Segacs's World I Know

Posts Tagged ‘european union’

This one’s a real doozy: EU worried about freedom of religion in Iran.

Every joke I could make here would be just too easy, so I’ll let it speak for itself.

Cheap budget airlines in Europe such as Ryanair, EasyJet, SkyEurope, Wizzair and others have revolutionized European travel, making it often cheaper to fly halfway across the continent than it is to get a bed for the night. But that’s all about to change:

AIR passengers will be charged up to £40 extra for a return ticket within Europe to pay for the environmental impact of their journeys, under plans approved by the European Parliament yesterday.

MEPs voted in favour of the “immediate introduction” of a tax on jet fuel for flights within the 25 member states of the EU. The charge would double the cost of millions of budget airline flights.

Well, it was great while it lasted, anyway.

I don’t know what this will do for the environment, but being quite familiar with the budget of the average backpacker, I have a fair idea of what it will do to European tourism.

The US will cut off funds. The EU might make some noise but will probably keep the money flowing in the end. And Hamas has plenty of other funding sources.

Money’s tight for humanitarian causes. But to kill Jews? They’ll be lining up to write the cheques.

European Union to Iran: stop denying the Holocaust, or we’ll denounce you.

I’m sure that threat has Ahmadinejad shaking in his boots.

The real question is whether Ahmadinejad is calculating and shrewd, or if he’s merely off his rocker.

Most of the time, rhetoric and provocation like this is done on purpose by despots looking to pick a fight for political gain, deflect attention away from their oppressive policies, or quell dissent at home, to name a few reasons. It’s entirely possible that Ahmadinejad is doing this in order to provoke the West to the point where someone takes action, and all hell breaks loose. Strange as this may sound, this would actually be the preferable of the two options. If Ahmadinejad is crazy like a fox, as opposed to merely crazy, then he probably wouldn’t actually unleash nuclear weapons on Israel – he’d just talk about it in order to stir up hatred. As I’ve said repeatedly, the very last thing that most of the dictators of the Arab world want is for Israel to disappear off the map. Because without Israel as the single unifying factor, they would simply attack each other (well, more so than they already do).

However, from what I’ve seen so far, it’s entirely possible that Ahmadinejad is just as crazy as he seems. His fanatical hatred of Israel might not be calculated, but real. In which case, the world has real cause to worry, because he might not care if Iran is wiped off the map as long as he can take Israel down with him. This is where the prospect of a nuclear Iran becomes very, very scary.

So which is it? Column A? Column B? A little of both? I don’t really think we have the option of waiting around to find out. But then, who’s left in the world to actually do anything to stop Ahmadinejad, before it’s too late?

The European Union condemned Iran’s call to wipe Israel off the map:

European Union leaders and Russia joined the United States and Canada in condemning the comments attributed to Ahmadinejad and Iranian envoys in capitals across Europe, including Russia, were summoned to explain the remarks.

“Calls for violence, and for the destruction of any state, are manifestly inconsistent with any claim to be a mature and responsible member of the international community,” EU leaders said in a statement issued at a one-day summit outside London.

“Such comments will cause concern about Iran’s role in the region, and its future intentions,” they said.

Does that mean that Russia will stop selling uranium to Iran? Or that the EU will stop legitimatizing Hamas and stop funding the Palestinian Authority’s terrorism slush fund?

No? Well, until then, this condemnation is nothing but empty rhetoric.

Remember the infamous roadmap? The one under which the Palestinians were obliged to disarm and dismantle their terrorist groups and infrastructure?

Well, it seems the US has forgotten all about it:

“Our views on Hamas are well known. Hamas is a terrorist organization. We will not deal with a terrorist organization. However, we believe that it’s up to the Palestinians to determine who will participate in their election,” the senior administration official said.

Their explanation is equally winning:

U.S. officials and diplomats have said that any shift in policy was pragmatic: Hamas-funded social services are popular with many Palestinians; it is winning local races and could make a strong showing in the parliamentary elections. Some Hamas-backed politicians and affiliates are seen as moderates.

European allies, including Britain and France, have been pushing behind the scenes for Washington to drop its call to dismantle Hamas completely.

Anyone who thought that the EU would be a helpful or neutral party in the peace process should pretty much end that notion with the last statement.

Over two years ago, the British government pledged to highlight the issue of the “forgotten” Jewish refugees from Arab lands within the EU.

Well… nu?

I would like to know what has been done on this issue in the past two years. From the looks of it, not a whole lot.

Promises are easy to make. They’re a lot harder to fulfil. And post-Gaza disengagement, this issue may well be even more relevant than ever before.

Then again, I suppose the British government is just continuing its long tradition of broken promises to the Jews…

Maybe he could grant the European Union some courage, cause after once again refusing to call what’s happening in Darfur “genocide”, I think they could sure use a shot of it:

An EU military-civilian team that visited the region last week reported Monday that atrocities were being committed on a large scale, but declined to classify them as genocide. Team leader Pieter Feith stressed, however, that his trip was only five days and was not an expert mission.

“It’s up to the United Nations … to make this decision,” an EU official said Tuesday on customary condition of anonymity. “The aim of his mission was not to see if this was genocide or not. The aim was to see how the EU could further support” resolving the crisis.

So what else would you call 30,000 dead people, all of one background, being systematically murdered by people from another?

Oh wait, in Europe I believe they call that “Monday”.

This seems to have been posted only as a sidenote: Ma’ariv is reporting that, according to Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, the Czech Republic has invited Israel to join the European Union as a full-fledged member.

Israel as a member of the EU? Will it have to agree to hate itself in order to join?

The EU, with American backing, has finally presented a resolution about North Korea to the UN Human Rights Commission:

The European Union (EU), backed by countries including the United States, expressed concern on Thursday at reports of grave and systematic abuses in North Korea, including “infanticide in prison and labor camps.”

The EU, in a resolution presented to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights on behalf of 37 countries, also called for appointing a special U.N. investigator for the first time to go to the reclusive, Stalinist country.

I’m wondering if they actually expect the UN to get off their asses and do something?