Much of Europe is in the grip of a polar deep freeze as icy weather moves south, all the way to the Mediterranean. Snow is expected in Rome and Florence, and Athens has already experienced snow and gale-force winds. The temperature dropped to —25° C (-13° F) in Vienna, and that’s not counting the wind-chill factor. Hundreds of thousands of citizens are trapped in snowed-in villages in the mountainous areas of the Balkans. Temperatures in southern Norway and Sweden fell close to the freezing point of mercury.
In other news, protestors in Cairo expressed attacked the interior ministry building and had to be driven away with tear gas. The mob was angry because of a riot and stampede that caused at least 74 deaths at a stadium after a soccer match.
Thanks to Egghead, Erick Stakelbeck, Fjordman, Insubria, JP, Kitman, The Observer, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Our newest Swedish correspondent (see “When is a Swede Not a Swede?”) returns with some thoughts about the history of socialism in Sweden, and its likely future:
Socialists on ice
The rise and fall of socialism
Some might argue that Jesus was the first socialist. Other may pick the thoughts of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels as the starting point for this ideology.
When Marx argued for socialism, it was a moral view — the poor were exploited as cheap labor without having any influence over their own situation or society as whole.
The rise of socialism developed across the whole world, both in nations governed by socialists and elsewhere. Everyone benefited from the equality, the abolition of slavery, increased rights for women, better health care, and an education that made the population almost 100 % literate.
After two world wars, the world was divided into a socialist totalitarian bloc and the free world, which tried to manage with different degrees of socialism. The United States evolved into a superpower with a flavor of the free market, and the Scandinavian nations became leading role models for social engineering and welfare states.
During the 1970s Sweden, the country where I live, had completed the project. There were ice-skating rinks, swimming pools, free guitar lessons, great education, and health care.
I was a socialist back then, and many among us were proud of our achievements. We began to work on other challenges, such as improving our ice-skating skills or guitar-playing.
But this was a nightmare for some socialists. They consider themselves to be the true champions of the oppressed, and brave to take up the fight against the establishment.
What happens when socialists are the establishment and the poor and oppressed have all the privileges they could possible want? The high income tax in the welfare state has not only deprived people of the resources they need to voluntarily help others, the government has also wiped out the need for charity.
The global market was the solution. Just as in selling or buying steel, paper and shoes, there are plenty of victims and oppressors in other parts of the world.
Prime Minister Olof Palme selected the U.S.A. as his primary target. The situation in Chile and the war in Vietnam were blamed on Nixon and his herd of capitalist oppressors. This was easy, since there were only two TV channels, both controlled by government, and most of the newspapers were in the hands of labor unions. Journalists in independent media did have the courage to take an unpopular view.
One thing that was totally unexpected by the socialist rulers was that the schools had created a multilingual population with the ability to think for themselves. This wiped out any long-term advantages that control over media otherwise would provide.
While the lies about the war in Vietnam were rapidly exposed, since the war continued after US troops left, other lies were not so obvious.
The apartheid regime in South Africa, the 1967 war between Israel and the Arab states, the civil rights issue in U.S.A., as well as historical events like the Crusades and the American Civil War were poorly covered by the books available in schools and libraries.
Almost all literature available had the objective of inciting guilt among the white population in the Western world. The exception was the Jews, since although they were portrayed as the aggressor in recent wars, they were also the victims of the Holocaust.
Needless to say, the women’s liberation movement made men targets of blame for almost anything that happened to members of the opposite sex.
The well-educated people of Sweden were connected with the World Wide Web during the late 1990s, and the possibility of rewriting history to suite the government’s purposes was lost forever.
The wars in the Middle East, Afghanistan and northern Africa created a large number of refugees of exotic religion, customs, and appearance. They were the perfect targets to receive help. But instead of shipping aid to their home countries, the ruling elite came up with a cunning plan to replace the disobedient population of Sweden.
They began to bring in about 100,000 migrants a year. That’s also the number that Germany brings in, but the German population is ten times as big. Most of the migrants allow polygamy, so their women can still find a husband even if a large number of the men are spending time in jail.
In a welfare state there’s no need for the men to support their families — that is, if you belong to a group that is discriminated against. If you belong to the white population, you have to work even when you are being treated for cancer.
The tradition of these exotic groups doesn’t allow women to work or educate themselves, and kills them if they marry someone of another religion. Polygamy and forced marriage at a young age combined with the benefit of support without work create a high birth rate.
In about twenty years this new population will become the bulk of the Swedish population, creating a majority rule.
The Swedish constitution does not provide any protections for human rights. Anything that is in the constitution can be changed by vote in Parliament twice with an election between the two votes.
So if the Swedish population doesn’t do anything about it now, they will have a totalitarian regime in 2030.
Then there might be the need for a new socialist revolution. Until then, I’ll practice ice-skating.
In the investigative report below, a German television program reveals that a prominent and respected imam has been padding his résumé a little bit. Well, more than a little bit, actually…
Our Norwegian correspondent The Observer sends his translation from an article in VG.no. about the utopian prison, Bastøy. Our translator includes his own observation:
This article gives you a good insight into the prevailing mentality found among the Norwegian elite. It’s a proper example of logic and reasoning from this northern ‘la-la land’.
Notice that the so-called ‘experts’ are very positive towards the ideas promoted in this article. It’s also worth keeping in mind the Norwegian TV documentary Hjernevask, which brilliantly exposed how far removed from reality a lot of these ‘researchers’ and ‘experts’ are.
Maybe even Breivik will be transferred to Bastøy sometime in the future?
Oh, by the way: “Bastøy is an island surrounded by idyllic scenery in the Oslo fjord.”
The Observer also sent along a link to this video about life on Norway’s version of Alcatraz. It was uploaded on MRCtv in March 2011, when Breivik was still in the planning stages:
The person who uploaded this video is puzzled:
This is just beyond parody. I mean the idiot running the place literally says “We had a chainsaw murderer here on the island. Eventually he was allowed to work in the forest with a chainsaw”. What is wrong with the people of Norway?
Well, beyond a bad case of terminal self-righteousness, Norway is a very small, very isolated and homogeneous country. Its small size and its oil wealth permit it to run a variety of experiments in social psychopathology, whether it be in education, healthcare, or parenting. These utopian schemes are neither possible nor practical in a huge, polyglot federation like the United States – much as our leftists want to resurrect Rousseau here, also. For our polarization and public strife let us be thankful.
It was the ‘compassion’ of Norway’s elites that led them to foist upon their own citizens hordes of unassimilated resentful immigrants. Dealing with these foreigners themselves was never part of their plan; things might never have been exposed had not Breivik’s murderous acting-out upon their own children brought home so forcefully an unintended consequence of ignorant, arrogant do-goodism.
And now, on to the paean to Norwegian penology from the perspective of VG.no:
Here Mr. Sandberg is shown a video of prisoners having a barbecue: “This is a concept that we should embrace.”
Parliament (VG Nett) — Parliamentarian politician Mr. Per Sandberg of the FrP (the progress party) believes that the open prison on Bastøy is a concept that the correctional services in Norway should embrace.
Last Tuesday VG wrote about the inmates at the prison at Bastøy who have built their own little society with all the institutions and recreational activities that can be found on the outside.
The TV channel MAX followed the lives of the inmates over a three day period in the TV documentary “Insider”.
The FrP and Mr. Sandberg have been staunch supporters of tougher prison conditions, but he smiles when he sees the prisoners at Bastøy having a barbecue.
“I think it is very positive. Here we have a situation where optimism is created and the criminals are given a chance to adjust to normal life. Statistics also show that these types of prison conditions lead to fewer escape attempts and fewer repeat offenders — and the community benefit from this,” Sandberg says to VG Nett.
He believes that the prison on Bastøy is ideal for criminals convicted of serious crimes.
“Here the prisoners enjoy a high degree of freedom, but at the same time they are isolated from the rest of society. I believe that most people want serious criminals to be mentally prepared for life in a law-abiding society,” Sandberg says.
“The way criminals serve their time should be tailored to each individual offender, but I think we should focus more on open prisons,” he adds.
“Overwhelmingly positive”
Shadow Minister of Justice from the Conservative Party (Høyre) André Oktay Dahl can reveal that there is a broad consensus in Parliament for such criminal rehabilitation centers and that the prison on Bastøy is an example to follow.
“We are primarily concerned with the fact that those who return to society must decide to become law-abiding citizens. The entire Parliament is positive to the concept behind Bastøy, with the assumption that the prisoners are individuals that are to be reintroduced back into Norwegian society upon their release,” Dahl says.
Lack of space in Norwegian prison
Overcrowding of prisons has been an issue in Norway for many years — especially in the eastern part of the country. Dahl believes the government’s goal of lowering the number of re-offenders may be hampered by capacity problems.
“The main challenge is that Norwegian prisons are getting more crowded, fewer prison guards are graduating from the prison academy and existing prison guards are leaving their jobs. As a consequence it will be harder to implement the government’s plan to reduce the number of re-offenders. However we need to implement measures similar to those found on Bastøy in order to achieve this,” Dahl says.
In the government report “Punishment that works” — on prison policies from 2007, one of the goals is to eliminate prison queues.
This will be achieved through a capacity plan, according to representative of the Justice and Emergency Services, Paul Lønseth.
“This plan will be implemented within a month or two. We do have capacity issues, but this also means that the police are doing a good job. Prison facilities have increased in number in recent years, but we have also seen a dramatic increase in foreign prisoners. We need to have a master plan in order to face these challenges,” Lønseth says.
“Do you believe that foreign criminals are attracted by Norwegian prison conditions?”
“I don’t believe the criminals think along those lines — I believe that they primarily focus on the risks of getting caught and losing the proceeds of their criminal endeavors,” Lønseth says.
A parliamentary politician from the conservatives, Mr. Dahl however believes that softer prison conditions like those found on Bastøy can result in criminals not seeing prisons as a sufficient deterrent.
“It’s a problem that prisons don’t work as a deterrent for some criminals. It may even attract more foreign criminals, so I await the announced capacity plan, which will hopefully reduce prison queues — and ensure that the criminals receive a proper reaction from society,” Dahl says.
“Bastøy is the right answer”
The philosophy behind the new approach is supported by Jane Dullum, researcher at the Department of Criminology at the University of Oslo.
“I think this is a good crime prevention policy. The most important thing is that the criminals are able to adapt to a law-abiding society. The government should therefore invest more heavily in open prisons à la Bastøy — this is definitely the way to go,” Dullum says.
The question remains, "to go where, exactly?" Hard to say when you're trotting so hard down the Road of Good Intentions.
Last Friday a group of Austrian and German fraternities caused a big brouhaha when they met in Vienna for their annual ball. Public disapproval of the event was so severe that the “anti-fascists” were moved to attack the particpants physically, and even threw firebombs.
Our German translator JLH has translated two articles about the controversy, and includes this explanation:
I have translated two short articles concerning the annual grand ball held by the WKR — the Vienna Corporation Ring — one of those glittering affairs many of us may hear about, but never attend.
This ball — part of the Fasching/Mardi Gras/Carnival season in Vienna — reflects elegance, wealth and good works to further education. Representatives of about twenty corporations and academic organizations attend, and luminaries from the fields of science, politics and economics from Austria as well as Germany and other places are invited. It began in 1952 in the post-war British zone of occupation and has always been held on the Friday before the last Saturday of January. Along with another Vienna grand ball — the Rudolfina Redoute — it claims to be the largest celebration of its kind in the world. Since 1987, it has been held in the grand hall of the old imperial palace — the Hofburg. UNESCO declared the tradition of balls to which it belongs to be one of the cultural heritage treasures of Austria on its list of such treasures worldwide.
Well, sic transit gloria mundi, as they say or, as Forest Gump put it: s*** happens. UNESCO, no doubt hearing from a little left-wing or Islamist bird, discovered to its horror that this ball was considered a hate-fest, because — besides all the depraved capitalists and over-educated fops — it was attended by such ravening right-wing types as the head of the FPÖ! They might as well be from the — gasp! — Tea Party. UNESCO took no half measures; it struck the whole tradition of Vienna balls from its list of cultural treasures. The people administering the Hofburg decided it would not be available for this function after this year.
This year, Forest Gump’s prediction came true with a vengeance. The Friday before the last Saturday of January fell on the 27th — the day of remembrance for the Holocaust. Reasonably or not, the organization stayed with their traditional date of 59 years. You can get a little attached to routine when your history goes back to the 1200s, and your city was the seat of the Holy Roman Emperor, the King of the Romans, the King of the Germans, the Archduke of Austria, the Kings of Spain, Hungary, Portugal, Galicia, Croatia and Lodomeria and the Grand Prince of Transylvania, and your connection to the French Revolution was that well-known Austrian princess, Marie Antoinette.
That was all the so-called Antifa and other leftists — those well-known defenders of Jews and Israel — needed. They hit the streets with an energy equal to an Occupy crowd invading a bank. The result is described in one of the enclosed articles.
Then the left-leaning, PC-appeasing, so-called Israelite community in Vienna, which resembles actual Israelis as much as the Indianapolis Colts resemble real horses, filed a complaint against Strache for something he apparently was overheard to say while there. That is the second short article.
Anyway, it is in some ways a tempest in a teapot, but the winds on the surface of the tea are blowing from the left, just as they are in Cologne and elsewhere.
The first translation concerns the reaction of the antifas to last week’s event, and is taken from Junge Freiheit via SOS – Österreich:
The Naked Hatred of the Antifa by Der Patriot, January 30, 2012
From Schottengasse, we had to push through on foot. Directly in front of us drumming and roaring await. We can only try to bypass by way of the deserted Mölkersteig. Thee is a short moment of tense peace before violence rules in the Inner City.
Demonstrators are waiting in Herrengasse. Nazi shouts and spitting are the overture to what follows. In front of Café Central, activists are blocking the street. A clueless policeman suggests getting to the Hofburg by way of Minoritenplatz — the route is secure. The information is wrong.
A crowd of demonstrators comes running from Ballhausplatz. In their eyes is pure hatred for those who are on the wrong side this evening. Young girls scream and spit. Blows, jostling and beer cans rain down on the perceived opponents. With our last energy, we run to the police barrier. There is help of any sort from the officers.
After three-quarters of an hour of running the gauntlet, we are in the Hofburg. “Were you attacked too?” asks a student in tails with color band and skullcap in German colors. It is the most remarkable moment of the evening, when those who have arrived feel something like relief for the first time.
“We ran like rabbits,” says a young man with a head covering. “The ladies were spit on, fell down. A shame.”
It’s hard to believe. This eye-witness account comes not from a rightist source. This report was volunteered by an undercover journalist from the Kurier! Imagine a future when this young hate-guard from the red-greens is sitting at the levers of power in the Viennese town hall.
Explosives, fire-bombs, violent attacks, street blockades which paralyze traffic in the Inner City, the most awful insults of police and ball attendees…and nonetheless organizers of this demonstration complain like fellow human beings about the — we would say tame — actions of the police. What does these leftists want? Call up anarchy in Vienna and declare all non-comrades to be fair game?
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The banner in the photo reads:
Revolutionary-Communist Youth… Fascism and civil democracy are two forms of civil dictatorship! Build up the militant Antifa!
[Does this have anything to do with “Arbeit macht frei” and “all animals are created equal”?]
The second article, also from Junge Freiheit, describes the condemnation of the FPÖ by the Jewish community in Austria:
Jewish Community Lays Charge Against Head of FPÖ
VIENNA. The Israelite Cultural Community has made a charge of “relativizing the Holocaust” against FPÖ head Heinz-Christian Strache. The group criticized: “it is “a monstrous provocation” that on Friday at the Vienna Corporation (WKR) ball Strache said “We are the new Jews.” For this reason (the group continued) The FPÖ head’s [parliamentary legal] immunity must immediately be rescinded.
The background for this demand is the report in the Standard, after Strache had spoken these words in a private conversation on the edges of the ball. FPÖ general secretary, Harald Vilimsky, accused the left-leaning daily paper of listening in on conversations “like the Stasi” and then reporting them falsely.
“Nowadays, when someone uses fascist methods, it is the leftist extreme mob, which on Friday pursued reputable, blameless men and women and threw fire bombs at fraternity houses,” said Vilimsky.
Brutal Force against WKR Attendees
The FPÖ general secretary also accused the Social-Democrat administration of the city of Vienna of failing to provide protection for those who attended the ball. “Apparently, the safety of respectable people attending the ball is worth less than the dubious right of leftist rabble to riot.” Greens and Social-Democrats. the FPÖ politician criticized, had made common cause with “an unsavory mix of German and Austrian leftist extremists to present security forces with the familiar anarchist and leftist political fringe groups.”
Those who attended the WRK ball reported to Junge Freiheit that leftist demonstrators were unimpeded as they pulled young women dressed for the ball out of taxis and attacked them. And that beforehand, several fire-bombing attacks were made on fraternity houses. For weeks Greens, Social-Democrats, the Israelite Cultural Community and leftist extremist groups had been speaking against the WKR ball, which is taking place in the Hofburg for the last time this year.
[Photo: Strache defends himself against complaints.]
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has announced that the US combat role in Afghanistan will end next year, a year before the complete withdrawal of American troops.
In other news, in the middle of the night unknown assailants set off a bomb outside a police station in the culturally enriched city of Malmö in southern Sweden. The blast blew a hole in the wall of the station and did extensive damage to the inside of the building, but no one was injured.
Thanks to Fjordman, heroyalwhyness, Insubria, JP, Kitman, Nilk, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
I’m back in the saddle again — or at least trying to get there. Right now one foot is stuck in the stirrup while the hoss drags me alongside, banging my head on rocks and stumps.
Do you realize just how many emails y’all send me, in the space of a mere 24 hours?
I noticed while I was away that Newt got the sap kicked out of him in Florida, and the Director of National Intelligence says that Iran is likely to attempt terrorist attacks on American soil. I learned these things from glancing over the front page of the WaPo on the newsstand this morning. There may have been other news items below the fold, but I didn’t read them — I wasn’t willing to pay actual money for a paper.
I won’t have time for anything except the news feed tonight, plus trying to catch up with all this email. More or less normal service will resume in the morning.
Many thanks to all of you who sent those kind notes in response to Dymphna’s post.
Much of Europe is in the grip of a polar deep freeze as icy weather moves south, all the way to the Mediterranean. Snow is expected in Rome and Florence, and Athens has already experienced snow and gale-force winds. The temperature dropped to —25° C (-13° F) in Vienna, and that’s not counting the wind-chill factor. Hundreds of thousands of citizens are trapped in snowed-in villages in the mountainous areas of the Balkans. Temperatures in southern Norway and Sweden fell close to the freezing point of mercury.
I’m back in the saddle again — or at least trying to get there. Right now one foot is stuck in the stirrup while the hoss drags me alongside, banging my head on rocks and stumps.
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