The Daily Telegraph's defence editor: "When it comes to the crunch, the Germans are far from being reliable allies"

Why does the US consider it necessary to spy against Germany, supposedly one of its closest allies?The Telegraph's defence editor Con Coughlin gives a compelling answer:

We know, thanks to the treacherous activities of Edward Snowden, that America's NSA spy network regularly listened into the mobile phone conversations of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. But that is small fry compared to the allegations now being made against the CIA, which is now accused of running two high-ranking agents at the heart of the Germany's security establishment.
And finding out what tactics the German football team might use in Sunday night's World Cup final is not what is on the spooks' agenda.
The reason I believe the CIA has agents working for the German defence ministry and intelligence service is that Washington – and indeed London – feel that, despite the fact Germany is supposed to be a leading member of the Western alliance, the Germans are not entirely trustworthy.
You only have to look at how the Germans responded to the recent crisis over Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea to see that Berlin is not always playing on the same side as the rest of us.
While other leading Western powers such as America and Britain were urging tough action against the Kremlin to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to back down – a policy that appears to have worked, by the way – Mrs Merkel seemed more interested in protecting Germany's business interests with Russia.
Nor is this the first time that Berlin has pulled in a different direction from the rest of the Western alliance. During the Libyan conflict three years ago the Germans sided with Moscow in opposing military action against Libya's Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, and actively sought to undermine the Nato mission be refusing to provide vital air tankers to refuel Nato warplanes.
When it comes to the crunch, the Germans are far from being reliable allies, and understanding what the Germans are really up to is vital when it comes to making our own decisions about how to respond to global threats to our security, whether it is Mr Putin's military adventurism or Iran's obsession with building atom bombs.

The BBC is brainwashing its news staff to deny "climate deniers" access to airtime

A formerly venerable broadcasting organisation is wasting license payers' money on brainwashing its news staff to deny critics of global warming access to airtime:

Reporters for BBC News are being directed to significantly curb the amount of air time they give to people with anti-science viewpoints — including people who deny climate change exists — in order to improve the accuracy and fairness of the network’s news coverage, according to a report released by the BBC’s governing body on Thursday.
The BBC Trust’s report was designed to assess the network’s impartiality in science coverage, in other words, whether it is staying neutral on critical issues. In order to be neutral when covering science, however, the BBC noted it needs to avoid “false balance,” a fallacy that occurs when two sides of an argument are assumed to have equal value.

“Science coverage does not simply lie in reflecting a wide range of views but depends on the varying degree of prominence such views should be given,” the report said.
The type of “false balance” news segment that the BBC is now actively trying to avoid is one that is fairly common in American network news’ climate change coverage. It involves putting one person who is well-versed on climate science next to a person who denies climate science, and having them debate.
Editorially, this type of debate makes the network look like it’s being balanced, giving equal opportunity to opposite viewpoints. However, because 95 to 97 percent of climate scientists agree that man-made greenhouse gas emissions are causing the planet to warm, that balance is false, giving disproportionate time to a viewpoint that is widely rejected in the scientific community.
In order to have a truly balanced and statistically representative debate about climate change, television news networks would have to pit 97 climate scientists against three climate deniers. Because that likely wouldn’t work very well, the BBC is favoring an approach that instead severely limits the amount of air time climate deniers are given.
So far, the report said, approximately 200 staff members have attended seminars and workshops aimed at improving the balance of their science coverage.

Fortunately, more and more people have decided to "favour an approach" that severely limits the amount of time spent listening to or watching BBC programmes.

Merkel's socialist government bans fracking - a foot in the grave for Germany's free market economy

Angela Merkel's (de facto) socialist government is taking another step towards an even more complete dependence on dictator Putin's Gazprom:

BERLIN—Germany plans to halt shale-gas drilling for the next seven years over concerns that exploration techniques could pollute groundwater.

"There won't be [shale-gas] fracking in Germany for the foreseeable future," Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks said Friday.

The planned regulations come amid a political standoff with Russia, Germany's main natural gas supplier, and following intensive lobbying from environmentalists and brewers concerned about possible drinking-water contamination.

The production of shale gas requires the application of the hydraulic fracturing technology known as fracking, which involves using a high-pressure mixture of water, sand and chemicals to break apart rocks to release the gas. The government plans to ban the use of hydraulic fracturing technology for drilling operations shallower than 3,000 meters (1.9 miles) and hopes to get a bill ready early next year.

The government will reassess the ban in 2021.

"Protecting drinking water and health has the highest value for us," Ms. Hendricks said.

 

Congratulations to Germany's greenies and Gazprom! And a foot in the grave for the free market economy ...

 

The German economy is OK for now, but it is quite clear that the longer term forecast is anything but good.

Die Welt: Germany says goodbye to the market economy

Make no mistake: This lady is a de facto social democrat!

Already in September last year I wrote about the "social democratization" of Angela Merkel's Germany. This process is happening even faster than anticipated. There is less and less room for the market economy. Germans should be worried:

The GroKo (Merkel's "great coalition") redefines the social market economy: The adjective becomes the main word, while leaving less and less room for the market economy.

The massive government intervention in wage setting means a turning point for the local economy. Further regulation of the labor market will follow. And the rents are also in the focus of the coalition. Here a "rental brake" is to dampen the supposedly anti-social effects of the real estate boom. In the energy sector, market forces are already overridden, and the government has no convincing plan for how they want to deal with the consequences of these interventionist policies. --

If the social politicians of the SPD and Union continues so rigorously to shrink the market economy, Germany's best times will soon be behind us.

Valery Gergiev is a complete Putin stooge: Criticizes brave Karita Mattila

A conductor turned propgandist.

There should not anymore by any doubt about the fact that Russian (Ossetian) conductor Valery Gergiev is a complete Putin stooge. This formerly leading conductor is now one of the leading propagandists for the dictator in the Kremlin:

According to him, Russia did not incorporate the Crimea, it was the will of the people, which manifested itself in a referendum.

"In Ukraine there are too many Nazi elements," he argues, and maintains that the overwhelming result of the referendum was that the Crimean Peninsula residents do not want to remain under the "fascists".

The same applies in his view to many east Ukrainians.

"Russia has received tens of thousands of refugees from Eastern Ukraine." --

"I do not want to be a messenger in this and take another role than my role as a musician. I strongly recommend also to Karita Mattila, that she does what she is best at: singing an acting."

Gergiev continues to reflect on Mattila even more vehemently.

"How can she look into the eyes of those mothers whose children were killed? Many, many children died in the Ukrainian army's needless bombardment. There are no attacks against Kiev from eastern Ukraine, but from the centre they go to the east in order to annihilate these people. Why is the military used to destroy the country's own nationals, who have an Ukrainian passport ? "

The entire interview in the leading Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat here (in Finnish).

PS

My message to the LSO and the Munich Philharmonic: The only decent thing you can do is to get rid of this man as soon as possible! A continued involvement with this conductor turned Putin propagandist will tarnish your image and credibility for years.

And, I say it again: Kudos to Karita Mattila, who dares to speak out!

A great day for Europe: Jean-Claude Juncker nominated as the next President of the European Commission

"I am not a dwarf"
Jean-Claude Juncker

 

Today is a great day for Europe: EU leaders have nominated former Luxembourg PM Jean-Claude Juncker as the next president of the European Commission.

Finally, a fresh and inspiring new face in the Commission!

Juncker, who is known for his bold initiatives and visionary thinking is exactly the right person to lead Europe into a bright and prosperous future.

We cannot wait to hear more about Mr. Juncker's exciting reform programme. Fortunately, the Telegraph, citing sources in Brussels, gives us a foretaste of what we can expect:

Sources also described how Mr Juncker “chain-smoked” through a series of meetings on Thursday and disclosed that he is attempting to get rules changed so that he can smoke in buildings in Brussels.

The Telegraph also discloses why France has been one of Juncker's strongest supporters:

One senior diplomatic source has said he “has cognac for breakfast”. 

The BBC's new diversity programme is clearly discriminatory

(image by Wikimedia commons)

“The BBC gets much right on diversity, but the simple fact is that we need to do more. I am not content for the BBC to be merely good or above average”

Lord Hall, Director general, BBC


It turns out that the entire BBC will soon get the BBC World Service "treatment":

One in seven BBC presenters and actors is to be black, Asian or minority ethnic within the next three years, it has been announced, as Lord Hall pledges to improve diversity.

Lord Hall, the director-general, has promised 15 per cent of on-air BBC staff will be black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME) by 2017, along with one in ten managers. --

 

Speaking at the BBC’s Elstree Studios, Lord Hall promised the corporation aimed to be “beyond reproach” on diversity issues, as he announces a new group of advisors including comedian Lenny Henry, athlete Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, and broadcaster Baroness Floella Benjamin.

He has now confirmed a set of targets for the BBC, to be fulfilled over the next three years.

 

Read the entire article here

 

By prioritizing one minority group, BAME, Lord Hall clearly discrimates against all other minorities, which should be offered the same chance to work as presenters, actors and managers at the BBC. Here are just a few examples of minority groups which without doubt should be included in the new diversity programme:

• UK's 8 million illiterates (The World Literacy Foundation says that one in five of the UK population are so poor at reading and writing they struggle to read a medicine label or use a chequebook.)
• Obese people (one in four adults in the UK)
• 25% of people in the lower social brackets who are smokers
• Ale drinkers (31% of the adult population)
• Tea drinkers(53 per cent of the Brits rely on a traditional cup of tea, at around 8am on average, to help kick start their working day)
• Dog owners (31% of UK households)
• Fishermen(Over 4 million in the UK)
• Britain's 978000 carpenters
• The UK's 300000 bridge players
• People with a black and white TV Licence (12,076 in 2013)