[Jack]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'M')any countries will starve if this goes ahead; but it seems unavoidable that it will as soon as the crisis reaches proportion to selling protectionism over free trade to consumer economies.

[medicvet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MrBill', 'I') am uncomfortable with the whole them and us, black versus white debate as it does not reflect my values. I am sure that where there has been ethnic or racial violence and civil war that videos and images can be produced by both side to show the barbarity of the other side. --snip-- I think that for visitors to Peak Oil any hint of racism dilutes our message and destroys our credibility. Thanks.

[wisconsin_cur]

EU warns China

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')rcelorMittal, the world's biggest steelmaker, yesterday told its European workforce that production cuts of 50pc would continue indefinitely due to the "exceptional economic environment", raising fears that chunks of Europe's steel industry face closure.

"It is a catastrophe, particularly as management does not say when production will be resumed," Jaques Laplanche, secretary of Mittal's European Works Council, said.

A 166-page report by the European Parliament has accused China of systematic distortion of its steel market, resulting in "irrational capacity extension". This is promoted, it said, by "artificially depressed cost levels" and export rebates.

[wisconsin_cur]

As Economic Turmoil Mounts so do attacks on Hungary's Gypsies

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')ISZALOK, Hungary — Jeno Koka was a doting grandfather and dedicated worker on his way to his night-shift job at a chemical plant last week when he was shot dead at his doorstep. To his killer, he was just a Gypsy, and that seems to have been reason enough.

Prejudice against Roma — widely known as Gypsies and long among Europe’s most oppressed minority groups — has swelled into a wave of violence. Over the past year, at least seven Roma have been killed in Hungary, and Roma leaders have counted some 30 Molotov cocktail attacks against Roma homes, often accompanied by sprays of gunfire.

But the police have focused their attention on three fatal attacks since November that they say are linked. The authorities say the attacks may have been carried out by police officers or military personnel, based on the stealth and accuracy with which the victims were killed.

[wisconsin_cur]

Times Online: Denial of BNP appeal leading to extremism

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '�')��Have you heard Gordon Brown ever talk about immigration?” he pressed the lady with the communist mother. “Is that an issue you ever think about yourself?” “Yeah, I do,” she replied. “There's too many over here...” And she took a leaflet from him and promised to read it.

Thus goes the BNP campaign on doorsteps up and down the country. It's not a dog whistle, it's a trumpet call. And while they may have chosen to canvass with me on an estate where they expected a sympathetic hearing - it is known locally as a UKIP stronghold - they really were pushing at open doors. “At least you're for Britain,” I kept hearing as tanned, retired folk stood in immaculate front gardens, porcelain ducks nestling in gravel paths. “At least someone's for us...what's right is right.”

What has gone wrong in Bognor? In one ward in the 2007 district council elections, the BNP gained more votes than Labour. They are standing in four wards in the council polls tomorrow. Yet according to the 2001 census, the town has a population which is 95 per cent white British.

[wisconsin_cur]

Hat tip Drudge$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')HISTLER, British Columbia (Reuters) - Canadian municipal leaders threatened to retaliate against the "Buy America" movement in the United States on Saturday, warning trade restrictions will hurt both countries' economies.
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities endorsed a controversial proposal to support communities that refuse to buy products from countries that put trade restrictions on products and services from Canada.

[wisconsin_cur]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he BNP gained the seat in the northern English region of Yorkshire and Humber at the expense of Brown's Labour Party, which has been hurt by a scandal over politicians' expenses and questions over Brown's leadership.
Labour also lost a seat in Wales, a traditional stronghold, where its share of the vote slumped 12 points to 20 percent and it was beaten into second place by the centre-right Conservatives.
Losing a seat to the BNP will give fresh ammunition to Brown's critics in the Labour Party after a traumatic week in which six senior ministers quit the government, one of whom called on Brown to quit and said he was an electoral liability.

[Grautr]

The BNP has over the years won the odd seat in local politics but they generaly get a backlash at the next election and are voted out. They tend to do well in areas with large percentages of old people or where racial tensions develop.

I dont know if you would call it normal to go from center left to far right in one go but the public can be very reactionary, not just in Britain, and the current economic crisis, Gordon Browns unpopularity, an uncohesive Conservative (center right) opposition can all add up.

About 15 years ago I was living on the Isle of Dogs when the local government changed overnight from Liberal Democrat (center left) to BNP. This was a direct result of immigrants being given priority housing over local residents. At the next election they were voted out with a sound defeat.

I'm not sure with the way things are going that they will lose their seats next time and they will probably make gains if the situation worsens.

[wisconsin_cur]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he central tension in the union has always been between national priorities and collective interests. Ceding national rights and powers — over currency, trade, customs duties — has never been simple, even in good times. In bad times, like the current downturn, national politics trump the common interest. Leaders move to protect their own industries, workers and voters at the expense of those elsewhere. Workers still seethe at the sacrifices they feel they make on behalf of integration.

At the Goodyear Dunlop tire factory in Amiens, in northern France, Thierry Fagot, 36, is losing the job he has held for 13 years. He sees competition within the alliance as part of the reason.

“I feel like I was fooled. I mean, we created Europe to protect us, and for a long time it worked,” he said, explaining that Europe provided a market for the factory’s tires and established safety rules. “Now, with the competition of Eastern countries, I feel like Europe created this situation where we’re losing our jobs to another E.U. country. How can this be for the greater good?”

[wisconsin_cur]

Meet the new black shirts

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A') neo-Fascist group that claims it has thousands of recruits has announced plans to start anti-crime foot patrols on the streets of Milan.

The resemblance between their outfits and those of Benito Mussolini’s Blackshirts has triggered a judicial inquiry.

The Italian National Guard says that it has 2,500 recruits. It claims that a third are drawn from former members of the police and Armed Forces.

The Guard revealed its oufits and kit in Milan at the weekend: khaki shirts with armbands bearing the Nazi symbol of the Black Sun, black belts and shoulder straps, black ties, heavy black boots and military style caps decorated with the eagle, symbol of the Roman Empire. They are also equipped with black helmets, black gloves and torches.

[dorlomin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Grautr', '
')About 15 years ago I was living on the Isle of Dogs when the local government changed overnight from Liberal Democrat (center left) to BNP. This was a direct result of immigrants being given priority housing over local residents. At the next election they were voted out with a sound defeat.

[wisconsin_cur]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'G')ENEVA - Swiss voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional ban on minarets on Sunday, barring construction of the iconic mosque towers in a surprise vote that put Switzerland at the forefront of a European backlash against a growing Muslim population.

Muslim groups in Switzerland and abroad condemned the vote as biased and anti-Islamic. Business groups said the decision hurt Switzerland's international standing and could damage relations with Muslim nations and wealthy investors who bank, travel and shop there.

[wisconsin_cur]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34255911/ns/world_news/

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')ASHINGTON - Americans are turning away from the world, showing a tendency toward isolationism in foreign affairs that has risen to the highest level in four decades, a poll out Thursday found.

Almost half, 49 percent, told the polling organization that the United States should "mind its own business" internationally and let other countries get along the best they can on their own, the Pew Research Center survey found. That's up from 30 percent who said that in December 2002.

[Homesteader]

Good for Switzerland I say. Nice to see the people getting a say in things for a change. Pity it didn't work that way in the US for the bankster giveaway.

[highlander]

It is beginning to look like the 1930's again. We know how that worked out. It would be easier to believe in evolution if we saw any change in human nature even under the constant barrage of reprogramming by gov't and educators. Got bunker?

[TWilliam]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Homesteader', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('wisconsin_cur', '[')img]http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/components/photo/_new/091129-swissminarets-1235a.rp350x350.jpg[/img]

[wisconsin_cur]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '&')quot;Activities by left-wing and anarchist terrorists and extremists are increasing in quantity and geographical spread in the EU," said Europol.

Portugal has its own twist. The Trotskyist-Maoist Bloco emerged as third party with 11pc of the vote in the June elections. Premier Jose Socrates is attempting to impose austerity by minority government. Good luck.

The hard-Left resurgence cannot be blamed on monetary union as such, yet the two are linked. EMU has always been viewed as a capitalist conspiracy – a "bankers' ramp" – in Left-wing circles. While their view may seem odd to us, they are entirely right to think that poor people in certain countries are victims of the experiment.

Unemployment is 19pc in Spain (43pc for youth) on Eurostat data. Greece is catching up fast. Labour minister Andreas Loverdos said Greek joblessness has jumped above 18pc over the last two months as EU-funded workfare schemes expire.

This will get worse. Southern Europe is being ordered to carry out IMF-style austerity, without the IMF-style devaluation required to rectify the massive imbalances that have built up between North and South under the euro. The victims are caught like France and Germany under the Gold Standard of the early 1930s, when society was broken on a wheel of deflation decrees.

[wisconsin_cur]

British Fury over Icelandic Populism

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')celand's president stunned his nation yesterday by refusing to sign off on a plan to repay £2.3bn owed to the British taxpayer, reigniting a major diplomatic row with London and leaving Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling mortally embarrassed at the latest twist in the saga of Reykjavik's banking meltdown.

A repayment plan for the debt, owed after the British Government paid compensation to UK savers who lost money in the collapse of the Icelandic internet bank Icesave, had been approved by Iceland's parliament despite huge opposition. But yesterday, in a move that horrified the ruling coalition, President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson declared that MPs had failed to take public opinion into account, and called a referendum. It was an extraordinary step for a ceremonial President, and only the second presidential veto in the republic's 66-year history.

[Pretorian]

How come that you missed a story about a muslim shooting 5 Finns in the mall? That should help their tolerasty a bit.

[wisconsin_cur]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pretorian', 'H')ow come that you missed a story about a muslim shooting 5 Finns in the mall? That should help their tolerasty a bit.