The monster they are trying to create

To my regular readers it must be obvious that THE subject occupying my attention is the euro-crisis. As the myth would have it, the Chinese character for the word 'crisis' is also used in the meaning of 'danger' and 'opportunity'. Both alternative meanings are very much applicable to the predicament we, on this side of the Big Pond find ourselves in.

These days, more and more are saying it has become inevitable for Greece to default and leave the euro-zone. By many accounts this will have disastrous effects of French banks and the economies of Portugal, Spain and quite likely Italy. This will lead to more defaults and banks keeling over, until the whole edifice comes crashing down around the world. 'Fallen is the whore of Babylon', that is the sort of event we are contemplating.

I've added two blogs to the blogroll that are chronicling, more knowledgeable then yours truly ever could, the demise of the current world order. they are Golem XIV (featured on KV before) and The Slog. For starters you may want to read their latest here (for Golem XIV) and here (for The Slog)

The events unfolding before our eyes may well mean the end of the EUnion. That is an aspect that will, I imagine, not be mourned by many. The EUnion was never much liked, but it is now becoming an object of wide-spread visceral hatred. Which is to be expected when in the midst of the biggest crisis since WWII we have its figure-heads coming up with nothing better then the same answer they have to all issues they encounter: More Europe.

But the call for 'more Europe', as sunny as it may sound to some, leads us into a direction that is by no means desirable. As evidence I offer you the video above, giving you the low-down on the European Stability Mechanism, the planned successor to the EFSF. It is in German, but has EN subtitles (for a version with NL subtitles go here).

What it shows is how the ESM, far from being the lifeline thrown to save our economies from drowning, it is a naked, cynical power grab that would emasculate, even murder, any national sovereignty that is still left in this post-Lisbon age. I really urge you to spend the 4 minutes it takes to view this item. And to pass it on to as many as possible. The implications of this are to big and fearful to fully grasp, but it is as clear an indication of the unaccountable monster they are trying to create as any.

When the melt-down happens it will not be pleasant. There will be hardship for most, if not all, of us. But worse still is what is being planned for us, dictated to us, from the halls of Brussels. Being free, but poor may not be what any of us have wished for. Being eternally poor and enslaved is, however, that much worse. Let us hope and pray that the storm blowing over Europe and the world these days will kill this beast.

We will cure you

Today, the Turkish minister of European affairs and negotiator on behalf of Turkey, Egemen Bagis, released the following statement (pdf; emphasis mine):

A memorandum of understanding for the secondment of Turkish officials at the European Commission is signed in Strasbourg on the 28th of September, 2011 by the Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Mr. Egemen BAĞIŞ and Vice‐President of the European Commission in charge of Inter Institutional Relations and Administration Mr.Maroš ŠEFČOVIČ.

As agreed between Turkey and the European Commission, Turkish national experts will be employed at the Commission as “Seconded National Experts” and “National Experts in Professional Training”. This recent development is a ‘milestone’ for Turkey‐EU relations since through this secondment, Turkish bureaucrats will work together with the Euroaucrats in policy making and implementation of the EU politics. In other words, Turks will have a role in shaping EU's future politics and legislation.

The network created in the corridors of the European Commission and other European institutions between Turkish bureaucrats and Eurocrats, will not only contribute to mutual learning and socialization, it will also remove misperceptions and misjudgments against Turkey’s membership in the minds and hearts of some Europeans.

Remember this? It features the self-same Egemen Bagis, telling PVV MEP Barry Madlener:

Racism is a dangerous disease from which Europe suffers much. It is clear there are still people suffering from it. Mr Madlener, we will cure you.

And evidently the EUnion is going to let him.

So, the EUnion has now progressed so far beyond common sense and indeed sanity, that they will allow Erdogan and his clique influence over legislation that will make our lives miserable.

In a statement (NL) the PVV reacts angrily: The European Commission has lost its mind.

Wilders: "Erdogan recently threw off his mask, and behaved like a common war-monger. The European commission has evidently lost its mind in letting in this islamic Trojan horse at this time and letting Turks co-write EU legislation to be implemented in the Netherlands. It is time to end once and for all this charade and tell the Turks they are not welcome in the EU. Not now, not tomorrow, not ever".

Madlener: "It is an outrageous scandal that, in a time when Turkey is a security risk in the region, the European Commission tries to hasten the accession of Turkey. Turkey has been occupying for decades now a large part of full EU member state Cyprus and recently has sent warships to the European outer border. Letting in these wolves in sheeps clothing is a tragic low point in the futile negotiations currently being held. Those negotiations should be ceased definitively and the commission should withdraw this idiotic plan".

Not much to add to that. Doesn't happen very often but I now find myself in complete, 100% agreement with both distinguished representatives of the PVV.

This is a rather momentous, and monumentally daft, decision. Are they really attempting to slip this by us, now that all eyes are on the euro-crisis? What utter, utter cretins.

But that is not the important question. Seeing as I just stumbled across it while editing Underdog News and hadn't heard a peep about it before, I have a more important question: Where the HELL is our intrepid MSM? Are these babybooming, fat lazy fuckers doing this on purpose? Have they no decency at all any more? Are they really now only flaccid, limp purveyors of state propaganda? Is the fearsome Watchdog of the people quiveringly mum when its masters tell it to be quiet?

What an utter disgrace it is to be a journalist in this day and age.

Quote of the day

This crisis has turned us into criminals. Who will respect politicians anymore after this? Who will trust the law if the law is not obeyed by us? We should be governed by the rule of law and by the members of the parliaments who we have ourselves chosen.


These bailouts are immoral. We are pouring our money to the bad guys: to the governments that cheated us and to the bankers that made huge profits by taking reckless risks... It’s outrageous. I say, it’s outrageous!

Timo Soini, Eurosceptic, leader of Finland’s fastest-growing political party, the True Finns, quoted by
James Delingpole in The Spectator, asking some very important questions for this day and age.

Are you lot paying attention, up there in The Hague?

Breaking: Greece

Via Zerohedge we get the Financial Times breaking news that Greece is broker then broke and the bail-out package agreed last July 21 may have to be broken open and renegotiated.

A split has opened in the eurozone over the terms of Greece’s second €109bn bail-out with as many as seven of the bloc’s 17 members arguing for private creditors to swallow a bigger writedown on their Greek bond holdings, according to senior European officials.

The divisions have emerged amid mounting concerns that Athens’ funding needs are much bigger than estimated just two months ago. They threaten to unpick a painfully negotiated deal reached with private sector bond holders in July.

While hardliners in Germany and the Netherlands are leading the calls for more losses to be imposed on the private sector, France and the European Central Bank are fiercely resisting any such move. They fear re-opening the bond deal could spark renewed selling of shares in European banks, which have significant holdings of Greek and other peripheral eurozone debt.

Because of the recent economic downturn and Greece’s slow implementation of austerity measures, officials estimate Athens’ funding needs over the next three years have grown beyond the €172bn forecast this summer. The scale of the shortfall will be determined by international lenders over the next few weeks

Tyler Durden comments:

So let's get this straight: the funding hole was €109 billion two months ago, and it is €172 billion, an incremental differential of €63 billion in two months, or €360 billion annualized.

...Pardon us, while we...

HA HA HA HA HA HA

We apologize but...

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

How on Our Dear Lords green Earth does one run up a national debt from 109 BILLION to 172 BILLION in just two months? Is the EUnion now actively euthanizing Greece? What is going on here?

[UPDATE001] Ambrose Evans-Pritchard has a hammer, sees a nail, hits it on its head: Frau Merkel, it really is a euro crisis.

Greece’s debt levels are around 250pc of GDP, at the lower end of the developed world.

Spain’s sovereign debt is admirably modest at around 65pc. Italy’s household debt level is the envy of the rich world. It has a primary budget surplus. Italy has many problems, but the budget deficit is not one of them.

So why is there such a destructive and long-festering crisis in the eurozone?

The answer:

The reason this crisis keeps grinding ever deeper is because the euro itself is a machine for perpetual destruction. The currency is fundamentally warped and misaligned.

The conclusion:

EMU should not be saved.

Nor should the EUnion, I'd like to add.

Lost faith

Via His Grace (and do read the comments), we get a independent trader telling the BBC an unexpectedly frank bit of unvarnished truth. The reaction of the BBC staff at the end of that item is worth the price of admission alone.

The sentiment underlying this guy's fatalism is expressed admirably by Golem XIV:

Does anyone anywhere believe anything they are told, on any subject, by any government official, financial expert or banker? Beneath all the outright lies, hopeless spin and half truths there is a more fundamental and corrosive problem. WE DON’T BELIEVE YOU!

The problem with the principle of 'When things get serious, you have to lie' is of course that there comes a time when people stop believing you. Even when you start telling the truth.

I think it's not far off the mark when I say that very few ordinary citizens have any faith in their leaders any more. Government, MPs, bankers, union leaders, the MSM. All of them have squandered their credibility. The common folk watch their evening news, watch these people make their statements, predictions and pronouncements and think 'Yeah, right'. That is how it's for me and mine, anyway. We draw our own conclusions. And those are miles, nay, galaxies apart from what we're told.

As Golem XIV writes, what none of the liars remembered is that lies can only be redeemed if there is an equally endless supply of credulity. And although we frequently lament the stupidity, cupidity and cowardice of ‘people’ even they have a finite supply of credulity. And it has been exhausted.

When the history of the first few decades of this, the 21st century ever gets written, that will be its main theme: They stopped believing, they lost faith.

When hope is lost

In the Telegraph we find a poignant item on the practical, street level effects of the austerity forced on Greece for its continued membership of the euro-zone:

Dmitris Andreou made the last sale out of his small estate agents business in June. His wife Mary, makes her living preparing high-school students for English exams.

But her living has dried up. Their savings are exhausted, their disposable income has dropped by about 50 per cent in two years, and they are angry.

"Some days we only buy the basics and a few days lately we were not able to buy even those. We have to count our cents to decide between buying bread, milk or butter," says Mary.

"Some days are better, but some are difficult. We don't buy clothes any more. People don't go out. There is simply no money around out there."

As argued in the article, effectively what austerity means is the destruction of the middle class in Greece.

If Greek public sector workers at all levels have been hit by pay and pension cuts, for the middle class – people like the Andreous, both of whom are self-employed – it is tax that is the problem.

Tax rises, a property downturn and the collapse of business income has halved their spending power, and that's before the next round of austerity measures, due to be voted on in parliament on Tuesday, begin.

It is this sudden collapse of middle class lifestyles that makes the Greek situation so volatile.

As a result Greek politicians have started to worry about something called "anomie" – a pervasive listlessness, low-level social conflict and the erosion of bonds between the country's citizens and the state.

The Andreous face four more years of austerity, their savings are gone, and the chances of a university education for their daughters Phaedra, 16, and Ira, 12, are evaporating. That's just four people, innocent bystanders, victimized by the grand plans of politicians with no sense of morality, other then their will to power.

Because don't delude yourself: This crisis is not some natural disaster randomly picking victims. This is a crisis brought on by a wholly inadequate scheme for a single currency used as a political tool to enforce European 'union'. A scheme that overlooked well known fraud and lies of unscrupulous government socio-paths. A scheme that refuses to recognize the diversity of national idiosyncrasies. This is a crisis brought on by politicians, our politicians. They are responsible for the disaster washing over us. They should be held to account. But they should not, under any circumstance, be allowed to try to 'rescue' us. It'll be the end if us.

For now it's the Greeks (and the Irish and Portuguese) that have been hardest hit. But if the EUnion has its way the scenes described above will become very recognizable to all of us. That is, for all the loft promises of peace and prosperity of years past, the reward for membership of the EUnion: No hope and no money.

It's time to be done with it.

Your Sunday read

In the UK the BBC has decided to drop referring to years as AD (Anno Domini) or BC (Before Christ) and replace them with the bland CE (Current Era) and BCE (Before Current Era). The reason given is predictably back-handed: It might offend people of non-Christian world views and it is 'in line with modern practice'.

But James Delingpole asks: Whose modern practice? This is the starting point for a discussion of the malign influence the thinking of Herbert Marcuse has within the BBC and the UK at large.

And so yet another small part of our tradition, language and culture takes a step closer to extinction. We didn't ask for it; we didn't want it; yet still it's happening because a tiny minority of politically correct busybodies have wormed their way into institutions such as the BBC and taken control.

Their goal is to create a world where Left-wing thinking – on 'fairness', on race, on sexual equality, on the role of government – becomes the norm. So far, they are doing brilliantly.

This capture of the language for political ends was exactly what George Orwell warned us of more than 60 years ago in his book 1984. In the appendix he described how Big Brother devised its language Newspeak to make it impossible for people to think in the 'wrong' way.

Evidently, much of what Delingpole writes applies not just to the UK, but to the entire West.

Thanks to the sterling work done by his acolytes, Marcuse's most fervent desires – and Orwell's darkest predictions – are coming true. There was a time when we used to complain about it – remember our outrage when nursery children were taught to sing about 'Baa baa rainbow sheep'? – but now we've grown so used to it that we tend to shrug our shoulders, mutter under our breath about 'political correctness gone mad' and accept it as the way things are.

This complacency is fatal. Great civilisations do not die from the sudden arrival of the barbarians at the gates. They succumb much more slowly than that, from the death-by-a-thousand-cuts permitted from within by those who have forgotten why their traditions and cultural values are worth defending.

Read it all. (via)

Fluid

Blogging does not come easy these days. You, dear reader, must gave noticed by the lack of (quality) posting on KV. At least, I conclude you must've, because KV's readership has been declining even as I try to keep up a fairly regular schedule. That tells me that what I am blogging is actually not that interesting. And far from being angry or disappointed about it, I agree. Blogging has been light, both in terms of frequency and in terms of quality.

The explanation is quite easy: I am quite literally mesmerized by events unfolding before our eyes.

It's not as if there isn't any stuff to blog. There is, and plenty of it. Just browse a couple of back issues of Underdog News. It's just that I don't know what to make of it all any more. Up until a few weeks and months ago the world was relatively straightforward. It was steadily moving in a certain direction. One I did not necessarily agree with. But at least I could work out the direction the world was travelling and why I did not agree. But the last few weeks that trajectory has been broken. It has become chaotic and unpredictable. 'Fluid', as the modern vernacular would have it.

On the surface much of it seems the same. Work and life still get in the way of blogging. Bills are paid, wages are earned and taxes taken away. The EUnion is still trying to take over our lives. As is islam, both at home and abroad. The forces of the multi-cul are trying to hold the centre. And increasingly desperately so, as evidenced by our latest Fjordman item.

But something has changed, something is shifting. The old paradigms, comfortable for their familiarity, are dead or dying. They are being replaced with something else. Something the character of which I don't understand, even superficially. Below the surface a tension is building. I sense it and doing the rounds on the 'Net, one cannot fail to notice more people are sensing it.

Our politicians are scurrying to and fro, making their grandiose pronouncements. But at this particular point in time, the utterings, as well as those uttering them, seem to be inconsequential noise. While our elites are keeping up appearances, the world at large is waiting with bated breath for the other shoe to drop. Our elites seem to have completely lost the plot, are left behind, have been overtaken by events. But they are not yet able to recognize their world is ending. What they say and do in this strange era has no bearing on the real world, doesn't even make sense.

And thus it is that I have, at this point in time, very little sensible to say about the news that comes to us. It seems that all I can do is observe and relay the stories of the day, chronicling the demise of the world as it took shape in the 20th century. Or do my limited bit of chronicling, anyway.

These days, I can only watch, with awe and not a little trepidation, as something momentous and quite literally historic is coming over the horizon. When we finally see its exact shape, maybe we'll have a better understanding. Perhaps I'll get my bearings back soon. But for now, the world just doesn't make any sense. At all.

[UPDATE001] Same sentiment, but much better expressed. And a lot funnier: Mark Steyn: 'It's the end of the world as we know it', sang the popular musical artistes R.E.M. many years ago. And it is.

Law that is not

Foreign eye often cast a fresh look on national issues. In the Daily Mail Richard Waghorne observes the first weeks of the French burqa ban and the supposed persecution of muslims. And he isn't all that impressed:

Despite being passed in April, the ban on the veil has been more or less completely ignored by French Muslims and French police alike. Not even a hundred women breaking the law have been stopped by police since its passage. The police can in any case do no more than send on a file. Of these, ‘fewer than ten’ are considered active by the French Ministry for Justice. Even by the febrile standards of the routinely hysterical multicultural left, the alleged-wave of persecution against French Muslims is an exceptionally extravagant fantasy.

Referring to a case that saw an actual conviction this week, Waghorne surmises the muslima in question is more than delighted at her conviction. She has already announced her intention to appeal to the French Supreme Court and then if necessary to the European Court of Human Rights in order to get the law annulled entirely. If successful it would be definitive proof France does no more have the will or even the ability to rule it's own house.

The situation is all the more jarring when compared to what Waghorne believes to be the real scandal: State-supported suppression of free-speech. One only has to glance at how France treats anyone with an unkind word about the religion.

When, a few years ago, a philosophy teacher by the name of Robert Redeker wrote in Le Figaro newspaper that Muhammad was ‘a merciless warlord, a looter, a mass-murderer of Jews and a polygamist’ and that the Koran is ‘a book of incredible violence’ he was quickly forced into hiding after credible death-threats. Instead of the French Republic rallying to the support of free speech and the basic liberties of one of its citizens, he faced an extraordinary wave of elite condemnation for having ventured to speak of Islam in such terms in the first place. The cravenness of the response is all the more stark given that both were statements of historical fact.

Which leads to the conclusion that the French ban on the burqa is a law that is not. The refusal of muslims and authorities alike to uphold it have turned it into an impotent bit of legislation, a transparent ploy by the French political class to make a wholly insincere gesture it has not the slightest intention of honouring in practice.

This isn't an exclusively French issue, of course. Such fake symbol politics can be observed around Europe, feeding the already festering, but still subdued, rage of the citizenry. Are our elites really that stupid and incompetent that even through the wall of their self-chosen bubble, they don't see the rough shape of the horrific cataclysm they are building?

(via Tiberge)

Despicable

Gates of Vienna asks the question: How Does a Totalitarian Democracy Avoid Responsibility? The answer: They scapegoat.

In this case this is about Norway trying to come to terms with the Breivik atrocity, while simultaneously avoiding the awkward questions it raised. The best way to do that is to single out one person, tangentially connected to the case and not very well connected or powerful, and make him the focus of your hatred. Vlad Tepes broke the story to a wider audience:

The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten includes the following picture [p. above] in the article about a new comedy series which debuted last night on Norwegian state TV, NRK. One of the characters chosen for the comedy show (The Social Welfare Office) was a person named ”Fjordland”, a paraplegic who lost the ability to speak. He’s also typecast as a Nazi and was featured in their the “angry young man special”.

Apparently, the Nazi Fjordman is a new “recurring character” they have just introduced on their show, a running gag if you will.

The story originates at Tundra Tabloids, who also has a clip from the show, with EN subtitles. I am not going to reproduce it, because it is too vile, too gross. I feel tainted just handling the embedding code. Kudos to Vlad and TT for having the stomach to put it up. Go here or here if you want to see it.

Gates of Vienna is not only disturbed, but also slightly worried. I have no proof of my theory, Dymphna writes, but from all appearances it would seem they plan to have Fjordman take the fall for Breivik’s behavior. Here are the steps by which I believe Fjordman will be criminalized and imprisoned.

Get the picture? Prepare the public, pull Fjordman in, arrest him for “aiding” the killer with his ideas, and…can you hear the prison door slamming behind him? I can. Nice and neat. The public’s been softened up informed about Fjordman’s complicity. So there will be no one left to complain in this nice consensus society when the judge gives Fjordman five years or so in prison for his responsibility in all those murders.

It may sound a little paranoid. Then again, even paranoiacs have enemies. We all remember the Norwegian left being awfully (some would say 'gleefully') quick accusing Fjordman of being Anders Breivik, don't we?

Be that as it may, the clip featured on Vlads blog ranks right up there with the 10:10 'splattergate' video in terms of vileness and contempt for humanity. Funny, isn't it, how it is always the same side of the political spectrum that comes up with this sick and twisted, dehumanizing dreck passing for humour? This then is apparently what passes for open exchange of ideas in Norway. My God, but I never suspected it to be this bad. What despicable new depths are explored by our Scandinavian brethren.

Storm heading our way

Today is Prinsjesdag, the Dutch version of Budget day. It is the day on which the reigning monarch of the Netherlands (currently Queen Beatrix) addresses a joint session of the Dutch Senate and House of Representatives in the Ridderzaal or Hall of Knights in The Hague. The Speech from the Throne (Dutch: Troonrede) sets out the main features of government policy for the coming parliamentary session.

Given the current economical situation in the EUnion and the world at large, nobody was expecting this to be a day of light moods. But our own Finance minister, Jan Kees de Jager tried his best, or so it seemed, to put the fear of God in all and sundry: Economic storm threatens the Netherlands, says finance minister.

The Netherlands will have to dig its heels in to withstand the coming economic storm, finance minister Jan Kees de Jager told MPs on Tuesday, as he formally handed over the government's 2012 spending plans to parliament.

'We are being threatened by something, but we don't know what is heading for us, or when, the minister said.

'It is clear that 2012 is going to be a difficult year for a lot of people,' De Jager said. 'We have to make difficult choices and they will hurt.'

The Netherlands is a financially solid country, but still runs a deficit and the debt is increasing. This year alone the country will spend €70m too much every day.

The cabinet is trying to carve out a leading role in restoring financial stability to the EU, he said. This is why the government is keen to tighten up eurozone budget rules and prevent the spread of the Greek crisis. In the long term 'we have to ensure our weaker brother does not bring down other countries in its wake,' De Jager said.

The infuriating bit is of course the pigheaded refusal to look facts in the face. This crisis is not just a Greek crisis. Europe as a whole is broke. And far from being a help, both the euro and the EUnion are reinforcing the proof, on an almost daily basis, they are a hindrance, huge obstacles in the way of measures that serve the needs of each individual country and its economy.

Still, it was almost a relief to see that the minister had at least a beginning of an understanding of the magnitude of our current predicament. It was certainly refreshing to be spared the highly incredible happy-crappy talk that has polluted Dutch airways ever since Greece triggered this latest crisis. Just last week minister de Jager was seemingly adamant that the money on loan from the Netherlands to Greece would be paid back in full, with interest. Yes, that was the same week when the choir lamenting the imminent Greek default grew ten-fold overnight. De Jagers optimistic pronouncement was, unsurprisingly, met with general scorn and disbelief.

But all that aside, what is it that has minister de Jager running for his Mums apron? What does he know that we all should?

[UPDATE001] “Everyone wants to live at the expense of the state. They forget that the state lives at the expense of everyone.” — Frederic Bastiat.

Ferdy points out a piece in Forbes outlining the stark choice we are presented with:

The result may be a new background consensus that recognizes the limits of what governments can do, and the cost of empowering them to do more. Or, supported by mobs in the streets, the governing elite may declare a state of emergency and seize businesses and property, consuming capital in the name of the greater good.

Or, in other words: Freedom or serfdom. Which do you pick?

Your Sunday read

Your Sunday read (or Monday morning read. as the case may be) comes to us from the pen of Janet Daley in the Telegraph: The European dream lies in ruins.

I have to say that even in my most apocalyptic Eurosceptic moments – when I had moved on from thinking the federalist project simply preposterous to believing that it was criminal folly – I never anticipated this. (...)

Well, so much for that idea. This is going to be huge: so cataclysmic that it may summon up forms of ugliness that we have not seen walking abroad in Western Europe for half a century. This is where the story goes beyond irony. The European federal dream was devised by its architects to be a definitive repudiation of the ideological conflicts of the 20th century. Pragmatism, consensus and regard for the greater supra-national good would reign where once wicked nationalism and zealotry had prevailed. But what strikes me when I hear the surreal statements emanating from those emergency summits and absurd Franco-German-Greek conference calls is that this is precisely a continuation of the old ideological delusions of the European past.

Seemingly out of the blue Mrs. Daley posits that Muslims might become the Jews of the 21st century. Mrs. Daley is rather unfortunate (an that is putting it mildly) in her statement of fear. It's a nasty, uncalled-for stain on her otherwise excellent essay. Her concluding remark, however, is one I am very much afraid is a bang-on assessment of our predicament.

EU ministers are not, as is sometimes claimed, “in denial”. They fully appreciate what Mr Osborne calls “the gravity of the situation”. They are paralysed because they see clearly the full force of their dilemma. So they vacillate between the impulse to ram through “fiscal integration”, and the fear of electoral consequences: between the totalitarian impulse and the democratic principle. By the end of the year, we will know which one they chose.

Read it all. I dare you.

Your country needs you - A guest post

Long time friend, commenter at KV, and blogger Fifteen Heretics, has asked us if we would publish a guest post about his involvement in a UK political party that is a true analogue to the Dutch PVV or the German 'Die Freiheit'. It's an interesting and hopeful initiative, deserving of a little attention. So, as a rare exception, KV will do politics not as just a cynical spectator. Mr. FH has the floor:

I would like to thank Klein Verzet for giving me the chance to publish this on his blog. Obviously the opinions expressed in this article and those in the linked sites are not necessarily those of Klein Verzet.

Your country needs you

It’s quite absurd really. Britain, dateline 2011, is run by gutless coward politicians who are totally out of touch. It really doesn’t matter which party you choose.

None of them will get Britain out of the EU or do what is really necessary to stop mass-immigration or reverse the effects of multi-culturalism.

None of them will restore our armed forces to the level where they can protect Britain’s interests at home and abroad or stop the senseless and probably illegal foreign wars.

None of them will do enough to help our elderly or handicapped people although they find literally BILLIONS to throw down the bottomless pit that is foreign aid.

None of them will do anything to stop the stultifying political correctness that pervades what now passes as debate or increasing politicisation of public services.

Or stand up to the crook bankers and put ordinary people first, or stop putting criminal’s rights ahead of those of their victims, or fight the islamification of Europe.

The list is endless.

I mean really: it is totally and absolutely incomprehensible how we could have got into this state. And the worse thing is that it is self-preserving. We are locked into a downward spiral and the mainstream parties are pathologically incapable of changing tack. They caused the problem. They are, to use a much over used phrase, a part of the problem and they can, by definition, not be part of the solution.

I expect that you are as frustrated and angry as me about this state of affairs. But not many of us actually DO anything about it.

Instead of sticking our heads in the sand and praying that it’ll all go away we need to do something. Doing nothing is now no longer an option and it is important for all of us who care to do whatever it is we can.

If you are a British expatriate you might feel that there is not much you can do. Nothing however could be further from the truth.

A new nationalist political party, the British Freedom Party has been established.

I think I know, what you’re thinking. There have been nationalist parties which have come and gone in the past of course, some lumbered with the baggage of financial impropriety, others which were seen simply as single issue campaigning parties and a few which propounded forms of racial extremism which repelled ordinary, decent people. Correctly so!

But the British Freedom Party is the first party to offer sensible, moderate and principled nationalist policies whilst being firmly determined to reverse the wrongs of the past forty years.

It’s culture and not colour that matters.

Go and judge for yourselves. This is our chance to make a difference.

Firstly please feel free to visit British Freedom’s website here. Have a nose around, read some of the articles and the policies and get a feel for what we’re about. I think you’ll like what you read. Obviously you can support the party the most by joining or donating.

Secondly, go to the Facebook page. Don’t forget to hit the ‘like’ button.

Thirdly follow British Freedom on Twitter.

An introduction to British Freedom can be found here.

I am also interested in forming a group in the Netherlands of supporters and those sympathetic to British Freedom. If you are interested in helping create or join a British Freedom group please feel free to contact me here.

This invitation is open to all and is not limited to British nationals.

The Dutch, of course are light years ahead at the moment. With Geert Wilders the Dutch have found a politician who is a powerful advocate in the defence of their culture and heritage.

If you are a like-minded Dutch patriot and would like to keep in touch with what is happening in Britain please follow and support British Freedom.

If you would like to get in touch with me please mail me at this address.

Thank you!

Not a little fishy

So yesterday Dutch Second Chamber moved that Finance minister Jan Kees de Jager (CDA) should lay out all scenarios for the euro-crisis considered by the ministry. The letter sent to second Chamber, however, does not contain any scenario being prepared, or the cost each scenario will involve.

The figures are contained in a confidential briefing for MPs about the likely effect on the Netherlands of three different forms of financial crisis: a general financial crisis, a continuing European debt crisis and a global crisis. (...) The briefing does not mention Greece by name, according to media reports.

If MPs want to know the costs of saving Greece, or of letting Greece default, they can request a briefing, but only under terms of confidentiality. The rationale trotted out is that 'the information is highly uncertain'. But the kicker is this: At their summit in Poland, the ministers of Finance agreed to not publish the numbers for a possible Greek default. The smell wafting down from Wroclaw is fishy. And not just a little.

The consensus is not

First there was prominent physicist Hal Lewis who resigned his membership of the American Physical Society over the global climate change scam.

It is the greatest and most successful pseudo-scientific fraud I have seen in my long life as a physicist. Anyone who has the faintest doubt that this is so should force himself to read the ClimateGate documents, which lay it bare. (Montford’s book organizes the facts very well.) I don’t believe that any real physicist, nay scientist, can read that stuff without revulsion. I would almost make that revulsion a definition of the word scientist.

And this week saw another noted scientist, a Nobel laureate even, Dr. Ivar Giaever resigned his membership of the self same American Physical Society. As to the reason of his resignation Dr. Giaever is as clear and succint as only the giants among scientists can be:

In the APS it is ok to discuss whether the mass of the proton changes over time and how a multi-universe behaves, but the evidence of global warming is incontrovertible? The claim (how can you measure the average temperature of the whole earth for a whole year?) is that the temperature has changed from ~288.0 to ~288.8 degree Kelvin in about 150 years, which (if true) means to me is that the temperature has been amazingly stable, and both human health and happiness have definitely improved in this ‘warming’ period.

There's a bitch-slap you don't easily counter, is it? That much vaunted consensus clearly is not.
(via WUWT, thanks to DP111)

The opposite of peace

Nigel Farage warning the EUrocrats that what they're doing to Greece may lead to the opposite of what the EUnion professes it is there for.

Ready for the fall

After the Germans now the Dutch banks are admitting to making preparations (NL) for a Greek default.

The Dutch financial sector is increasingly preparing for a bankruptcy of Greece. Scenarios are taken off the shelve and risks are being discussed. However, the banks stayed mum about possible steps and likely consequences for the sector, in the case of a Greek default.

Most concrete is the Rabobank. Financial executive Bert Bruggink indicated Tuesday that Greece will go bankrupt. 'It's just a question of when', he said. A spokesperson for the bank reported that Rabo has 'all scenarios' at hand for a default. 'But the same is true for all others scenarios', he added. The key to solving the Greek problem lies with politicians, according to the bank.

On August 24, Rabo iadmitted it had prepared measures totalling 104 million euros on Greek sovereign debt. At the time, the cooperative bank was exposed to Greek debt for 347 million euro.

ABN Amro does not have specific plans for a Greek default, but is looking into all risks and possibilities. A spokeperson for ING declined to confirm whether scenarios were under discussion. He did however state that ING is holding a portfolio of Greek bonds totalling over one billion euros. 'The amount in Greek bonds we still have on the books equals the profit we make in three months', he nuanced. According to ING, the Greek crisis doesn't begin to compare to the financial crisis of 2008.

At the Dutch National Bank (DNB) no-one could be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon. Minister of Finance Jan Kees de Jager (CDA) said earlier today all likely and unlikely scenarios for the future of debt-ridden Greece were discussed 'in deepest secret' with, among others, the Dutch central bank.

It seems the Germans have decided they have had enough. With the Dutch preparing this way, following the example of their German counterparts, it would seem the decision of whether or not to let Greece default is a done deal.

[UPDATE001] And hop, there it is: According to RTL News (NL) A Greek default 'is inevitable':

The bankruptcy of Greece is inevitable, according to the [Dutch] ministery of Finance. Sources have reported this to RTL News. The question at the ministry is no longer if, but in what way the Greek default will happen.

[UPDATE002] EN reporting here. Snouck has his own take here. On twitter the 'Blunt Dog' warns (NL):

Folks, the "problems" with the euro have been consciously organized to make a political EUnion "inevitable". That's how the EU rolls.

Words to bear in mind the next few days and weeks. Keep a close eye on what your local governors are doing. And make sure your pitchforks are sharpened and your torches are dry.

Will we ever?

I honestly don't remember what I was actually doing on that day. Given the timing I must have been busy revising texts for my PhD thesis which was due for the reading committee a month into the future. During the afternoon coffee a fellow PhD student, an Irish lad, relayed the news about a plane crashing into a New York high rise. With my limited experience in flying my first question was what the weather was like, thinking a Cessna, or some such, got lost in a low hanging cloud.

Back in the office, about ten minutes after coffee break, the same PhD student came in to tell us a second plane had hit the same building: the WTC. Those facts, two planes and the WTC, set off an alarm in my mind. I immediately went for my regular internet news outlets, but they were inaccessible, due to high traffic volume. Site after site rejected my call for more information. That alone was so ominous that I freaked out a little. Finally, logging on to a somewhat obscure current events forum, the full magnitude of events struck home. Two airliners, at least one of them hijacked, had deliberately slammed into the WTC in an apparent terrorist attack.

I went home. Work didn't matter so much all of a sudden. Instinctively I felt this was the ultimate game changer. On my way home the radio reported of a third plane crashing into the Pentagon. On top of everything else, this was the clincher. I told my car: 'The world has gone insane'. As if to confirm my statement, a few moments later (or so it seemed) I heard reports of a fourth hijacked plane crashing into a field in Pennsylvania. The world *had* gone insane.

It has been ten years. Have we regained some sanity? Will we ever?

Brussels Journal: A Special Day.
A Tangled Web: If only.
Infidel Bloggers Alliance: Four Minutes To Reflect.
The Telegraph : September 11: My life and the US changed forever
Pamela Geller: Infamy
Michelle Malkin: Lan astaslem: I will not surrender

Very cross

In the Financial Times an article telling the world that if there's a people even more frustrated with the EUnions management of the euro-crisis then the Germans, it is the Dutch.

[The Dutch] are founder members of the EU, a medium-sized country, a creditor nation – and they are very cross and increasingly Eurosceptic. It is quite possible that Germany would sign off on some new bail-out, only to find that it was rejected in the Netherlands and Finland.

Second, the Rutte piece is interesting because it spells out what airy phrases like “political union” might actually mean. For countries like Greece - and maybe someday Portugal or Italy – it would demand a huge loss of sovereignty. I don’t think they will accept that – and maybe Mr Rutte doesn’t either – which could be why he holds out the prospect of expulsion from the euro-zone as the ultimate sanction.

The turn of phrase used in this article put a smile on my face. How sublimely British and perfectly understated: 'very cross'. Yes, I do tend to get a bit stroppy when I read stuff like this. Or this.

(via)

Spinning out of control

Another euro-crisis link post. It seems that the euro-zone debt crisis is now seriously spinning out of control. So much so that the Market-Ticker says: It's Over

First there was the news that Jürgen Stark, German ECB hawk resigned from his position: It's Official: Stark Is Gone, as runour has it over the continued ECB policy of buying up bonds of countries in distress. This move may signal the next step by the ECB, something we need to worry about: starting up the money presses.

This action won't be taken lightly. In fact, I doubt it will be taken at all until the market puts a gun firmly to the ECB's head and forces it to choose between its two great loves: the euro or its Germanic belief in hard money. "You can't have both" the market will say, as it cocks its gun and slowly squeezes the trigger. And my guess is that the ECB will let its principles go and sell the strategy to Germans as a hard-money sabbatical.

In the mean time Germany is said to prepare for a Greek default this weekend. Something which the Greek obviously deny.

And to put insult to injury, Ms. Merkels coalition partner and erstwhile ally, the FDP, is now calling for a referendum on the EFSF, something which may spell the end, but certainly will delay any EUnion attempts at rescuing the Euro banking sector and the euro itself.


ZeroHedge has a nice overview of upcoming key dates and events that will decide the course of events in the coming days and weeks. We've said it before: Hang on to your seats.

Europlastic

The phenomenon of the 'Europlastics' was first observed and named by Dr. North. Autonomous Mind elaborated on the concept here and most notably (and recently) here.

But lest you think this is strictly a UK phenomenon, I give you our intrepid PM of the Dutch 'Danish' cabinet. You know, the one that promised to roll back the powers of the EUnion in favour of the nation state.

Quite recently your blogger went off into some blue language over this. And today, on the very day the German Constitutional court decided ah so conveniently that yes, the Greek bail-out is legal after all, we were treated to this:

Cabinet calls for EU commissioner to ensure eurozone rules are kept

The Dutch cabinet supports a far tougher approach to ensuring eurozone countries do not break the rules on monetary union and believes they should leave the euro if they are not prepared to enforce stronger sanctions, prime minister Mark Rutte told MPs in a briefing on Wednesday.

‘This briefing sketches a structural approach which gets to the heart of the problem, strengthening budgetary discipline and ensuring strict adherence to the rules, under independent monitoring,’ Rutte said.
These rules would be accompanied by ‘severe sanctions which countries will have to agree to if they want to remain part of the eurozone,’ the prime minister said in the nine-page document.

According to the Volkskrant, the rest of Europe is not ready for this form of ‘euro-federalism’. Apparently, the 'rest of Europe' includes a goodly portion of the quite astonished Dutch public. This is defending our sovereignty? This is rolling back the dead hand from Brussels?

The conclusion has become inevitable that our current government, in stead of being the alternative sought by the Dutch public when they overwhelmingly voted for the 'other guys', is just more of the same poison we don't want. Professing a certain measure of 'euroscepticism' they play the tunes that Brussels calls at every opportunity. It is the Europlastics that are governing the Netherlands.

Epic beauty

Woodkid - Iron on Vimeo

Apropos of nothing, I'd like to share with you an example of exquisite pop-music: Iron by Woodkid, stage-name of Yoann Lemoine, previously known for his career as a video director.

Although I firmly believe music must speak for itself, I found myself equally enthralled by the epic video for this song. Sit back, put the video on full-screen, the volume up and let it all wash over you. A world in which such epic beauty is made cannot be beyond redemption, can it?

(Regular programming will resume shortly...)

Your read for the day

Mark Steyn on the central importance of of freedom of expression: If you let them take your right to free speech, how are you going to stop them from taking all the others?

“The lofty idea of ‘the war on racism’ is gradually turning into a hideously false ideology,” the French philosopher Alain Finkielkraut said in 2005. “And this anti-racism will be for the 21st century what Communism was for the 20th century: a source of violence.” Just so. Let us accept for the sake of argument that racism is bad, that homophobia is bad, that Islamophobia is bad, that offensive utterances are bad, that mean-spirited thoughts are bad. So what? As bad as they are, the government’s criminalizing all of them and setting up an enforcement regime in the interests of micro-regulating us into compliance is a thousand times worse.

Read it all. (h/t WfW)

Molehill

By now the news of the disruption, by a homeless muslim wing-nut, of a concert attended by queen Beatrix on Saturday is doing the rounds on the 'Net. Jihad Watch is covering here.

The man claimed to be Isa, islams interpretation of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and invited the Queen and all who attended to enter islam. He has a history of similar delusional acts, was known with the police and has now been committed, on orders of the Amsterdam mayor.

In the past this same individual has disrupted church services in the Hague, similarly standing up and inviting all those present to islam.

Members of the orchestra fled the scene as soon as it became clear that this individual spoke in the name of Allah, despite his protestations he did not have a bomb. That made me laugh, for it so delightfully illustrates what all Dutch, deep-down, think of islam (and deservedly so, given the history of the last 10-15 years alone). For all the high-minded rhetoric of 'religion of peace', when push comes to shove experience trumps ideology, evidently. There's a lesson here.

Robert Spencer sees in these events a manifestation of Eurabia:

Here is yet another indication that Islamic supremacists will not allow the Infidels to maintain their practices that are forbidden by Sharia -- such as music. Expect much more of this sort of thing in the new Europe.

While last Saturday's events signal a dismal failure by our security services to provide protection for the Queen and all those present (what if this individual *did* have a bomb?), I do not agree with Mr. Spencer that this lone, confused individual is the harbinger of imminent Dutch surrender to the forces of Eurabia.

It's a sign of the times that this individual was preaching islam, instead of the Second Coming or Lightships. But let's keep in mind that this was a delusional nutcase fulfilling his preaching mission, much like the scraggly man with the unkempt beard and incomplete set of teeth, who his warning us the end is nigh from his soap-box. Let's not make a mountain out of a molehill.

(thanks to DP111 for reminding me)

[UPDATE001] Ferdy just sent me the transcript:

I'm sorry In the name of Allah the compassionate and fully merciful
I know, I'm sorry, this is not how it's supposed to be,
but I am obliged to do this,
I've made a couple of requests, but they were skipped.
I am a servant of Allah.
He gave me the book and made me a prophet.
He has blessed me where-ever I may be.
He has enjoined me prayer and the alms.
He has made me not an arrogant [?] against my mother.
Peace be with me on the day I was born, on the day that I perished and on the day I was revived.
I am Isa mesi Jesua, Jesus Christ, whatever you want to call it.
I've come to invite you,
There's nothing to worry about, I don't have a bomb or anything. Stay seated, I am not a dangerous lunatic.
But I am a servant of Allah and I came here to invite to believe.
Believe in Allah, Ma'am, and serve him, because that is the right way.

As Ferdy noted, invitations to submit are, in islamic tradition, a preliminary stage to open Jihad. In that sense this individual's speech takes on a decidedly ominous tone.

[UPDATE002] Thanks to Ferdy we now have a version of the video with EN subtitles. I've replaced the original video. If the subtitling does not appear, you should press the 'cc' button  at the bottom of the Youtube window to switch them on.

Rotten

The 'cartoon' displayed above was published on Joop.nl (which I won't favour with a link). Joop.nl is a leftist corporate blog (clog) financed by public broadcaster VARA, which itself is closely tied to the PvdA (Dutch Labour) and socialist unions.

The cartoon is a reaction to Wilders' proposal to limit the active involvement in politics of our royal family. Wilders' proposal comes in the wake of the increasingly politicized Christmas speeches by our Queen, and her apparent attempts to sabotage a Dutch government involving the PVV.

The 'cartoon' is entitled 'ceremonial only' and refers to the limited role, as envisaged by the proposal, of cutting ribbons for our Royal House, as does the pair of scissors thrust into Wilders' chest by a mightily miffed Queen Beatrix.

I am not going to comment (much) on the proposal itself. I have my doubts about its wisdom, though I share the concern that the Royals should be sovereigns to all Dutch, and not just those that line up with the Queens political preferences. A proposal that would ensure a more impartial Royal family would be beneficial. But that is a matter of morality, more then it is a matter of job-description.

I will however comment on the fact that this cartoon saw the light of day at all. Yes, we have freedom of expression and the cartoonist in question is free to hold the opinion he has of Wilders. But this cartoon is a rank (and rancid) murder-fantasy. A malicious bit of 'Wouldn't it be great if ...?', that does not contribute a single bit of wisdom to the discussion or highlight an aspect of the issue many have overlooked (as is usual for a good political cartoon). I am not even going to note the evident, and jarring, lack of humour in the cartoon (well, I just did, didn't I?).

On KV we've noted the rotten, cold-hearted atmosphere in the contemporary Dutch political debate before. This putrid little cartoon seems aimed at deepening the rot, up until the point someone, somewhere will act out the malicious fantasy the cartoonist in question so delights in. But note this: It is not the right, or even extreme-right, that is contributing to this state of affairs. It is the left, the oh-so moral, social just, holier-then-thou socialists that have sunk to the dankest, most putrid depth of this particular pit. Remember, 'by the fruits of their labour shall you know them...'.

Any day now

Over on ZeroHedge: The Imminent Failure Of The Eurozone.

The EMU started on the idea that it would bind the EU closer. In essence it was a political decision rather than an economic decision. They passed a stern rule that said no state could run of deficits of more than 3% of their GDP. Except for Estonia, Finland, and Luxembourg, all countries, including Germany, now exceed the limit [p above]. Thus their politicians sacrificed fiscal probity for political gains.

The EU, ECB, and the IMF are trying to establish a European Financial Stability Facility (EFSB) in order to further bail Greece out. They have already pledged €110 billion and they are trying to put another package together of €109 billion. But Finland insists that Greece puts up additional collateral, which is not possible. Since the collateral would be part of the bailout money, it would be, in essence, Germany and France guaranteeing Finland's contribution.

Greece has missed every fiscal target it or its saviors has had. They are trying to get their deficit down to 7.6% of GDP through more austerity measures, but it looks like they will miss again (est. 8.5+%). Basically they are asking the Greeks to do something they don't want to do, and they will no doubt take to the streets again in protest.

All this leading to the conclusion that the EU faces an insolvable problem. But it is one they created. You can't have a monetary union without a fiscal union. At least when no nation is obligated to play fair. They either terminate the EMU or paper it over. There is no other practical fix, at least when economies of member states are declining.

Any day now, chaps. Any day now.

[UPDATE001] When it does happen, things will not be pretty. Via EURef, who also noted the ZH entry: Raedwald and Capitalist@Work A person warned counts for two. Or: Forewarned is fore-armed, as our cousins across the Small Pond would have it.

Speciality: The Cringe

A post by Gawain Towler, that is in equal measures hilarious and nauseating: A crime against good taste : and maybe against good sense.

This has got to be one of the most cringe making things I have read for a while.

Birth of a beautiful new EU citizen!
Dear colleagues,

I am very proud to tell you that the European Union has a beautiful new citizen! On the 23rd of August, I gave birth to a son. His name is --- and he's a picture of good health and happiness. My family and I are overjoyed to have him.
Kind regards,

Marije Cornelissen

Dintelstraat ---
---- -- Amsterdam
The Netherlands

MEP, Green Group

It was accompanied with a photo of said child wearing a natty European Green Party 0-6 months sized t-shirt.

This ditsy woman has just sent round a photo of her child to all the MEPs, assistants and political staffers in the European Parliament. A good few thousand in all.

Firstly, frankly madam you cloying ghastliness is of no interest to the vast majority of the recipients, its treacle spam, stop it.

Secondly by making your fortnight old infant a political object you have stripped youitrself and you child of any dignity and privacy that they should have.

And thirdly, I wonder what the good electors of the Netherlands feel that same way about your child's supposed new nationality?

You are a blithering idiot and should be laughed at from ditch and hedge.

The young child... well he is to be pitied.

What can I say? She is of GroenLinks. Making people cringe *is* their speciality.

This is curious

From Bloomberg:

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- The Dutch finance minister says he blames Germany and France in large part for Europe's sovereign debt crisis, after they violated rules laid down at the creation of the euro by running larger-than-permitted budget deficits in the early 2000's.

Jan Kees de Jager says that when the two largest countries in the eurozone ran deficits of over 3 percent in 2003 and 2004 without penalty it "opened the flood gates for other countries" to flout debt rules, ultimately leading to the current crisis.

Minister the Jager is of course referring to the Stability-pact, an agreement brought home by our then-minister of finance, Gerrit Zalm, as a major Dutch victory. The pact was paraded around the Dutch MSM at the time to allay suspicions about the single currency, that even back then were quite significant among Dutch citizens. Suspicions that were unfortunately borne out, in spades, by recent events.

Minister de Jager is right of course, Germany and France set an extremely unfortunate example by violating the pact, paving the way for the likes of Greece and Italy. The subsequent 'reform' of the stability pact made the error even worse, by showing the EUnion is extremely accommodating where violating its own rules is concerned. It is no wonder that the series of profligate Greek Papandreou governments thought they could get away with it, expecting the EUnion to bail them out. Even if that too would be against the rules the EUnion had set for itself.

But what is curious is this: Why now? Why pick a fight with the two big EUnion bullies at this juncture? Holland and Germany will meet with Finland next Tuesday (NL) to discuss the crisis and the possibility, if any, of collaterals for a third bail-out of Greece, as demanded by the Finnish government. Not the best of times to start antagonizing Ms. Merkel, it would seem.

I don't know nearly enough about high politics to make any informed judgement. But thinking it over I come up with only two possible explanations. Either Jan-Kees blundered into an off-hand remark as he was philosophizing about the origins of the current crisis, or he is lighting the wick in a barrel of gunpowder.

Minister de Jager does not strike me as so unprofessional that option #1 could be the case. I disagree with him vehemently about the euro, its role in our economy, its benefits versus its costs and the benefits of the EUnion in general. We find ourselves on opposite sides of the issue. In addition I suspect very much that minister de Jager has been very, VERY economical with the truth all during the last 18 months of this crisis. But through all that time I did not once get the impression that our finmin is a man out of his depth.

His is a lousy job. Chances are it will come back to haunt him. In a just world it most certainly will. But he is good at his job, very dedicated and equally professional.

Which leaves us with option #2. That immediately leads to a second question: Which powder keg is he trying to light? Several options spring to mind, all equally unlikely. Evidently I am missing a few crucial pieces to solve this particular puzzle. And if there is something I can't abide , it is not understanding something, not being able to explain it.

So... What is going on here? Anybody want to venture a guess? Anybody have a clue, however small, to shed light on this and put to rest my fevered brain?