Free Republic

Anti-British National Party (BNP) protesters breached security and broke into BBC Television Centre tonight ahead of Nick Griffin’s controversial appearance on Question Time. Around 30 people rushed through the main gates of the BBC’s broadcasting headquarters in West London. Ten were dragged out of the car park by police officers but at least 20 more made it inside the building where the leader of the BNP will take part in the political panel show tonight... As several hundred protesters blocked the road outside Television Centre, delaying his arrival, Mr Griffin criticised the security operation. “It seems the police do not...

The weekend's European Parliament and British local county council elections were not only a victory for the center-right over the center-left. More significantly, they were indications of the growing rejection of the last 60 years of denationalized and consolidating European history. They were, particularly, a sharp assertion by many indigenous Europeans that they will not put up with losing their culture to overly assertive Islamic or other immigrants in Europe. The latter point was made most emphatically by the voters of Holland, Hungary, Finland, Britain, Austria, Denmark and Italy... But the loudest vox populi was heard in Britain... The UKIP's...

London, UK (BANG) - Britain's Prince Charles wants grey squirrels exterminated. The future king - a keen environmentalist - has claimed it is essential to eliminate the animal, introduced from North America in the 19th century, because of the threat they pose to native red squirrels. In a letter to the Country Land and Business Association, Charles - patron of the Red Squirrel Survival Trust said: "In order to be able to save the red squirrels and ensure their future in this country, it is absolutely crucial to eliminate the greys which, as you know, are an alien species to...

What is “transnationalism” generally? Well, let’s start by considering how two academics—one a critic of transnationalism, the other an ardent proponent—have described it. Our first academic contrasts a “nationalist jurisprudence” with a “transnationalist jurisprudence.” A nationalist jurisprudence “is characterized by commitments to territoriality, extreme deference to national executive power and political institutions, and resistance to comity or international law as meaningful constraints on national prerogatives.” A nationalist jurisprudence “largely refuses to look beyond U.S. national interests when assessing the legality of extraterritorial action,” has “largely rejected international comity as a reason unilaterally to restrain the scope of U.S. regulation,” and...

China best-seller lashes "Mafia don" America Reuters By Chris Buckley – Thu Mar 26, 12:25 am ET BEIJING (Reuters) – China's sparring with the West has inspired its own angry best-seller, lashing foreign targets and the country's own elite with scorn popular with some readers but worrying for a government wanting to tether nationalism. "China is Unhappy" has sold quickly since its publication earlier this month, but some state-run newspapers have fretted over its scathing assaults on the United States and the West -- blasts that also spatter doubt on Beijing's own policies. Chinese President Hu Jintao goes to London...

In The National, Pankaj Mishra is dyspeptic about partition, which has led both India and Israel into a "moral wilderness" of nationalism. (I do wish he'd pointed out that the Pakistanis got a state, the Palestinians didn't.) He says in spite of "fierce PR," India's democracy has a scary underbelly, a long tradition of Hindu nationalism, now ascendant: Reverence for Adolf Hitler – who is hailed as a hero in textbooks in the Hindu nationalist-ruled state of Gujarat, while Mein Kampf remains popular at bookstores – is one of the many sinister aspects of “rising” India today. This cult of...

The language about mandatory volunteerism that was "missing" from the HR1388 bill voted on yesterday in the Senate, is now showing up on this bill HR1444 http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-1444

In his 1835 masterpiece, Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville, reported on his observations of the American scene after an extensive tour of the new Republic. One of his most profound insights had to do with the genius of Americans in the formation of institutions that mediate between large, distant government and the solitary, insular individual: Americans of all ages, all conditions, and all dispositions constantly form associations. They have not only commercial and manufacturing companies, in which all take part, but associations of a thousand other kinds, religious, moral serious, futile, general or restricted, enormous or diminutive. The Americans...

..(snip)…Does this not raise suspicion? While we hear of the “outrage” of the people who brought us the bonus scandal, the same people are rushing to pass the GIVE Act (you give, they take): national service. Senator Reid asked that the Senate proceed to act on this bill and then immediately asked for a cloture motion. Cloture The cloture rule–Rule 22–is the only formal procedure that Senate rules provide for breaking a filibuster. A filibuster is an attempt to block or delay Senate action on a bill or other matter. Under cloture, the Senate may limit consideration of a pending...

Remember this? (see video at link) Obama's vision of a domestic security force "just as strong, just as well funded as our military" ( and presumbly loyal to him personally) just got a lot closer. The House of representatives has just passed HR 1388 otherwise known as the Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education (GIVE) Act. This reauthorizes through 2014 the National and Community Service Act of 1990 and the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973, acts that originally, among other programs, funded the AmeriCorps and the National Senior Service Corps. However, it not only reauthorizes the programs, but also includes...

OBAMA WATCH CENTRAL House adopts plan for 'volunteer' corps Also requires new evaluation of 'mandatory' service for all -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: March 19, 2009 4:58 pm Eastern By Bob Unruh © 2009 WorldNetDaily The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a plan to set up a new "volunteer corps" and consider whether "a workable, fair, and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people" should be developed.

<p>MANAGING a crisis as complex as this one has so far called for nuance and pragmatism rather than stridency and principle. Should governments prop up credit markets by offering guarantees or creating bad banks? Probably both. What package of fiscal stimulus would be most effective? It varies from one country to the next. Should banks be nationalised? Yes, in some circumstances. Only the foolish and the partisan have rejected (or embraced) any solutions categorically.</p>

Wanted: leaders to face demons of Europe’s past By Philip Stephens Published: February 19 2009 19:46 | Last updated: February 19 2009 19:46 During George W. Bush’s time, US officials would sometimes mock Europe’s addiction to meetings. America, they would tell visitors to Washington, had the capacity and courage to act. The best its allies could do was to summon yet another interminable meeting. My reaction was that it was often better to get everyone around a table than, say, to start another war. Europe had learnt that the hard way during the first half of the 20th century. The...

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- What does it mean to nationalize a bank, anyway? That question has weighed on the minds of investors in the two weeks since the Obama administration's comprehensive financial industry stability plan fell flat. And they came to a head Friday. Nationalization fears helped drag down shares of Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) and Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) as much as 36% at one point Friday. BofA recovered most of its losses to finish Friday down just 3.6%. But Cit's stock closed Friday with a 22% loss. The term nationalization has been used to cover a...

With all the recent moves by the feds regarding bail outs and the cash they are giving away. I find myself just overwhelmed by the moves they are making and the implications of these moves. Some of my questions are “Does the Federal government now “OWN” the US banking system”? If so, where does that leave the “FED”. Or does the FED now own the US banking system? More to the point, who owns the banking system? Do they also “OWN” the auto business? Same kind of questions. Are any freepers out there able to sum up these moves in...

Do you ever wonder how Chinese children are being educated in nationalism? The following video, which is spreading through Chinese cyberspace, will give you a clue. It shows a group of rural grade-school students performing a poetry reading. The lines are apparently written by adults, and refer to news events in 2008. No name of the school was mentioned in the original video post, translated by CDT.

Time and again we’ve heard about the lost jobs and economic impact of failing to bail out the beleaguered American auto manufacturers. But little mention has been made of the consequences of going through with the bailout, and how such an action would be viewed by other Americans. In an interview following a Dec. 10 press conference where he and four other senators aired their opposition to the proposed bailout deal struck by congressional leaders and the White House (and approved by the U.S. House of Representatives 237-170 that evening), Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., warned that the perception that some...

Now it's official -- sort of. The United States is in decline. The National Intelligence Council has warned in its latest report that the United States will decline as an economic and political world power over the next 20 years. The NIC (NASDAQ:EGOV) report is the first major U.S. government document on national strategy to appear since the Wall Street financial crisis began in September. But it does far more than simply note the crisis' existence. It warns that the ensuing economic crisis now sweeping the entire world is just the first part of a far vaster process -- a...

Devolution has been good for Spain, but it may have gone too far THE hardest problem for the authors of Spain’s democratic constitution was to strike a balance between the central government and the claims of Catalonia, the Basque country and Galicia for home rule. The formula they came up with was known as café para todos, or coffee for all: Spain was divided into 17 “autonomous communities” (plus the enclave cities of Ceuta and Melilla on the Moroccan coast), each with its own elected parliament and government. This estado de las autonomías seemed a neat solution. Over the past...

WASHINGTON – The government prepared Monday to move the first batch of bailout money to banks as fretful world markets plunged again. Wall Street ended with a big drop at the closing bell, sending the Dow Jones industrials to their lowest close since the financial meltdown began. The Treasury Department said it would start moving $125 billion to nine major banks this week by buying ownership stakes, the first big transfer since the $700 billion bailout package was passed early this month. Assistant Treasury Secretary David Nason said the infusion would go to the largest banks in the nation, including...

A few days ago, when Hank Paulson called the heads of the nine families to Washington and shoved cash down their throats, he announced that the banks would use this new taxpayer cash to lend. They won't, of course. They'll hoard it like a starving family who has just been given a grocery cart full of food. And after a few days of silence, even the banks are finally admitting that. So it's back to the drawing board for Paulson & Co. Next steps? Find a way to force the banks to write their assets down to nuclear winter levels,...

Community banking executives around the country responded with anger yesterday to the Bush administration's strategy of investing $250 billion in financial firms, saying they don't need the money, resent the intrusion and feel it's unfair to rescue companies from their own mistakes. But regulators said some banks will be pressed to take the taxpayer dollars anyway. Others banks judged too sick to save will be allowed to fail. The government also said yesterday that it will guarantee up to $1.4 trillion of private investment in banks. The combination of public and private investment is intended to refill coffers emptied by...

Editor's note: Jeffrey A. Miron is senior lecturer in economics at Harvard University. A libertarian, he was one of 166 academic economists who signed a letter to congressional leaders opposing the government bailout plan.CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (CNN) -- Ten days after passage of its $700 billion bailout of the financial sector, the U.S. Treasury has announced that it will implement this program, in part, by giving banks $250 billion in return for shares of their stock. In other words, the U.S. government will acquire a significant ownership stake in the banking sector. The goal of this stock purchase is to "inject...

---snip "The government's role will be limited and temporary," Bush pledged. "These measures are not intended to take over the free market but to preserve it. ---snip

A complex sequence of meetings addressing the international financial crisis took place this weekend. The weekend began with meetings among the finance ministers of the G-7 leading industrialized nations. It was followed by a meeting of finance ministers from the G-20, the group of industrial and emerging powers that together constitute 90 percent of the world’s economy. There were also meetings with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. The meetings concluded on Sunday with a summit of the eurozone, those European Union countries that use the euro as their currency. Along with these meetings, there were endless bilateral...

To the surprise of nobody, many endorsements and opinions in Quebec have been voiced during this federal election campaign, with Conservative Leader Stephen Harper's campaign being one of the central targets. In our effort to give readers a taste of what is being said in the province, we did stumble on one surprise: an influential newspaper that picked none of the parties nor leaders running for office, perhaps a telling sign of a campaign that's done little to impress. Quebec's esteemed newspaper of record La Presse did just that this week, in what editor-in-chief André Pratte called a "sad realization."...

China milk scandal hits home Chinese had shrugged off previous problems as Western hysteria, but tainted milk has many wondering what else poses a risk. Even professed patriots seek out products not made in China. By Barbara Demick Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 27, 2008 BEIJING — Even after regulators assured the public that all contaminated baby formula was off the shelves, B.X. Wei wasn't going to feed his 2-month-old son anything that came out of a can. Especially not one made in China. But his wife didn't have enough breast milk for the baby. Then the 30-year-old businessman...

So Far, It Just Isn't Looking Like Asia's Century By Joshua Kurlantzick Sunday, September 7, 2008; Page B03 So much for the Asian century. The Thais are bickering with themselves, and when they're done doing that, they'll bicker with the Cambodians -- again. China may be Japan's biggest trading partner, but they hate each other anyway. Malaysia and Indonesia? Two countries divided by the same language. I've spent a lot of time in Asia over the past decade, as an expat and a traveler. From where I stand, the place is a geopolitical mess. Hogtied by nationalism and narrow self-interest,...

There are, indeed, many reasons why people of Russian ancestry ought to keep their heads high. But just perhaps, the nation which my country - Sweden -nowaday manages to outdo in hockey rinks, although not in football/soccer fields (it was the other way around some decades ago) needs to rethink its self image. Russia of today is a giant, but sadly backward nation, presently going through a phase reminiscent of what took place in Italy during the 1920s and 1930s; she firmly believes in proudly waving a national banner and claiming territory, but her understanding of the very concept of...

Identity Is Our Best Defence Natan Sharansky, Special to the National Post Published: Monday, June 23, 2008The desire for freedom is a powerful force for peace and stability in the world. But as powerful as freedom is in the hearts of men and women everywhere, it is not the only force that moves them. There is another, equally powerful force at work. This is the power contained in identity. It is a force field little understood in the West, but one that influences and even directs events, from the broadest global and international politics to the most local and immediate...

Identity Necessary for Survival by: Melinda Zosh, June 09, 2008 Americans are fighting the war on terror with technology and weapons, but one man says Americans are lacking the strongest, most effective weapon—identity. Natan Sharansky, author of Defending Identity and the New York Times best-seller The Case for Democracy, spoke about the importance of attaining a sense of identity in a democratic society at the Heritage Foundation on June 3. “Identity, a life of commitment, is essential because it satisfies a human longing to become part of something bigger than oneself,” Sharanksy wrote in his book Defending Identity. Sharansky, a...

Every nation could be described as a manifestation of a unique trait of character and most countries furthermore nurture, give emphasize to and celebrate this national identity of theirs. Some examples of such key national characters (please DO comment if you feel inclined to); USA: Liberty Italy: Creativity France: Refinement India: Spirituality Germany: Self-discipline Finland: "Sisu" (a Finnish term meaning "To have guts") Britain: Elevatedness Denmark: "Hygge" (a Danish word meaning "Good-naturedness", of mind as well as of deed) Spain: Passion China: Cultivation Russia: Chaos - just joking, I would actually say "Heart" (in the sense of having a big...

We encourage our readers to circulate the following in its entirety. Instead of speaking for (or about) the Obamas, we will let them and their church speak for themselves. Earlier in my college career, there was no doubt in my mind that as a member of the Black community I was somehow obligated to this community and would use all of my present and future resources to benefit this community first and foremost. My experiences at Princeton have made me more aware of my “Blackness” than ever before. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson [Obama], “Princeton Educated Blacks and the Black Community,” page...

If we examine the German model ie National Socialist, for nationalizing a business in a country we discover the following.The government doesn't seize the assests of the company and place its own people to take over and run the operations.No, what they do is take over the company with laws and regulations, just as we now see in our energy sector. The energy companies are not allowed to produce their product in the US without the approval of congress.I posted a paper here titled National Socialism, if you go and read that paper I think you will agree.

Next week, China's majority ethnic group, the Han, will celebrate the Olympic torch's arrival on Mt. Everest. It will be a pinnacle experience, literally, for a people who see the Beijing Games as their ascendency to restored world glory. One problem, though: Everest's peak is in Tibet. ADVERTISEMENT China's bursts of Han nationalism – often resulting in violent indignation – have been marked by such contradictions. Popular calls to boycott Western imports over the recent pro-Tibet actions against the torch, for instance, have been squashed by officials – to prevent boycotts of Chinese exports. A more worrisome conundrum for China's...

Italy's general elections two weeks ago resulted in an absolute majority for Silvio Berlusconi's rightist alliance. Mr. Berlusconi thanks his victory to the astonishing and pivotal electoral success of the Lega Nord, a constituent of his alliance. The Northern League completely wiped away the left in the north of Italy. It doubled in size and won a stunning 8.3 percent of the national vote, sending 60 deputies (+37) and 26 senators (+13) to Rome. In some northern regions it had the support of up to 50 percent of the electorate.

In the summer of 1863, Robert E. Lee led an ill-advised incursion into Pennsylvania. His army was defeated at Gettysburg, and thence afterward Lee beat a fighting retreat until the South lost the Civil War. One hundred and forty-five years later, the South--or what has become the South-Southwest--has won another kind of Civil War. It has transformed the sensibility of the country. It is setting the agenda for our political, social and religious mores--in Pennsylvania and everywhere else. This thought, which has been recurring to me regularly over the years as I've watched the Southernization of our national politics at...

New York Times Op-Ed opinion columnist William Kristol compared Barack Obama's remarks about the bitterness of white working class voters leading them to nationalism, religion and guns to Karl Marx. "The Mask Slips" published New York Times on April 14, 2008.

Like so many Chinese, Meng Huizhong was horrified by the violent Tibetan protests in Lhasa. She cringed at videos of Tibetan rioters attacking a Chinese motorcyclist. Her anger deepened as Tibet dominated her online conversation groups, until it settled on what might seem like an unlikely target: the Communist Party.

Obama's Black Identity Politics is Consistent With Jeremiah Wright’s Hate SpeechIf anyone believes that Barack Obama “just found out” about Jeremiah Wright’s vicious anti-American hate speech, we have a bridge in Brooklyn we would like to sell them. As shown by Obama’s own book Dreams From My Father, Obama’s deep involvement in Black identity politics–replace that with “White identity politics” to envision sheets, hoods, and burning crosses–is entirely consistent with his widespread involvement and association with racists, anti-Semites, and Catholic-haters. The bottom line is that Obama is not one of us and, by “us,” we mean mainstream America. To begin...

Projecting their own experience onto the rest of the world, Americans generally belittle the role of ethnic nationalism in politics. After all, in the United States people of varying ethnic origins live cheek by jowl in relative peace. Within two or three generations of immigration, their ethnic identities are attenuated by cultural assimilation and intermarriage. Surely, things cannot be so different elsewhere. Americans also find ethnonationalism discomfiting both intellectually and morally. Social scientists go to great lengths to demonstrate that it is a product not of nature but of culture, often deliberately constructed. And ethicists scorn value systems based on...

Projecting their own experience onto the rest of the world, Americans generally belittle the role of ethnic nationalism in politics. After all, in the United States people of varying ethnic origins live cheek by jowl in relative peace. Within two or three generations of immigration, their ethnic identities are attenuated by cultural assimilation and intermarriage. Surely, things cannot be so different elsewhere. Americans also find ethnonationalism discomfiting both intellectually and morally. Social scientists go to great lengths to demonstrate that it is a product not of nature but of culture, often deliberately constructed. And ethicists scorn value systems based on...

DES MOINES, Iowa - A state lawmaker who served in Iraq wants to ban U.S. or Iowa flags that are made in other countries. Rep. Ray Zirkelbach, D-Monticello, said he would introduce a bill that would prohibit the sale of foreign-made flags in Iowa. "I personally don't want my coffin draped in a Chinese-made flag when I pass away," Zirkelbach said. Under the proposal, business owners an operators could face fines of up to $625 if they sell a flag made in another country. They also could face up to 30 days in jail. The measure also would apply to...

As Adam Smith wrote in his 18th century book, "The Wealth of Nations," "When the regulation is in support of the workman, it is always just and equitable — but it is sometimes otherwise when in favour of the masters." Smith advocated high wages as beneficial to employer and employee alike, and he advocated the abolition of slavery. The distinguished American economist John Kenneth Galbraith said about "The Wealth of Nations:" “It is much celebrated by the ministry of the righteous right, few of whom have read it. “Were they to do so — disapproval of the corporate form,...

Eight people were detained by police in Lund on Friday during demonstrations to mark the anniversary of the death in 1718 of King Karl XII. Two people were formally arrested for violent resistance. One of those arrested is also suspected of attempted assault. Six others were detained. A few dozen people were involved in the march, according to police. Demonstrators from the '30th November Association' gathered outside Lund Cathedral at lunchtime on Friday. The association is made up of nationalist groups from the university town and was founded following the First World War. Counter-demonstrators met in the Lundagård park. A...

So Americans should be thankful they have one of the last functioning nation-states. Europeans, because they've been so inept at exercising it, no longer believe in national sovereignty, whereas it would never occur to Americans not to. This profoundly different attitude to the nation-state underpins, in turn, Euro-American attitudes to transnational institutions such as the United Nations. But on this Thanksgiving the rest of the world ought to give thanks to American national sovereignty, too. When something terrible and destructive happens – a tsunami hits Indonesia, an earthquake devastates Pakistan – the United States can project itself anywhere on the...

Around 25 activists from the "Black Sheep" group invaded the garden of the Swedish ambassador in Berne Friday, demanding political asylum in the wake of Sunday's victory by the right-wing populist Swiss People's Party (SVP), the Swiss news agency ATS reported. The group's name refers to a controversial campaign poster used by the SVP during the election depicting three white sheep on a Swiss flag booting out a black sheep. The SVP – which campaigns against illegal immigration, asylum abuses and demands the repatriation of foreign criminals – came out of Sunday's Swiss elections the comfortable winner, with 29% of...

Last week’s elections in Turkey prompted New York Sun contributing editor Hillel Halkin to recall an article he wrote for the Forward a dozen years ago about evidence he uncovered that Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey, was half Jewish (his father being Doenmeh): Who but a member of a religious minority would want so badly to eliminate religion from the identity of a Muslim majority that, after the genocide of Turkey's Christian Armenians in World War I and the expulsion of nearly all of its Christian Greeks in the early 1920s, was 99% of Turkey's population? … Halkin...

The American Left is fond of bumper sticker slogans. One of their favorites comes from arch-wit Samuel Johnson, who once reportedly remarked, "Patriotism is that last refuge of a scoundrel." Johnson was describing false patriots – his 1755 dictionary defined "patriot" as "one whose ruling passion is the love of his country." Nonetheless, Leftists have rallied around the anti-patriotic banner. Their current leader is lauded scholar and campus hero professor Howard Zinn, quasi-Marxist author of the virulently anti-American "A People's History of the United States." On July 4, Zinn posted his most recent diatribe against patriotism: "On this July 4,...

Our correspondent hacks through the verbiage to explain what happened at the EU summit and what it means EU “foreign minister” A new post cumbersomely renamed the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy to meet British demands that it appears not to conflict with national foreign ministers. For the first time it will mean an EU voice at the UN Security Council which could on occasion conflict with the British position because his or her mandate will sometimes be decided by qualified-majority voting. For example, the EU high representative could speak up in favour of...