The Divided State of Europe

[Area201]

Awesome, I have some friends in Augustow I have not talked to in a couple years...It would be great to get some feedback from the locals, hope you can post a follow-up here...

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Back from PL.

Poland 2018 is more modern than a lot of places in the U.S as they are building from scratch a lot of the buildings and infrastructure.

Lot of my family members have established businesses and very successful with new cars (newest BMWs, Mercedes, etc), apartments and traveling all over Europe - minus USA because of stupid Visa requirements. One owns a chain of supermarkets (about 10), another logging company (10 trucks each worth $150k), and real estate agency. There was an open market with few competitors in 1990s and those bold were able to establish successful businesses once the Russian mafia got kicked out and taken care of in the transition period before entering EU.

I attended a wedding which was awesome with a fireworks display over the city. I was all over Gdansk/Sopot/Gdynia, followed by Golub-Dobrzyn (visited a castle), and Warsaw. Spent last day drinking a large cold beer on banks of the Vistula, cheap and beautiful after checking out the Copernicus Science center.

I easily see myself buying a residence there. I love the culture and often wonder how my life would turn out if we never had to move to the U.S. which I found very difficult. Everyone is my family minus one cousin is married or has a family. The cities are beautiful, the women are beautiful, it's clean. The city I am from and the area we lived is so cool and perfect mix of historical and modern. As for diversity, there is lacking - I saw maybe 5-10 non-whites my entire time there. The language is very difficult as the grammar is unnecessarily complicated and needlessly complex. I believe Czech is the dumbed down version of Polish.

Most of my older family favor the conservative and younger the liberal, naturally. I like a moderate party the most called Civic Platform originally led by Donald Tusk, now head of the EU. He's from my hometown of Gdansk. They are somewhat baffled how Americans vote against Trump by 3 million votes yet he still 'won'.

Politically there is a similar divide as here - between more nationalistic oriented/conservative to more global/liberal or moderate. There's this short guy Kaczynski that is all alleged anti communist/pro nationalist/patriotic etc, but when we check the facts he was not part of the Solidarity movement which helped move Poland forward beyond communist rule. They are very hypocritical and use the Polish flag/patriotism to gain votes, very common tactic and successful. Donald Tusk is the one who helped rebuild Poland to it's current state from help from the EU. They voted a second term on his position at EU and everyone approved, only one vote was against him - from Poland!! led by Kaczynski (who dictates politics behind the scenes and currently President Duda - his protege) who I consider backwards persons stuck in the past and total hypocrites who sat home when times were tough.

His party PiS is trying to alter the Constitutional rules on Supreme justices. Protesters put shirts with CONSTITUTION written on them over prominent monuments in center of cities.

Cousins I mentioned the subject, were not aware of the Dec 16th Pentagon UFO bread-crumbs disclosure.

 

[pigfarmer]

What a bright bunch here...

View attachment 3170

Well, hard to argue with that on a purely practical level .....

 

[pigfarmer]

The Secret Service view of the Clintons is the real comedy gold.

But almost none of the families with teenage daughters would let Clinton stay at their house

yup

 

[nivek]

This is a ridiculous path EU leaders are taking and puts a dictatorish taste on things, Hungary has every right to refuse a flood of migrants into their country...Who is the EU going to go after next, Poland?...They also refuse to take migrants but Poland also has very close ties with the US, so European leaders have to tread lightly there...Hungary should not yield, they will have other country states begin to support them if they stand their ground...

There's a 4 minute audio feed on the link with details...


Inside Europe: EU votes to censure Hungary

A majority of European Union lawmakers have backed a motion that opens the door to sanctions against member state Hungary. Viktor Orban's government is accused of failing to uphold fundamental European Union values. Orban has repeatedly defied the European Union by refusing to take in any migrants. Keith Walker speaks with Ryan Heath, Political Editor of POLITICO Europe.

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[nivek]

I should also mention that as far as I know Italy and Hungary are closer allies in this migration issue, both countries agree on closing their borders to migrants...I haven't read Italy's views on this vote...

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[nivek]

Well it appears Hungary has strong support from Poland and the Czech Republic...


BUDAPEST (Reuters) - The European Parliament’s vote to punish Hungary for flouting democratic standards works in Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s favor by letting him pose as a champion of national sovereignty against a remote Brussels elite as EU elections loom next year.

His typically feisty performance before EU lawmakers has boosted Orban’s standing among nationalists at home and also among anti-immigrant parties that are expected to increase their presence in the next European Parliament (EP).

And with Hungary’s regional allies Poland and the Czech Republic offering to shield it against any EU sanctions, Orban’s gamble is likely to pay off - although his Fidesz party may end up having to quit the conservative European People’s Party (EPP), currently the largest grouping in the Parliament.

Hungary's Orban bets on growing anti-immigrant tide in latest EU standoff

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[nivek]

Dalai Lama says 'Europe belongs to Europeans' and refugees should ultimately go back home

The Dalai Lama said this week that “Europe belongs to the Europeans” and that refugees should eventually return to their native countries to rebuild them.

The Tibetan spiritual leader made the comment during a conference in Malmo, Sweden's third-largest city, known for its large immigrant population, Agence France-Presse reported.

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[nivek]

She was brutally raped and murdered whilst reporting on EU corruption...

Bulgarian TV reporter Viktoria Marinova third journalist to be murdered in EU in last year

Bulgarian television reporter Viktoria Marinova has become the third journalist to be murdered in the European Union in the last year and the fourth since the start of 2017.

The 30-year-old's body was found dumped near the Danube River in the town of Ruse, northern Bulgaria, on Saturday. Police said she had been beaten, raped and strangled.

It is not known if Marinova's murder is linked to her journalism work. Investigators are still trying to trace potential witnesses and establish a motive for her killing. However, Bulgarian media reported that Marinova recently interviewed Romanian journalists who were investigating politicians and businessmen for alleged corruption of EU funds.

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[nivek]

How is this working out for France?...Has Macron implemented this 'plan' yet...?

France wants to ‘reform’ Islam

Macron has embarked on a controversial quest to restructure Islam in France — with the goal of integration but also the prevention of radicalization.

He has said that in the coming months he will announce “a blueprint for the whole organization” of Islam. And those trying to anticipate what that will look like are turning their attention to Hakim El Karoui, a leading voice on how Islamic traditions fit within French culture.

It is hard to miss that the man who appears to have Macron’s ear on this most sensitive of subjects cuts a similar figure. Like the president, El Karoui is an ex-Rothschild investment banker with an elite social pedigree who favors well-tailored suits, crisp white shirts and the lofty province of big ideas.

The latest of those ideas is this — that the best way to integrate Islam within French society is to promote a version of the religion “practiced in peace by believers who will not have the need to loudly proclaim their faith.”

But if El Karoui is the model for how Macron envisions merging Islamic traditions and French values, the effort may end up stumbling along a rough road.

“He’s disconnected from everyday Muslims, and he has legitimacy on the question only because he happens to be named Hakim El Karoui, and that’s it,” said Yasser Louati, a French civil liberties advocate and Muslim community organizer.

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[nivek]

Back from PL.

Welcome back, apologies for the delay reply...I have wanted to travel to Europe, Poland would be at the top of my list to visit...I have many friends here in the US who moved here from Poland years ago, love the people, culture, food, and spirit, oh and let's not forget the women, who are most beautiful...

Poland 2018 is more modern than a lot of places in the U.S as they are building from scratch a lot of the buildings and infrastructure.

I would like to travel to the northeast region, where some of my friends came from, they said many areas were growing fast with new buildings and industry...

Lot of my family members have established businesses and very successful with new cars (newest BMWs, Mercedes, etc), apartments and traveling all over Europe - minus USA because of stupid Visa requirements. One owns a chain of supermarkets (about 10), another logging company (10 trucks each worth $150k), and real estate agency. There was an open market with few competitors in 1990s and those bold were able to establish successful businesses once the Russian mafia got kicked out and taken care of in the transition period before entering EU.

That's awesome about your family, one friend of mine moved back to Poland over 6 years ago from here in the US...He traveled here and stayed in the late 80s and built up a business here and went back to his hometown to stay and is investing in all the local businesses and opened his company there too...I hear things are going really well for him and his family now, he's a little older than me, I haven't spoken to him in over a year now...

I attended a wedding which was awesome with a fireworks display over the city. I was all over Gdansk/Sopot/Gdynia, followed by Golub-Dobrzyn (visited a castle), and Warsaw. Spent last day drinking a large cold beer on banks of the Vistula, cheap and beautiful after checking out the Copernicus Science center.

Awesome!...

I easily see myself buying a residence there. I love the culture and often wonder how my life would turn out if we never had to move to the U.S. which I found very difficult. Everyone is my family minus one cousin is married or has a family. The cities are beautiful, the women are beautiful, it's clean. The city I am from and the area we lived is so cool and perfect mix of historical and modern.

I would really like to travel there sometime, I think once I wind down my time working over the next 10 years I'll start traveling again as I did when I was younger...

As for diversity, there is lacking - I saw maybe 5-10 non-whites my entire time there. The language is very difficult as the grammar is unnecessarily complicated and needlessly complex. I believe Czech is the dumbed down version of Polish.

Nothing wrong with that, we have to look at the bigger picture here, the world is already diverse, we can travel the world and visit and even live with practically any culture and country in the world...We do not need to force that mix into every city, state, and country...

Polish was a difficult language for me to grasp at first, but I continually listened intently even to conversations my friends had with each other when they spoke in Polish learning how to say words properly, then an old friend of mine helped me understand the language more over the years where I was speaking sentences properly...I met him over 20 years ago and we became friends instantly, he was the first person I met from Poland, from there I got to know his family and friends and their friends and so on...

Most of my older family favor the conservative and younger the liberal, naturally. I like a moderate party the most called Civic Platform originally led by Donald Tusk, now head of the EU. He's from my hometown of Gdansk. They are somewhat baffled how Americans vote against Trump by 3 million votes yet he still 'won'.

Checks and balances...

Politically there is a similar divide as here - between more nationalistic oriented/conservative to more global/liberal or moderate. There's this short guy Kaczynski that is all alleged anti communist/pro nationalist/patriotic etc, but when we check the facts he was not part of the Solidarity movement which helped move Poland forward beyond communist rule. They are very hypocritical and use the Polish flag/patriotism to gain votes, very common tactic and successful. Donald Tusk is the one who helped rebuild Poland to it's current state from help from the EU. They voted a second term on his position at EU and everyone approved, only one vote was against him - from Poland!! led by Kaczynski (who dictates politics behind the scenes and currently President Duda - his protege) who I consider backwards persons stuck in the past and total hypocrites who sat home when times were tough.

His party PiS is trying to alter the Constitutional rules on Supreme justices. Protesters put shirts with CONSTITUTION written on them over prominent monuments in center of cities.

I've read some of that lately, but I wouldn't hold Kaczynski to the fire for being weak when times were tough, there were many people who could not handle those times very well...Many people migrated to the US when times were really tough as we see happening in other countries now...

Cousins I mentioned the subject, were not aware of the Dec 16th Pentagon UFO bread-crumbs disclosure.

Did anyone mention about any sightings of UFOs while you were there?...

Thanks for sharing this, I really enjoyed reading your first hand perspective of Poland...I hope to visit Poland in the near future...

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[pepe]

I sensed a difference today, for a company I contract for. Few years ago it was packed to the rafters with Poles, Romers and Reds. Loads of English working there in comparison to 2016. Nice to be able to proper chat without trying to sound like the robot of understanding.

They came over and had a chat about shit which was great.

Tiny reflection I hope.

 

[nivek]

 

[nivek]

France protests: PM Philippe suspends fuel tax rises

Fuel tax rises which have led to weeks of violent protests in France have now been postponed for six months.

The move was announced in a televised address by PM Edouard Philippe, who said anyone would have "to be deaf or blind" not to hear or see the anger. The protests have hit major cities, causing damage and disruption over the past three weekends.

The "gilets jaunes" (yellow vest) protests have now grown to reflect more widespread anger at the government.

The "yellow vests" are so called because they have taken to the streets wearing the high-visibility yellow clothing that is required to be carried in every vehicle by French law.

President Emmanuel Macron was elected last year with an overwhelming mandate for sweeping economic reform, but his popularity has fallen sharply in recent months amid accusations that he is a "president for the rich".

Four people have died since the unrest began and the resulting violence and vandalism have been widely condemned.

What did the prime minister say?

Mr Philippe said that the next planned rise in the so-called carbon tax on vehicle fuel, which had been due to come in on 1 January, would be suspended for six months to allow consultations across the country to see what accompanying measures might be introduced to ease the burden for the worst-off.

He also said planned increases in gas and electricity prices this winter would be halted, and that a toughening of the rules for vehicle emissions tests would also be postponed.

It is a major climbdown by the government of President Macron, who has said the measures are necessary to combat climate change and meet budget deficit reduction targets.

"This anger, you would have to be deaf and blind not to see it, nor hear it," said Mr Philippe after meeting lawmakers from the governing party La Republique en Marche.

"The French who have donned yellow vests want taxes to drop, and work to pay. That's also what we want. If I didn't manage to explain it, if the ruling majority didn't manage to convince the French, then something must change," he added in his televised address.

"No tax merits putting the unity of the nation in danger."

But he said the violence must stop. "If there is another day of protests, it must be declared in advance and must take place calmly."

He also warned that people should not expect better public services alongside lower taxes.

Why the widespread anger?

Mr Macron was elected on a platform of economic reform which would improve the lives of French people via lower unemployment and a kick-started economy.

But many feel that has not emerged. An analysis of the 2018-19 budget carried out by France's public policy institute, for example, found that incomes for the poorest quarter of households would largely drop or stay the same under the plans.

Middle-income earners would see a modest bump - but the greatest beneficiaries would be those who were already wealthy, in the top 1%. The pattern is worse for retired people - almost all of whom will be worse off.

The "gilets jaunes" movement began as a protest against a rise in duties on diesel, which is widely used by French motorists and has long been less heavily taxed than other types of fuel.

The price of diesel, the most commonly used fuel in French cars, has risen by about 23% over the past 12 months to an average of €1.51 (£1.32; $1.71) per litre, its highest point since the early 2000s.

Mr Macron has blamed world oil prices for three-quarters of the price rise, but said higher taxes on fossil fuels were needed to fund renewable energy investments.

The decision to impose a further increase of 6.5 cents on diesel and 2.9 cents on petrol from 1 January 2019 was seen as the final straw for the protesters.

Protesters say Mr Macron is out of touch, particularly with non-city dwellers who rely on their cars.

The movement has grown to reflect a range of grievances, including the marginalisation of rural areas, high living costs, and general anger at President Macron's economic policies.

The protests have no identifiable leadership and gained momentum via social media, encompassing a range of participants from the anarchist far left to the nationalist far right, and plenty of moderates in between.

In recent days, ambulance drivers and students have launched their own protests.

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[Standingstones]

Macron sounds like a typical politician. It isn’t that fuel prices as such are increasing. It’s that politicians find it easy to slap taxes on items such as gas. Everyone needs to fuel their vehicles. Americans crap themselves when gas gets above $3 a gallon. I believe I read that gas prices in France is around $5.50 a gallon.

Most of those protesting are being squeezed from all sides. Macron doesn’t represent those protesters but the top 1% of the rich. As stated, retirees, the poor and young people are the ones to suffer.

 

[nivek]

No country should sign that pact, its an abomination and will give UN unwarranted control and reach...I'm really surprised Poland is supporting it...

Under far-right pressure, Europe retreats from UN migration pact

Italy this week became the latest in a string of European countries to say it would not sign the U.N.’s Global Compact on Migration at a ceremony in Marrakech in just under two weeks. From the Netherlands through Belgium and Germany to Slovakia, the pact has triggered infighting in ruling parties and governments, with at least one administration close to breaking point.

The fight over the pact illuminates how migration remains a combustible issue across the Continent, three years after the 2015 refugee crisis and with next May’s European Parliament election on the horizon. Far-right parties keen to make migration the key campaign issue have seized on the pact while some mainstream parties have sought to steal their thunder by turning against the agreement. Liberals and centrists, meanwhile, have found themselves on the defensive — arguing that the agreement poses no harm and migration is best handled through international cooperation.

Louise Arbour, the senior U.N. official overseeing the pact, said she is surprised by the controversy, as diplomats from 180 countries — including many that have now pulled out — signed off on the text last summer after two years of negotiations.

The initiative was launched at the request of Europe after the migration surge of 2015, Arbour said. The countries now having “second thoughts or misgivings” were very active during the negotiations and “extracted compromises from the others,” she told POLITICO in an interview.

The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, to give it its full name, sets out a “cooperative framework” for dealing with international migration. Signatories agree, for example, to limit the pressure on countries with many migrants and to promote the self-reliance of newcomers. The document states that no country can address migration alone, while also upholding “the sovereignty of States and their obligations under international law.”

That assurance has not been enough to placate many in Europe. Hungary, whose Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has made anti-migrant policies his signature issue, pulled out while the pact was being negotiated. But the recent wave of European withdrawals was triggered by conservative Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who renounced the pact at the end of October.

At least in terms of the pact, that turned out to be true with Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Estonia, Croatia and Switzerland all following Vienna’s lead.

Slovakia is among the most recent countries to withdraw its support for the pact. After an EU summit on Sunday, Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini said Bratislava would not support the pact “under any circumstances and will not agree with it.”

Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajčák on Thursday said he would resign after parliament decided to reject the pact. Lajčák was president of the U.N. General Assembly when the migration pact was adopted.

Populist parties in other countries have forced the pact to the top of the political agenda. The Dutch government under Prime Minister Mark Rutte has come under pressure from far-right leaders, including Geert Wilders and Thierry Baudet, who refers to the agreement as the “U.N. Immigration Pact.” The government ordered a legal analysis of the text last week to ensure that signing it will not entail any legal consequences. The Cabinet finally decided on Thursday that it would support the pact, but would add an extra declaration, a so-called explanation of position, to prevent unintended legal consequences.

In Germany, the pact has become an issue in the battle to succeed Angela Merkel — the EU politician most associated with a more liberal approach to migration — as leader of the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Two of the leading contenders for the post, Jens Spahn and Friedrich Merz, have both criticized the agreement and called for it to be amended.

In Belgium, the pact has put liberal Prime Minister Charles Michel’s coalition government at risk. The Flemish nationalist N-VA, the biggest party in government, has demanded Belgium withdraw from the agreement. Michel is caught between his commitment to the pact and his coalition partner’s rejection of it — while seeking to fend off a Francophone opposition that will take any opportunity to portray him as a puppet of the Flemish nationalists ahead of federal, regional and European elections next May.

Searching for a way to keep his government afloat, Michel has been consulting with a handful of European countries including Denmark, Estonia, the U.K. and Norway, to produce a joint statement to be attached to the pact, according to Belgian media. Another idea is for several of those countries to join the Netherlands in signing a common “explanation of position,” Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant reported.

Arbour said it’s too late to start making changes to the pact itself. Renegotiating the text or attaching an extra statement is “not what other [countries] have signed up to,” she said.

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[nivek]

Denmark plans to send "unwanted" migrants to remote island

The Danish government has come up with a plan to send dozens of rejected migrants to a remote island that currently houses a research center conducting tests on diseased animals.

Denmark's center-right government and right-wing Danish People's Party reached an agreement under its new finance bill for 2019 to decontaminate Lindholm Island – located around two miles from the nearest shore – and then use it hold as many as 100 people by 2021, according to a government website. Among the migrants who could be sent to the island are criminals, rejected asylum seekers and others who can't return to their home country "due to the risk of ill-treatment."

"If you are unwanted in Danish society, you should not be a nuisance to ordinary Danes," Denmark's immigration minister Inger Støjberg wrote on Facebook. "They are undesirable in Denmark, and they must feel it."

The island currently houses the Veterinary Institute of the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), which performs research on infectious diseases in livestock and makes diagnoses in sick animals. DTU would move out of Lindholm by the end of next year.

The facilities for migrants are expected to be built by 2021. Once ready, residents would be required to report to the island center every day or face jail time. Ferry service to and from the island would be available but limited.

"Expelled, criminal aliens have nothing to do in Denmark. Until we can get rid of them, we now move them out on the island Lindholm in Stege Bay, where they will be obliged to stay at the new exit center at night. And there will be police present around the clock," the Danish People's Party tweeted, along with an animation of a migrant being placed on the island. (SEE LINK)

It's not the first time Denmark has taken controversial actions aimed toward migrants amid a wave of populism throughout Europe. In August, the nation banned garments covering the face, including traditional Islamic veils such as the niqab or burqa – a law that was met with protests and international backlash.

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[Dejan Corovic]

Story About Collapse of Roman Empire

There is one branch of history that studies only economics. It is very interesting to see what it has to say about fall of Roman empire. It is very relevant for the current a state of the world and EU.

In a period of the last few hundred years of Roman empire there was raging inflation, according to estimates, close to 100% per month. Inflation is, more or less, product of long periods of piece, economies grow and grow without regulation and eventually overheat. And Romans certainly didn't know how to regulate inflation. Inflation was so bad that there were two currencies, one backed up with gold for government officials, military and public servants and another 'junk' currency for everybody else.

It didn't help either that Roman borders were than at their longest, spanning from Baltic Sea to Asia Minor, Middle East and North Africa. So, Rome needed a huge army that cost lots of money. Additionally Roman emperor can not hold power without support from Roman army, so military cost cutting was always hard pill to swallow. Running Roman military and Roman birocracy was very, very expensive. Actually, to pay for the army, aggressive tax collection was the answer and that was systematically bankrupting smaller and medium land owners.

Once major Roman conquests subsided, population moved with relative freedom and Rome itself was full of migrants who were well integrated into society. As economy declined, Romans started blaming immigrants more and more for their woes.

That was a big picture of the decline of Roman economy during the last few hundred years.

Now the finale. Just the collapse part.

Because Romans were broke and can not pay army that was big enough to plug in all the holes along their enormous border, they instead started hiring tribes that lived along the borders to do the job. In modern day Bulgaria lived the Goths. Goths protected Danube border as Roman mercenaries for many years.

Eventually time came for Goths to be paid for their military service, but Romans were broke and kept on delaying and delaying the payment. As well, in the city of Rome resentment was stirred up against Goths that lived and worked there as migrants. As always, they were accused of being 'primitive', 'threat to Roman culture' and so on. And all of that because Goths were owed big sum of money. So, eventually, inside city walls, violence against migrant Goths broke out.

After waiting for their money for very long and after news of violence in Rome Goths from Bulgaria decided to go directly to Rome and force the payment. So they arrived at Rome as an army, they sat around the walls till Rome was starved out and Romans opened the gates and than Goths looted the place.

Is this relevant for today's EU? It is and it is not.

As before it is easy to blame the immigrants. They are minority, many of them don't have papers, they are not organized into active well funded institutions. They might as well be used as crash test dummies.

Globalization definitely caused decline in EU and US, not the immigrants. But although EU and US are prosperous, have centuries of institutional experience, the best technology in the world and they swim in capital, they are bleeding cash like a banana republic. How's that?

Well, while working and middle class people are stuck inside their countries and had to pay taxes with which country's infrastructure, like education, health care, legal system etc. is maintained, big business and rich individuals are not. Big businesses simply register for profits on Cayman Islands and for losses in EU, US etc. and they don't pay their fair share. Approximately half of state revenue is lost that way. There are constant reminders in papers that Google, Starbucks and Facebook are paying proportionally less tax than local businesses.

Essentially multinational corporations and rich individuals take advantage of the developed world's infrastructure, but they don't pay for it. And that is now so endemic that even medium size businesses, like small supermarket chains, are doing it.

Now what are EU and US politicians doing about it?

They are throwing tons of paperwork at a problem. If you blame politician he'll just say: "It wasn't me, it was politician before me." Essentially, politicians are not going to mess up with multinational corporations, because next time they might not get elected and they might be looking for a job in one of those companies.

As well, politicians are well constrained with hundreds of compromises that they have to make and have only minuscule amounts of power that is shifting in and out of their hands.

As always, it is about the money. But there is less of it going around because businesses moved operations offshore and because they became better at paying less tax. But yeah, that's much harder to tackle than just blaming clueless immigrants.

 

[nivek]

Yellow Vest Protests Grow in Belgium and The Netherlands

(Video on Link)

(BRUSSELS) — Belgian police fired tear gas and water cannons at yellow-vested protesters calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Charles Michel after they tried to breach a riot barricade, as the movement that started in France made its mark Saturday in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Protesters in Brussels threw paving stones, road signs, fireworks, flares and other objects at police blocking their entry to an area where Michel’s offices, other government buildings and the parliament are located.

Brussels police spokeswoman Ilse Van de Keere said that around 400 protesters were gathered in the area.

About 100 were detained, many for carrying dangerous objects like fireworks or clothing that could be used as protection in clashes with police.

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[nivek]

Macron accused of treason by French generals for signing UN Migration Pact

General Antoine Martinez has written the letter signed by ten other generals, an admiral and colonel, and also includes former French Minister of Defense Charles Millon.

They’ve given strong warning that Macron’s signing the U.N. Global Migration Pact strips France of even more sovereignty providing an additional reason for “an already battered people” to “revolt”.

The highly decorated military co-signees assert that the beleaguered Macron is “guilty of a denial of democracy or treason against the nation” for signing the migration pact without putting it to the people.

The French state is late in coming to realize the impossibility of integrating too many people, in addition to totally different cultures, who have regrouped in the last forty years in areas that no longer submit to the laws of the Republic,” the letter advises, also saying that mass immigration is erasing France’s “civilizational landmarks.

The pact, which has been protested in the Yellow Vest demonstrations in five countries, was signed by 164 nations, most against the will of the citizens as stated in dozens of country specific petitions, on Monday in Marrakech.

The immensely opposed and disastrous document declares unlimited migration to be treated as a human right and criticism of mass migration to be treated as hate speech.

 

[nivek]