. She persuaded her Algerian husband to agree to an instant annulment. Rachida Dati was in her early twenties at the time and making her way as a young lawyer and businesswoman in Paris. Through hard work, as a law student and by taking menial jobs, she had already fought her way clear of her impoverished, immigrant family of 11 brothers and sisters just north of Lyons. Two decades later, Mme Dati is France's first senior minister of north African origin. She is a protégée of President Nicolas Sarkozy. She has been catapulted without previous experience – and her enemies insist without any political skills – into one of the most senior and potentially explosive jobs in French government.

Her political career is threatened by her response to a national debate over how much French law should be influenced by its minorities, based on a court decision that reflects Ms. Dati's own experience as a young Muslim woman struggling to make her way out of a ghetto north of the French city of Lyon. The controversy began last week when a Paris newspaper revealed that a court in the northern city of Lille had annulled the marriage of a Muslim couple because the bride, 20, had lied to her husband, 32, about her virginity. The judge did not cite the couple's religion or the bride's previous sexual experience but ruled that, under the French civil code, the young woman had breached the marital contract by being untruthful about what her husband considered "an essential quality decisive for [his] consent." Feminists, philosophers and politicians of all stripes have united to condemn the decision as a step backward for equality and a dangerous step toward incorporating religious beliefs into the laws of a proudly secular state. Note EU-Digest: Lying, if it is about one's virginity or something else, remains a lie, and has nothing to do about one's religion in order for the lie to qualify as a lie. Mme Dati is on the right track. President Sarkozy said calls for justice minister Rachida Dati to resign over comments she made about a Muslim marriage annulment amounted to a ‘baseless lynching’.

Spiegel Online: German Justice Failures: Paving the Way for a Muslim Parallel Society (in Europe)

For the complete report from SPIEGEL ONLINE click on this link

German Justice Failures: Paving the Way for a Muslim Parallel Society (in Europe)

A recent ruling in Germany by a judge who cited the Koran underscores the dilemma the country faces in reconciling Western values with a growing immigrant population. A disturbing number of rulings are helping to create a parallel Muslim world in Germany that is welcoming to Islamic fundamentalists.

Die Tageszeitung ran a story on the case titled: "In the Name of the People: Beating Allowed," while the right-wing tabloid Bild called it "An Outrageous Case!" The same unanimity across party lines prevailed in the political realm. "Unbearable," was conservative Bavarian Interior Minister Günther Beckstein's ruling, while Lale Akgün, a member of parliament of Turkish origin and the Social Democratic Party's representative on Islamic issues, commented that the Frankfurt judge's ruling was "worse than some backyard decision by an Islamist imam." Even the deputy head of the Green Party's parliamentary group, Hans-Christian Ströbele, noted that a German judge is obligated to uphold German law.

The following is the relevant part from Sura 4 on Women, taken from the Holy Koran as translated by Tashad Kadifa: “The men are made responsible for the women, and God has endowed them with certain qualities, and made them the bread earners. The righteous women will cheerfully accept this arrangement, since it is God’s commandment, and honour their husbands during their absence. If you experience rebellion from the women, you shall first talk to them, then (you may use negative incentives like) deserting them in bed, then you may (as a last alternative) beat them. If they obey you, you are not permitted to transgress against them. God is Most High, Supreme.” (http://www.submission.ws/quran/frames/index.html)

Note EU-Digest: "The real dilemma is that some European judges do not seem to be aware that the EU is a democratic and secular society. Muslim women who have become European Citizens have a free choice to accept Muslim religious laws or not, but it is against the law in Europe to beat any living being."

European Story: Europe at 50 - Join The Debate - what story should Europe tell

For the full report on the "European Story" click on this link

Europe at 50 - Join The Debate - what story should Europe tell

Welcome. Join us in a debate about where Europe has come from and where it should be heading to. As the European Union approaches its ‘50th birthday’ — the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome — it seems to many of us that Europe has lost the plot. Europeans badly need a new story that we can tell in our different languages and idioms.

Timothy Garton Ash professor of European studies at Oxford University drafted a first proposal for a new way in which we could tell our story around six goals to which most Europeans aspire: Freedom, Peace, Law, Prosperity, Diversity and Solidarity.

You can read the English version in Prospect magazine by clicking on this link

Versions published in other European languages will be posted as soon as they appear.

This is only one writer’s first draft. The story is no good unless enough Europeans think it is pointing in the right direction. Please join in the debate. Feel free to use any European language you like. The discussion is completely free, but it will be followed by a group of our European students here at Oxford. We will remove anything that is downright obscene or constitutes incitement to hatred, and may tidy up the formatting, but otherwise we will leave posts exactly as they come.