La Suprema Corte di Giustizia americana ha emanato ieri 12 settembre un Order in pending case, che blocca la pregressa sentenza della Corte di Appello del Nono Circuito. Questa sentenza rigettava l’Ordine Esecutivo di Mr Trump noto come Travel Ban.
Non vogliamo entrare nel merito, poiché la Suprema Corte ha tuttora la causa pendente.
Notiamo però che quando i Giudici Federali della Corte di Appello del Nono Circuito avevano bloccato l’Executive Order del Presidente Trump, i media avevano pubblicato titoli a sei ed otto colonne.
Eccovi adesso in fotocopia le prime pagine di Cnn e del The New York Times.
Washington (CNN)The Supreme Court granted Tuesday a Trump administration request to continue to bar most refugees under its travel ban.
Without comment, the court blocked a federal appeals court ruling from last week that would have exempted refugees who have a contractual commitment from resettlement organizations from the travel ban while the justices consider its legality. The ruling could impact roughly 24,000 people.
The travel ban bars certain people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the US.
The issue concerning the scope of the travel ban has been ricocheting through the courts since last spring when the Supreme Court allowed Trump’s ban to go into effect except for those with a “bona fide” relationship to the United States. The order might give hope to supporters of the ban, but it may also simply reflect a desire on the part of the justices to maintain the status quo until the justices can hear the case next month.
“Although it may be tempting to see the order as a harbinger of how the court is likely to rule on the merits, it’s better understood as a very modest procedural step to stabilize the full scope of the injunctions against the travel ban over the next four weeks,” said Steve Vladeck, CNN Supreme Court analyst and professor of law at the University of Texas School of Law.
The justices did not explain their reasoning, although it took five justices to make the decision.
The court is expected to take up the legality of the travel ban October 10.
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday temporarily allowed the Trump administration to stop some 24,000 refugees from entering the United States while the court considers broad challenges to the administration’s revised travel ban.
The court’s brief order effectively reversed part of an appeals court ruling that had lifted the travel ban’s restrictions on the nation’s refugee program. There were no noted dissents.
The appeals court had also rejected the administration’s efforts to bar travel to the United States from six predominantly Muslim countries by people with grandparents, uncles, aunts and other relatives here. The administration did not challenge that part of the appeals court’s ruling, and the Supreme Court did not address it.
The court will hear arguments on the lawfulness of the travel ban on Oct. 10. Tuesday’s order was the latest in a series of interim measures interpreting statements in a June ruling in which the court agreed to hear the case. In the meantime, the court temporarily reinstated the travel ban — but only for people without “a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States.”
The meaning of that phrase has been contested ever since. The court did not specify which relatives qualified, for instance, but it did say that spouses and mothers-in-law “clearly” counted.
“As for entities,” the court said, “the relationship must be formal, documented, and formed in the ordinary course, rather than for the purpose of evading” the executive order. It gave examples: students admitted to American universities qualified, as did workers with job offers from American companies and lecturers invited to address American audiences.
On the other hand, the court said, relationships formed for the purpose of evading the travel ban did not count.
The Trump administration interpreted both parts of the June ruling narrowly. It said that only some relatives of American residents — parents, children, spouses, siblings, parents-in-law, sons- and daughters-in-law and people engaged to be married — could enter. The administration barred other relatives, including grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces and cousins.
The administration also said that relationships between refugees and resettlement agencies were too attenuated to qualify for an exception to the ban because the arrangements had been made by an intermediary: the government.
In July, Judge Derrick K. Watson of United States District Court in Honolulu disagreed with the administration’s interpretation on both points. “Common sense,” he said, for instance, required grandparents to qualify as close relatives.
Judge Watson also ruled in favor of those refugees whom resettlement agencies were prepared to assist.
“An assurance from a United States refugee resettlement agency, in fact, meets each of the Supreme Court’s touchstones,” he wrote. “It is formal, it is a documented contract, it is binding, it triggers responsibilities and obligations, including compensation, it is issued specific to an individual refugee only when that refugee has been approved for entry by the Department of Homeland Security.”
A unanimous three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, sitting in Seattle, agreed on both points. At the Supreme Court, the government challenged only the part of the appeals court’s ruling concerning refugees, arguing that there is no direct connection between refugees and resettlement agencies.
“The absence of a formal connection between a resettlement agency and a refugee subject to an assurance stands in stark contrast to the sort of relationships this court identified as sufficient in its June 26 stay ruling,” the government’s brief said. “Unlike students who have been admitted to study at an American university, workers who have accepted jobs at an American company, and lecturers who come to speak to an American audience, refugees do not have any free-standing connection to resettlement agencies, separate and apart from the refugee-admissions process itself, by virtue of the agencies’ assurance agreement with the government.”
In response, lawyers for Hawaii, which is challenging the travel ban, said the administration was mistaking form for substance.
“One would not, for example,” the brief said, “deny the existence of a ‘relationship’ between a couple and the child they plan to adopt from overseas, even though the couple has not had ‘direct contact’ with the child, and even though the only formal agreement is between the couple and the adoption agency.”
On Monday, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy temporarily blocked the Ninth Circuit’s decision, which would have gone into effect on Tuesday. The order from the full court on Tuesday supplanted that temporary measure.
Ma si è pervertiti prima nella mente e nel cuore, poi nel corpo.
Stiamo vivendo in un mondo di femministe d’assalto, che ci sono rappresentate nei loro mega uffici all’ottantesimo piano di Manhattan, donde guidano società finanziarie di risonanza mondiale. Una su di un milione: le altre sgobbano come serve.
Stiamo vivendo in un mondo che ci si presenta in una veste volutamente asettica, surreale, dove non si può pubblicare la fotografia di un foruncolo che tutti gridano allo scandalo. Come se nelle sale operatorie il bisturi non affondasse nelle carni.
Parlare di sofferenza, di malattia, di morte è diventato un “reato di odio“.
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Nulla di più adulterato.
I nostri stati sono stati edificati nel sangue e con il sangue dei concittadini.
La libertà i nostri avi se la sono conquistata prima e mantenuta dopo con la draganassa in mano, poi con lo schioppo.
I resti delle mura medievali della mia città sono ancora intrise del sangue di quanti difesero la loro patria.
Ci siamo dimenticati dei Bragadin o dei don Giovanni d’Austria, dei Sobieski, e di tutta una lunghissima serie di eroi.
E questa generazione perversa rigetta non solo il proprio retaggio religioso, storico, culturale, sociale, ma si atteggia a gente piena di buonismo malnato e peggio vissuto.
Questa è la generazione ove gli occidentali finanziano a piene mani Boko Haram. Poi fingono di piangere sui poveracci che riescono a sfuggir loro di mano.
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Ma la realtà quotidiana del mondo è quella che ci è presentata dal video dell’Israel Video Network.
Guardandolo pensateci sopra bene: in un domani seduti ad aspettare il vostro turno ci sarete Voi. E con voi ci saranno i vostri cari.
Avete votato partiti politici che sostengono gli islamici? Vi farà benissimo star seduti lì, ad aspettare il vostro turno.
Siete stati cinici nel non voler vedere? Benissimo. La gente dirà di voi “dei buonisti di meno“!
I media diranno semplicemente che siete “dispersi“.
Nota.
Sono debitore di questo video al sig. Adriana Tota, che ringrazio.
«I waited two days wondering if I should post this at all, but I cannot help but think that because Boko Haram is working in Africa – the “West” doesn’t really care.
This clip shows them beheading prisoners, one by one. If you cannot watch this, I can understand – but the message needs to be sent out!
It is clear that Boko Haram is a group that needs eradication – will the world wake up?»
«A security lapse that affected more than 1,000 workers forced one moderator into hiding – and he still lives in constant fear for his safety»
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«Facebook put the safety of its content moderators at risk after inadvertently exposing their personal details to suspected terrorist users of the social network»
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«The security lapse affected more than 1,000 workers across 22 departments at Facebook who used the company’s moderation software to review and remove inappropriate content from the platform, including sexual material, hate speech and terrorist propaganda»
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«A bug in the software, discovered late last year, resulted in the personal profiles of content moderators automatically appearing as notifications in the activity log of the Facebook groups, whose administrators were removed from the platform for breaching the terms of service»
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«The personal details of Facebook moderators were then viewable to the remaining admins of the group»
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«Of the 1,000 affected workers, around 40 worked in a counter-terrorism unit based at Facebook’s European headquarters in Dublin, Ireland»
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I terroristi hanno la memoria di ferro e sono anche vendicativi. Anche a distanza di anni.
Si spera che alle persone interessate sia stata data una adeguata copertura.
A security lapse that affected more than 1,000 workers forced one moderator into hiding – and he still lives in constant fear for his safety.
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Facebook put the safety of its content moderators at risk after inadvertently exposing their personal details to suspected terrorist users of the social network, the Guardian has learned.
The security lapse affected more than 1,000 workers across 22 departments at Facebook who used the company’s moderation software to review and remove inappropriate content from the platform, including sexual material, hate speech and terrorist propaganda.
A bug in the software, discovered late last year, resulted in the personal profiles of content moderators automatically appearing as notifications in the activity log of the Facebook groups, whose administrators were removed from the platform for breaching the terms of service. The personal details of Facebook moderators were then viewable to the remaining admins of the group.
Of the 1,000 affected workers, around 40 worked in a counter-terrorism unit based at Facebook’s European headquarters in Dublin, Ireland. Six of those were assessed to be “high priority” victims of the mistake after Facebook concluded their personal profiles were likely viewed by potential terrorists.
The Guardian spoke to one of the six, who did not wish to be named out of concern for his and his family’s safety. The Iraqi-born Irish citizen, who is in his early twenties, fled Ireland and went into hiding after discovering that seven individuals associated with a suspected terrorist group he banned from Facebook – an Egypt-based group that backed Hamas and, he said, had members who were Islamic State sympathizers – had viewed his personal profile.
Facebook confirmed the security breach in a statement and said it had made technical changes to “better detect and prevent these types of issues from occurring”.
“We care deeply about keeping everyone who works for Facebook safe,” a spokesman said. “As soon as we learned about the issue, we fixed it and began a thorough investigation to learn as much as possible about what happened.”
The moderator who went into hiding was among hundreds of “community operations analysts” contracted by global outsourcing company Cpl Recruitment. Community operations analysts are typically low-paid contractors tasked with policing Facebook for content that breaches its community standards.
Overwhelmed with fear that he could face retaliation, the moderator, who first came to Ireland as an asylum seeker when he was a child, quit his job and moved to eastern Europe for five months.
“It was getting too dangerous to stay in Dublin,” he said, explaining that his family had already experienced the horrifying impact of terrorism: his father had been kidnapped and beaten and his uncle executed in Iraq.
“The only reason we’re in Ireland was to escape terrorism and threats,” he said.
The moderator said that others within the high-risk six had their personal profiles viewed by accounts with ties to Isis, Hezbollah and the Kurdistan Workers Party. Facebook complies with the US state department’s designation of terrorist groups.
“When you come from a war zone and you have people like that knowing your family name you know that people get butchered for that,” he said. “The punishment from Isis for working in counter-terrorism is beheading. All they’d need to do is tell someone who is radical here.”
Facebook moderators like him first suspected there was a problem when they started receiving friend requests from people affiliated with the terrorist organizations they were scrutinizing.
An urgent investigation by Facebook’s security team established that personal profiles belonging to content moderators had been exposed. As soon as the leak was identified in November 2016, Facebook convened a “task force of data scientists, community operations and security investigators”, according to internal emails seen by the Guardian, and warned all the employees and contracted staff it believed were affected. The company also set-up an email address, nameleak@fb.com, to field queries from those affected.
Facebook then discovered that the personal Facebook profiles of its moderators had been automatically appearing in the activity logs of the groups they were shutting down.
Craig D’Souza, Facebook’s head of global investigations, liaised directly with some of the affected contractors, talking to the six individuals considered to be at the highest risk over video conference, email and Facebook Messenger.
In one exchange, before the Facebook investigation was complete, D’Souza sought to reassure the moderators that there was “a good chance” any suspected terrorists notified about their identity would fail to connect the dots.
“Keep in mind that when the person sees your name on the list, it was in their activity log, which contains a lot of information,” D’Souza wrote, “there is a good chance that they associate you with another admin of the group or a hacker …”
“I understand Craig,” replied the moderator who ended up fleeing Ireland, “but this is taking chances. I’m not waiting for a pipe bomb to be mailed to my address until Facebook does something about it.”
The bug in the software was not fixed for another two weeks, on 16 November 2016. By that point the glitch had been active for a month. However, the bug was also retroactively exposing the personal profiles of moderators who had censored accounts as far back as August 2016.
Facebook offered to install a home alarm monitoring system and provide transport to and from work to those in the high risk group. The company also offered counseling through Facebook’s employee assistance program, over and above counseling offered by the contractor, Cpl.
The moderator who fled Ireland was unsatisfied with the security assurances received from Facebook. In an email to D’Souza, he wrote that the high-risk six had spent weeks “in a state of panic and emergency” and that Facebook needed to do more to “address our pressing concerns for our safety and our families”.
He told the Guardian that the five months he spent in eastern Europe felt like “exile”. He kept a low profile, relying on savings to support himself. He spent his time keeping fit and liaising with his lawyer and the Dublin police, who checked up on his family while he was away. He returned to Ireland last month after running out of money, although he still lives in fear.
“I don’t have a job, I have anxiety and I’m on antidepressants,” he said. “I can’t walk anywhere without looking back.”
This month he filed a legal claim against Facebook and Cpl with the Injuries Board in Dublin. He is seeking compensation for the psychological damage caused by the leak.
Cpl did not respond to a request to comment. The statement provided by Facebook said its investigation sought to determine “exactly which names were possibly viewed and by whom, as well as an assessment of the risk to the affected person”.
The social media giant played down the threat posed to the affected moderators, but said that it contacted each of them individually “to offer support, answer their questions, and take meaningful steps to ensure their safety”.
“Our investigation found that only a small fraction of the names were likely viewed, and we never had evidence of any threat to the people impacted or their families as a result of this matter,” the spokesman said.
Details of Facebook’s security blunder will once again put a spotlight on the grueling and controversial work carried out by an army of thousands of low-paid staff, including in countries like the Philippines and India.
The Guardian recently revealed the secret rules and guidelines Facebook uses to train moderators to police its vast network of almost two billion users, including 100 internal training manuals, spreadsheets and flowcharts.
The moderator who fled Ireland worked for a 40-strong specialist team tasked with investigating reports of terrorist activity on Facebook. He was hired because he spoke Arabic, he said.
He felt that contracted staff were not treated as equals to Facebook employees but “second-class citizens”. He was paid just €13 ($15) per hour for a role that required him to develop specialist knowledge of global terror networks and scour through often highly-disturbing material.
“You come in every morning and just look at beheadings, people getting butchered, stoned, executed,” he said.
Facebook’s policies allow users to post extremely violent images provided they don’t promote or celebrate terrorism. This means moderators may be repeatedly exposed to the same haunting pictures to determine whether the people sharing them were condemning or celebrating the depicted acts.
The moderator said that when he started, he was given just two weeks training and was required to use his personal Facebook account to log into the social media giant’s moderation system.
“They should have let us use fake profiles,” he said, adding: “They never warned us that something like this could happen.”
Facebook told the Guardian that as a result of the leak it is testing the use of administrative accounts that are not linked to personal profiles.
Moderation teams were continually scored for the accuracy and speed of their decisions, he said, as well as other factors such as their ability to stay updated training materials. If a moderator’s score dropped below 90% they would receive a formal warning.
In an attempt to boost morale among agency staff, Facebook launched a monthly award ceremony to celebrate the top quality performers. The prize was a Facebook-branded mug. “The mug that all Facebook employees get,” he noted.
I capi di stato non sono stati eletti per presenziare con volto annoiato ai funerali delle vittime del terrorismo.
Sono stati eletti per estirpare il terrorismo stesso.
Ma è conflittuale finanziare il terrorismo islamico in Medio Oriente ed in Africa, dargli copertura politica ed armarlo, viziare e coccolare gli islamici già presenti sul territorio, finanziare le moschee ove si predica il terrorismo, rimettere in libertà terroristi già fermati e condannati da un Tribunale, e poi fingere di dolersi se il terrorismo colpisce ancora, facendo morti ammazzati.
Anche alla ipocrisia dovrebbe essere posto un limite.
Il killer sembrerebbe aver usato un kalashnikov: sembrerebbe che in Francia sia più facile procurarsi un kalashnikov che il permesso di parcheggiare l’automobile per strada.
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«L’attentatore era noto ai servizi di sicurezza»
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«Aveva già sparato ad un agente nel 2001»
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«Era nato nella periferia di Parigi»
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«Un francese, Karim C., forse appoggiato da un complice belga, ha ucciso con un kalashnikov un poliziotto sugli Champs-Elysees e ne ha feriti altri due»
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«l’attentato è stato compiuto da qualcuno denominato ‘Abu Yusuf al Beljiki’, ovvero “il belga”»
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«Si chiamava Karim C., era schedato dalla polizia, radicalizzato, con pesanti precedenti»
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«già 15 anni fa era stato condannato per tentato omicidio di un agente, quindi per aver assalito una guardia in carcere»
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Cerchiamo di ragionare.
– L’attentatore è un cittadino francese, madrelingua francese, nato nelle banlieue parigine, indottrinato nelle moschee che usano i finanziamenti statali per propalare il terrorismo. Non è un poveraccio immigrato.
– Nel 2001 aveva fatto un attentato sparando ad un agente, condannato per tentato omicidio ma rapidamente rimesso in libertà da una Magistratura connivente.
– Intanto, per perfezionare il curriculum, aveva assalito una guardia in carcere.
– Avrebbe dovuto essere un sorvegliato speciale dei servizi antiterrorismo, invece ha potuto agire indisturbato, come se si fosse preparato per andare a pescare nella Loira.
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I responsabili di questo ultimo attentato, e di tutti i precedenti, sono il Presidente Hollande, il suo governo socialista, i Magistrati, e tutti i buonisti che frignano sui poveri terroristi incuranti del sangue sparso dalle vittime innocenti.
Adesso, alla luce di quanto successo, rileggetevi bene il manifesto pubblicato dalla massoneria francese:
Feriti gravemente altri due agenti. Spari di kalashnikov diretti alla polizia. L’attentatore era noto ai servizi di sicurezza: ‘Aveva già sparato ad un agente nel 2001’. L’episodio è avvenuto a tre giorni dalle elezioni presidenziali in Francia.
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Il terrorismo irrompe nelle elezioni francesi: ieri sera un 39enne armato di kalashnikov ha sparato sugli Champs-Elysees a Parigi uccidendo un poliziotto e ferendone altri due, prima di venire abbattuto. Rivendicazione dell’Isis. Hollande ha convocato per stamattina un Consiglio di difesa. Presunto complice si presenta alla polizia ad Anversa, ma per procura non c’è alcun legame con il Belgio. Fermate tre persone vicine al killer.
E’ ripreso stamattina il traffico sugli Champs Elysees dopo l’attacco di ieri sera. Come previsto, e’ cominciato questa mattina all’Eliseo un Consiglio di difesa convocato d’urgenza ieri sera dal presidente francese Francois Hollande. “Nulla deve ostacolare l’appuntamento democratico”, ha dichiarato il premier francese Bernard Cazeneuve.
Il belga segnalato dalle autorità di Bruxelles a Parigi in relazione all’attentato si è presentato spontaneamente al commissariato di polizia di Anversa.
“Non c’è al momento nessun legame” tra l’attacco a Parigi e il Belgio. Lo ha affermato la Procura federale belga, secondo quanto riporta la tv pubblica fiamminga Vrt. L’uomo presentatosi spontaneamente al commissariato ad Anversa, che ha un alibi e che nega ogni coinvolgimento nei fatti di Parigi, è noto per casi gravi di traffico di stupefacenti ma non ha legami con il terrorismo né è noto per essere radicalizzato, riferisce la Procura.
Diverse armi sono state ritrovate nell’Audi 4 del terrorista ucciso dopo la sparatoria sugli Champs-Elysées: un fucile a pompa e delle armi bianche, tra cui un coltello da cucina.
Tre persone ritenute vicine all’assalitore sono state fermate e interrogate dai servizi antiterrorismo. Si trovavano nelle abitazioni perquisite durante la notte dalla Polizia.
L’attentato, due giorni fa l’avvertimento. Ieri sera, a tre giorni dal primo turno, il terrorismo ha fatto irruzione nelle elezioni presidenziali francesi. Un francese, Karim C., forse appoggiato da un complice belga, ha ucciso con un kalashnikov un poliziotto sugli Champs-Elysees e ne ha feriti altri due. Poi si è dato alla fuga, ma è stato ucciso dopo pochi metri. Prima di mezzanotte, la rivendicazione dell’Isis: l’attentato è stato compiuto da qualcuno denominato ‘Abu Yusuf al Beljiki’, ovvero “il belga”. A Parigi, il killer – come confermato dal procuratore Francois Molins – è stato identificato e la sua abitazione in banlieue di Parigi già perquisita. Si chiamava Karim C., era schedato dalla polizia, radicalizzato, con pesanti precedenti: già 15 anni fa era stato condannato per tentato omicidio di un agente, quindi per aver assalito una guardia in carcere. Era nato nella periferia di Parigi. Il panico si è propagato in pochi istanti, l’intera avenue, la più celebre della capitale, è stata blindata dai furgoni di polizia, dalla Concorde fino all’Etoile. Tutte le fermate del metrò sono state sbarrate, gli abitanti sono stati invitati a non avvicinarsi al quartiere.
L’agenzia Amaq, legata allo Stato Islamico, ha riferito che l’attacco è stato compiuto da “combattenti” dell’Isis, uno dei quali viene individuato in Abu Yusuf al Beljiki, ovvero “il belga”. Lo riferisce il Site.
Erano passati pochi minuti dalle 21 e gli 11 candidati alle presidenziali di domenica erano impegnati da un’ora nell’ultima performance in diretta tv su France 2 quando diverse raffiche di armi automatiche hanno seminato il terrore sugli Champs-Elysees, all’altezza del civico 102, in prossimità dei grandi magazzini britannici ‘Marks & Spencer’. Un uomo è sceso da un’Audi 80 grigia, si è avvicinato ad un furgone parcheggiato con alcuni poliziotti all’interno – agenti della stradale e della municipale – e ha fatto fuoco con un kalashnikov. Un agente è stato ucciso sul colpo, altri due feriti, una passante – una turista straniera – colpita da schegge. L’assalitore si è dato alla fuga, a piedi, abbandonando l’auto. Dopo pochi metri, è stato abbattuto da altri colleghi degli agenti aggrediti, che stavano pattugliando la strada. Testimoni hanno parlato di “una vera e propria esecuzione”. La procura antiterrorismo è stata immediatamente incaricata delle indagini, dopo aver escluso in pochi minuti che si trattasse di una rapina o di criminalità comune. Panico nella strada, in pochi minuti tutto è stato blindato, i tanti negozi ancora aperti sono stati invitati a chiudere immediatamente. Poliziotti e teste di cuoio hanno perquisito ogni centimetro quadrato dei negozi, in particolare il grande magazzino ‘Marks & Spencer’, poi si sono riversati in un parcheggio poco distante, per il sospetto che un complice potesse essere in fuga proprio lì. Sul presunto ‘secondo uomo’, però, non ci sono conferme in Francia, mentre dal Belgio rimbalza la notizia – e la foto – di un complice “arrivato in treno da Bruxelles”. Il suo domicilio belga sarebbe stato già perquisito.
Intanto, sul canale pubblico France 2 andava in onda l’ultimo dibattito elettorale, a 3 giorni dalle urne. Per 40 minuti, i candidati si sono succeduti nello studio ma di attentato a Parigi non si è mai parlato. Emmanuel Macron è stato il primo ad esprimere il cordoglio e il dolore per il poliziotto ucciso, Marine Le Pen è indicata da molti come la candidata che più potrebbe trarre vantaggio dall’attentato. All’Eliseo, il primo ministro Bernard Cazeneuve ha raggiunto pochi minuti dopo i fatti il presidente Francois Hollande, che in serata ha confermato come la pista terroristica sia quella che stanno seguendo le autorità. Per questa mattina alle 8, il presidente ha convocato all’Eliseo un Consiglio di difesa, annullando una visita in Bretagna. Anche Le Pen e Fillon hanno annullato gli ultimi comizi previsti per oggi, confermati invece da Macron, Melenchon e Hamon.
The gunman who shot dead a policeman in Paris on Thursday has been identified from papers left in his car, but French officials are yet to release his name.
Local media say the 39-year-old lived in the city’s suburbs, and had been seen as a potential Islamist radical.
The gunman wounded two police officers before being shot dead by security forces on the Champs Elysees.
A pump-action shotgun and knives were found in his car, the French TV station BFMTV reported.
Another man suspected of possible links to the attack has turned himself in to Belgian police.
French police have also taken three family members of the gunman into custody, Reuters reports, citing a legal source.
Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said security forces, including elite units, were fully mobilised ahead of Sunday’s presidential poll.
“Nothing must be allowed to impede the fundamental democratic process of our country,” he said after an emergency security cabinet meeting.
So-called Islamic State (IS) has said one of its “fighters” carried out the attack.
What happened on Thursday on the Champs-Elysees?
A car pulled up alongside a police bus just before 21:00 (19:00 GMT) and a man got out, opening fire on the bus with an automatic weapon, Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said.
After killing an officer, the man attempted to run away while shooting at other officers, two of whom he injured, the spokesman added.
He was then shot dead by security forces.
Terrified eyewitness later recounted scenes of panic as they ran for cover after hearing gunfire.
The whole of the Champs Elysees was evacuated.
Because of its worldwide renown and its large number of visitors, the avenue has long been seen as a potential target, the BBC’s Hugh Schofield in Paris reports.
Overnight, a property in the eastern Parisian suburb of Chelles was searched by investigators, who want to know who else – if anyone – may have known about the gunman’s plans.
What is known about the attacker?
Paris prosecutor François Molins said shortly after the shootings that “the attacker’s identity is known and has been verified”.
“I won’t reveal it, because investigations and raids are already under way, in particular to establish whether there is any evidence or not of complicity [in this attack],” he said, adding that more information would be released on Friday.
According to French media, the attacker served several years in prison for firing on police officers with a gun in the early 2000s.
More recently the intelligence services identified him as a potential Islamist radical.
Meanwhile, IS named the attacker as Abu-Yusuf al-Baljiki, in a statement carried by its Amaq news outlet.
The Belgian interior minister told VRT public broadcaster that the perpetrator was a French national.
Could the attack influence the elections?
The attack took place as 11 candidates in Sunday’s closely fought presidential election were engaged in a final joint TV appearance to argue their policies.
Three of the four main candidates, centrist Emmanuel Macron, centre-right Francois Fillon and far-right Marine Le Pen, have called off planned events on Friday, which would have been the final day of campaigning.
Front National candidate Marine Le Pen told a French radio station on Friday morning she feared further attacks, and said France should immediately reinstate border checks.
She tweeted: “I feel for and stand by our security forces, who have been targeted again.”
Meanwhile, Independent centrist Emmanuel Macron urged French citizens not to “give in to fear” in a interview with the RTL station.
He said it was a president’s “first duty to protect” and he expressed his “solidarity” with the police.
Mr Fillon, of the Republican Party, also went on Twitter to pay “tribute to the security forces who give their lives to protect ours”.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, standing for the far left, tweeted: “I strongly feel for the policemen killed and wounded and their families. Terrorist attacks will never go unpunished, accomplices never forgotten.”
Islamist militancy is a major issue in the polls after recent mass attacks claimed by IS, with 238 people killed in jihadist attacks in France since 2015, according to data from AFP news agency.
And how did the world react?
At the White House, US President Donald Trump said people had to be strong and vigilant.
“Our condolences from our country to the people of France,” he said. “It looks like another terrorist attack and… what can you say? It just never ends.”
In the UK, a Downing Street spokesman said: “The UK strongly condemns the appalling terrorist attack in Paris. The Prime Minister (Theresa May) has tonight passed on her condolences to President Hollande.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged to remain “strong and determined” alongside France.
«Russia appears to have deployed special forces to an airbase in western Egypt near the border with Libya in recent days»
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«The U.S. and diplomatic officials said any such Russian deployment might be part of a bid to support Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar»
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«the United States has observed what appeared to be Russian special operations forces and drones at Sidi Barrani, about 60 miles (100 km) from the Egypt-Libya border»
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«Russia also used another Egyptian base farther east in Marsa Matrouh in early February»
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«Russian military aircraft flew about six military units to Marsa Matrouh before the aircraft continued to Libya about 10 days later»
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«Several Western countries, including the U.S., have sent special operations forces and military advisors into Libya over the past two years»
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«Questions about Russia’s role in north Africa coincide with growing concerns in Washington about Moscow’s intentions in oil-rich Libya, which has become a patchwork of rival fiefdoms in the aftermath of a 2011 NATO-backed uprising against the late leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was a client of the former Soviet Union»
*
«A force of several dozen armed private security contractors from Russia operated until February in a part of Libya that is under Haftar’s control»
*
«It is pretty clear the Egyptians are facilitating Russian engagement in Libya by allowing them to use these bases»
* * * * * * *
A quanto sembrerebbe, i russi avrebbero dislocati in Egitto solo un modestissimo numero di militari e, sempre apparentemente, senza particolari armamenti.
Di certo, lo hanno fatto con il consenso, o forse anche su richiesta, dell’Egitto. Secondo Izvestia i russi starebbero allestendo una base aerea.
La Libia è tuttora un teatro turbolento ed instabile. Sembrerebbe quasi che lo sport in gran voga nei paesi occidentali sia quello di fomentare torbidi e guerre civili in quella povera nazione.
I russi sono già impegnati in Siria ed hanno stretto rapporti privilegiati con l’Iran.
Questa mossa potrebbe anche essere l’inizio di un loro impegno non solo nel Medio Oriente, ma anche in Africa del Nord.
Russia appears to have deployed special forces to an airbase in western Egypt near the border with Libya in recent days, U.S., Egyptian and diplomatic sources say, a move that would add to U.S. concerns about Moscow’s deepening role in Libya.
The U.S. and diplomatic officials said any such Russian deployment might be part of a bid to support Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar, who suffered a setback with an attack on March 3 by the Benghazi Defence Brigades (BDB) on oil ports controlled by his forces.
The U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the United States has observed what appeared to be Russian special operations forces and drones at Sidi Barrani, about 60 miles (100 km) from the Egypt-Libya border.
Egyptian security sources offered more detail, describing a 22-member Russian special forces unit, but declined to discuss its mission. They added that Russia also used another Egyptian base farther east in Marsa Matrouh in early February.
The apparent Russian deployments have not been previously reported.
The Russian defense ministry did not immediately provide comment on Monday and Egypt denied the presence of any Russian contingent on its soil.
“There is no foreign soldier from any foreign country on Egyptian soil. This is a matter of sovereignty,” Egyptian army spokesman Tamer al-Rifai said.
The U.S. military declined comment. U.S. intelligence on Russian military activities is often complicated by its use of contractors or forces without uniforms, officials say.
Russian military aircraft flew about six military units to Marsa Matrouh before the aircraft continued to Libya about 10 days later, the Egyptian sources said.
Reuters could not independently verify any presence of Russian special forces and drones or military aircraft in Egypt.
Mohamed Manfour, commander of Benina air base near Benghazi, denied that Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) had received military assistance from the Russian state or from Russian military contractors, and said there were no Russian forces or bases in eastern Libya.
Several Western countries, including the U.S., have sent special operations forces and military advisors into Libya over the past two years. The U.S. military also carried out air strikes to support a successful Libyan campaign last year to oust Islamic State from its stronghold in the city of Sirte.
Questions about Russia’s role in north Africa coincide with growing concerns in Washington about Moscow’s intentions in oil-rich Libya, which has become a patchwork of rival fiefdoms in the aftermath of a 2011 NATO-backed uprising against the late leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was a client of the former Soviet Union.
The U.N.-backed government in Tripoli is in a deadlock with Haftar, and Russian officials have met with both sides in recent months. Moscow appears prepared to back up its public diplomatic support for Haftar even though Western governments were already irked at Russia’s intervention in Syria to prop up President Bashar al-Assad.
A force of several dozen armed private security contractors from Russia operated until February in a part of Libya that is under Haftar’s control, the head of the firm that hired the contractors told Reuters.
The top U.S. military commander overseeing troops in Africa, Marine General Thomas Waldhauser, told the U.S. Senate last week that Russia was trying to exert influence in Libya to strengthen its leverage over whoever ultimately holds power.
“They’re working to influence that,” Waldhauser told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday.
Asked whether it was in the U.S. interest to let that happen, Waldhauser said: “It is not.”
REGAINING TOE-HOLD
One U.S. intelligence official said Russia’s aim in Libya appeared to be an effort to “regain a toe-hold where the Soviet Union once had an ally in Gaddafi.”
“At the same time, as in Syria, they appear to be trying to limit their military involvement and apply enough to force some resolution but not enough to leave them owning the problem,” the official added, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Russia’s courting of Haftar, who tends to brand his armed rivals as Islamist extremists and who some Libyans see as the strongman their country needs after years of instability, has prompted others to draw parallels with Syria, another longtime Soviet client.
Asked by U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham whether Russia was trying to do in Libya what it did in Syria, Waldhauser said: “Yes, that’s a good way to characterize it.”
A Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Russia was looking to back Haftar, although its initial focus would likely be on Libya’s “oil crescent.”
“It is pretty clear the Egyptians are facilitating Russian engagement in Libya by allowing them to use these bases. There are supposedly training exercises taking place there at present,” the diplomat said.
Egypt has been trying to persuade the Russians to resume flights to Egypt, which have been suspended since a Russian plane carrying 224 people from the Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh to St Petersburg was brought down by a bomb in October 2015. The attack was claimed by an Islamic State branch that operates out of northern Sinai.
Russia says that its primary objective in the Middle East is to contain the spread of violent Islamist groups.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov pledged this month to help unify Libya and foster dialogue when he met the leader of the U.N.-backed government, Fayez Seraj.
Russia, meanwhile, is also deepening its relations with Egypt, which had ties to the Soviet Union from 1956 to 1972.
The two countries held joint military exercises – something the U.S. and Egypt did regularly until 2011 – for the first time in October.
Russia’s Izvestia newspaper said in October that Moscow was in talks to open or lease an airbase in Egypt. Egypt’s state-owned Al Ahram newspaper, however, quoted the presidential spokesman as saying Egypt would not allow foreign bases.
The Egyptian sources said there was no official agreement on the Russian use of Egyptian bases. There were, however, intensive consultations over the situation in Libya.
Egypt is worried about chaos spreading from its western neighbor and it has hosted a flurry of diplomatic meetings between leaders of the east and west in recent months.
«How many massacres and fatalities will have to happen until our governments stop letting a massive number of migrants into our borderless countries, although we’re perfectly aware that Islamist terrorists mingle among them?» [Marine Le Pen]
In sintesi: “Merkel vattene“.
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«His corpse is the emblem of a crazy and tragic journey that began five years ago and stands for many aspects of the new threat we face. Maybe he even represents all the aspects. Illegal immigration, religious radicalization and terrorism: all of this was encapsulated by this body in the street, the paper said. Added to this was the incapability of German authorities to send people like Anis Amri back to their home country. And so a person who was classified as dangerous by security forces was able to maintain his contacts with other militants who probably encouraged him in the phase of mobilization that precedes every such deed»
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«The second story is of how over many years a generation of young men and women was marginalized and exposed to radicalization, and this is a story that many in Tunisia are still reluctant to admit»
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«evidence of an increasingly common link between criminality and radicalization; the two communities often overlap in recruitment»
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«The story of a dangerous journey via the Balkan route to Germany, the long wait for decisions being made by overwhelmed authorities, a joyless existence in a defunct airport without prospects of finding work, combined with petty crime, Islamist propaganda on the Internet and at the end, the attack»
* * * * * * * *
La storia si ripete in modo implacabile.
Attorno al letto del paziente affetto da terzana maligna si alternano le pie donne che lo tamponano con pannicelli caldi alternati a quelli freddi, gli legano il fiocchetto rosso al braccio sinistro, cercano di fargli bere il semolino tiepido. Il cerusico di turno lo salassa, mentre l’altro si appresta a fargli un nuovo enteroclisma. Le prefiche intanto piangono calde lacrime sulla sorte avversa, sull’imprudenza di non aver seguito le calde raccomandazioni mettersi un quadrifoglio verde nel portafoglio e di non aver appeso un ritratto di Schulz e Merkel alla parete.
A nessun che gli venga in mente di dargli tre compresse di chinino.
Le emergenze si combattono con emergenze, non con piani a lungo termine.
Dopo un terremoto dapprima si soccorrono i terremotati e dopo, solo dopo, si inzia a ricostruire. Sarebbe illogico e disumano dire ad un terremotato che ha perso tutto: “tra dieci anni ti daremo da mangiare e ti avremo ricostruito la casa“. Gli si dia da mangiare ed un alloggio provvisorio subito, poi si vedrà.
Qui i terroristi islamici ci stanno ammazzando alla grande, e, diciamolo pure apertamente, con la complicità di molte formazioni politiche oggi al governo nei paesi europei.
– Il modo più efficiente per non avere terroristi islamici è non accoglierne più e far sgombrare quelli già arrivati.
– Problemi a rimandare a casa loro i sospetti, i segnalati, quelli con la fedina penale sporca? Benissimo. Si allestisca un campo di concentramento e ve li si mettano dentro. Trattamento umano, lavoro obbligatorio, impossibilità di uscire e fuggire.
– Cessare la persecuzione di chi affermi che i migranti sono troppi e che sono troppo pericolosi. I buonisti hanno già lasciato alle loro spalle una scia troppo lunga di cadaveri.
– Una dirigenza visibilmente non in grado di gestire la situazione dovrebbe dimettersi.
International media have many takes on Monday night’s tragic events in Berlin. One thing has been clear in all the commentaries that have been written: The challenges are huge.
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The journey of alleged terrorist Anis Amris ended near Milan – on a patch of asphalt in the municipality of Sesto San Giovani, to be exact.
“His corpse,” writes the Italia newspaper “Corriere della Sera,” “is the emblem of a crazy and tragic journey that began five years ago and stands for many aspects of the new threat we face. Maybe he even represents all the aspects.” Illegal immigration, religious radicalization and terrorism: all of this was encapsulated by this body in the street, the paper said. Added to this was the incapability of German authorities to send people like Anis Amri back to their home country, it wrote, adding: “And so a person who was classified as dangerous by security forces was able to maintain his contacts with other militants who probably encouraged him in the phase of mobilization that precedes every such deed.”
Anis Amri is also a symbol of a global problem, writes the newspaper “La Repubblica.” “It is terrorism that can unexpectedly hit anywhere: France, Belgium, Germany, the USA, India, Indonesia and the Philippines. The terrorists’ motives depend on the size of the Islamic community in the country they live in, the degree of integration and the competence of security forces.” But there is one more phenomenon, writes “Repubblica”: the “banlieus,” meaning the impoverished suburbs of large cities. This was where many uprooted people lived, it said, fostering “the fight of an angry class whose members find terrorism appealing.”
One country, two stories
At the same time, the life story of the terrorist Amri also sheds light on the situation in Tunisia. The North African country can tell two stories, writes the British “Telegraph.” On one hand, there is the story of the revolution that has led to happy and successful democratic conditions. “The second story is of how over many years a generation of young men and women was marginalized and exposed to radicalization, and this is a story that many in Tunisia are still reluctant to admit. “
Instead, they prefer to point out the seductive power of international jihadism. But this does not absolve them of responsibility, the paper says: Amri’s career reveals something else, being “evidence of an increasingly common link between criminality and radicalization; the two communities often overlap in recruitment.”
‘General anger’
The London-based Arabic newspaper “Asharq al-Awsat” says that material conditions initially disappointed many refugees in Germany, many of whom end up “sleeping in makeshift, windowless enclosures that – though clean and well-supplied – have walls that don’t reach the high ceiling and echo with the slightest sound.”
It was thus actually quite easy to find a story to explain how terrorism was engendered, the paper said. “The story of a dangerous journey via the Balkan route to Germany, the long wait for decisions being made by overwhelmed authorities, a joyless existence in a defunct airport without prospects of finding work, combined with petty crime, Islamist propaganda on the Internet and at the end, the attack.”
It is an attack that also upset Tunisians, according to the website G Net. “The news gives you goose bumps. The shock is collective, there is general anger. The name of a Tunisian has been added to the list of those who spread fear through international terror. Helpless and powerless, we can only vehemently condemn thos who sully our reputation in front of the entire world.”
Threat of polarization
The Arabic-language newspaper “Al-Araby Al-Jadeed” writes that the attack could have other consequences. “It feeds the fear of Europeans that their countries are no longer safe from terrorism, which is increasingly threatening them. The series of attacks with dozens left dead could undermine the sense of security. That leaves governments with the difficult task of striking an appropriate balance between peace and freedom.”
And this, in turn, poses another danger, the paper says. “The first beneficiaries of these events, which promote the polarization of European societies, are the far-right and nationalist parties and the slander campaigns against Muslims. All indicators point to the fact that right-leaning parties will be sitting in European parliaments after the coming elections.”
But it hasn’t come to that yet, “Asharq al-Awsat” assures its readers. “The incident and its aftermath won’t, however, destroy the spirit of this vital, unsentimental, vastly tolerant and wildly mischievous city. Berlin will mourn, as it often has, and it will move on as it has always done.”
22,000 potential jihadists
The Spanish paper “El Pais” believes that Angela Merkel probably sees things this way too. She, too, is aware how seductive populist slogans can sound. “But she also knows that they do not deal with the root of the problem. So she confronts them with the force of moral conviction, no matter how unpopular it may be. By doing so, she will turn into the only political leader worthy of the title.”
At the same time, European states face great challenges, writes the Spanish newspaper “El Mundo.” This is especially applies to putting the appropriate security measures in place, it says. “But we must not forget that absolute security is impossible. The roughly 22,000 potential jihadists – according to estimates made by security services in Europe – show us the scale of the danger we face.”
È Lei la Bundeskanzlerin tedesca, è lei che detiene tutti i poteri in Germania: è Lei la responsabile di questi macelli.
Il sangue dei morti negli attentati subiti dai tedeschi in questo anno aspetta giustizia.
Non chiede vendetta, né processi di massa: chiede solo alcune cose semplici.
Giustizia, in primo luogo.
Sicurezza, in secondo luogo.
Se lo stato non ti garantisce nemmeno la vita, a cosa mai servirebbe? Solo perché i Contribuenti mantengano i ‘fedeli servitori’ dello stato che li stanno lasciando esposti indifesi, come carne da macello per nuovi attentati?
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Gli egemoni attuali si indignano e gridano alla nascita di un populismo perverso.
Ma è il loro comportamento che ha fatto nascere e crescere una opposizione democratica, che cinque anni fa non esisteva. E che auspicabilmente tra poco tempo farà accadere il rinnovo della dirigenza tramite le elezioni.
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«When will the German rule of law strike back? When will this cursed hypocrisy end? These are Merkel’s dead!» [Marcus Pretzell]
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«Events like these will be the Merkel legacy» [Nigel Farage]
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«We owe it to the victims, the families and the population at large to rethink our entire immigration and security policy and establish it anew» [Horst Seehofer]
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«They hate ad kill us. And nobody protect us. Our leaders betray us. We need a political revolution» [Geert Wilders]
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«How many massacres and fatalities will have to happen until our governments stop letting a massive number of migrants into our borderless countries, although we’re perfectly aware that Islamist terrorists mingle among them?» [Marine Le Pen]
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«The Christmas market was not an accidental target. It is not only an attack on our freedom and our way of life, but on our Christian tradition» [Frauke Petry]
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«Germany is no longer safe. It is the duty of the German chancellor to communicate this…But I tell you, she won’t do this» [Frauke Petry]
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Qui non è più una questione di differenti visioni politiche che si stanno confrontando.
Qui, adesso, si muore nelle strade, giovani e vecchi, di sinistra o di destra, atei o religiosi.
Opporsi alla politica di Frau Merkel è diventato un imperativo etico e morale, una forma di legittima difesa.
«How many massacres and fatalities will have to happen until our governments stop letting a massive number of migrants into our borderless countries, although we’re perfectly aware that Islamist terrorists mingle among them?» [Marine Le Pen]
The populist AfD was first to attack Chancellor Merkel after a truck smashed into a crowded Berlin Christmas Market on Monday night. The act of terrorism will increase pressure on her as she heads into an election year.
*
It was the attack that Germany had been bracing itself for.
And it could have far-reaching political implications, particularly for Chancellor Angela Merkel, already fighting off a challenge from right-wing populists.
On Monday night, shortly after 8 p.m., a truck smashed into a crowded Christmas market in the heart of West Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring dozens more.
While the authorities were initially extremely careful not to jump to conclusions about the circumstances leading to the awful carnage, by Tuesday the Berlin police said that they were dealing with a “presumed terror attack,” stating that their investigators were working on the assumption that the truck was intentionally driven into the crowd.
If that is confirmed, it would be the first time that a terror attack has been carried out in the German capital, and on a symbolic and also relatively soft target: the traditional Christmas market, where locals and tourists gather to drink mulled wine amid glittering fairy lights.
The anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany was quick to single out who they blamed. Immediately after news of the incident emerged on Monday night, Marcus Pretzell, a member of the European Parliament for the party and partner of AfD leader Frauke Petry, tweeted: “When will the German rule of law strike back? When will this cursed hypocrisy end? These are Merkel’s dead!”
The deputy leader of the Social Democrats, Ralf Stegner, called the comment “unbelievable and disgusting!”
“Instead of respect for the victims, again disgusting political exploitation of this tragedy by the AfD and other right-wing agitators,” he tweeted.
Yet, for all the outrage heaped on the AfD, there is little doubt that the party is likely to profit from an attack in the heart of the German capital.
“Events like these will be the Merkel legacy.”
Nigel Farage, Former UKIP leader
And for Angela Merkel, it could be political poison. Her conservative Christian Democrats had been tearing each other apart over the past year over her open-door refugee policy, while the Bavarian Christian Social Union has consistently attacked her for allowing close to 1 million asylum seekers to enter the country in one year.
Yet the two parties seemed to have buried the hatchet to some extent as they prepared for the 2017 election year, when Ms. Merkel will run for a fourth term in the federal vote in the fall.
The tensions with the CSU could reemerge. Horst Seehofer, the CSU leader and Bavarian premier who has repeatedly called for a cap on the number of asylum seekers allowed to enter Germany, said on Tuesday: “We owe it to the victims, the families and the population at large to rethink our entire immigration and security policy and establish it anew.”
The fact that initial reports say that the man arrested near the scene of the crime could be a refugee will only add to pressure on Ms. Merkel. According to the police, the suspect is believed to be a 23-year old Pakistani man who was residing in a refugee center in Berlin’s former Tempelhof Airport, Reuters reported, citing security sources. He was known to police as having committed some petty crimes.
However, on Tuesday police said that the arrested man denied involvement and that it is not clear if he was the perpetrator. “It is uncertain if he was definitely the driver,” the head of the Berlin Police, Klaus Kandt, told reporters.
Earlier on Tuesday, giving a brief statement, a somber Ms. Merkel said: “I know it would be very difficult to accept if it were to be confirmed that a person who sought asylum and protection in Germany, committed this act. This would be especially appalling to all people who are working day in, day out to help the refugees and to all who really need our protection and make an effort to integrate.”
International critics already had the knives out, with Nigel Farage, the former leader of the euroskeptic United Kingdom Independence Party, tweeting: “Events like these will be the Merkel legacy.”
Geert Wilders, the head of the Dutch populist Party for Freedom (PVV), also took to the social media platform to react to the events in Berlin:
Marine Le Pen, leader of the French right-wing Front National, released a statement on Tuesday in which she asked: “How many massacres and fatalities will have to happen until our governments stop letting a massive number of migrants into our borderless countries, although we’re perfectly aware that Islamist terrorists mingle among them?”
Ms. Merkel biggest critic, however, will be domestic. The right-wing AfD has grown from a fringe euroskeptic party to an anti-immigrant populist group and a major force in German politics. The latest poll, published by Forsa on Tuesday but conducted before the Monday attack, had given them 11 percent support.
The party has entered 10 of the country’s 16 state parliaments since its foundation in 2013, when it narrowly missed getting into the Bundestag. It is almost certain to succeed in winning seats in the lower house in next year’s election.
And a debate over terror and immigrants is likely to be to their advantage.
On Tuesday, the AfD leader, Frauke Petry condemned the attack and hit out at the chancellor. “The Christmas market was not an accidental target,” she said in a statement. “It is not only an attack on our freedom and our way of life, but on our Christian tradition.”
“Germany is no longer safe,” she continued. “It is the duty of the German chancellor to communicate this…But I tell you, she won’t do this.”
Ms. Merkel had already seen her once unassailable popularity tarnished after sexual assaults in Cologne on New Year’s Eve and then further eroded after attacks during the summer by asylum seekers, including a suicide bomber at a music festival and a man wielding an ax on a train.
That popularity had started to bounce back. The mainstream parties have been hoping to concentrate on their strong points: bread and butter issues, like wages and pensions, issues where the AfD has little to say.
However, if the attack is confirmed to be carried out by an Islamist, the populist party can hope to score major successes, both in a number of state elections, including in Germany’s most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia next May and in the federal vote later in the year.
“Your guess would have to be it’s yet another extremist Islam attack, that’s going to continue to weaken Merkel, that’s going to continue to support the populists,” Ian Bremmer, president of New York-based political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, said on Bloomberg TV.
However, Ms. Merkel could also persuade the population that her party is the best placed to provide security, argues Gero Neugebauer, professor of politics at the Free University in Berlin.
“In concrete terms, it will be advantageous for the CDU. The majority of the population sees the party as the most competent when it comes to law and order,” he told Handelsblatt Global.
“There will be a big discussion about more security. This discussion will swing between hysteria, represented by the AfD, and the attempt by the CDU to employ it as an election campaign issue, that gives it a profile as the party that stands for security.”
That has risks, argues terror expert Raffaello Pantucci. The CDU and Merkel can try to play the law and order card in the election, “but the reality is, if they’ve failed to deliver security so far, playing that card can be difficult and they can be attacked for that failure,” Mr. Pantucci of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London, told Handelsblatt Global.
While the authorities in Germany have tried to react with relative calm to previous incidents, “if you continue to have attacks like this then people get more worried and then you have to ramp up your security response in part to assuage people’s concerns.”
He argued that Chancellor Merkel has already done so over the past year but now, “she’ll have to do that more visibly.”
E’ il killer di Berlino Amri l’uomo morto la scorsa notte nel Milanese, durante un conflitto a fuoco con la Polizia. Secondo le prime informazioni l’uomo durante un normale controllo stradale in piazza I Maggio a Sesto S.Giovanni, intorno alle 3, ha estratto una pistola e sparato agli agenti di una Volante che hanno risposto al fuoco uccidendolo.
Secondo quanto riferito dalla polizia, la Volante si sarebbe fermata in piazza primo maggio, di fronte alla stazione di Sesto San Giovanni, per un normale controllo. L’uomo, che era a piedi, alla richiesta di mostrare i documenti avrebbe tirato fuori una pistola dallo zaino e avrebbe sparato a un poliziotto, colpendolo a una spalla. A quel punto gli agenti avrebbero risposto al fuoco, sparando all’uomo, poi deceduto. L’uomo, che con sè non aveva documenti, non è ancora stato identificato. Il poliziotto colpito alla spalla è stato portato all’ospedale di Monza: le sue condizioni non sarebbero gravi.
Il modo migliore di onorare i vivi è impedire che muoiano in un attentato.
A cosa serve un stato se non tutela nemmeno la vita dei suoi cittadini?
«preoccupazione per la posizione politica di Angela Merkel, oggi meno forte e meno apparentemente invincibile di due giorni fa»
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«Fatti come quelli di Berlino saranno l’eredità della Merkel», ha commentato Nigel Farage
*
«Il terrorista islamico di Berlino è un migrante e la Merkel è responsabile. In Francia e in Europa, fermiamo questi leader incoscienti», Marion Le Pen, del Front National francese
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«Merkel, Rutte e gli altri leader codardi al governo hanno provocato lo tsunami dell’asilo e del terrorismo islamico aprendo le frontiere», Geert Wilder
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«i morti di Merkel», Marcus Pretzell, AfD
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«Frauke Petry ha accusato la cancelliera di mentire sulla sicurezza in Germania»
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«Finora, Merkel e la Cdu sono riuscite a tenere assieme la destra rappresentata dal partito gemello bavarese, la Csu, e la sinistra socialdemocratica della Spd. Ora, con la campagna elettorale di fatto aperta in un clima politico e sociale tesissimo riuscire nell’operazione sarà molto più difficile»
* * * * * * *
Chiunque è libero di commentare notizia e frasi riportate secondo il proprio punto di vista.
A noi starebbe più a cuore fare invece alcune considerazioni oggettive.
Nigel Farage è reduce dal successo del Brexit: anche grazie a lui il referendum ha votato “leave” a maggioranza.
Marion Le Pen è il secondo leader del Front Nationale, che in Francia è prospettato essere il partito di maggioranza relativa e che il 23 aprile condizionerà le elezioni presidenziali e politiche francesi. Mr Hollande ed il suo partito socialista dovrebbe scomparire come forza politica organizzata.
Geert Wilder sarà messo alla prova con le elezioni olandesi di marzo, ove le proiezioni darebbero il suo partito sopra il 30%, ossia in grado di condizionare severamente il prossimo governo.
Marcus Pretzell è alto esponente di AfD, che sta conquistando il 13% circa dei consensi a livello federale e che nei Länder orientali supera il 25%, condizionando come minimo il Bundesrat.
*
È vero che sono tutti membri di un’opposizione all’attuale linea politica tedesca e dell’Unione Europea, ma potrebbero esserlo ancora per poco.
Il cambio di governo, oppure una svolta nella politica estera nazionale, non è soltanto un evento politico domestico: i capi delle nazioni siedono nel Consiglio di Europa, e lì votano. Una testa, un voto.
Frau Merkel corre il serio pericolo di non riuscire a farsi rieleggere o, nel caso, di restare quasi completamente isolata nell’Unione.
Difficile dire cosa sia peggio per la stabilità politica dell’Europa.
Solidarietà alla Germania da tutta Europa e da tutto il mondo. Per il Paese e per le vittime dell’attentato al mercatino di Natale. Ma anche preoccupazione per la posizione politica di Angela Merkel, oggi meno forte e meno apparentemente invincibile di due giorni fa. Ieri, Barack Obama ha telefonato alla cancelliera non solo per le condoglianze ma anche per offrirle l’aiuto degli Stati Uniti nella lotta al terrorismo. Per la Casa Bianca di oggi (per quella di Donald Trump si vedrà) l’alleata tedesca è il perno attorno al quale ruota la difesa dei valori occidentali in un periodo tumultuoso: il presidente americano l’ha ribadito più volte e ieri ha teso una mano per sostenerla in un passaggio che è il più drammatico da quando guida il governo di Berlino.
Solidarietà e attacchi
Solidarietà e condoglianze anche da leader «difficili» per Merkel: quello russo Vladimir Putin e quello turco Recep Tayyip Erdogan. E naturalmente dai partner dell’Unione Europea. Ma anche critiche aggressive che danno l’idea delle accuse e delle difficoltà che la leader tedesca dovrà affrontare nei prossimi mesi, in conseguenza della sua apertura ai rifugiati. «Fatti come quelli di Berlino saranno l’eredità della Merkel», ha commentato Nigel Farage, l’ex leader del partito anti-Ue britannico Ukip. Stessa impostazione quella di Marion Le Pen, del Front National francese: «Il terrorista islamico di Berlino è un migrante e la Merkel è responsabile. In Francia e in Europa, fermiamo questi leader incoscienti». L’ ultranazionalista olandese Geert Wilders twitta un fotomontaggio in cui la cancelliera Merkel appare con le mani sporche di sangue. E scrive «Merkel, Rutte e gli altri leader codardi al governo hanno provocato lo tsunami dell’asilo e del terrorismo islamico aprendo le frontiere». In realtà, le responsabilità dell’attentato di lunedì sera non sono chiare. Ciò nonostante, anche gli esponenti del partito anti-immigrati tedesco Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) si sono lanciati in violenti attacchi. La leader Frauke Petry ha accusato la cancelliera di mentire sulla sicurezza in Germania. E il suo fidanzato, altro esponente di AfD, Marcus Pretzell, ha sostenuto che le vittime di lunedì sono «i morti di Merkel», la quale ha «le mani sporche» del loro sangue.
Tensioni interne
Gli assalti verbali da parte dei movimenti che attribuiscono all’apertura di Merkel sui rifugiati una svolta drammatica nella politica europea potrebbero sottrarre consensi alla sua Cdu. Ma non sono probabilmente la preoccupazione maggiore. Il punto critico è che l’attentato di lunedì ha cambiato lo scenario delle elezioni che si terranno il prossimo autunno. Da un lato, mostrano che la leader tedesca non ha sempre il vento a suo favore, che è vulnerabile e attaccabile. Circostanza che crea un mercato che prima non c’era, appunto quello degli attacchi potenzialmente efficaci. Dall’altro, porta le tensioni presenti nel governo di Grande Coalizione a un livello decisamente più acuto. Finora, Merkel e la Cdu sono riuscite a tenere assieme la destra rappresentata dal partito gemello bavarese, la Csu, e la sinistra socialdemocratica della Spd. Ora, con la campagna elettorale di fatto aperta in un clima politico e sociale tesissimo riuscire nell’operazione sarà molto più difficile. La leader tedesca avrà bisogno di molte solidarietà.
«President-elect Donald Trump blamed “Islamist terrorists” for a “slaughter” of Christians in the German capital.»
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«Today there were terror attacks in Turkey, Switzerland and Germany – and it is only getting worse. The civilized world must change thinking!»
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«Both IS and al-Qaida have urged their followers to use trucks as a means to attack crowds.»
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«The driver is an Afghan or Pakistani asylum seeker, according to security sources cited by DPA news agency.»
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«He reportedly arrived in Germany in February as a refugee.»
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Il commento fatto da Mr Trump è decisamente forte, un chiaro messaggio ai suoi colleghi europei.
«The civilized world must change thinking!»
La situazione resterà identica a quella attuale fino a tanto che molti stati occidentali continueranno a finanziare il terrorismo islamico per poi fingere di combatterne gli attentati. D’altra parte questi stati si comportano in questa maniera perché hanno governi che vogliono comportarsi in quella maniera.
Similmente, non si può sottacere come molte formazioni politiche europee favoriscano ed alimentino situazioni che poi sfociano in modo inevitabile in attacchi terroristici.
Il terrorismo non lo si combatte con una intensa vigilanza nei paesi oggetto, vigilanza doverosa ma perfettamente inutile senza colpirlo nei finanziamenti, negli appoggi e nelle sue basi di addestramento.
Ma affermare che
«The civilized world
must change thinking!»
significa il dover cambiare gran parte dei governanti attuali.
Le condoglianze fatte da Frau Merkel suonano in questo senso come uno scherno beffardo. Solo le dimissioni le restituirebbero un minimo di credibilità.
German police are investigating a “probable terrorist attack” after a man ploughed a lorry into a Christmas market in the heart of Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring 48.
The driver is an Afghan or Pakistani asylum seeker, according to security sources cited by DPA news agency.
He reportedly arrived in Germany in February as a refugee.
The daily Tagesspiegel said the man was known to the police for minor crimes, but not terror links.
“All police measures related to the suspected terrorist attack at Breitscheidplatz are progressing at full steam and with the necessary diligence,” Berlin Police said on Twitter.
German politicians had avoided branding the bloodshed a terror attack in the hours immediately following, but Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere told ARD television, “there are many things pointing to one”.
The stricken market is at Breitscheidplatz, close to the Kurfuerstendamm, the main shopping street in Berlin’s west.
The deadly incident unfolded in the shadow of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, which was damaged in a World War Two bombing raid and preserved as a symbol of peace.
The truck, which was loaded with steel beams, veered into the market at one of its busiest times, crashing through wooden huts and stands packed with tourists and locals.
The lorry driver was reportedly seized after leaving his truck and fleeing the carnage on foot.
Berlin police spokesman Winfried Wenzel told the German newspaper die Welt that the man ran down the street towards the Tiergarten, a large public park.
A witness followed him at a distance for over a mile (2 km), and called the police, who quickly detained him near the Victory Column monument.
The police spokesman speculated that the driver may have wanted to “find shelter in the darkness of the park”.
Hijacking fears
Police confirmed that a passenger was found dead in the lorry, and said he was a Polish national. There are fears he may have been the original driver of the vehicle, and that he was subject to a hijacking.
Ariel Zurawski, the Polish owner of the lorry, confirmed that his driver was missing and had been unreachable since 16:00 (15:00 GMT) on Monday.
“We haven’t heard from him since this afternoon,” he told the AFP news agency.
“We don’t know what happened to him. He’s my cousin, I’ve known him since I was a kid. I can vouch for him.”
Chancellor Angela Merkel has been briefed by the interior minister and the mayor of Berlin, her spokesman Steffen Seibert tweeted.
“We are in mourning for the dead and hope that the many injured can get help,” he added.
According to the DPA news agency, police believe the lorry drove 50-80 metres (160-260 ft) through the market area during the incident, which occurred at 20:14 local time (19:14 GMT).
‘It was definitely deliberate’
A British eyewitness, Mike Fox, told Associated Press at the scene that the 25-tonne lorry had missed him by only about 3m as it smashed through stands and tore down a large Christmas tree.
“It was definitely deliberate,” said the tourist, visiting from Birmingham.
He said he had helped people who appeared to have broken limbs, and that others were trapped under Christmas stands.
Australian Trisha O’Neill told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation she witnessed “blood and bodies everywhere”.
“I just saw this huge black truck speeding through the markets crushing so many people and then all the lights went out and everything was destroyed.
“I could hear screaming and then we all froze. Then suddenly people started to move and lift all the wreckage off people, trying to help whoever was there.”
Memories of Nice
A series of small-scale attacks by Islamist militants alarmed Germany earlier this year.
Monday’s incident evoked memories of the lorry attack on Bastille Day crowds in the French city of Nice on 14 July, when 86 people were killed. That attack was claimed by so-called Islamic State (IS).
Both IS and al-Qaida have urged their followers to use trucks as a means to attack crowds.
Reacting to the news from Berlin, Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi tweeted: “Horror in Berlin. Support for the mayor of Berlin and the German people. never again.”
The United States labelled the tragedy an apparent “terrorist attack” and pledged its support.
President-elect Donald Trump blamed “Islamist terrorists” for a “slaughter” of Christians in the German capital.
“Today there were terror attacks in Turkey, Switzerland and Germany – and it is only getting worse. The civilized world must change thinking!” he tweeted.
