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In this mailing:
by Soeren Kern
• September 14, 2016 at 5:00 am
- Critics say that
the creation of a European army, a long-held goal of European
federalists, would entail an unprecedented transfer of sovereignty
from European nation states to unelected bureaucrats in Brussels,
the de facto capital of the EU.
- Others say that
efforts to move forward on European defense integration show that
European leaders have learned little from Brexit, and are determined
to continue their quest to build a European superstate regardless of
opposition from large segments of the European public.
- "Those of
us who have always warned about Europe's defense ambitions have
always been told not to worry... We're always told not to worry
about the next integration and then it happens. We've been too often
conned before and we must not be conned again." — Liam Fox,
former British defense secretary.
- "[C]reation
of EU defense structures, separate from NATO, will only lead to
division between transatlantic partners at a time when solidarity is
needed in the face of many difficult and dangerous threats to the
democracies." — Geoffrey Van Orden, UK Conservative Party
defense spokesman.
Soldiers from the Eurocorps on parade in Strasbourg,
France, on January 31, 2013. Eurocorps is an intergovernmental military
unit of approximately 1,000 soldiers from Belgium, France, Germany,
Luxembourg and Spain, stationed in Strasbourg. (Image: Claude
Truong-Ngoc/Wikimedia Commons)
European leaders are discussing "far-reaching proposals"
to build a pan-European military, according to a French defense ministry
document leaked to the German newspaper, the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
The efforts are part of plans to relaunch the European Union at
celebrations in Rome next March marking the 60th anniversary of the
Treaty of Rome, which established the European Community.
The document confirms rumors that European officials are rushing
ahead with defense integration now that Britain — the leading military
power in Europe — will be exiting the 28-member European Union.
British leaders have repeatedly blocked efforts to create a European
army because of concerns that it would undermine the NATO alliance, the
primary defense structure in Europe since 1949.
Proponents of European defense integration argue that it is needed
to counter growing security threats and would save billions of euros in
duplication between countries.
by Johanna Markind
• September 14, 2016 at 4:00 am
- "[A] basic
American legal principle [is]: American courts apply American law,
rather than one rule for Muslims, one rule for Christians, one rule
for Jews, and so on." — Eugene Volokh, First Amendment law
professor at UCLA.
- Allowing
Islamic shariah law to substitute for state law regarding
inheritance and related matters would undercut the values of equal
protection of the laws and equality before the law, and in many
instances, would violate American law.
The Minnesota Court of Appeals has rejected an argument that would
essentially have required a lower court to divide the proceeds of a
wrongful-death suit under shariah (Islamic law) rules governing
inheritance. The decision was based on technical grounds, leaving open
the question of whether a state court would apply shariah in the future.
Nadir Ibrahim Ombabi, a 57-year-old taxi driver, was killed October
29, 2012, in a car accident outside Minneapolis. Ombabi was a native of
Sudan, where he was a family doctor, and was working on becoming
certified as a medical doctor in the U.S. when he died. He was active in
Minnesota's Sudanese community.
Ombabi left behind a wife, mother, brother, and sisters. He married
Nariman Sirag Elsayed Khalil in Sudan, under Islamic law. Reportedly, she
was still living in Africa when Ombabi died, and he would "often
send back money to help his family." His brother was living in
California and a sister in Canada.
by Susan Warner
• September 14, 2016 at 3:00 am
- The question of
whether Socialism can be an effective economic system was famously
raised when Margaret Thatcher said of the British Labor Party,
"I think they've made the biggest financial mess that any
government's ever made in this country for a very long time, and
Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They
always run out of other people's money. It's quite a characteristic
of them. They then start to nationalise everything."
- There are dire
reports of people waiting in supermarket lines all day, only to
discover that expected food deliveries never arrived and the shelves
are empty.
- There are
horrific tales of desperate people slaughtering zoo animals to
provide their only meal of the day. Even household pets are targeted
as a much-needed source for food.
- President
Maduro is doubling down on the proven failed policies and
philosophies of "Bolivarian Socialism," while diverting
attention away from the crisis -- pointing fingers at so-called
"enemies" of Venezuela such as the United States, Saudi
Arabia and others.
- A dozen eggs
was last reported to cost $150, and the International Monetary Fund
"predicts that inflation in Venezuela will hit 720% this year.
Venezuela's food shortages, hyperinflation, black
marketeers, narcoterrorists and money launderers are unfortunate
hallmarks of the legacy of Presidents Chavez (left) and Maduro (right).
For many Venezuelans, by every economic, social and political
measure, their nation is unravelling at breakneck speed.
Severe shortages of food, clean water, electricity, medicines and
hospital supplies punctuate a dire scenario of crime-ridden streets in
the impoverished neighborhoods of this nearly failed OPEC state, which at
one time claimed to be the most prosperous nation in Latin America.
Today, a once comfortable middle-class Venezuelan father is
scrambling desperately to find his family's next meal -- sometimes
hunting through garbage for salvageable food. The unfortunate 75%
majority of Venezuelans already suffering extreme poverty are reportedly
verging on starvation.
Darkness is falling on Hugo Chavez's once-famous "Bolivarian
revolution" that some policy experts, only a short time ago, thought
would never end.
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