The EU says it may retaliate if the US goes ahead with plans to impose visas reform on members already part of the Visa Waiver Program.

EU warns of visas for US citizens if Washington implements visa waiver reforms

Published time: 17 Dec, 2015 14:59Edited time: 17 Dec, 2015

 

 

© Fred Greaves / Reuters

 

 

The EU says it may retaliate if the US goes ahead with plans to impose visas for some members of the bloc who are currently part of the Visa Waiver Program. Brussels says it will not increase security and that US nationals may require visas to enter the EU.

A letter signed by 28 European member state ambassadors to the US was published in The Hill after Europe reacted furiously and with disbelief to plans by Washington to tighten-up the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), which currently lets millions of citizens from the bloc travel to the US each year without a visa.

OP-ED: EU warns of visas for US citizens if Washington implements visa waiver reforms

Last week, the US House of Representatives adopted a bill to reform the visa program that would ban certain EU nationals from entering the US without a visa if they had visited Iran, Iraq, Syria or Sudan after March 2011. Some US politicians want the legislation introduced to tighten security following the November 13 Paris terror attacks.

“A blanket restriction on those who have visited Syria or Iraq, for example, would most likely only affect legitimate travel by businesspeople, journalists, humanitarian or medical workers while doing little to detect those who travel by more clandestine means overland,” the letter signed by the 28 ambassadors stated.

At present, 23 of the EU’s 28 member states enjoy visa-free travel to the US, with the remaining five nations keen to join the VWP. The bloc says it is imperative to keep the visa waiver program intact for business and tourism purposes, while the current system does not mean that it is “a license to enter the US with nothing more than the wave of a passport of an allied country.”

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“It should shake us up that on our continent, Christians are not safe.” - EP President Martin Schulz

BREITBART

EuroParliament Prez: Christians ‘Not Safe In Our Continent’

 

Reuters

by Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D.3 Dec 20151,044

In a high-level meeting on religious persecution in Brussels, the President of the European Parliament (EP) said that Europe cannot afford to continue ignoring the fate of Christians, who are “clearly the most persecuted group” in the world.

In Wednesday’s meeting, EP President Martin Schulz said that the persecution of Christians is “undervalued” and does not receive enough attention, which has also meant that it “hasn’t been properly addressed.”

Schulz’s concerns were echoed by EP Vice President Antonio Tajani, who warned that Europe sometimes “falls into the temptation of thinking we can ignore this task,” referring to the protection Christians throughout the world who suffer persecution.

Speakers cited the work of Open Doors, a human rights organization that monitors the persecution of Christians, noting that 150 million Christians worldwide suffer torture, rape and arbitrary imprisonment. Christians in Iraq, Somalia, Syria, Pakistan, North Korea and Nigeria are among those hardest hit.

The Open Doors report for 2015 found that “Islamic extremism is by far the most significant persecution engine” of Christians in the world today and that “40 of the 50 countries on the World Watch List are affected by this kind of persecution.”

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Greek premier Tsipras once among anti-austerity protesters caves to austerity measurs sparking protest bringing Greece to a standstill for 24 hours

   

protohema.gr

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"Social Explosion" Begins In Greece As Massive Street Protests Bring Economy To A Fresh Halt

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 11/12/2015 08:46 -0500

One thing that became abundantly clear after Alexis Tsipras sold out the Greek referendum “no” back in the summer after a weekend of “mental waterboarding” in Brussels was that the public’s perception of the once “revolutionary” leader would never be the same. And make no mistake, that’s exactly what Berlin, Brussels, and the IMF wanted. By turning the screws on the Greek banking sector and bringing the country to the brink of ruin, the troika indicated its willingness to “punish” recalcitrant politicians who pursue anti-austerity policies. On the one hand, countries have an obligation to pay back what they owe, but on the other, the subversion of the democratic process by using the purse string to effect political change is a rather disconcerting phenomenon and we expect we’ll see it again with regard to the Socialists in Portugal. After a month of infighting within Syriza Tsipras did manage to consolidate the party and win a snap election but he’s not the man he was - or at least not outwardly. He’s obligated to still to the draconian terms of the bailout and that means he is a shadow of his former self ideologically. As we’ve said before, that doesn’t bode well for societal stability. On Thursday, we get the first shot across the social upheaval bow as the same voters who once came out in force to champion Tsipras and Syriza are staging massive protests and walkouts.   Read More Here   ........................................................................................ Bloomberg Business

Greece Comes to a Standstill as Unions Turn Against Tsipras

Nikos Chrysoloras nchrysoloras

November 11, 2015 — 6:01 PM CST Updated on November 12, 2015 — 6:04 AM CST

• Unions hold general strike to protest against austerity
• PM races to satisfy creditor demands in exchange for funds

As Greek workers took to the streets in protest on Thursday, Alexis Tsipras was for the first time on the other side of the divide. Unions -- a key support base for the prime minister’s Syriza party -- chanted in rallies held in Athens the same slogans Tsipras once used against opponents. Doctors and pharmacists joined port workers, civil servants and Athens metro staff in Greece’s first general strike since he took office in January, bringing the country to a standstill for 24 hours. As many as 20,000 protesters gathered in central Athens while a small group of anarchists at the tail of the demonstration threw petrol bombs at police officers at around 1:30 pm local time, a police spokesman said, requesting anonymity in line with policy. The police responded with tear gas and stun grenades. Greece’s biggest unions, ADEDY and GSEE, are holding marches accusing Tsipras of bowing to creditors and imposing measures that “perpetuate the dark ages for workers,” as the country’s statistical agency released data showing that 1.18 million Greeks, or 24.6 percent of the workforce, remained unemployed in August. The 41-year-old Greek premier, who was among anti-austerity protesters in previous general strikes, is now racing to complete negotiations with creditors on belt-tightening in exchange for the disbursement of 10 billion euros ($10.7 billion) to be injected into banks. Failure to reach an accord with euro-area member states and the International Monetary Fund on policies including primary residence foreclosures, and stricter rules on overdue taxes, would put the solvency of the country’s lenders in doubt. “The economic policies Tsipras has to implement are definitely harsher than warranted, and also harsher than they would be if it wasn’t for these seven months of brinkmanship and extreme political uncertainty,” said Manolis Galenianos, a Professor of Economics at the Royal Holloway, University of London. “This wasn’t necessary, it could have been avoided, and the government will now implement deeper cuts to achieve less ambitious fiscal targets.”

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Germany's foreign intelligence agency, the BND, monitored European and American government ministries and the Vatican - SPIEGEL

Governments and NGOs: Germany Spied on Friends and Vatican

 

Efforts to spy on friends and allies by Germany's foreign intelligence agency, the BND, were more extensive than previously reported. SPIEGEL has learned the agency monitored European and American government ministries and the Vatican.

 

DPA

 

The BND's listening station in Bad Aibling, Bavaria: In addition to spying on friends, German intelligence also monitored Oxfam, Care International and the Red Cross.

 

Three weeks ago, news emerged that Germany's foreign intelligence service, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), had systematically spied on friends and allies around the world. In many of those instances, the BND had been doing so of its own accord and not at the request of the NSA. The BND came under heavy criticism earlier this year after news emerged that it had assisted the NSA in spying on European institutions, companies and even Germans using dubious selector data.

SPIEGEL has since learned from sources that the spying went further than previously reported. Since October's revelations, it has emerged that the BND spied on the United States Department of the Interior and the interior ministries of EU member states including Poland, Austria, Denmark and Croatia. The search terms used by the BND in its espionage also included communications lines belonging to US diplomatic outposts in Brussels and the United Nations in New York. The list even included the US State Department's hotline for travel warnings.



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REUTERS

World | Wed Nov 11, 2015 9:24am EST

Related: World, Germany

 

Germany seeks clarity on whether spy agency snooped on own diplomat

BERLIN

 

Germany's BND foreign intelligence service spied on a German diplomat, possibly violating the constitution, and on allies including French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, a German radio station reported on Wednesday.

Officials firmly declined to comment on the report, but the parliamentary committee that oversees intelligence agencies was due to meet later in the day with the issue to be discussed.

The report by the Berlin-based rbb Inforadio was the latest twist in a growing scandal over the activities of Germany's BND stemming from revelations in 2013 by U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden.

Without identifying its sources, rbb said the BND had monitored German Hansjoerg Haber, from 2008-2011 head of the EU's observer mission in Georgia and then a senior diplomat in Brussels. He is now head of the EU's mission in Turkey and married to a state secretary in the Interior Ministry.
The BND declined to comment. A government spokeswoman, quizzed for about 20 minutes at a regular news conference, declined to comment on the report directly and said the oversight body worked "without discussing everything in public".



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France

‘Nothing surprising’ about Germany spying on France

 

© AFP archive | French President François Hollande with German Chancellor Angela Merkel

Text by FRANCE 24 

Latest update : 2015-11-13

No one should be surprised that Germany’s foreign intelligence service spied on French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, a former French Air Force intelligence officer told FRANCE 24 Friday.

 

Berlin public radio reported this week that the BND intelligence service had listened in on its French allies, prompting a show of indignation from French President François Hollande.

"We ask that all the information be given to us," Hollande said Thursday on the sidelines of a migration summit in Malta. "These kinds of practices should not go on between allies.”

"I know that the chancellery will do everything it can to explain the circumstances to us in detail,” he added, saying he had been assured that such spying "had completely stopped".

According to former French Air Force intelligence officer Alain Charret, who is a member of the French Intelligence Research Centre (CF2R) thinktank, Hollande’s show of outrage is just hot air designed to calm public opinion.

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‘TTIP is death:’ Over 100 arrested in Brussels at US-EU trade deal protest (VIDEO)

Published time: 16 Oct, 2015 01:26Edited time: 16 Oct, 2015 01:41

© / Ruptly

At least 100 people have been arrested in Brussels, where hundreds more protested against TTIP, an impending free trade deal between the US and the EU, as the next round of TTIP talks approaches.

Roads were paralyzed in the Belgian capital as a force of more than 600 activists descended on EU headquarters, blocking traffic and the venue of the EU leaders summit in protest against the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).


People carried signs and chanted slogans such as “Stop TTIP, stop austerity” and "Sorry for the inconvenience. We're trying to save the world," at the march in Brussels on Thursday. "TTIP is death" another sign read. One group of protesters displayed a balloon ‘Trojan Horse’ as an allegory for the deal.




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felipe vankeirsbilck @FelipeVK_CNE

#OX15 successful blockades today in Brussels. However around 20 arrests confirmed. #ChangeEurope #EuroMarchas2015 pic.twitter.com/UP9MdVnfU2"

2:20 PM - 15 Oct 2015

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The European Commission wants to forgo ambitious climate protection goals and pave the way for fracking

Green Fade-Out:Europe to Ditch Climate Protection Goals

By Gregor Peter Schmitz in Brussels

DPA

Europe may be backing away from its ambitious climate protection goals.

The EU's reputation as a model of environmental responsibility may soon be history. The European Commission wants to forgo ambitious climate protection goals and pave the way for fracking -- jeopardizing Germany's touted energy revolution in the process.

The climate between Brussels and Berlin is polluted, something European Commission officials attribute, among other things, to the "reckless" way German Chancellor Angela Merkel blocked stricter exhaust emissions during her re-election campaign to placate domestic automotive manufacturers like Daimler and BMW. This kind of blatant self-interest, officials complained at the time, is poisoning the climate.

ANZEIGE

But now it seems that the climate is no longer of much importance to the European Commission, the EU's executive branch, either. Commission sources have long been hinting that the body intends to move away from ambitious climate protection goals. On Tuesday, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported as much.
At the request of Commission President José Manuel Barroso, EU member states are no longer to receive specific guidelines for the development ofrenewable energy. The stated aim of increasing the share of green energy across the EU to up to 27 percent will hold. But how seriously countries tackle this project will no longer be regulated within the plan. As of 2020 at the latest -- when the current commitment to further increase the share of green energy expires -- climate protection in the EU will apparently be pursued on a voluntary basis.
Climate Leaders No More?
With such a policy, the European Union is seriously jeopardizing its global climate leadership role. Back in 2007, when Germany held the European Council presidency, the body decided on a climate and energy legislation package known as the "20-20-20" targets, to be fulfilled by the year 2020. They included:

• a 20 percent reduction in EU greenhouse gas emissions;

• raising the share of EU energy consumption produced from renewable resources to 20 percent;

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US must clarify reports of spying on EU offices, European Parliament says

Martin Schulz, the head of the European Parliament

Sun Jun 30, 2013 7:57AM GMT

The head of the European Parliament has demanded that the United States provide full clarification over a report disclosed by American whistleblower Edward Snowden alleging that Washington spied on EU offices.

Martin Schulz said on Saturday that the revelation would have severe impacts on the ties between the EU and the US if proven true.

“On behalf of the European Parliament, I demand full clarification and require further information speedily from the US authorities with regard to these allegations,” Schulz stated.

German news magazine Der Spiegel reported on Saturday that the leaked documents showed that the United States National Security Agency (NSA) bugged offices and spied on EU internal computer networks in Washington, New York and Brussels.

Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn told Der Spiegel: "If these reports are true, it's disgusting.”

"The United States would be better off monitoring its secret services rather than its allies. We must get a guarantee from the very highest level now that this stops immediately," said Asselborn.

Former US defense analyst Wayne Madsen told Press TV on Saturday that some European countries, including France, Germany, Spain and Britain, have secret agreements with Washington to hand over the private data of their citizens to the National Security Agency.

Snowden is currently in a transit zone at Domodedovo International Airport in the Russian capital, Moscow, after the United States revoked his passport to prevent him from travelling further. Snowden has asked Ecuador for asylum.

In the beginning of June, Snowden leaked documents, which revealed that the NSA and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have been secretly gathering information of American citizens and other people all around the world.

CAH/HSN/HMV

Related Interviews:

• Obama ruthlessly threatens truth tellers
• 'Second NSA whistleblower, ignored'

Related Viewpoints:

• Snowden’s revelations tip of iceberg

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ABC NEWS.net

US reportedly bugged EU offices, computer networks, according to Der Spiegel magazine

Related Story: Ex-CIA worker revealed as US spy agency whistleblower

Related Story: Snowden still holed up in Moscow airport

Map: United States

 

The United States has been accused of bugging European Union offices and accessing EU computer networks, according to secret documents cited in German magazine Der Spiegel.

The allegations are based on a "top secret" document from the National Security Agency (NSA), dated September 2010, that was allegedly stolen by fugitive Edward Snowden.
The document, which has been seen in part by Der Spiegel journalists, is said to outline how the NSA listened to conversations and phone calls by bugging EU offices.
It also details how the agency spied on internal computer networks in Washington and at the United Nations.
Without citing sources, the magazine also reported that security officers at the EU had noticed several missed calls and traced them to NSA offices within the NATO compound in Brussels more than five years ago.
A spokesman for the Office of the US Director of National Intelligence had no comment on the story.
The president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, says if the report is correct it will have a "severe impact" on relations between the EU and the United States.

Read More  Here

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