January 10, 2016


News Clips For The Day


https://www.amnesty.org.uk/blogs/urgent-action-network/raif-badawi-flogging-saudi-arabia-crackdown-human-rights%20

One year since Raif was flogged, call for his freedom
Staff Blog -- By Anna
Posted 09 Jan 2016, 9:00am

Photograph -- Raif Badawi with his children © Private


'When the worshippers saw the police van outside the mosque, they knew someone would be flogged today.'

On this day last year, just after noon, security officials in Saudi Arabia led a 30-year-old man into a square in Jeddah. A crowd had filed out from the mosque on the square after Friday prayers.

The man was handcuffed and shackled, but his face was uncovered; this was a public punishment, designed to humiliate.

The man 'raised his head towards the sky, closing his eyes and arching his back. He was silent, but you could tell from his face and his body that he was in real pain.
'It was very quick, with no break in between lashes. When it was over, the crowd shouted, 'Allah-hu Akbar! Allah-hu Akbar!''
Eyewitness

Ask Saudi Arabian authorities to free Raif Badawi

It’s been one year since Raif Badawi was flogged 50 times for championing free speech and encouraging debate about reform on his blog, Saudi Arabian Liberals. That flogging was the first in a sentence of 1,000 lashes that still hangs over him – alongside a decade in prison, a fine of 1 million Riyal (over a quarter of a million US dollars), and an outright ban on using media or travelling abroad for ten years following his decade in prison.

Free speech crackdown

Raif’s flogging took place just days after the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris, when the world’s media was focused on the issue of free speech. And Raif’s flogging on the streets of Jeddah was bookended by gross hypocrisy from the Saudi Arabian regime, who had been quick to condemn the Paris attacks; that weekend saw the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to France take to the streets of Paris to show solidarity with the victims of the Hebdo attacks at a march that celebrated free speech.

Meanwhile, the vicious cruelty of Raif’s punishment for the ‘crime’ of speaking out propelled his case into headlines around the world, and put the repressive tactics of authorities in Saudi Arabia under the spotlight.

In part perhaps thanks to a huge global campaign for Raif’s freedom, the second batch of lashes – another 50 expected the following Friday – were postponed at the last minute. Thankfully Raif has not been flogged again in the past year.

The grip on free speech tightens
A year on from Raif’s flogging – which sparked outrage in the media, prompted condemnation from governments around the world, and triggered a huge global campaign for his freedom – he is still in prison, behind bars simply for exercising his right to free speech.

It’s a relief that he has not (yet) been flogged again, but those 950 lashes could resume any week. No part of Raif’s sentence has been lifted.

In the year that has passed, the Saudi Arabian authorities have only further tightened their grip on free speech, and Raif's case is sadly not unique.

Days after Raif's flogging, his lawyer and brother-in-law Waleed Abu al-Khair had his own 15-year prison sentence and travel ban upheld as punishment for his human rights activism – the sentence not reduced under review because Waleed had refused to apologise for his 'crimes' (including holding gatherings in his home and defending activists like Raif).

Waleed was the first human rights activist to be sentenced under a new counter-terrorism law that came into force in 2014, but he wasn't the last.

Over the past year, dozens more human rights activists have been found guilty of breaking the far-reaching and restrictive counter-terror laws, including the founders of what was one of the few human rights groups in the country, ACPRA, which has now disbanded. In recent years, the authorities have targeted and persecuted those involved with human rights organisations until they can function no longer.

With the activists in prison, the lawyers defending them locked up, the rights groups reporting on all of this shut down and their founders behind bars, it's clear that the Saudi Arabian authorities are doing all they can to shut down dissent and silence those using their right to free speech to challenge the regime.

The clampdown is pervasive. Ashraf Fayadh is currently awaiting execution for allegedly challenging Islam and spreading athiest thought in his poetry. Waleed Abu al-Khair has spoken of his frustration of not being able to talk about reform and rights in his own home. No space in the kingdom is safe for free expression.

We must keep calling for Raif's freedom
The outrage we felt at the Saudi Arabian authorities' treatment of Raif one year ago must not dwindle. Raif should never have been imprisoned in the first place, and it's just as important today as it was a year ago that we demand his release.

Yesterday in London we held a vigil for Raif and all prisoners of conscience at the Saudi Arabian embassy, where we delivered to Saudi officials the petition signatures of over a quarter of a million people in the UK asking for Raif's freedom. Globally, well over a million people have signed Amnesty petitions for his release.

And if people power put Raif’s case in the headlines and arguably kept the lashes at bay, we must keep shouting for his freedom until it's a reality.

Ask Saudi Arabia to free Raif and stop the crackdown

Tweet the King
I still stand with @raif_badawi. @KingSalman, #freeRaif & end the crackdown on human rights

Post on the authorities' Facebook page
Post on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Facebook page and let them know you stand beside Raif.

What to write
Feel free to write your own message, or simply write:

‘One year since Raif Badawi was flogged, I still call for Raif’s freedom. Release this man and stop the crackdown on human rights.’

You'll have to post a comment on a recent post (or their profile picture) as you can't write directly on their wall.

About Amnesty UK Blogs
Our blogs are written by Amnesty International staff, volunteers and other interested individuals, to encourage debate around human rights issues. They do not necessarily represent the views of Amnesty International.



I am afraid that democratic principles and leaders who follow them may have been a happy accident here in the US, Australia and several European nations. They are based on common law principles and Enlightenment thinking that the very wealthy have discarded, if they ever valued them at all. Some have predicted that our legal system can’t last in the US much longer. I hope that isn’t true, but the rise of a more and more deeply right-leaning population here is very threatening to our democratic thought and rule. To maintain that requires mass education, freedom of assembly and movement, and some other things that are dwindling in the last years since the Civil Rights laws were made in the 1960s. Too many of those who have the most money and power simply don’t want to associate with brown skinned people and the “inferior” poor of all kinds. We mustn’t forget the fight over slavery, Jim Crow laws and voting rights for blacks, American Indians, and other darker skinned peoples.

Folks in the Middle East are no better than we are in their philosophy, and I have come to believe they simply don’t “respect” honesty, fairness and decency. When the national leaders there are not sufficiently harsh and repressive the populace takes up arms against their government and produces chaos. There’s a real difference between that a revolution that produces a fairer economic and social system and one that produces another dictator or radical group like ISIS. That same thing is happening today in the US in places like Colorado and Texas. The whole situation is extremely depressing to me. I wonder what things I will live to see, but I fear to think too deeply about it. I have to maintain hope.

Meanwhile I’m going to support Bernie Sanders and several other Democrats, search for important blog articles, and play the political game. It’s endlessly interesting to me, and is not an impossible dream. It will take constant effort and perhaps a kind of societal war, however, to produce a BETTER writing of the Constitution rather than the much worse version that I fear would emerge if Republican Tea Party members are given their head. I hope to be ready to participate in that as well on the sidelines. Republicans today are calling for a new Constitutional Convention (see January 8 and 9 entries) to strip us of some of our most precious rights, I can only hope that Democrats and other liberals will certainly attend it to participate in the wrangling that will ensue, so that we can present and defend our stances as well.




http://www.cbsnews.com/news/oregon-armed-militia-turns-away-pacific-patriot-network-help/

Oregon militia turns away another armed militia's help
CBS/AP
January 10, 2016

Photograph -- A member of the Pacific Patriots Network, which is attempting to resolve the occupation, looks on while helping to set up a temporary security perimeter as a meeting takes place at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon, January 9, 2016. REUTERS/JIM URQUHART
Play VIDEO -- Militiamen hold tight in Oregon
Photograph -- standoff.jpg, Leader of a group of armed protesters Ammon Bundy, left, greets occupier Duane Ehmer and his horse Hellboy at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon, January 8, 2016. REUTERS
Play VIDEO -- Is armed occupation in Oregon hurting the ranchers' case?


BURNS, Ore. - A group of armed men from around the Pacific Northwest who arrived at a wildlife refuge on Saturday morning left several hours later after people leading an occupation of the refuge told them they weren't needed.

Todd MacFarlane, a Utah lawyer acting as a mediator, said occupation leader Ammon Bundyand others were concerned about the perception the armed visitors conveyed.

"This was the last thing in the world they wanted to see happen," MacFarlane told The Oregonian.

Bundy didn't request the presence of the Pacific Patriot Network, he said, and has "tried to put out the word: 'We don't need you.'"

The network, a consortium of groups from Oregon, Washington and Idaho, arrived at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge midmorning in a convoy of about 18 vehicles, carrying rifles and handguns and dressed in military attire and bulletproof vests. The Northwest has long been a hotbed for radical anti-government activities and groups.

Some of the men told journalists they were there to help with security for the group that has occupied the headquarters of the refuge since Jan. 2.

Their leader, Brandon Curtiss, said the group came to "de-escalate" the situation by providing security for those inside and outside the compound.

One of the original occupiers of the refuge, LaVoy Finicum, said the group appreciates the Pacific Patriot Network's help, but "we want the long guns put away."

Curtiss said the new group is not staying inside the refuge, but are patrolling the perimeter.

He said he intends to meet with standoff organizers as well as local public officials and law enforcement to come to a "peaceful resolution."

"We are not the militia, and we are not a militia," he said, adding that he "they're here for everybody's safety, on both sides."

Bundy has repeatedly rejected calls to leave buildings at the refuge despite pleas from the county sheriff, from many local residents and from Oregon's governor, among others.

At a regular morning news conference Saturday, the group holding the wildlife refuge insisted they are here to stay.

"We came here to go to work and help people, and that's what we're going to do," LaVoy Finicum said.

On Saturday, militants drove government-owned vehicles and heavy equipment around the compound, saying the trucks and backhoes now belong to the local community. They also covered the national refuge sign with a new sign saying: "Harney County Resource Center" in white block letters over a blue background.

The Harney County Joint Information Center put out a statement on Saturday, saying they continue to work for a peaceful solution.

"The FBI's investigation is ongoing so it would not be appropriate to provide details at this time," the statement said.

The local school district announced there would be classes on Monday, after a week without school because of safety concerns.

Local residents have mixed feelings about the occupation. Just three miles from the refuge, rancher Tom Davis and his son Jake continue the hard work of raising cattle on the high desert.

"I think it's probably time for these guys to go home and I just pray that nothing will really happen to them," Tom David told CBS News.

"As long as they don't get violent, I think it's good coverage," his son added.

Good coverage, he says, for the challenges ranchers face across the West, where so much land is controlled by the federal government.




The conflict between right-wing populists in the West is taking a new turn. A larger group has emerged from the Pacific states who are apparently not fully in approval of the radical behavior of Bundy's group. A rancher who is also not allied with Bundy stated that "it's probably time for these guys to go home..." while his son calls the showdown "good coverage" as long there is no violence. It does appear that there are some rational people out there in the Wild, Wild West who will hopefully provide a damper for the potential anarchy that has emerged. I will follow other stories on this subject when I see them.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/germany-exploring-links-between-sex-assaults-cities/

Germany exploring links between sex assaults in cities
CBS/AP
January 10, 2016

Photograph -- Supporters of anti-immigration right-wing movement PEGIDA (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West) take part in in demonstration rally, in reaction to mass assaults on women on New Year's Eve, in Cologne, Germany, January 9, 2016. REUTERS

BERLIN - Germany's justice minister says authorities need to quickly determine whether a string of New Year's Eve sexual assaults and robberies in Cologne may be linked to similar offenses in other cities.

Police said 121 women in Cologne have filed criminal complaints for robbery and sexual assault -- including two allegations of rape. They said the attackers were among a group of some 1,000 men described as being of "Arab or North African origin" who gathered in front of the Cologne's main train station and gothic cathedral that night, some of whom broke off into small groups that groped and robbed women.

Heiko Maas told Bild newspaper Sunday that if a group came together to commit such offenses, "no one can tell me that this was not coordinated or prepared."

Hamburg saw similar attacks on a smaller scale, and police in other European nations reported cases of comparable trouble in public places.

Maas says "all connections must be carefully checked."

Women's rights activists, far-right demonstrators and leftwing counter-protesters took to the streets of Cologne on Saturday to voice their opinions in the debate that has followed the assaults.

Amid the heightened public pressure, Chancellor Angela Merkel's party proposed stricter laws regulating asylum-seekers in the country -- some 1.1 million of whom arrived last year.

Police said that around 1,700 protesters from the anti-Islam PEGIDA movement were kept apart from 1,300 counter-demonstrators in simultaneous protests outside the city's main train station.

PEGIDA members held banners with slogans like "RAPEfugees not welcome" and "Integrate barbarity?" while the counter-protesters pushed the message "refugees welcome."

The incident has sparked a debate about the behavior of migrants in Germany after witnesses and police described the perpetrators as being of "Arab or North African origin."

The PEGIDA demonstration Saturday was shut down early by authorities using water cannons after protesters threw firecrackers and bottles at some of the 1,700 police on hand. Police said four people were taken into custody but no injuries were immediately reported.

Earlier, hundreds of women's rights activists gathered outside Cologne's landmark cathedral to rally against the New Year's Eve violence.

"It's about making clear that we will not stop moving around freely here in Cologne, and to protest against victim bashing and the abuse of women," said 50-year-old city resident Ina Wolf.

Of 31 suspects temporarily detained for questioning following the New Year's Eve attacks, there were 18 asylum seekers but also two Germans and an American among others, and none were accused of specifically committing sexual assaults.

Cologne police on Saturday said more than 100 detectives are assigned to the case and are investigating 379 criminal complaints filed with them, about 40 percent of which involve allegations of sexual offenses.

"The people in the focus of the criminal investigation are primarily from North African countries," police said. "Most are asylum seekers or people living illegally in Germany. The investigation into if, and how widely, these people were involved in concrete criminal activity on New Year's Eve is ongoing."

Witness Lieli Shabani told the Guardian newspaper the attacks appeared coordinated, saying she watched from the steps of the city's cathedral as three men appeared to be giving instructions to others.

"One time a group of three or four males would come up to them, be given instructions and sent away into the crowd," the 35-year-old teacher was quoted as saying. "Then another group of four or five would come up, and they'd gesticulate in various directions and send them off again."




“Germany's justice minister says authorities need to quickly determine whether a string of New Year's Eve sexual assaults and robberies in Cologne may be linked to similar offenses in other cities. Police said 121 women in Cologne have filed criminal complaints for robbery and sexual assault -- including two allegations of rape. They said the attackers were among a group of some 1,000 men described as being of "Arab or North African origin" who gathered in front of the Cologne's main train station and gothic cathedral that night, some of whom broke off into small groups that groped and robbed women. Heiko Maas told Bild newspaper Sunday that if a group came together to commit such offenses, "no one can tell me that this was not coordinated or prepared." Hamburg saw similar attacks on a smaller scale, and police in other European nations reported cases of comparable trouble in public places. …. PEGIDA members held banners with slogans like "RAPEfugees not welcome" and "Integrate barbarity?" while the counter-protesters pushed the message "refugees welcome." The incident has sparked a debate about the behavior of migrants in Germany after witnesses and police described the perpetrators as being of "Arab or North African origin." …. Cologne police on Saturday said more than 100 detectives are assigned to the case and are investigating 379 criminal complaints filed with them, about 40 percent of which involve allegations of sexual offenses. "The people in the focus of the criminal investigation are primarily from North African countries," police said. "Most are asylum seekers or people living illegally in Germany. The investigation into if, and how widely, these people were involved in concrete criminal activity on New Year's Eve is ongoing."


“Witness Lieli Shabani told the Guardian newspaper the attacks appeared coordinated, saying she watched from the steps of the city's cathedral as three men appeared to be giving instructions to others.” I hope the authorities will be able to ID and prosecute the ones who were giving instructions at these disgusting events, and find whatever website was used to organize the massive gatherings of hate-filled men -- of whatever origin. If this probably coordinated event was sponsored by an Islamic group of some kind in a foreign country, or by local Islamic refugees out of dissatisfaction with their living conditions, it needs to be stopped. Calling out a minimal police force didn’t solve the problem. Those police who were there have been accused by a number of women of failing to take down reports of the crimes, much less protect them. If it takes more than a few hundred police officers to achieve a situation of public safety, then it should be done.

Failing to solve the matter by legal means will only encourage the PEGIDA members to become more active and potentially become violent in their right-leaning mob instigation. Interestingly, only 18 of those questioned by the government were described as asylum seekers, with some others of German nationality (naturized citizen or German born?) and one American. It is probable, however, that all countries accepting asylum seekers under this current situation should vet them more thoroughly and deport them if necessary. Were those questioned all of the Islamic faith? Hopefully more information will come out soon. This is a major problem, encompassing more than the 30 some individuals linked to it so far, and probably present across Europe. It may even pop up in the US.

I have included the following long NPR article on the same situation in Germany because it gives a great deal of new information, and presents a number of different angles in its’ commentary from the CBS article above. For one thing, assaults on women of a similar type are not new in Germany. This story is really fascinating, and is going to have far-reaching results I’m afraid. This event looks a great deal like chaos, which can bring down governments. As is often the case, NPR, to me, has better in depth coverage than the other media outlets. I will refrain from commenting on this one, however. Just read it for your own information.


http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/01/10/462558773/night-of-shame-week-of-soul-searching-cologne-attacks-divide-germany

'Night Of Shame,' Week Of Soul-Searching: Cologne Attacks Divide Germany
Camila Domonoske
January 10, 2016 2:17 PM ET

Photograph -- An ambulance car arrives as fireworks explode over the river Rhine during New Year's celebrations in Cologne on January 1, 2016.
Patrik Stollarz/AFP/Getty Images
PARALLELS -- New Year's Eve Assaults Renew German Tensions Over Migrants
Photograph -- Police detain a man as people gather in front of the main railway station in Cologne on Jan. 1. Police in Cologne told AFP they have received more than 100 complaints by women reporting assaults ranging from groping to rape, allegedly committed in a large crowd of revelers during year-end festivities outside the city's main train station and its famed Gothic cathedral. Markus Boehm/AFP/Getty Images
Photograph -- Supporters of Pegida, Hogesa (Hooligans against Salafists) and other right-wing populist groups gather on January 9 in Cologne to protest against the New Year's Eve attacks. Sascha Schuermann/Getty Images
PARALLELS -- Seeking Asylum In Germany Can Mean Living In Limbo
PARALLELS -- Struggling To Absorb Asylum-Seekers, Germany Steps Up Deportations


Germany has started 2016 with a deep and bitter debate: How should the country respond to the New Year's Eve attacks in Cologne, in which mobs of men allegedly robbed and sexually assaulted women on the streets?

Concrete information about the night is sparse, and competing narratives abound.

"A lot happened on New Year's Eve in Cologne, much of it contradictory, much of it real, much of it imagined," wrote the staff of Der Spiegel, who obtained an internal police document about the night's events. "Some was happenstance, some was exaggerated and much of it was horrifying."

This much is known: A group of men, reportedly numbering more than 1,000, gathered at Cologne's central train station late on New Year's Eve. The station, by the city's famous cathedral, was a central hub for people traveling between the city's fireworks display and its nightclubs, the New York Times notes.

In smaller groups, witnesses and authorities say, men surrounded women, groped them and stole their belongings.

Cologne police are currently investigating 379 criminal complaints, about 40 percent involving allegations of sexual abuse, the Associated Press reports. The wire service earlier noted two allegations of rape.

Women protest Tuesday outside the cathedral in Cologne, with signs saying "We are fed up" and "We will not remain silent."

The Cologne police chief described the assailants as "Arab or North African" in appearance. As a result, the outcry over the attacks has not only centered on victims and perpetrators: it's extended to a broader national debate over migrants, multiculturalism and Germany's open-door policy to asylum seekers.

Rhetoric is running hot. The story currently dominates the German press, with headlines referencing the "New Year's Horror" or "Night Of Shame."

Here are a few of the central questions dominating the conversation:

What is known, and what's assumed, about the perpetrators?

Accounts of the assailants as Arab or North African in appearance have profoundly shaped the reaction to the night's events. But it's difficult for police to pinpoint exactly who was involved.

A police report from that evening says police checked 71 IDs at the scene, Der Spiegel reports, most of which were asylum-seeker documents. And earlier this week, authorities identified 32 people suspected of being involved in the attacks, the Associated Press. Of those, 22 were asylum-seekers. Three German citizens and a U.S. citizen were also among the suspects.

Many more men were alleged to have been involved in the attacks, but they'll be hard to find.

"The police chief says that many victims can't identify their attackers and don't think they'll be able to, even if they were arrested," NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi-Nelson told Renee Montagne this week.

Police have asked for videos of the event to help identify suspects, Soraya says.

Multiple officials have called for the German public not to assume, based on a description of assailants' appearances, that they were migrants or asylum-seekers. The Cologne Refugee Council Director noted to Soraya that Germans of North African descent, or the children of guest workers, could also fit witnesses' descriptions.

But the fact that the majority of current suspects are asylum-seekers has been taken by many as confirmation of their fears, even though it seems very few of the total alleged assailants have been identified.

Police detain a man as people gather in front of the main railway station in Cologne on Jan. 1. Police in Cologne told AFP they have received more than 100 complaints by women reporting assaults ranging from groping to rape, allegedly committed in a large crowd of revelers during year-end festivities outside the city's main train station and its famed Gothic cathedral.

Were the attacks coordinated?

On Sunday, in an interview with the German tabloid Bild, Germany's Justice Minister Heiko Maas called for authorities to investigate any possible connection between the events in Cologne and incidents in other cities.

"All connections must be carefully checked," Maas said, according to the AP. "There is a suspicion that a particular date was chosen with expected crowds. That would then be a new dimension."

Maas also said, "If such a horde gathers in order to commit crimes, that appears in some form to be planned."

His comments are the most recent suggestion of coordination, but far from the first. Police had been looking for possible connections already — smaller incidents in Hamberg and Stuttgart were identified earlier this week. New Year's Eve assaults also occurred in cities in Sweden and Finland, the AP reports.

Authorities haven't announced any evidence of advance planning or coordination.

Why was the police response so inadequate?

The Der Spiegel account of the night itself depicts a police force so overwhelmed that it couldn't even protect a policewoman from being publicly groped.

Officers at one point cleared out the square by the train station — then a number of them left the area, and the crowd began to return.

The police were clearly unprepared, despite the fact that they were already monitoring criminal gangs active in the square.

To make matters worse, the next morning they announced the night had been "largely peaceful."

Earlier this week, Soraya reported on some of the apparent failings of the police force, led by Cologne Police Chief Wolfgang Albers:

"Albers says his officers didn't learn about the sexual assaults until the next day.
"One victim who spoke with German channel n-tv accused police of keeping her and several female friends, who were also attacked, from seeking refuge inside the nearby main train station.

"The victim, whom the TV channel identified only by first name, Michelle, said police didn't take her sexual assault claim seriously for several days and at first would only file a report about her cellphone being stolen."

And why did it take days for the police to admit the scale of the crime and chaos? The police chief says victims were slow to file complaints, Soraya reported: but some victims, like Michelle, have accused the police of ignoring claims they filed.

Was the story underreported, and if so why?

In addition to the police being slow to disclose the events, one prominent German media outlet, public broadcaster ZDF, was slow to cover them.

That's fueled both criticism and conspiracy theories, Der Spiegel reports: "In Germany, there is a stable minority that is convinced that the country's broadcasters, newspapers and magazines are controlled by dark powers and have agreed to suppress bad news about foreigners so as not to endanger the political project of welcoming refugees."

ZDF has apologized for the delay in reporting on the attacks.

What's new, and what's sadly familiar?

Is the "Night of Shame" shocking in its nature, or simply in its scale?

Many commentators have depicted the events as a horrifying deviation from normal life in Germany.

The extent of the assaults and the ineffectiveness of the police presence were undeniably extraordinary. But some have argued that the elements of the incident weren't new.

The initial crowd of drunken men sending off barely-controlled fireworks was "engaging in hooliganism one sees in many German cities on New Year's Eve" as Soraya put it.

At least one tactic seen that night was familiar to Cologne, as The Guardian writes:

"Police have said the men appeared to have been coordinated, comparing their modus operandi to that of criminal gangs that have operated in strength for several years in the area and turning it into a place many Cologners avoid after dark. Known locally as antänzer (waltzers), the men snuggle up to their victims, often twisting a leg around them in an apparently playful fashion, which causes them to lose balance, whereupon the perpetrator uses the opportunity to whip a wallet or mobile phone from a pocket or bag."

And Stefanie Lohaus and Anne Wizorek in Vice address the frequency of assaults at public gatherings in Germany:

"Sexual assaults and even rape happen every year at big events like Oktoberfest. 'The way to the toilet alone is like running the gauntlet: within 50 feet, you can be sure to tally three hugs from drunken strangers, two pats on the ass, someone looking up your dirndl, and some beer purposely splashed right down your cleavage,' wrote Karoline Beisel and Beate Wild in 2011, in the Süddeutsche Zeitung. An average of ten reported rapes take place each year at Oktoberfest. The estimated number of unreported cases is 200."

Which brings us to another theme:

What broader issues of sexism and sexual assault in Germany are involved?

This question was discussed on All Things Considered Saturday, when Anne Wizorek, one of the authors of that Vice piece, spoke to Michel Martin about sexual violence in Germany.

There's the incident itself, with scores of women publicly assaulted. There's the lack of police response — and the experiences of women who say police were interested in reports of thefts but not assault allegations.

A member of flash mob protesting the New Year's Eve sexual assaults in Cologne wears a sign reading, "Do Not Touch Me."

EUROPE

For Some, Roots Of Cologne Attacks May Run Deeper Than We Think

And then there's also the question of popular response, and whether women's experiences are being hijacked for political purposes.

Wizorek started a campaign in 2013 to use the hashtag "#aufschrei," or outcry, for women to share their experiences with stalking, harassment, assault and rape.

"Back then when #Aufschrei was big in the media and people talked about it ... a lot of people also tried to downplay the problems. They were saying, 'Well, but we've gotten so far and we have gender equity in Germany right now, we have a female chancellor, so what do you want?' All that kind of argument was going on," she told Michel.

"And those people are the ones who are now talking a lot about what has happened in Cologne. So they are using these stories and these experiences of the people who have been attacked in Cologne to only push forward with their racist agenda against migrants and refugees in Germany. And I think that's a huge problem."

Should Germany be worried that the events in Cologne are encouraging racism and Neo-Nazism?

A protest Saturday by the far-right group PEGIDA, or Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West, attracted 1,700 people in Cologne, and was broken up by riot police, Reuters says:

"Demonstrators, some of whom bore tattoos with far-right symbols such as a skull in a German soldier's helmet, had chanted "Merkel must go" and "this is the march of the national resistance." "Rapefugees not welcome," one banner read.

" ... Some in the crowd threw bottles and firecrackers at officers, and riot police used water cannons to disperse the protesters.

"Two people were injured in the clash, and police detained a number of demonstrators, a Reuters witness said."

The rising tide of anti-immigrant feeling has some observers concerned. But others say that looking at groups like PEGIDA with fear is looking in the wrong direction.

Those 1,700 protesters were met by an equal number of police officers — a far stronger showing by police than was found on the streets of Cologne on New Year's Eve.

A counter-protest, with about 1,300 people, protested both racism and violence against women.

What does this mean for Germany's migrant policy?

Angela Merkel's welcoming policy towards refugees had divided public opinion in Germany even before events in Cologne. Germany accepted more than a million asylum-seekers in 2015.

More On German Refugee Policy

Asylum seekers rally in front of the German Office for Migration and Refugees with vests that read "no one is illegal" in Nuremberg on Aug. 17. Migrants from Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Iran and Syria called for faster asylum procedures, the freedom to choose their accommodation and the abolition of camps where they must stay.

Three migrants from Afghanistan walk along the A3 highway shortly after they crossed into Germany on August 30, 2015, near Neuhaus am Inn, Germany. Police detained them shortly after and took them to a registration center for asylum seekers. Germany has welcomed many refugees — but now is discouraging Afghans who are seeking better economic prospects.

The most hostile critics of the policy point towards the attacks as confirmation of their longstanding fears: that refugees are dangerous and their presence will transform German life for the worse.

More moderate critics see their fears confirmed as well: not that welcoming refugees is inherently wrong, but that Germany is not adequately prepared to manage the influx of people it has decided to accept.

And supporters of refugees worry that the widespread anger about the incident in Cologne will hurt both refugees currently in Germany, and those who would come in the future.

Merkel, for her part, is now pushing for a law that would make it easier to deport asylum-seekers who are convicted of crimes, while maintaining that Germany will be able to handle the planned volume of incoming refugees.

There are multiple answers to every question, depending on whom you ask. Almost nothing in the narrative is widely agreed upon.

Well, except for one thing. As Der Spiegel put it:

"As inexact and unclear as the facts from Cologne may be, they carry a clear message: Difficult days are ahead."



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-paul-ryan-stopped-referring-to-makers-and-takers/

Why Paul Ryan stopped referring to "makers" and "takers"
By JAKE MILLER CBS NEWS
January 9, 2016

Play VIDEO -- Full Interview: Paul Ryan, November 1


House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, used to occasionally refer to Americans as "takers" and "makers" in speeches about economic policy - the former was a reference to Americans on government benefits. In a 2014 Wall Street Journal opinion piece, however, Ryan acknowledged that the phrase "gave insult where none was intended," and promised to stop using it.

In an interview Saturday with "Face the Nation" moderator John Dickerson, Ryan explained why he changed his tune on the subject.

"I was wrong," explained Ryan in the interview, which will air Sunday on "Face the Nation." "I mean, when you do something that it wrong, you should call to it."

"People who go on government assistance, people who are on government benefits, sure, some people are going to exploit the system. Some people are choosing to just, you know, live on the dole and not work because they prefer that. That's a small percentage of it," explained Ryan, who was in South Carolina to host a summit focused on how Republicans can help alleviate poverty in America.

"Most people don't want to be poor," Ryan added. "Most people don't want to be dependent. And if we speak as if everybody is in this category, that's wrong. And so that's what I did, and I was wrong to do that. And so that's why I think we need to respect people for the ambitions and the goals and the dreams that they actually have and then help facilitate their access to it."

Dickerson asked Ryan whether his decision not to use the phrase "takers" amounted to political correctness - a much-derided concept among the GOP's crop of 2016 presidential candidates.

"I think political correctness has gone way overboard, and that's the new thing in the campaign, which I think is great," Ryan replied. "But let's just be accurate. Let's be right...Let's not have populism that's unattached from our principles."

You can see more of the interview with Ryan on Sunday's broadcast! Check your local listings for airtimes.




"People who go on government assistance, people who are on government benefits, sure, some people are going to exploit the system. Some people are choosing to just, you know, live on the dole and not work because they prefer that. That's a small percentage of it," explained Ryan, who was in South Carolina to host a summit focused on how Republicans can help alleviate poverty in America. …. And so that's why I think we need to respect people for the ambitions and the goals and the dreams that they actually have and then help facilitate their access to it."


"But let's just be accurate. Let's be right...Let's not have populism that's unattached from our principles." I hope to see more Republicans acknowledge the basic unfairness that is rampant nowadays. They will also have to try to do something about the basic racism and classism of our society. Rightwing people have been caught saying that blacks and poor people in general are “inferior” to the wealthy and to whites. I can’t say how objectionable that is to me. Blaming the poor for their poverty is not new. The term “poor white trash” isn’t in the news anymore, but it’s an old Southern tradition, and perhaps in the North as well. It is merely bullying of a whole class of people and as such is evil.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-and-the-media-like-an-addict-and-heroin/

Trump and the media, like an addict and heroin
CBS NEWS
January 10, 2016


How to explain the remarkable success to date of Presidential candidate Donald Trump? Some thoughts from Mark Leibovich, Chief National Correspondent of The New York Times Magazine:

If you're watching television this morning, chances are Donald Trump will be in your face somewhere. He has been interviewed on some media outlet nearly every day for the last six months, often more than once.

He can be blustery, compelling, and of course, controversial. But Trump's abiding consistency is that he always delivers -- not substance, always eyeballs. He is box office personified, the broadcaster's deal with the devil.

This isn't to say that Trump has not tapped into a justifiable frustration among American voters. But his appeal to the Republican electorate exists separate from the spell he has cast upon the once-solemn gatekeepers of the Fourth Estate.

Think of the media as addicts, and Trump as its heroin. Or maybe it's the other way around -- Trump is the addict and attention is HIS heroin.

"The press is not an honest group of people. Look at all those cameras back there."
It is an unholy codependence either way. And like most codependencies, the arrangement is both comfortable and possibly quite unhealthy.

The media have always walked a tightrope between journalism and entertainment. Trump's ascendancy has tripped that balance decisively in favor of the latter. We journalists claim to hate ourselves over this. How dare Trump insult our news organizations and call us "losers" and talk in circles!

Yet, Trump is the abusive guest who is always there, always invited and -- yes -- usually the life of the party.

As Trump made his free media rounds last week, he said something that struck me for its subtlety -- which is not a quality he is known for. He said he felt "guilty" about having spent so little on campaign advertising while his opponents have parted with tens of millions of dollars to get their messages out.

Embedded in Trump's proclamation was a taunt: "SUCKERS!" he seemed to be saying to the junkies who will no doubt keep booking him. "You think I need to pay for this? Buying ads is for losers!"

For the record, I found Trump's backhanded chest-thump to be well-earned. It is not his fault that news programmers would line up to film Trump clipping his toenails if he allowed access to the spectacle (which he might).

But let's put aside blame and concede that when uttered together, "news and entertainment" will always represent a kind of conflict of interest.

And certainly, the media's Trump dependence has yielded winners: it's been great for Trump, great for ratings, and great for enhancing the public's interest in politics -- if not public interest per se.

Is it too quaint to wonder if the only loser here might be our democracy?



“This isn't to say that Trump has not tapped into a justifiable frustration among American voters. But his appeal to the Republican electorate exists separate from the spell he has cast upon the once-solemn gatekeepers of the Fourth Estate. Think of the media as addicts, and Trump as its heroin. Or maybe it's the other way around -- Trump is the addict and attention is HIS heroin. "The press is not an honest group of people. Look at all those cameras back there." It is an unholy codependence either way. And like most codependencies, the arrangement is both comfortable and possibly quite unhealthy. …. For the record, I found Trump's backhanded chest-thump to be well-earned. It is not his fault that news programmers would line up to film Trump clipping his toenails if he allowed access to the spectacle (which he might).”


“Is it too quaint to wonder if the only loser here might be our democracy?” I am happy to see someone more qualified than myself as a pundit making this comment. It is time we the people, en masse, start taking the trend of our society today seriously. It is indeed our democracy that we are in danger of neglecting like a poor old dog chained in the back yard, underfed and never petted. Like that dog, it may very possibly be dying. I would have said “slowly dying,” but I think it is actually rapidly dying.

Part of the Trump and Tea Party phenomena can be attributed to the carnival that we live in today – in the words attributed to P T Barnum, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” Despite our relatively financially secure population (compared to Third World Countries, at any rate), we are a very poorly educated nation. We are also simply not intellectually inclined as a people. There is too much beer drinking and general carousing. The popularity of football, professional wrestling and car races, as opposed to the theater, a classical music and regular trips to the library by adults as well as children, is a sign of this cultural decline. When we get wealthier here we merely buy more or faster cars and more mink coats. We are a very materialistic and simple-minded society. The only reason we want a college degree is to make more money so we can buy more objects. Risking an outcry of anger from the Fundamentalist Evangelical group, I will include here also the hate based indoctrination of our masses that occurs at their local churches. That is part of what is called the prosperity gospel.

Our lack of achievement shows up also in our scores on educational competency tests, as compared to those from other countries, even including some of those “Third World” nations, and it shows up in our political choices. The US tends to rank very near the bottom on such educational comparisons, and that always makes the news. It is, to me and to lots of others, a national disgrace, since it gives the lie to our “American exceptionalism” myth.

I think that classism is the true reason for the popularity of Donald Trump, and the attention that the press continues to give him. Our population wants leaders who praise them and who don’t ask them to change their hidebound viewpoints. Racist should not be chastised. I agree also with this writer that the deeply ingrown financial corruption of the press and news media in general as a profit-making endeavor -- rather than the oft touted “Fourth Estate” -- is the reason why Trump’s despicable personal nature is not more widely criticized.

The American public don’t write those press opinions, but they do read them and very often follow the opinions voiced there. The public in any society tends to be made up of followers rather than leaders, so the principle of “garbage in, garbage out” is a sizable part of the problem. Since we are undereducated and overly involved in our financial and racial class structure, our populace gravitates toward people like Trump. The KKK has not continued to exist without a reason. Many within the US population approve of them. We need to blame ourselves as well as the media or Trump. He’s just making hay while the sun shines. We are encouraging him.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/nuclear-pakistan-backing-saudi-arabia-iran-standoff/

Nuclear Pakistan reiterates backing for Saudis over Iran
CBS/AP
January 10, 2016

Photograph -- Pakistan's National Security Advisor Sartaj Aziz (R) shakes hands with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir before their meeting at the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad January 7, 2016. REUTERS/AAMIR QURESHI/POOL


ISLAMABAD - Pakistani army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif has reiterated that any threat to Saudi Arabia's territorial integrity will evoke a response from Islamabad.

Sharif made the remarks Sunday in a statement after Saudi Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman called on him in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, adjacent to the capital.

Salman earlier arrived in Islamabad, making him the second top Saudi official to visit Pakistan in a week amid growing tension with Iran over Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr's recent execution.

The prince is also expected to meet with other Pakistani leaders. The visits came after Saudi Arabia and several of its allies announced the severing or downgrading of diplomatic relations with Shiite powerhouse Iran.

Pakistan has already participated in the conflict in Yemen, which many describe as a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Pakistan, a predominantly Sunni state, also has a large Shiite population. Shiites are frequently targeted for attacks by the mostly Sunni Islamic extremists in the country.

Pakistan is the only Muslim country in the world known to have a nuclear arsenal, although it's exact size and scope have never been publicly revealed.



“Pakistani army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif has reiterated that any threat to Saudi Arabia's territorial integrity will evoke a response from Islamabad. …. The prince is also expected to meet with other Pakistani leaders. The visits came after Saudi Arabia and several of its allies announced the severing or downgrading of diplomatic relations with Shiite powerhouse Iran.”


Another nuclear conflict threat is not good, though this article said that the size of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal is unknown. According to Wikipedia, Israel is “widely believed” to possess nuclear weapons also, since the first one is said to have been produced in 1966. Hopefully there are no radicals in the whole region who are sufficiently insane to use them. I just wish the various branches of Islam and other groups in that part of the world would stop killing each other. A nation and its population can’t become truly prosperous without peace. Wealthy people in power are making money, but the poor who are only able to scrape by are going without food, education and other basic needs. Constant fighting prevents the proper planting of crops, the production of jobs by well established businesses, and removes the young men from the household. It’s hard to sell a true participatory democracy when groups like the Taliban are promising to take care of the poor, but demanding complete loyalty and obedience in return.