THATCHER'S 5 PRINCIPLES FOR LIBERTY IN EUROPE (1988)

In a speech delivered by Margaret Thatcher in Bruges in 1988 she set out five principles for progress and liberty in Europe. Hindsight shows us how far today's EU has become removed from her vision.

Margaret Thatcher's historic speech delivered at Bruges, Belgium in September 1988.

Famously rejecting the centralized, unaccountable, federal Europe of Delors, Margaret Thatcher proposed instead a wider, decentralized, outward-looking, democratic Europe of independent, free-trading and cooperating nation states. She set out five principles for Liberty:

US Power is Waning, Russia Is On a Roll

Barack Obama's foreign policy goofs have shifted geopolitical power from the United States to Russia. Specifically the strategic mistakes in Syria and Egypt will have consequences

The German Newspaper Bild is reporting that Russia plans to deploy short range Iskander-M (Nato-Code: SS-26 Stone) nuclear rockets in the Baltic Sea enclave of Kaliningrad.

The recent visit by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to Cairo, Egypt, marks a renewed push by Moscow to extend its sphere of influence into the Middle East as US power wanes. After the popular 'coup' in Egypt that ousted the government of the Muslim Brotherhood the Obama regime has suspended military assistance to the Egyptian military. The Egyptian leadership turned to Moscow to fill any void. Egypt needs help in developing nuclear power and billions of dollars worth of arms. According to sources, Russia may sell Egypt some $4 billion in jet fighters, anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles. The Saudis and other Arab countries have decided to provide Egypt with $12 billion to substitute for the suspended $1.3 billion in U.S. military assistance.

EU Pushes Ahead With Dijsselbloem Bail-In Model

As of January 1, 1016  major depositors will be first in line to bail-in collapsing banks along the lines of the Cyprus model. This is good and proper, were it not that the EU is changing the goal posts during the game. Investors may vote with their feet

Jeroen Dijsselbloem, president of the Eurogroup and president of the Board of Governors of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM)

The European Parliament has put forward a new mechanism to deal with bank failures in which major depositors in collapsing banks are tapped first in an effort to support the lender. Deposits below 100,000 euro ($137,700) will be exempt from any losses, and bigger deposits from individuals and small businesses will receive preferential treatment, says Reuters. The proposal was made following a 16-hour marathon negotiating session in Brussels. The authorities intend to start the mechanism on January 1, 2016, two years earlier than expected. It now goes to EU ministers for approval next week.

Austrian MP Blasts Western Hypocrisy

The Austrian MP Ewald Stadler is blasting the moral duplicity prevailing in the West. It's hypocrisy is caused by double standards

Austrian MP Ewald Stadler to Turkish Ambassador: "People are sick and tired of one-way tolerance".

The Austrian MP Ewald Stadler is blasting the moral duplicity prevailing in the West: Christians in the Middle East are left to their deaths while the rights of minority Muslims are defended at the expense of Western values, which is the actual target of this cultural Marxism. It isn't the deed, the action that is under consideration (violation of human rights, lack of freedom of thought and conscience), but who does the violating. If it's the West, this is a huge NoNo, but if Muslims are the perpetrators, this is perfectly acceptable. Mass murder and genocide are no longer excluded from the moral perversion. There's one moral standard for the West, another for Islam.

H/t @PeterSiebelt

Dutch Push Back Against Leftist Bias in Education

The leftward tilt of universities is well known. What can college students in a country like the Netherlands do when they want to push back against professorial bias?

@YerRamautarsing brandishing Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" on Dutch national television. We are trying to obtain the original broadcast for subtitling, but don't hold your breath. 

UPDATE: David Horowitz on Front Page deals with Yernaz Ramautarsing's Facebook Page, Leftist Indoctrination On My University and his recent television performance which shocked the nation as it showed the weakness of the established Leftist elite whose power heretofore had been a foregone conclusion.

The Dutch Academy vs. The Heretic

The Myth of 'peaceful' transition, unless you're black and not ANC

For most of his adult life, Nelson Mandela was a failed communist revolutionary and leftist icon. Then in his seventies he had the chance to govern. He chose reconciliation over reprisal, a rare example of a wise Marxist

Nelson Mandela sings a song about killing of Whites, in typical fashion afterwards talks of love and democracy.

UPDATE: Charles Crawford on The Commentator has a powerful observation about the racist myth of so-called 'peaceful' transition in South Africa after Apartheid. Unless you were black that is, and not a friend of Mandela's ANC.

On the other hand Crawford is categorizing the Darwinian progressive movement under the Enlightenment, whereas abolisionism apparently is not. Asked for a clarification the author offered the following:

The 'scientific' logic of Enlightenment measurement had many consequences: see eg Plessy v Ferguson. Far beyond trite racism @Cassie_Troy
— Charles Crawford (@CharlesCrawford) December 9, 2013

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) is dating back to the progressive era and the early Socialist movement and has nothing to do with the Enlightenment. The source of racism is group subjective theories that grew out of Darwinism. The source of eugenics for example was a cousin of Charles Darwin, Francis Galton. Racism needs a mind that thinks in terms of social and/or ethnic determinism. The Enlightenment thinkers were individualists who believed in personal achievement.

Historical Context: the Last Stand of 300 Spartans

This piece of historical context is filled to the brim with valuable information: how a nation came about from a position of cultural diversity in the Greek city states

"Wars are won by breaking the will of your enemy to fight on". Quote attributed to Sun Tzu.

@Johan_Druyff Man is capable of anything. The outcome is determined by his values, by his standard to measure Right and Wrong.

Geert Wilders Publishes Open Letter to the Pope

In the exhortation Evangelii Gaudium Pope Francis drew attention to the indebtedness of Christianity to the Jews and their faith. It inspired Geert Wilders, leader of the PVV (Dutch Freedom Party) to address an open letter to the Pope

Ahmad Al-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of the Al-Azhar Institute in Cairo.

Open letter to his Holiness Pope Francis

Your Holiness, 

In your recent exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (Paragraphs 247-248) you draw the world’s attention to the indebtedness of Christianity to the Jews and their faith. The exhortation also contains a sharp condemnation of the terrible persecutions which the Jews have endured from Christians in the past.

Your words are words which might inspire many.

Unfortunately, they are in sharp contrast to the expressions of hatred which were voiced last October by the spiritual leader of Sunni Islam, Ahmad Al-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of the Al-Azhar Institute in Cairo. Ahmad Al-Tayeb.

Angola: Islam Doesn't Qualify as a Recognized Religion

Angola has decided to ban Islam and ordered the destruction of mosques in an effort to prevent what happened to non-Muslims in other parts of the world, especially in Africa

This video from September 14, 2013 surfaced with the following text translated from Portuguese: Warning - The destruction of nine mosques, should be stopped immediately and we demand the apologize from President Angola to Muslims worldwide. If not, then we would like to invite the Muslim community to hold peaceful demonstrations in front of the buildings of Angolan embassies worldwide. H/t @JacquelineWxxx blog

There is evidence that mosques have been destroyed since at least September this year. The UAE are already up in arms (Source) (auto translation from CNN Arabic)

UPDATE: The Guardian appears to have solved the conundrum of the Angolan 'ban of Islam' while at the same time managed put it into the service of Jihad. Under Angolan law, to receive legal recognition, a religious organization needs 100,000 members, whereas Muslim Angolans number 90,000 (out of about 18 million). Atlas Shrugs has more:

The Guardian newspaper, in its unending service to the jihad, has successfully ginned up the Muslims in the UK to protest against the tiny nation of Angola for a news story that the Guardian more than manufactured ("Angola bans Islam!"). 

What actually happened is that the Angolan justice ministry last month “rejected the applications of 194 organisations, including one from the Islamic community.” But the protesters do not appear to want religious freedom either, but called for a ban on democracy and the establishment of a Islamic Khilafah (caliphate) in Angola, establishing Sharia law. 'Islam', stated one of the posters some held, 'Will Dominate the World'. 

Not content to destroy just Great Britain, the Guardian wants the rest of the world to suffer Britain's grave fate. It seems to me that the Guardian is "not conducive to the public good" -- perhaps the British government should silence the Guardian. Did they not ban Robert Spencer and me for this very reason? (Source)

Amazon Wants to Drone Up. What's Wrong With That?

To many people the concept of a drone has become a weapon from the War of Terror. But that is not in essence what a drone is. A drone is an unmanned flying robot

Amazon Prime Air. Wow. Jeff Bezos, the man behind Amazon.com, announced last night that his company is working on plans to deliver its merchandise by unmanned chopper. From your screen to your door in 30 minutes, by means of awesome new technology.

Amazon Prime Air: What Are You Waiting For? 

By Alexander R. Cohen

Imagine: Drones that deliver life-enriching goods. A perfect image of the difference between the power of business and the power of government. And you might see Amazon’s octocopters in the skies over your city within five years—if Bezos’s team can pull it off.

If the team can pull it off—and, says Amazon’s website, if the FAA can make the “necessary regulations.”

Suddenly the story becomes less exciting. Instead of just waiting for its inventors to get the technology ready and then launching its octocopters when they’re built, Amazon is also waiting for permission—and saying it’s “necessary.”